That's My Story

PHOTO 1 – I couldn’t resist! Smiles say it all This is 5-year-old Ezra Kinsche. Came out with mom and dad (see below) for his first trip. He got his first dorado and had a great time, but more fascinated with catching puffer fish! Dorado continued on the chew big time for La Paz anglers this past week!

WAHOO BLOW UP AT LAS ARENAS WITH TUNA – DORADO GETTING BIGGER – MARLIN STILL BENDING RODS – A GREAT WEEK OF FISHING!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Aug. 5, 2007

PHOTO 2 – Not bad for first time fishing! Nice batch of mahi! Fewer schoolies and more bulls were showing up north of La Paz with fish going 15-30 in many cases with larger 40-50 pound bulls!

PHOTO 3: Kevin Beehn came is from San Francisco CA area, but flew in from Istanbul, Turkey for day of fishing to get his girlfriend out for her first time fishing. They got a batch of nice dorado as well as tuna. It’s been a nice surprise getting such a great mix for our La Paz boats. The bite is straight north out’ve the bay between Cerralvo Island and Espirit Santo with several nice spots of fish!

PHOTO 4: Here’s 5-year-old Ezra Kinche again but this time with mom and dad. They came all the way out from the East Coast. There’s a great story here. Ten years ago, they were living in Ventura CA and came out to La Paz to fish with us. Ed proposed to Katie here in La Paz. He almost did it on a panga with Captain Victor! Anyway, Katie said yes and they moved to the East Coast. This was their first time back and they slammed the tuna by 9 a.m. in the morning and brought back their 5 year old son, Ezra. Great week for tuna fishing and one we’ve waited for a long time! The fish are south of the island but as close as a hundred or so yards off the beach! When they crash, it can be a frenzy!

PHOTO 6: Neil and Kathy Soto from San Bernardino CA have been visiting for a long time and some of the nicest folks you’d ever want to meet. Each time down they always came with a group or with the family. Well, the kids are finally up and grown so they did a spontaneous trip to get into the dorado bite. Kathy had never been on the boats with Neil and she did great. The dorado are swimming solo…at least the larger ones are, but the fish are also hitting in schools and swarms where an empty day can suddenly turn into madness as 10, 20, 30 or more fish suddenly appear and crash the panga. Just be ready and have extra rods ready to go. The secret is not to lose that first fish. If it swims away…bye bye school ! Don’t get cocky and farm that first fish!

PHOTO 7 : For those of you who fish La Paz before, when was the last time you saw a catch like this? Dorado PLUS tuna!!!! Both La Paz and Las Arenas are kicking out both species right now. As I recall, this was the first day’s catch! This filled up two ice chests. They still had two more days of fishing to do!

PHOTO 8 – I couldn’t help but put this photo in. Shawn Cooper took this great striped marlin photo of his son’s first marlin Great shot. Marlin have been balled up around our area from the East Cape to well north of us in La Paz and they are finally chewing! Big time! We encourage releasing these guys whenever you can because it is not unusual to hook more than one of these a day. One boat this week hooked 5. Another hooked 4. All fish were released!

PHOTO 9 : Gina has the knack for big dorado. She never fails. Gina is from the Pasadena/ Sierra Madre area of Los Angeles and fishing with Capt. Chito, she’s always into the big bulls. Over three days she got marlin, tuna and billfish including her first marlin.

PHOTO 10: Mitch Kawamoto is in the middle of John Knowles (left) and John Dunne (right) and they’re holding up a whopper of a sailfish. Mitch is a long-time experienced long-range fisherman and is about 5 feet tall and weighs about as much as my tackle box! Everyone always pulls for Mitch. He had a couple of bad trips the last time down although everyone else got plenty of fish. This time, Mitch got the sailfish, marlin, tuna, and dorado. No shortage of sashime meat for his cooler!

THE FISH REPORT !!!!

This was perhaps one of the best and most consistent fishing weeks of the season. If you had a line in the water you got bit and everyone who wanted fish in the cooler took home fish in the cooler. It didn’t matter whether you chose to fish with our Las Arenas or our La Paz fleet although some anglers preferred one over the other, not because of the fishing action but because they preferred one type of species over the other

For one, our Las Arenas anglers were all over the yellowfin tuna this past week. Nothing big but yellowfin in the 10-20 pound class were all over the rods and eating in a nice arc between the south side of Cerralvo over to the Arenas lighthouse then down towards Punta Perico and south to Pescadero. It’s been awhile since we’ve had an nice bite like this. However, even more incredible was the explosion of wahoo once again on the high spots south of Cerralvo Island. Guys come for years looking for wahoo and never get a sniff. Unbelievably, there were a few days this past week when the boats AVERAGED 2-4 wahoo biters A DAY with some hoos as large as 60 pounds. Darrell Manginelli is one of our long-time amigos. He’s my new hero and king of the wahoo. I lost count, but I think he got 7 this week including 4 or 5 on one day and that doesn’t include the ones that got off! That is UNHEARD OF ! You should see what his purple Rapala looks like. At one point he wanted to get a new one, but I told him, “There’s a reason they like that lure. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it!”

