That's My Story

PHOTO 1: Jude Martinez went to war to get this bad boy wahoo. Using a purple/black Y0-Zuri, he said the lure wasn’t in the water “3 minutes!” when this guy hit. While battling the big fish, his back went out and he went “oh-oh” and could hardly turn the crank. He had to ride back to the beach laying on the deck of the panga getting slammed because he couldn’t stand up. They propped him up to take this photo, but he was HURTING! Still, the grin says it all! The fish was taken at the south end of Cerralvo Island. There was at least one day this past week when the wahoo were so thick that several commercial pangas were using re-bar to harpoon the fish!

PHOTO 2: Two of our favorite poster kids…Mitch Chavira and Cole Chavira from San Diego. The two were hopping buoys outside Las Arenas when Cole got slammed with his big bull and fought the fish to the boat. Then dad got hit and thought he’d show Cole how “dad does it.” Well, he got the fish to the boat too hot and when they stuck it with the gaff, the fish slammed against the panga and almost pulled Captain Pancho into the water. The gaff broke off too and the fish took off screaming. As Mitch said, “Game on!” They had to fight the fish another 20 minutes to get it in. Nice work, Dad!

PHOTO 3: Ventura resident and first timer Don Rea didn’t do too badly on his first trip fishing with us. He got this beauty of a bull dorado with the last bait of the day at the last stop. They were fishing north of La Paz with Captain Marcos.

PHOTO 4: A pig of a dog tooth snapper! Vince Acosta hoists the slug of a fish on Las Arenas beach and pulled this guy out’ve the rocks near Cerralvo Island. There’s still alot of these pargo in the waters right now despite the late season!

PHOTO 5: I just had to pop this photo in of a “baby” whaleshark of about 25 feet long gliding under the panga. This was taken by Jack Sawaske. Pretty amazing. The waters are warming and there’s alot of algea right now. Bad for visibility and diving but this is when we get the whalesharks around. In a week or two the waters will be too warm and the algea dies off leaving us with great blue water. These great creatures are real sharks, not whales but are totally harmless and will often let you swim with them. They eat plankton, algea and krill although if you ever see one with it’s mouth open, a small car could easily fit! Many think this is the fish that spawned tales of “Jonah and the whale.”

PHOTO 6: The beast of the week! It might not weigh as much of some of the other fish this week like some of the big dorado, roosters or wahooo, but getting a pargo anywhere near this size is a trophy feat. There’s alot of these bad boys around but to get one into the boat is incredible. Rich Sawaske put two in the boat this day and holds up the big pargo liso for the photo op. He got this on a live sardine fishing off Muertos Bay.

PHOTO 7: Love the pose. Love the fish! Big yellowtail on light tackle! Vince Acosta from S.California put the wood to this big jurel fishing with our Las Arenas fleet.

PHOTO 8: Some of our favorite folks…Mark Langely from Aliso Viejo CA got into schools of roosterfish (released) and hold this youngster with Captain Victor looking on. Lots of roosters still all over the place right now. Best rooster season in a long time. We had some big 30-60 pound fish this week, but sorry…no photos! All the fish were released!

PHOTO 8: When she wasn’t being hounded for autographs here in town, world-famous triathalete Mo Langley was trying to stay incognito so she could catch some fish! She’s hardcore fishing and loves the light tackle. She hung this jack crevalle on the skinny string and it took her 30 minutes. “Thing just kept running!” she said. Here’s he holds it up and tries to imitate the croaking sound the big jacks make. The jack was released. By the end of the week, captains, taxi drivers and hotel employees all knew that Mo was in town and wanted her photo or autograph.

PHOTO 9: Jack Sawaske poked this nice dog tooth (cubera snapper) off the “Rock Highway” at the south end of Cerralvo Island. Although the highway juts as much as two miles off the south-end of the island, there are a number of high spots that come to within just a few dozen feet of the surface and often hold big pargo and other rock fish like this one not to mention wahoo and tuna swimming around picking off baitfish.

PHOTO 11: Brian Luhman just graduated from college in Virginia and came all the way out to par-TAY and celebrate and get in some fishing. He’s holding his first yellowtail here. Captain Victor smiles behind.

PHOTO 12: Our good friend Wade Gomes from the Sacramento loves to come here in the fall and catch our dorado. This time he came in May to try his luck with pargo. We all kinda laughed when he mentioned that he catches big ling cod back home. He’s a good sport. After two days of being frustrated by the pargo, he went back to dorado fishing and caught these two nice ones fishing with our La Paz fleet.

PHOTO 12: Hard to believe there are still yellowtail around with the water being so warm, but some toady fork-tails like this one hung by Ken Pimental and Captain Jorge prove the bigger models are still cruising around. This guy was hooked off Punta Perico near Las Arenas.

PHOTO 13 : Captain Romero helped put ROGER BONSON onto some nice fish this week including this pargo liso. Schools of these fish are still milling about apparently still in a late spawn.

PHOTO 14 : Nor Cal resident Bill Burris holds up his nice yellowtail. That’s Cerralvo Island in the background. The yellowtail are willing to eat live sardines, dead sardines and yo-yo iron jigged fast near the bottom.

WINDS COME UP AGAIN BUT WARM WATERS CONTINUE TO BRING LOTS OF FISHING VARIETY!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of May 24-31, 2009

Well…I’d be pulling your leg if I said it was spectacular fishing down here, but it’s certainly GOOD fishing and some anglers had some spectacular catches! Just check out the photos and it gives you a great idea of what we have hitting! About the only fish I didn’t post up were the pompano (lots of them), the marlin (released so no photos), the big roosterfish (also released so no photos) and the bonito (you’ve seen those before anyway!).