Roll that into a box full of tuna, add in a few dorado, perhaps a billfish or pargo and you’ve filled the ice chest in one day!

The ticket on the wahoo continues to be the dark purple and black/white Rapalas, Marauders and Yo-zuri’s.

For our La Paz fleet, more outstanding dorado fishing with the mahi now getting away from schoolie fish and more consistently in the 15-30 pound class. The biggest problem some days was knowing when to stop and adhere to limits because when the dorado swarm the pangas it could be pandemonium with every rod going off. Additionally, the marlin continued to be thick with multiple hook ups on numerous occasions with stripers as well as sailfish and the occasional blue marlin ripping into the baits.

WANT A HOTEL ANYONE????

Everyone keeps asking. I thought it had just been sold, but apparently not. Hotel Las Arenas is for sale if you got the fat wallet! Click this:

http://www.doradoproperties.info/detalle.php?id=011-12&en=true

If you buy it, make sure to let me know!!! I’ll send you my resume!

ALASKA AIRLINES CHEAP FLIGHTS!!!!

Alaska Airlines has some cheap rates again!!! Go directly to the airlines or their website. Hook it up. The sale goes on for several months and seats are below $300 bucks round trip Los Angeles/ La Paz. Call us to set up the hotel and fishing!

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

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

Phone: (626) 333-3355

FAX: (626) 333-0115

E-Mail: Riplipboy@aol.com

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

Mexico Office: Carr. a Pichilingue KM 5, Numero 205, La Paz, Baja Cal Sur, Mexico

“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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GOING NOWHERE FAST!

Published the week of July 30 in Western Outdoor News

We gringos are in such a hurry. Everything has to be FAST! We want to get down here to Baja as fast as we can on the fastest non-stop planes. Then… Into our hotels and onto our boats and out on the fishing grounds as soon and as fast as we can.

Even our other leisure activities, are fast! We invented “fast food” and live by the microwave even on vacations. We book waverunners and off-road vehicles and dance to FAST music in the nightclubs. Look out if our hotel does not have “high speed” internet.

And then there’s guys like Captain Manuel. Manuel is 45, but looks 55 with salt and peppered hair; calloused hands from years of fishing and skin weathered from more sun than any SPF could protect you from. The lines of his face are permanently creased from squinting without sunglasses into the glare of the Baja sun and the Cortez’ rippled waters for fish that will feed his family; please a fishing client; or draw the highest prices in the fish stalls at the mercado publico.

He doesn’t say much, but laughs a lot and most of the lines on his face are from smiling more often than not.

And today was one of those days when it was just him and me on the panga. Our mutual client begged off the day after his evening’s rendezvous with the three Mexicans of the apocalypse Don Julio, El Patron and Senor Cuervo. He was in no mood or condition to fish so I found myself guiding no one.

But the boat was paid for and it has been awhile since I had spent time with Manuel so off we went to go fishing…in a loose sort of way. There’s not a day that I don’t learn something new out on the water and today was no exception but it had nothing to do with fishing.

The season had already been long. Manuel was in no particular hurry to find fish and I didn’t particularly care either. I had lunches and drinks for two so like a couple of Baja Huck Finn’s we baited some hooks; tossed them overboard and let’ em soak. No pressure. No hurry. Lazy sunshine Baja day. The radio crackled with other pangas catching fish, with that inane captains chatter that on one understands, but so what? We lay back across the panga benches and tipped our hats over our eyes!

“So what do you think about the Patriots chances to get back to the Super Bowl?” he asked in Spanish after a prolonged silence of soaking sunshine.

“What? The Patriots? What do you know about American football?” I asked surprisedly taken off-guard. “I thought you all watch soccer!”

“Several of the captains now have satellite TV so we all watch sports. Mexico’s soccer team is terrible this year so we have started watching more American football and of course, there is always BASEBALL!” Manuel said with relish. “ Viva Los Yankees de Nueva York!”

I couldn’t help but smile. I’m thinking most of the captains have dirt and concrete floors with chickens running around, but they have a sat dish sticking onto a wall!

I laughed. “Ever been to the United States, Manuel?”

“Nunca” (never), he replied.

“Ever want to go to Disneyland or Hollywood? ( I thought everyone did!) “

“No.” He shrugged with a smile.

“Maybe Tijuana?” I continued

“No reason to.” He said stifling a siesta yawn.

“Cabo San Lucas? “(only 3 hours drive away). I queried.

“Maybe one time a year. But only if it’s absolutely necessary to visit my mother-in-law.” (Had to nod to that line of reasoning).

“Really? Not even Cabo? “

“For what?” Manny looked at me now with grinning cheeks. He knew where this was going.

“Well, how often do you go to La Paz? It’s only an hour away. For shopping? Entertainment? “

“Why? Maybe 4 times a year for a car part,” replied Manny now sitting up shrugging.

“Oye (Listen). “Everything I need is close to the pueblo. My home. My wife. My friends. We buy tortillas and some meat. We trade for cheese and vegetables at the ranchos (farms) for my fish I catch. I raised 3 grown children, thanks to God. All of them graduated from the university and I am very proud. One is a teacher. One works for a big shipping company. My youngest has just become a dentist. I have nietos (grand kids) and their parents bring them to see me and tell me stories of all the places they go and see. It is enough. I am content.”

He lay back down on the panga bench hat over eyes.

“And there is always satellite TV and that should be enough for any man,” said Manny from under his hat. “As long as los Yankees de Nueva York win…”

He pulled down his baseball hat over his eyes to doze.

Enough for any man.

I reached into my backpack and turned off the ringers for my two cell phones and my Blackberry and tilted my own straw hat over my eyes. Wouldn’t want to wake Manuel.

We drifted and swung in the current on the anchor chain. I don’t even think I had bait on my hook and didn’t care. Going nowhere fast in the Baja. And the sun felt good.

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

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PHOTO 1: Check out the colors on this incredible bull dorado. Shawn James of Los Angeles had just about wrapped up his day at Las Arenas with Captain Victor and were headed in. Just a few yards off the beach, the spotted a school or dorado and this big bull slammed his bait. Fish on! You won’t see many pristine dorado photos like this!

TUNA – DORADO – MARLIN TAKE CENTER STAGE (FINALLY!)

LA PAZ / LAS ARENAS FISHING REPORT FOR JULY 28, 2007

PHOTO 2: Lookie ! Lookie! Can that really be….TUNA???? Yellowfin tuna spread on the cutting table off Las Arenas. Boats did really well this week on the footballs with fish being caught by both our Las Arenas and (surprise) even our La Paz fleet too! Rob Lloyd (left) and Jan Laes had came all the way from Washington state and had some banner days with us this week getting tuna, dorado, and marlin on their first trip to La Paz.

PHOTO 3: Classic La Paz photo this week. Pristine beach. Blue water. Blue panga. Rack of nice dorado. This is Tino Fernandez holding the big bulls. He and his buddies from the Central Valley area of California (Chuck Hunter/ Chad Hunter / Randy Darnell ) beat up on some fish and get this…donated more than 100 pounds of fish to the orphanage here in La Paz!

PHOTO 4: Not bad for a first timer on her first day!!! Michelle Durston gets an assist from Captain Jorge with this big bull. That was about all the help she needed. In two days fishing she packed the coolers with alot of dorado fillets. The dorado are in full force most days right now for both my La Paz and my Las Arenas fleets.

PHOTO 5: This is Tom Moon and Captain “Pelon” Roberto Carballo. Last year, Tom had to cancel when Aero California stopped flying to La Paz, but came back this year. On his first day, he got a great mix of dorado and these yellowfin tuna fishing with his buddy Rob Wood. Both are from the Los Angeles area. Surprisingly the yellowfin are popping up for our La Paz fleet. Normally, most of our tuna bite around Las Arenas, but for the last few weeks, the tuna bite has gotten stronger and stronger. Most of the fish are coming on trolled feathers with the average size being 5-15 pounds.

THE FISHING REPORT

“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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FISHING THE JUG!

Originally published the week of July 22, 2007 in Western Outdoor News

Fishermen are an inventive lot. If you ever have any doubt, take a look sometime in a fishing gear catalog like Bass Pro, West Marine, Melton’s or any of a number of online websites that cater to the needs of us anglers to have the coolest gadget, device or “next hot thing.”

The best example is to just take a look in the lure section. The lure section for bass lures is a prime classic example. I mean, how many types of crankbaits, jerk baits, plastic frogs or wiggle worms can there be? How many do you really need? Ask any good bass fisher and, of course, he or she will say, “All of them!” Each touts to be the most “deadly of the deadly” or my favorite, “made for fishermen BY fishermen!” (Of course they area!)

But if any garage-tinkering angler can come up with a better idea, we certainly will! We anglers are constantly plagued by the “What if?” disease and off we go to mold, hammer, construct the “next best thing!”