Again, just like the last 2 weeks, there’s a ton of variety here. By far, our best fishing was with our Las Arenas fleet, mainly because the waters were protected from the winds that came up and secondly because there’s just more fish and more action. You can pick your spots and there’s probably some fish there…but not every day! A spot will go off for a day or two then the bite moves elsewhere. The key is knowing where to fish every day!

However, for our La Paz boats, I think this past week was just an aberration. I tell you what…things are sure looking good. There were some good fish caught, but the winds just made it rough as heck. But, the conditions north of La Paz have all the makings of going off. Weed lines are building with sargasso starting to bunch up. That’s prime for dorado. As well, warm water currents are also more pre-dominant. There’s also good amounts of bait around as well. So, give it a week or so and I think the waters around the northern islands will be going off the charts!

It’s warm down here but still a bit chilly in the mornings or evenings so bring a windbreaker. The rest of the day, it’s shorts and flip-flops!

Have a great week. That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

Tailhunter International La Paz

http://www.tailhunter-international.com/

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Insofar as several marinas and hotels are planned on this remote stretch of Ventana Bay, this early morning view of Cerralvo Island won’t be around much longer nor will the “old school” style of launching pangas off the beach.

OLD SCHOOL ALL OF A SUDDEN

Originally Published in Western Outdoor News the Week of June 3, 2009

I’ve always kinda liked the term “old school.” It denotes a somewhat different way of doing things…perhaps different values…a different character in a person or thing. Days gone by?

So, how did I suddenly get to be “old school” and why does it humorously “sting to get labeled.

So, there I was yakking with some uh…”younger” Baja anglers about how enjoyable it was to drive down the peninsula “back in the day” and pull up, wipe the dust off; scrape the insects off your windshield; and hit an oasis like the Punta Chivato, the old Serenidad, Hotel Las Arenas or Punta Colorada Hotels. Even the old Hotel Cabo San Lucas in it’s heyday was quite a rustic site.

After all those long bumpy grimy miles, to step onto those cool shaded terra cotta floor tiles and the verdant gardens and hear the splash of the mossy court fountain was like heaven. And then to be handed an actual real cold beer across the long bar of the cantina as you looked across over the palm trees and beaches towards the bluest waters you had ever seen was an indescribable sensation. You had arrived!

And, you know what? Beyond that frosty beer; the fishing; the swimming pool (no swim up bar!) and those great tacos; there wasn’t much else going on. And that was just fine…back in the day!

What else could an angler want? Oh…those hammocks under the trees were an awfully nice touch after dinner and a Cuban too. Maybe some smooth sipping tequila. Watching the stars blinking on and to actually see the Milky Way was the topper.

I was expressing these exact words to my young listeners who looked a bit incredulous when I said, that’s about all there was to to do.

“What about the golf?” asked one. “And no waverunners?” “Did you have satellite TV to catch sports?” “I bet you didn’t even have computer hookups, did you?” asked one other with a grin.

I had to remind him that we didn’t even have computers. Heck, not even a cell phone. (Gasp!) In fact, many of you other “old schoolers” can remember that if you wanted to make a phone call, you had to hitch a ride to the local pueblo and find the block house with the rusty “larga distancia” (long distance) sign hanging outside. You paid your money. You made your call and it may or may not ring on the other end. Ultimately, short of someone dying, NO call was worth all that trouble to interrupt the afternoon happy hour!

In fact, despite our current need to have cell phones surgically attached to us, very few calls are really that urgent at all. They weren’t then. They aren’t now!

I told these guys that you didn’t “Priceline” a hotel or read hotel reviews on Trip Advisor first. You didn’t “blog” or “twitter” your friends to get their opinions about a destination. You didn’t choose your hotel by whether it offered massage services, Sunday brunch or free kayaks. You never expected a mint on your pillow although air-conditioning was sure nice.

Often, you chose your hotel because that’s when you got

a. Tired of driving
b. Ran out’ve gas
c. Ran out’ve water
d. You liked the way the name sounded and it was close to the beach
e. It looked like they might have electricity and running water!

You expected to see a bug here and there. It’s Mexico! Track lights? How about a single light bulb from the ceiling! You didn’t complain when the lights went out at 9 p.m. either. There was nothing wrong with the electricity. That’s just when they turned off the hotel generator.

But what was there to do after 9 p.m. anyway? You sat around in the dark in a lounge chair with a drink or around the hotel fire, if they had one. And you talked and laughed and bonded.

And the stars came out and the waves could be heard down on the beach and the breeze ruffled the palms. And you solved all the world’s problems with some of the best conversations you will ever have in your life with friends you will never forget.

“Dude, that sure is old school, alright!” said one of the young guys.

I don’t need a mint on my pillow. I guess if I’m old enough to remember those days, then I am “old school.” And I’m glad I still remember “back in the day.”

That’s my story!
If you ever need to reach me down here in the Baja I”m at riplipboy@tailhunter-international.com

Jonathan
Tailhunter International La Paz

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PHOTO 1: Bent and happy. This is “Bonefish” Bill Richmond hefting a nice dorado caught on the flyrod. From Colorado, Bill came down to throw patterns in front of roosterfish but couldn’t resist a few dorado that swam by the boat. That’s Punta Perico in the background but if you look carefully, you’ll see another flyrod being bent. That’s Kent Wiggins from North Carolina battling one of his own fish from the bow.