Well, being down here at “ground zero” I certainly have seen some interesting inventions and gadget. Not all of them are bad either and a number of them work! Some are actually marketing commercially now, but others are as homemade as your grand daddy’s sawhorse.

One amigo came down with a pair of shorts where the clips on his fighting belt/rod holder were already built into the reinforced waistband of the shorts. When he was ready to fight, he merely clipped his fighting pad into the two drop clips on either side and he was ready to go. That was a good one.

Another guy came down who was convinced that the faster the jigging the more fish you would catch. So, he took his Penn 500 reel and turned it into a virtual dragster of 15:1 ratio! It had a sideplate that stuck out a good 2 extra inches on the side of the handle to accommodate the extra gears as well as a larger handle and the whole contraption looked every-bit like it came out’ve a high-school shop class. It sure made a lure buzz through the water. Only problem was that when it got hit by even a bonito, it was almost impossible to turn the handle and get any torque. I think he went back to the drawing board.

My vote, however, for the best and most humorous of the year (so far) is something called “jug fishing.” That got my eye-brows raised when I first heard of it. Our amigo, Bill Kennedy and his sons brought it down and swore that it slayed the fish in Panama. OK…I’m all ears and eyes!

Let me see if I can explain. They showed up with a 5 gallon jug. Affixed to this was a length of heavy leader. To this leader was attached either a trolling feather or hook for live bait. There was also a clip whereby this huge device could be clipped to a rod.

If they were trolling and a fish hit, the big jug would disengage itself from the rod. Same if they were drifting a live bait.

Follow me on this. The fish would grab the bait or lure. It would then go swimming off trailing this ultra buoyant jug usually unable to drag it underwater. It would go zipping off and around as it tried to escape. Do you remember the movie, “Jaws” where huge buoys were attached to the line and the shark swam off with it?
Same idea! Even if the fish pulled it down for awhile, it would eventually pop up!

In the meantime, back on the boat…

The fishermen popped beers and watched the jug go this way and that. They would high five each other and pop more beers. The “size” of the fish was described in terms of being a “1 beer,” “2 beer,” 3 beer,” etc. fish by how long the fish fought. Or judged by how deep the jug was pulled underwater via dark black hash marks on the side of the jug that could be seen from the boat.

When the jug stopped moving, they moved the boat and simply handlined the fish. No sweat! The swore they got tuna and wahoo in Panama “jug fishing” and got several dorado fishing with our own fleet here.

At some point, I think the beer drinking began to take precedence over the fishing. The clue for me was when one of them got off the boat happily proclaiming they had drank “24 beers before noon” yet only 1 medium dorado ( certainly rating no more than a “1 beer” status) was in the fish box. These guys knew how to enjoy themselves and that ultimately is what fishing is about.

Me? I prefer to battle my fish old school style. Maybe I’m just funny like that, but I like to have a bent rod in my hand. However, I can certainly think of a lot of guys who would consider any device which kept your hands free to pop another cerveza while catching fish smacks of inspired genius.

I’m sure one of you readers is now hustling down to the basement to build your own and we’ll see these in the 2008 catalogs and at all the fishing shows!

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

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PHOTO 1: Now THIS is a BEAST!!! Dan Ferialdi from Pasadena pulled this bad boy off one of the many buoys off Las Arenas. He hit the honey hole as the buoy produced several huge dorado including this one that bottomed out a 50 pound scale! Take a look at the head of this bull dorado and the fact that Dan is about 5’9″ and the tail of this thing is still on the deck!

DORADO AND MARLIN SET THE PACE STILL TRYING TO GET IN GEAR WITH MORE TUNA STARTING TO POP UP!

LA PAZ- LAS ARENAS FISHING REPORT FOR JULY 22, 2007

PHOTO 2: This is a great shot for many many reasons. Bill Albright was an avid fisherman until 21 years ago when he ended up in a wheelchair. He had not been fishing since then. With the help of his family…We got him into a panga and on the water at Las Arenas with Captain Jorge and he got himself this nice bull dorado as well as some others and a pompano. The smile says it all. We were all pulling and glad he got to pull again too on some fish! Bill is a great guy being very patient with all of us. He’s out on the water again as I type this!

PHOTO 3: Jessie Pfost is 19 and just finished her first year of college and stands here with Captain Joel, one of our favorite guys. She was out for a few hours in rough conditions and got a handful of dorado although we had to work up to getting her to touch the bait! We’re working on it and she’s a great sport.

PHOTO 4: Now here’s a nice handfull of mahi mahi! Randy Darnell has 5 bull dorado he and his partner caught fishing this week on the La Paz side. The bite was anemic at times as we got more winds, but you could go all day and not find a thing then hit one spot in the last 15 minutes and all heck breaks loose! The thing to do is keep at it and keep a line in the water. As I tell guys, you are only 1 bait away from turning a good day into an awesome day and if you don’t have a rod in the water you’re DEFINITELY not going to catch a fish unless one jumps in the boat!

PHOTO 5: Pete Mason holds up a regulation keeper dorado. This is the kind of schoolie we’re getting right now…or should be! Conditions are still a few weeks behind schedule of where they should be as far as weather and water. Hence, the fish are also a little late as well, but we’re seeing a more consistent bite weekly on the nicer grade of dorado like this one held by Pete.

PHOTO 6: Roger Smith and Ralph Crayton from Los Angeles were fun to have around. They’re holding a few of their Las Arenas dorado here. The dorado are eating the sardines as well as feathers very well. The key is NOT to lose any fish! If you bust off that first fish, it will often take the rest of the school with it and you’re gonna be bummed as that might be your ONLYchance to get into the school so having your “A” game together doesn’t hurt!

PHOTO 7: Now here’s an interesting shot! Look closely. That’s my amigo, Bob Horton, maker of Toad Tamer Rods in Palm Springs CA holding the 80 pound rooster. Up front is my other good amigo, Rabbi Shelly Donnel who makes his residence in Israel these days! If you look closely at the mouth of the roosterfish and in front of the skipper’s face, you will see a huge fin and back end of a snapper. That’s about a 5 pound snapper! The darned fish inhaled the huge snapper and basically kinda choked on it while Bob fished it mightily. Talk about jamming the whole meal in your mouth!!!

THE FISHING REPORT

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THE ROARING SILENCE OF BEING IGNORED

Originally Published the Week of July 15, 2007 in Western Outdoor News

The controversial Shark Norma laws that went into effect in May allowing commercial fishermen to come within 15 miles of the shore as well as indiscriminately take, kill and sell commercial fish such as tuna, dorado and marlin (not to mention turtles, sealions and rays) seems to be going nowhere fast on the political scene. However, at ground zero, the effects are difficult to ignore.

It has been almost two months since Cabo San Lucas was marked by protest marches and burning boats. It has been more than a month since delegates from Baja rushed their concerns and pleas to the federal government in Mexico asking for modifications of the Shark Norma plan which purports to save sharks, but realistically will devastate Baja’s sportfishing industry. Thousands upon thousands of letters and petitions have been sent to the Mexican government.

So far the word from Mexico City is deafening silence! Not a word. Not a howdy-doody. Not an acknowledgment that there’s trouble in River City or that Rome is burning.

In the meantime, here’s some snapshots from the trenches:

“For the first time in 25 years, my regular June fishing trip to Loreto was essentially a bust. Few billfish and few decent sized Dorado MAY have been caused by cooler than normal water temps, but I suspect that the commercial fishing fleets and Shark Norma 029 are really to blame. Specifically, I’m writing to tell you both that I actually caught them in the act at Punta Pulpito, 40 miles north of Loreto. They had virtually cleaned out the yellowtail by the time my panga (and three others) got there. Upon seeing us approaching, the commercial guys immediately recalled their six pangas back to the mother ship and weighed anchor. They headed south toward Loreto, but pulled into a bay and waited for us to leave. As soon as we did, they motored right back to Punta Pulpito and presumably resumed operations,” writes B. Summer, Las Vegas NV.

Ed Hoffman owns a place in Puerto Escondido. “The fishing here in Loreto has been terrible the last two weeks. We feel its is because of the long liners. Very few Dorado, Sails or Marlin are being caught in a 100 mile radius. . . I fished the tournament on Saturday. Did not get a bite but saw a lot of (commercial) floats. All 73 boats fished north and south up to 70 miles almost no fish.”

Fishermen vs. Fishermen. In the La Paz area, local commercial pangeros have allegedly been doing ninja work in the evenings cutting the valuable long lines of the big commercial boats who threaten the local fisheries. Reportedly the big commercials have retaliated by running over and destroying the buoys local fishermen use to attract dorado and sharks.

Off Chileno Beach east of Cabo, both the Mexican Navy and sportfishers were reportedly instrumental in chasing off an 80’ Mexican commercial boat that was laying it’s nets. There were some rumors that the sportfishers threatened to board it and burn it if it didn’t leave.

The Mexican Navy captured one commercial boat off the East Cape that had 3000 pounds of marlin and 4000 pounds of shark.

I don’t know, fish brothers. These are just the tip of what’s going on down here. The local political parties are denouncing the new laws as illegal and it seems the whole peninsula, rightfully so, has their underwear all bunched up. And still, not a word from the heartland in Mexico. Silence. Nothing like being ignored.

On another front. . .