PHOTO 2: Now THIS is unusual and a great catch, Danny Hudak was on his very first ocean-flyfishing trip and came all the way from Denver. He got roosters, jacks, bonito…”they sure are alot stronger than rainbow trout!” He also got this incredible pargo as well on the fly. This is quite an accomplishment as they guys are hard enough to pull out of the rocks with a conventional rod, let alone a flyrod where you can barely put much pressure on the fish. Dan did a great job getting this hog to the boat!

PHOTO 3: The man knows hot to pose with a fish! With the fly still in his mouth and ready to be released, Bill Richmond hold a fresh roostefish caught just yards from the shoreling in Muertos Bay. Bill specifically fished a whole week just to fish for roosterfish on the flyrod.

PHOTO 4: Yes, they are still here! Natalie Athas from Orange Co, CA was on her first day out and got one of the most prized fish we have…a wahoo at the south end of Cerralvo Island.

PHOTO 5: He had just a few hours to kill before jumping on a plane so Rick Athas did what we’d all do…he jumped on a panga and made the best of a few hours! He’s holding a nice yellowtail that he got north of La Paz
And he made his plane on time too!

PHOTO 6: Everyone comes down for the “glamour” fish like roosters, dorado and billfish. They often forget about the awesome inshore fishing we have almost year-round where beast like this grouper grow big and grumpy. These inshore species are some of the toughest fighting and best eating fish in our waters. Natalie pulled his grump out of the rocks north of La Paz.

MULTITUDE OF SPECIES HIGHLIGHT THE BITE AS ANGLERS SLUG IT OUT WITH INSHORE AND OFFSHORE FISH!

The La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Repoft for the week of MAY 17-23, 2009

I don’t know if it was the dark moon or whatever since I’m not a big believer in moon phases, but I’m not sure I have ever seen so much variety in our waters at one time on a given week! Where do I start? Maybe a fish-by-fish rundown…

1. Dorado – Outside at the buoys near Muertos Bay and at the 88 spot off Cerralvo (some days) as well as free swimmers at any given time. We’re also seeing more and more of them north of La Paz as waters warm.
2. Tuna – Yes, I said tuna! When was the last time we had tuna in May? Can’t remember! Anyway, nothing big, but 10-20 pound puddlers and blasters hit our fleet off Punta Perico not more than 100 yards from shore on live bait. There wasn’t a big bite as the boats put 1-3 fish aboard, but this is encouraging and a great surprise
3. Wahoo – They bit a few times at the south end of Cerralvo, but we didn’t put any aboard. But we know they are there!
4. Roosterfish – There’s a reason we call this the “roosterfish capital of the world.” If you want a rooster, you can find a rooster. 5 pound schoolfish all the way up to 50 pound sluggers along the beaches.
5. Pargo – They’re here too. Putting them in the boat is another issue! Pargo perro (dog snapper), pargo liso (mullet snapper) and pargo mulatto (barred parg) as well as yellow snapper (huachinango) are here along the rocks. The largest of the week were 45-pound beasts (Good job Richard!) but we hooked and lost larger fish!
6. Sierra – Yes, even though the water is warming, we still got a few. Not sure how much longer they’ll be around.
7. Yellowtail – Largest of the week were 40 pound fish, but most were 10-15 pounds. Not a lot, but we still got a few here. Waters getting far too warm.
8. Cabrilla and Rockfish – You can spend all day on these. Fun on light tackle. Most about 1-8 pounds.
9. Pompano – These were a great surprise towards the end of the week, Using live bait and a little lead, these fish were holding at the drop off spots near the sandy beaches like Las Arenas lighthouse. I’ve not seen so many big pompano. 15-20 pound fish were not unusual.
10. Jack Crevalle – There’s a reason they call these “toros.” (Bulls). Man…these are hard chargers pound-for-pound. Some of the most epic battles this week. Too bad they don’t taste good, but they can sure rip and are great sport.
11. Amberjack – Larger and better-eating cousins to the yellowtail. They get over 100 pounds, but, although we didn’t get any of those, we still had some nice 15-30 pound fish
12. Bonito and Skipjack – All you wanted, especially for the flyfishers
13. Billfish (sailfish/ striped marlin/ blue marlin/ black marlin) – Hooked and lost a few. Saw LOTS of them this week, but most aren’t quite willing to bite just yet! But we know they’re here!

So, that’s just a sample of some of the species we got! Definitely, the most action was with our Las Arenas/ Muertos Fleet (we have moved the boats over to the beach at Las Arenas by the lighthouse now) but our La Paz fleet got a few fish too. Still it can be windy some days so most of the fishermen are fishing out with our Las Arenas fleet instead of our La Paz fleet. Our La Paz fleet tangled with some yellowtail, some larger dorado and snapper.

It’s warm down here so bring the shorts and t-shirts, but still a tad windy in the mornings so a windbreaker wouldn’t hurt.

If you’re not able to purchase your fishing licenses online, remember you can buy them directly from us now.

See you here soon! That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: http://www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 612-12-53311

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

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PHOTO 1: Captain Pancho gives first-timer Scott Shiminesky from Oregon a hand with a good-looking bull dorado. There weren’t alot of dorado around this week, but some that got caught were pretty fish. A combo of full-moon and changing currents and winds might have had something to do with it.

PHOTO 2: Perfect coloration on a fresh one…a dorado caught by Becky Solee and gaffed by popular Captain Adolfo just off the Las Arenas lighthouse. Notice the proximity to the shoreline.