CNN reports that the government has further eased the passport requirements after the FUBAR situation that was created this past January requiring EVERYONE to get passports. According to CNN, Homeland Security now says:

Travelers now have more time to gather the secure travel documents they will need at U.S. land and sea entry points when a new identification requirement plan is fully implemented.A requirement for U.S. citizens to show passports at land crossings into the United States from Canada and Mexico was scheduled to be fully implemented next January, but now will not go into full effect until summer 2008, the departments said.But the new plan includes a preliminary phase: Beginning Jan. 31, travelers will be required to present some form of government-issued photo ID at land and sea ports. New rules also will apply to residents of Canada, Mexico and Bermuda.Currently, U.S. residents arriving by land are not required to present any documentation, although driver’s licenses, passports and other government identification can greatly ease a traveler’s crossing.

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

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PHOTO 1: “BIRTHDAY JACK!” Now THIS is a fish. This is an amberjack (pez fuerte). It was Wes Howard’s birthday and he said he wanted a BIG fish! Well…imagine this toad of a fish! Wes got it at the south end of Cerralvo Island fishing with Captain Ramiro. It was over 100 pounds because it was put on a 100 pound scale and bottomed out the scale! Wes is 6’2″ and weighs 340 pounds and this fish STILL looks HUGE!!!
PHOTO 2: MORE BIRTHDAY JACK! Here’s the rest of the story. This bad boy bit a sardine on a little 1/0 hook and Wes fought it out of the rocks for 2 1/2 hours on 25 pound test!!! Quite an accomplishment. After this, Wes didn’t want to fish another day. He also got dorado and rock fish as well. Great birthday fish!

DORADO FINALLY KICK IT UP A NOTCH WITH MARLIN STILL MILLING ABOUT!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for July 15, 2007

PHOTO 3: Las Arenas started kicking out more of the “right kind” of dorado this past week. Here’s a slugger bull dorado being held by “Pirate” Ed Santillan of Mira Loma CA. Punta Coyote is in the background. These bulls were sometimes freeswimmers but other times, you hopped from buoy to buoy hoping to hit the right one. You could hit 10 and find nothing or hit the right one and watch the waters explode with fish fighting to get to your bait!

PHOTO 5: These were some of the funniest guys we’ve had in a long time. Great times whenever they’re around. Here, Albert Salazar, Mike Sergiuff, Oscar Howard and Gerry Burford strike a dorado pose for us. All the guys are from the San Gabriel Valley area near Los Angeles.

PHOTO 6: Ricky Fraysure from Palmdale CA has one of the best eating fish around right now. He’s holding a big African pompano. These fishe are just about 30 yards off the beach in front of the Arenas light house and have a propensity to eat a sardine with a small weight atached. This fish is huge. Ricks a big guy and this thing is the size of an XL pizza plate that feeds 10 people.

PHOTO 7 : It’s been a great week for striped marlin around here. Multiple hook ups and multiple sightings every day. Somedays they won’t eat and others…they almost attack the boat. More than once this past week, anglers told me they were hooked up to one or two only to have others circling the boat at the same time! Most are fortunately being released.

PHOTO 8: Bob Gonzalez (right) came down this week and told me, “I just really want to catch at least ONE dorado! I’ve never caught one. If I catch just one, it will make my trip!” Well, he got more than just one. He put quite a few fillets in the ice chest. Norm Schickling shares the Kodak moment with a couple of excellent bull mahi.

PHOTO 9 : Sometimes the rookies do the best! Bill Johnson from Running Springs CA (left) and Steve Robles (right) openly told everyone, “We don’t know what the heck we’re doing! We’ll be happy to catch needlefish!” Well, on their first day each of them spent 45 minutes on each of these nice bulls in a double-hook up. “I was so tired! Crazy fish kept going round and round the boat!” said Steve. Captain Francisco stands front and center.

PHOTO 9: This is Jerry Mason’s lure showing what teeth can do to a purple Rapala! These are the big Rapalas’ I’ve been telling you to bring down for months! Jerry said it took one wahoo, but two big amberjack. This is the lure you want to keep! The more scars the better! If it’s not broke…don’t fix it!!!

PHOTO 10: Everyone asks, “What’s an amberjack?” and “What does it taste like?” Well, if you like yellowtail as a sportfish or as eating fish or you enjoy yellowtail (hamachi) at your favorite sushi restaurant…that’s AMBERJACK! The Mexicans call it “Pez Fuerte” (the strong fish) and these bronze bulldozers run from 5 to over 100 pounds and are the big cousins to yellowtail. The meat is fuller and more flavorful as it eats a variety of foods including…well, just about anything it wants like clams, mussels, crabs, lobsters, other fish….so the meat reflects all these great flavors. Dorothy Danielson of Palmdale CA put the hurt to this big boy. Captain Jaibo looks on. Dorothy got this amber off the islands. Amberjack have been a great surprise these past few weeks.

PHOTO 11: Steve Artis was one of our first guys to sign up his reservations this year. He and his amigos really worked hard at their fishing and hung tough. Steve came from Antioch CA and holds the kind of bull dorado we’ve been known for, but have been elusive until recently as waters finally started to warm. Las Arenas waters are a good 5 degrees warmer than the waters north of La Paz which only finally turned blue.

PHOTO 12: Two sea turtles doing the “wild thing.” Absolutely no privacy these days! Unfortunately, on the darker side, these guys are endangered and even possessing a single turtle egg can result in a year in a Mexican jail. But that does not stop folks from killing and selling both the turtles and their eggs which are considered a delicacy. Turtles just doing their onw thing on the surface are especially vulnerable. The only think taken were some great photos.

PHOTO 13: Abolutely no reason for this photo other than it’s another “day at the office” and a beautiful Sea of Cortez sunrise to be thankful for with friends and family and a promising day of fishing.

PHOTO 14: Bob Ames from Texas was on his first trip with us here to La Paz and had his hands full with this jack crevalle or “toro” (bull) as the Mexicans call it for it’s feistyness. They don’t taste good, but they make up for it in brute fishing strength. Famous Captain Jorge smiles from behind.

PHOTO 15: This is Harriet. She’s with Bob, above! She’s from Texas too and Jorge is helping here with another of these great jack crevalle. Schools of these jacks up to 30 pounds have been rampaging in front of the Las Arenas beaches especially near the old lighthouse.

THE FISH REPORT

Fishing definitely got better this week as waters warmed and we lost some of the green currents that hurt us for several weeks. Lots of marlin in the area and it was not uncommon for the pangas to get multiple strikes although at times numerous marlin simply teased the boat and swam away. Dorado were biting better for both our Las Arenas and La Paz fleet. It’s still behind the curve of what we normally see, but there was a marked increase as the week went on. Lots of wahool still swimming around the S.end of Cerralvo Island, but sometimes that’s all they did was swim and not bite! Pargo, cabrila, amberjack and roosters still offering great action inshore.

Overall, I would have to say that early in the week, Las Arenas was the place to fish. Waters were easily warmer by a good 3-4 degrees around that south side of Cerralvo Island. As a result…The bite was simply more consistent and there was alot more variety. No particular fish was wide open, but as you walked the beach, you’d see that boats would have some dorado, the occasional tuna, some billfish, amberjack (see the photos above!), pompano, roosterfish, pargo, some wahoo, cabrila, jack crevalle, etc. It was a good mix. If you were out at the buoys and hit the right buoy, you could easily slam some 30-50 pound dorado. The secret was hitting the RIGHT buoy that was holding fish. There’s something like 80 buoys just offshore. You could hit 20 and find nothing, but the boat ahead of you goes to buoy 21 and finds all the fish YOU were looking for. Luck of the draw.

As the week went on, the La Paz area finally got into the program. Most of the week, it was picky. A few dorado. Quite a few marlin, but not much consistent action although alot of guys hooked their first marlin with alot of stripers. Fortunately, many of the fish were released because sometimes a boat would hook 3 or 4 stripers. The bad thing… However, that could be the ONLY bite of the day with dorado going lockjaw most of the week. Later in the week, the waters got warmer and bluer and the dorado finally jumped in and boats on the weekend hit their pace with much much better dorado action with bigger and more fish and boat taking limits or near limits. We don’t do much trolling, but many of the larger fish were taking trolling feathers or slabs of fresh bonito.

It’s HOT down here! Bring the sunscreen and big hats! I kid you not!!! It may not feel like it, but it’s 100-104 right now. It doesn’t feel like it on the water, but believe me, it sucks it outta you so drink alot of water and lather the sunscreen. I’m seeing alot of macho guys who think they “never burn” fishing without their shirts all day who turn to lobsters and pay dearly for showing off their torsos all day. It’s not fun! Sunburn hurts!

DELTA AIRLINES

OK…this is getting old. I’ve been writing about this for months and guys still show up surprised.

1. Delta airlines IS charging for rod tubes if you’ve already checked-in two bags. It’s $100 bucks EACH way!!!! Combine as many rods in a tube as you can. The folks are the check-in desk…frankly suck. I’m sorry. Sometimes they charge and the next person doesn’t get charged. There’s no rhyme or reasons. I’ve heard them tell people that they charge if the tube is over 84 inches. I’ve heard them tell people they charge if it’s over 60 inches…even if it’s not your third piece of luggage. I heard one story from an angler who was simply told that his 7 foot tube was not going to be allowed at all…”because it won’t fit in the plane!” SAY WHAT???? Just be prepared. Argue at the counter. Tell ’em their idiots. They are. Even old Aero California was not this bad.