PHOTO 3: Larry Parnell always does well when he’s down from the Oregon coast and he hefts a nice roosterfish here before releasing it. Roosterfish are in full swing right now varying in size from 5-50 pounders.

PHOTO 4: And then there’s Angela. Always with a nice fish, Angela Farrell lets her fish speak for themselves. Captain Raymondo “Moncho” Green put her on this fish off Cerralvo Island.

PHOTO 5: Stacy Welborn fished with us for the first time. Down from Sacramento CA, she’s helpd with this nice roosterfish by Captain Pancho. The fish was released after being taken on a live sardine.

PHOTO 6: Not to be outdone by his wife (above), Al Welborn also put a roosteraboard. This past week, the area lived up to it’s reputation as the roosterfish capital of the world.

ROOSTERS COOPERATE AS DO INSHORE FISH BUT A WEIRD WEEK TO FIGURE OUT

LA PAZ LAS ARENAS FISHING REPORT FOR WEEK OF MAY 10-16, 2009

It was hard to put a finger on the fishing this week. It wasn’t great. It wasn’t bad. I don’t know if some of the lack of fish was due to inexperience of the anglers or bad luck or lack of fish. Maybe it was the big full moon which I don’t put much stock in, but perhaps a combination of the moon, stronger winds…who knows? Some very good anglers lost fish. Some rookies turned in some good catches. But, it was also hard to get a read on the fishing because there were so few anglers around. Because of the swine flu scare a few weeks ago, a number of anglers canceled trips with many of the fleets until a later date. Well…that meant that airplanes were almost bare! (Thanks to the media for scaring everyone…not a single case of swine flu reported on the entire 1000-mile-long-Baja peninsula!) So, because of the light loads, airlines canceled flights. Some airlines didn’t even tell passengers until they got to the counter. Passengers were simply told, “There’s not enough people on your flight so we are going to cancel.”

That pissed off a lot of folks as you can imagine…stranded at the airport…

Anyway, there were some nice roosters taken, but the bite seemed to be off. More were seen, but they didn’t necessarily want to eat. Most of the better fishing was with the roosters. But.. Even the jack crevalle seemed pickier. The bigger pargo were still around, but with so few anglers, it was difficult to say how good a bite took place. Bonito were rampant and some tuna ran with them in little flurries. Dorado were sketchy as were some of the other fish. It didn’t help that winds were up some of the days keeping the boats more inshore than we would have liked. Here’s the weird twist…it was actually FOGGY out on the water! Go figure!

Anyway, as the week ended, things took an upturn and it seemed the fish got more active. We’re hoping for a more lively week and we’ve got a lot more anglers this week.

So…that’s kinda the story. Honestly, it was kind of a “shrug” fishing week. I just don’t know! I can only tell you what I saw.

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: http://www.tailhunter-international.com U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745 Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

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SHHHHHH….AWFULLY QUIET DOWN HERE!

Originally Published in Western Outdoor News the Week of May 18, 2009

Well, judging from the preliminary reports this season, I would think that the Sea of Cortez and the Baja in particular are in for a pretty nice fishing season. It started early with the incredible marlin bite that was off-the-charts around Cabo San Lucas. Words like “epic” and “historic” were often attached as boats slammed striped marlin in record numbers.

Waters have warmed quickly and the body of marlin has moved up and into the Cortez early as have other pelagic species as well. So far, the reports on early season dorado, sailfish, tuna, wahoo and even blue and black marlin have locals and veteran visting anglers cocking eyebrows and rubbing chins. The bite is on and seemingly getting better. Is this going to be one of THOSE years?

Even further north towards Loreto, Bay of L.A. Concepcion, Mulege, things are percolating. There are some unusually good catches starting to bubble up and the anticipation is growing. We could be in for something special.

Just one problem…

No one is here!

I watched several planes unload here in La Paz the other day. Almost empty. Clients coming through Cabo San Lucas tell me planes had a dozen people in them. It was so empty you could lie down across several seats.

I took clients to the airport today. It was a bit like walking through a museum or a library. Awfully quiet!

Mexico, and Baja in particular, has gotten a quadruple whammy. It’s gone 4 rounds with the champ and taken it on the chin with a few too many haymakers.

First, and foremost, the economic slump in the U.S. has shut off the tourism on so many levels. Fishing, diving, hotels, restaurants, tours, gasoline…you name it. Squeezed like a lime being pressed in a margarita.

Then, it was the perception that Mexico is overrun with druggies shooting willy-nilly at each other and pegging tourists in the process. A “Crime Spree Grips the Country!” screams the TV. Of course, many people don’t realize that Mexico is bigger than the U.S. and, although bad, the actual spots are localized. But, the whole country gets painted with the same tainted paintbrush.

Third, we get the pig flu. Exhale. Sigh. What the..? (I don’t even know how to say that in Spanish!)

Again, the paintbrush comes out. All of Mexico is rampant with this plague-of-a-flu. In reality, it’s about as potent as the thing your kid brings home from school. Yes, unfortunately, people have died in Mexico City. But thousands die yearly from regular flu and no one gets upset. In Baja, as of this writing, not a single person has come down with the swine flu along it’s entire 1000-mile-long state.

But, people stay home. Toursits give up. “Honey, let’s go to Disneyworld instead. We can eat Mexican food in Fronterland.”

Unofficially, I hear Cabo is at 22 percent occupancy. On the Mainland, places like Cancun usually filled with the sun-crowd is at a whopping 7 percent occupancy.

This past week, even the people that wanted to come down were thwarted. Reports of clients showing up at airline counters ready to go on their vacations being turned away were not uncommon. They were told, sometimes with no warning, that the flights were canceled simply because there weren’t enough people on the flight! “Gee, sorry about that. I’m sure the kids miss you back home anyway.”

Ridiculous. Rather ironic. The planes are empty because so many people canceled because of the swine flu. The planes aren’t flying because they are empty. Circular.

If you do come to the Mexican airport, you’ll be surprised by a little device they are using to take your temperature. No, you won’t “feel a little pressure.” It’s not that kind of a probing device! But, when you arrive and depart they touch it to your head to take your temperature to make sure you’re not running a fever. I guess you don’t get to fly if you have a bug…any bug.

Anyone noticed that all the “news” about the crime seems to have vanished for the most part? Guess the druggies are wearing surgical masks and staying indoors.

What next? Any more calamities and some of these Baja towns will look like high noon waiting for a gunfight. Just add tumbleweeds and dust blowing across the street. And a little Clint Eastwood spaghetti-western music.

That’s my story. If you ever want to reach me, my e-mail is riplipboy@tailhunter-international.com.

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PHOTO 1: Color-coordinated between fish and fishing shorts, Charlie McGhee from the San Diego area is one of our most prolifically good AND lucky fishermen. It’s a great combination and he makes his own luck by always working hard for his fish. But, who could have predicted this incredible catch of a gold pargo…not a golden grouper…it’s a pargo! He got it using live bait while fishing out’ve Muertos Bay.

PHOTO 2: He’s young and quiet, but don’t let that fool you. Everytime young Eric Walker comes down he pulls some surprisingly big fish out’ve the fish box that pops everyone’s eyes. Here, dad, Rick helps hoist a nice bull dorado. A live sardine did the trick fishing with Captain Romero outside of Las Arenas SE of La Paz.

PHOTO 3: Charlie McGhee again and his lucky orange shorts! Over 3 days, Charlie and his wife Jane, got 7 wahoo, numerous dorado, roosterish, jack crevalle and a number of other species. Charlie was trolling a Rapala and a wahoo bomb.

PHOTO 4: Angela Farrell has been in our fishing reports and in our magazine columns so often over the years, she’s known as TGP (The Poster Girl). And why not? She catches fish and they are usually trophies like this whopper of a pargo liso (mullet snapper) she cradles after boating it near Cerralvo Island. These fish are up and in their spawning mode right now.

PHOTO 5: Tim Farrell is not slouch either and is an experienced La Paz angler and our good amigo. Tim’s from Oceanside, CA and ripped this excellent dog-tooth snapper out of it’s cave fishing with Captain Moncho and our Las Arenas fleet.

PHOTO 6: Stacy Amos from Harbor City CA is always just a happy guy…even moreso when he nails a big fish like this big cabrilla (Mexican Seabass). Stacy also got pargo, dorado, yellowtail, roosterfish and sierra on this trip. So he was VERY happy!

PHOTO 7: Stacy Amos is our NASCAR diva but holding this dorado she’s got a winning grin. She and her husband had a slow morning then got a radio call about a big spot of dorado and they were off to the races and simply pounded the school of big fish.

PHOTO 8: Scott Shiminesky (left) was on his first trip to La Paz from his home in Oregon and, after catching numerous species including roosterfish and dorado and now has a really healthy respect for the fighting abilities of our Baja sportfish. He’s got a lot of fishing experienc, but had never had anything pull like our fish! Larry Parnell (right) also from Oregon has been down here several times and showed Scott all about big dorado like these waiting to get filleted on Muertos Bay Beach.

PHOTO 9 – Here’s a couple of beasts! I”m talking about the dorado, not brother Charlie Marabella (left) from Riverside CA and Steve Marabella from San Pedro CA (right). It was Charlie’s first trip while Steve comes down twice a year to visit us. This particular day, they got 5 big dorado and hooked a striped marlin and a black marlin (both released) while fishing the 88 spot off Cerralvo Island.

PHOTO 10: Just to show the variety, Grant Darby didn’t quite know what this was, but everyone told him it tasted good! It’s a coveted pompano…cousin to roosterfish, jack crevalle, amberjack, permit and yellowtail. These tough fighters are holding just off the deeper ends of the sandy beaches. Grant got this off the Punta Arenas lighthouse. The next day using 17 pound test and light rigs, he and his son-in-law fought 4 sailfish (“like feeding hungry dogs!”) able to release two and donating the meat of the other two to families when they could not be revived.

PHOTO 11: We’re just not supposed to be gettting dorado of this quality this time of the year, but John Bolton, our amigo from the San Luis Obispo area holds the proof.

PHOTO 12: She is just too fun! Becky Solee from Portland never seems to stop laughing and smiling, especially when she’s fishing and evenmoreso when she pulls up a big dog-tooth like this one she got fishing with Captain Adolfo in shallow water where the big boys have moved in. Becky and her husband, Bob, also got cabrilla, snapper and big roosterfish as well.

IT FEELS LIKE SUMMERTIME AS WARM WATER PELAGIC SPECIES ROLL IN TO MIX WITH INSHORE BRUISERS!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of May 3-10, 2009

I guess this week I can almost let the this week’s pictures do the talking and end it right there!

It’s really summertime fishing right now. Waters are warm and so is the air and the fishing has so much variety to offer that as one of our clients said, “When I put a bait in the water, I never know what’s going to bite! Every hour it seemed like we caught something different. Over 4 days of fishing we got over 12 different species from roosterfish to pargo.”

And that pretty much sums it up. The warmer waters have brought in the blue water species like dorado, sailfish, blue marlin and blackmarlin. Wahoo also keep popping up every few days as well. About the only blue water fish we haven’t seen is tuna, but every few days someone keeps jumping in with a story of breezing tuna that are going to fast to jump on. (Flash…just as we were going to report on this, we did get some tuna off Cerralvo Island…more to come!)

However, the cooler waters are still around as well so, as you can see we’re still getting these HUGE pargo (dog tooth, pargo liso and barred pargo). We’re also still getting good numbers of sierra along the beaches, pompano, giant jack crevalle and the roosterfish…heck…20-80 pound fish!

You can still have a bad day…don’t get me wrong…it’s still fishing, but if you spend a few days with us here, it would be difficult NOT to get fish. It’s like standing in a rainstorm…you gotta figure you’ll get rained on. It’s like that with fishing right now. You’re gonna get bit if you have a rod with bait in the water. Really, the ONLY time someone seems to have a slow day is when they make a bad choice.

For instance, maybe the wahoo go off at South Island so the next day EVERYONE charges out there and the wahoo get lock jaw so a bunch of boats have low counts. It looks like a bad day. But, the boats who say…went after roosterfish all come back raving about wide-open bite on the beach! Since we mostly release roosters, again, the fish counts look low. So, you just have to read between the lines.

Fishing out’ve Muertos/Las Arenas provides the most variety. Big and small roosterfish, dorado, sailfish, marlin, sierra, pargo, snapper, amberjack and cabrilla are on the chew. If you fish with our La Paz fleet the waters are still on the cooler side so there are more yellowtail between 10 and 40 pounds, pargo and also large roosterfish in the 20-50 pound class.

It’s sure not a bad time to be down here!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

http://www.tailhunter-international.com/

E-mail riplipboy@tailhunter-international.com

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FEATURED PHOTO: After more than 3 years, the TAILHUNTER and the FUBAR Cantina are finally open on the waterfront in La Paz. Jill and I finally opened the doors this past Saturday to a packed house and three stories of food and drink, a dance floor, two bars, seven sports TV’s, convenience store, offices, fish processing operation and tackle shop. We still have more to do to get fully up to speed, but the first night was incredible thanks to so many people who put in their time and energy to open a place that will offer more services to our fishing client and fun for the public.

PHOTO 1: Talk about a banner day of fishing. Charlie and Jane McGhee from the San Diego area were just here two weeks ago spanking fish. Well, in 3 days fishing, Charlie got 5 wahoo the morning of the 1st day and 2 more on day 3. These fish were all taken at the south end of Cerralvo Island while trolling. Largest fish went about 30 pounds. In addtion, the pair were on fire taking amberjack, jack crevalle (released) , a mako shark (released) , numerous roosterfish (released) and huge dorad0 (many released) .

PHOTO 2: Becky and Stacy Amos come to town twice a year from Harbor City CA. This catch of their shows the tremendous variety of fish the hit on a single day…yellowtail, dorado, cabrilla, snapper, roosterfish are in the mix plus the released many others all caught not far off shore with live bait.

PHOTO 3: Talk about a fish of a lifetime! Our good buddy, Bob Solee from Portland OR found some Baja sunshine and this BEAST of a roosterfish estimated at 70 pounds taken off the Las Arenas lighthouse. According to Bob and Captain Adolfo, there were bigger fish swimming around. Good for him…he released this fish to swim away. Not the size of the mouth as Bob’s hand is fully inside! There were LOTS of roosterfish of assorted sizes this past week ranging from 5 to 70 pounds.

PHOTO 4: A great week for dorado. Not Norm Fulco’s fish. Norm is from Los Angeles area and took this nice bull out of Muertos Bay outside. If you look carefully, Norm is holding the tip of his rod that snapped while he was battling the fish on light tackle.

PHoto 5: Lots of sierra still around even though waters are getting warmer. George ” the Governor” Gill holds a nice pair taken inshore. You can spend all day catching these right now. Light tackle makes for a great fight and terrific eating!

PHOTO 6: Lloyd Newton and Ed Sussex from northern California came down this week for just two things…big dorado and a billfish. Normally, I’d tell them, they’re a bit early in the season but they not only got into some nice bull dorado, but got themselves a sailfish as well!

PHOTO 7: Nice forktails! Johnny Stoneman and Steve Sturm from Huntington Beach CA hoist these two pretty yellowtail fishing out of La Paz Bay. The big jacks are still around although seemingly diminishing as the waters warm. The ticket is to get the big baits and get to the spots fast. Big mackerel are key!

PHOTO 8: It was an outstanding week for pargo. Some of the biggest dog-tooth in recent memory were put on the decks including this hefty dog just off Cerralvo Island held by Captain Armando. As one angler said, “These are the most frustrating fish in the ocean. They are all around and you think it would be easy to catch, but it’s just the opposite. They tease and then beat you up!”

PHOTO 9: Great color on this cubera snapper (dog tooth) held by Steve Sturm of Huntington Beach CA. The fish ate a flylined sardine and schools of these guys have come up in to the high spots and shallows to spawn.

PHOTO 10: Mike McFeely from Southern CA knows yellowtail fishing and there are some nice grades of fish here right now as we head into the late spring months. Waters are getting warm so I’m not sure how long these guys will be around, but Mike put the beatdown to this nice yellowtail just off the island.

BEST WEEK OF THE SEASON MARKED BY BIG FISH AND LOTS OF VARIETY!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of April 26 to May 3, 2009

Just an outstanding week of fishing, amigos! Where do I start? What did you want to catch this past week? About the ONLY fish we didn’t catch were tuna, but everything else from A to Z showed up the radar at one point or another!

For our guys that fished straight north out of La Paz toward Espiritu Santo Island, they found big yellowtail and roosters. These were yellows in the 20-40 pound class and roosters up to 50 pounds although with waters warming, I can’t say how much longer the roosters will stick around. The ticket was having the big baits like mackerel to drop in front of their noses!

For our anglers that fished out’ve Muertos Bay…it was literally a fish buffet! Over the past week, we hooked blue marlin, black marlin, sailfish, wahoo, big dorado, huge roosterfish, cabrilla, pargo (dogtooth and mullet snapper) , grouper sierra, cabrilla, amberjack, pompano and snapper.

You almost never knew what was going to hit. Guys came back reporting scores of billfish circling the boat or non-stop dorado action until their arms fell off. They told of catching and releasing a dozen roosterfish in a single stop or finding a world-class gallo that had them pinned to the rails. One of our amigos, Charlie McGhee (photo above) got 5 wahoo one day and 2 wahoo the next. Others came back with eyes big as saucers when talking about “all the pargo” that were under the boat and how they couldn’t stop any of them from taking them into the rocks!

Trolled marauders and rapalas worked for the wahoo as did trolled wahoo bombs. For pretty much everthing else merely dangling a live sardine seemed to work. The dorado were a super surprise. Several of the outside buoys produced non-stop action and it didn’t hurt the day our boats found a dead whale outside just loaded with mahi up to 40 pounds.

For inshore fishing, flurocarbon leader did make a difference so bring some if you’ve got it. If you’ve got the itch to fish inshore for the numerous species, crank baits by Rapala (x-rap) and Yo-zuri models were off the charts!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

Tailhunter International La Paz

http://www.tailhunter-international.com/

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will only have moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try. “

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PHOTO 1: San Diegans Matt Muckerman and Mike McFeely started their trip out to Muertos Bay with a nice little grand slam of some dorado, cabrilla( seabass) and a really nice dog tooth snapper. Look carefully at the photo. In the background, Tom Staples puts a liplock on a dorado while Captain Archangel takes the Kodak moment!

PHOTO 2: There’s such a nice mix of fish possible right now. The waters are transitioning between winter/ spring/summer so the fishing reflects that. On the tailgate, there’s dorado, sierrra, cabrilla, and amberjack ready to be filleted! These fish were all caught on live bait taken no further out that 100 yards from the beach.

PHOTO 3: Al Tesoro comes down twice a year and loves the inshore species. This particular day he spanked the sierra big time. These are excellent light tackle fish and even better on the table! Al shows off a trigger fish to be made into ceviche and there’s also a seabass (cabrilla) trying to hide in the stack of sierra.

PHOTO 4: From Denver area, Bill Blount on the right brought his boys down to escape the recent snows of Colorado. Nice dorado for the day given it’s still springtime! Dorado have moved into the area and perhaps is a vanguard of a really good dorado season.

PHOTO 5: Just a fun photo of our Captain Armando. I saw this huge plastic Pacifico bottle in his panga and couldn’t help but laugh. He says he broke his thermos so he keeps his drinking water in it. Looks really funny when you see him drinking out of it. I imagine at one time it had beer because the street vendors sell these during the city carnivale!

PHOTO 6: Yes…the MAN is on the loose. They’re checking licenses more often these days. They’re being very nice and professional about it, but if you are at all on a fishing boat, even if you are not fishing, you’re required to have a license. It’s a pain in the butt to get licenses here in La Paz…howver…Recently, we’ve been named as one of the 5 places in La Paz that will be selling licenses directly to clients.

BIG YELLOWTAIL, ROOSTERFISH AND JAGS OF DORADO ROLL INTO ANGLERS!

The La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for the Week of April 19-26, 2009

First off, if you tried to e-mail me this week, apologies if you couldn’t reach me or I didn’t respond right away. We had some bugs in the new system we’re installing. For future reference, here’s my new e-mail address www.riplipboy@tailhunter-international.com

Let’s talk fishing…

A wacky wacky week here. We had a little bit of everything it seems. No shortage of variety at all. Take a look at the pictures for a small sample of what could be caught on a given day!

Our La Paz fleet again struggled with a few days of wind which made it either hard to fish or else made it difficult to fish the mackerel which are the larger baits preferred by the big yellowtail out at the islands. However, on the day when the bait and wind were aligned, wow…some big beefy fish to be had.

In addition to 30-40 pound yellowtail, there were also some big cabrilla, pargo as well as some 30-60 pound roosterfish…clearly the largest roosters we’ve seen so far this season. As I said, the larger baits were the ticket, but sardines were available and were also effective, but to a lesser degree.

For our Las Arenas/Muertos Fleet, well…dorado were clearly here! Some times, the bite was literally only hards from the shore and the fish would slam into the fleet while guys were fishing in 20 feet of water! Other times the mahi were found outside at the buoys. Near the south end of Cerralvo, spots of wahool were seen and several hooked and lost. As well, again rumors or fast break tuna were seen moving with the dolphin, but not slowing down enough to jump on them.

Inshore, the roosters (between 5 and 30 pounds), big jack crevalle and pompano tore up the guys near the beaches. In the rocks, pargo liso and dog tooth snapper (cubera snapper) were on the hunt and were willing to bite but NOT ready to be dragged to the boat so we lost quite a few of those beasts this week. As well, mix in good numbers of sierra, snapper, and cabrilla as well as smaller yellowtail, rainbow runners, amberjack and bonito and it made for an action-packed day!

Check out this week’s video clip!

TAILHUNTER IS NOW AN AUTHORIZED DEALER FOR LICENSES

By the way, Tailunter International is now an authorized dealer to sell fishing licenses. It’s a pain in the butt to get licenses if you have ever tried in Mexico, but now, we can sell them direct!

Have a great week! That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

Tailhunter International

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PHOTO 1: Cole Chavira from the San Diego area has been in our reports probably more than anyone over the years. This young man is GOOD! He’s often got big fish in his hands and here he holds an incredible and rare Baja Grouper. On top of it all, knowing their scarcity, he released the fish! Caught north of La Paz near Espiritu Santo Island.

PHOTO 2: No stranger to La Paz fishing, my amigo, Charlie “Stix” McGhee has fished with us many times and I’ve done quite a few long range trips with him also. Not many better! He holds up a quality La Paz yellowtail here while standing on the beach at Balandra. Charlie lives in Poway CA . Expect to see him here again in a few weeks when he comes back to La Paz for our Cabin Fever Classic.

PHOTO 3: Mitch Chavira comes down about 3 times a year. I’ve taken so many pictures of him over the time he’s one of our regular poster boys. He not only catches fish, but he looks good doing it too! He got this beast of an amberjack fishing north of La Paz while yo-yo-ing blue and white iron! Amberjack can get up to 100 pounds in our waters and are the big cousin to yellowtail.

PHOTO 4: Robinson Whitaker came all the way from Gainesville GA where he attends a military academy to come fishing with his dad. Check out the flat waters! They were able to get outside and get into some nice dorado with Captain Jorge including this nicer early season dorado.

PHOTO 5: You gotta love it! Eric Mikity from Chino CA rocked his first roosterfish this past week as well as some other fishing including dorado and got to scuba dive for the firs time as well. Great pose! He plans to come back with dad later this year and get his scuba certification with us now that he’s gotten a taste!

PHOTO 6: “There must have been 30 dorado around the boat!” said our buddy Rob McClean from S.California as he and his sister, girlfriend and uncle tore into a big school of mahi just off Las Arenas. “We had to pull away from all these fish. There were too many. We told the captain to go inside and look for pargo. The dorado were too easy!”

MORE WIND AND SOME SURPRISE BIG FISH PACE THE WEEK

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of April 12-18, 2009

It’s hard to describe the fishing week. Everyone got fish, but some days were better than others. Some anglers (as you can see by the photos this week), got some real NICE fish. Some boats could be right next to others and slam fish after fish while the boat 30 yards away would have a slower day.

A lot right now depends on the weather. Winds are still irregular. In the span of a day, the wind can change several times in intensity as well as direction. That makes for some churned up water so consequently, most of our fishing is out of Muertos Bay. Those who did brave the stronger winds out of La Paz, got some BIG TIME slugger fish, but some days they were bounced all over the place. It just depended on the level of discomfort you were willing to handle!

Then, some days…it was flat flat flat! It’s just that time of year.

In addition to the weather, talent and experience had a lot to do with it as well. There’s a lot of easy fun fish around…sierra, roosters, cabrilla, smaller snapper, bonito…but the bad boys…the yellowtail, the bigger pargo liso and dog tooth snapper, the amberjack…it’s not like you jump in the boat and say, “I want to catch yellowtail and pargo today!” like you’re ordering up a Happy Meal at McDonald’s. These are tough fish. They got big because they know how to attack and fight. They’re not gonna just let you pull them into the boat and they have everything in their favor like rocks and reefs.

I had two guys come back one day grumbling because all they got were some bonito and some sierra and if you looked at their scores, it seemed like they had a so-so day. They weren’t very happy. However, I talked to my captain and he told me they lost 6 bigger pargo or yellowtail and just weren’t fast enough or strong enough to rip back on the fish. These are trophy fish. Dorado are nice. It’s easier to catch them because once they are hooked they don’t try to climb back down into a cave or something. They’re generally in bluer water with nothing but blue around them so you can fight them. Even pulling a 20-pound pargo to the boat takes well…for basically all the stars lined up in your favor!

Of course, then there is always the newbie rookie that gets 4 on his first day fishing and says, “What’s the big deal?” I guess that’s fishing!

Anyway, the old adage seems to have held true this week. Fewer fish but bigger fish were found by my La Paz anglers. (Yellowtail and Roosters) More fish and more variety were caught by my anglers that fish with our Las Arenas/Muertos Bay fleet. (Sierra, bonito, smaller yellowtail, cabrilla, snapper, pargo, dorado, roosterfish)

Bait has been fine, but there’s a lot of birds right now too making it a pain to slow troll with bait somedays. I would recommend that if you can, bring some smaller Rapala-type lures. They’re effective in trolling and getting down and away from the birds.

One thing to keep an eye on…the waters are REALLY warm! I”m not sure how much longer the yellowtail and other cool water fishes will be around. It’s starting to feel alot like late spring fishing already!

That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: http://www.tailhunter-international.com/

U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745

Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

Phones: from USA : 626-638-3383from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report: http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

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PHOTO 1: The hated ones! Pelicans lining up at the buffet!

PHOTO 2: Waiting below if you can just away from the birds! Lemons into lemonade?

PHOTO 3: Some of the crank baits and swim baits you can use to get below the surface and away from pesky birds.

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