2. Delta Airlines stands for Don’t Expect Luggage To Arrive. It also means Delta Scare-lines! It seems that every single flight arrives and several people do not have their luggage. Delta routinely lightens their plane by taking luggage off. Yes…OFF!!! Or, once they are full, that’s it. The rest of the luggage has to wait for the next plane. Do not be one of those people. Be the FIRST in line.

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

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

Phone: (626) 333-3355FAX: (626) 333-0115

E-Mail: Riplipboy@aol.com

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

Mexico Office: Carr. a Pichilingue KM 5, Numero 205, La Paz, Baja Cal Sur, Mexico

“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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SUMMER TRAVEL HEADS UP!

Originally published week of July 9, 2007 in Western Outdoor News

I’m writing this and it’s 4th of July and I am jones-ing for a good old fashioned patriotic parade with flag waving, fried chicken, potato salad and barbecued corn and of course, fireworks. I never get to see that anymore. Say what you will about all the problems in the U.S., but from down here in Baja looking in, the U.S. still has it going on in spades. Judge a country by how many people want to get in! Much to be thankful for.

Now that the kids are outta school, summer vacation is in full swing and the bite finally seems to be on, let me throw some travel tips your way regarding Delta Airlines. We were really excited when Delta decided to bring flights into Baja. Good solid airline finally! Well, I don’t know wassup with them, but I think they are having some problems. I still have nightmares about all the problems last year with Aero California.

If you are travelling in September or October of this year on Delta, check your tickets and give your agent a call. Out of the blue, Delta canceled and changed many of it’s flights in the fall.

Interestingly, there was nothing on it’s website and several travel agents we contacted knew nothing about it. So, we got a hold of Delta’s Atlanta office. The initial agent knew nothing, but when we spoke with a supervisor, she was also surprised but after checking confirmed, “You’re right. We have canceled flights!” Oops!

Fortunately, most have not been canceled, but many more have had schedule changes or are no longer non-stop. You should check just to be safe. I’ve had several clients get refunds and book alternative flights.

Another heads up. In the last month, I have never seen an airlines lose so much luggage or plain even forget people! Even old Aero Cal wasn’t this bad when Cal’s poor service was so legendary that they got to be known as “Aero Maybe” and “Aero Scare-O” even by the Baja locals.

So many flights seem to be having trouble with missing luggage. I use the term “missing” loosely. It’s hard to call it “losing” sometimes. I don’t know if airlines are merely trying to save fuel costs or simply doesn’t anticipate that guys flying to the Baja are fishermen with ice chests and fishing rods, but some anglers have actually been sitting on the plane ready to take off and seen their ice chest and rods removed from the plane.

Some planes arrive and many of the anglers find that many of the ice chests and tubes have been left behind. That’s not “misplaced.” When one guy’s stuff doesn’t make the flight, that’s “misplaced.” When 20 guys arrive home without their rods, that’s a different story!

Insult to injury, some airlines (not all) charge as much as $100 for extra luggage and rod tubes! This is also happening for flights returning to the states as well. Ice chests filled with fish and tubes packed with rods, never make it back until days later. That does wonders for frozen fish.

As one of my amigos explained to me , who is himself a commercial airline pilot for another carrier, the planes are already packed to the max coming in. If you think about it, a Baja fisherman is now 30, 40, 50 pounds heavier with fish on the way out! He told me that it’s harder for a plane to lift off in hot weather so adjustments have to be made. Your tube full of sticks gets taken off or, heaven forbid, your ice chest full of fillets! It’s not like your trip to Alaska where fish boxes can be kept chilled at the airports.

Tips:

Be early. Last in line stands the great chance of not getting your luggage.
Put tags on all your luggage
Carry on all important documents, medicines, money or important items. Don’t check them in.
Combine as many rods into a tube as possible so you’re not paying extra when you don’t need to

I’m not saying don’t fly. Ninety-nine percent never have problems, but I’d hate for you to be one of the unlucky ones. Just be aware so as to minimalize any potential hitches in your flights down here to Baja so you have a great vacation.

Happy 4th of July everyone. Save me some potato salad. I’ll bring you up-to-date on Shark Norma developments next column. Getting ugly.

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

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PHOTO 1: Dave Crawford from Amarillo TX said he ALWAYS wanted to make the fishing report after visiting us numerous times. Well, Dave…you got it! He got this early morning fat wahoo off Cerralvo Island with the purple Rapala still dangling from it’s mouth! Although fishing started off really stingy, the wahoo sure burned a few reels off the south end of the island.

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for July 8, 2007

PHOTO 2: Scott Kendall (L) and Dave “Splash” Lopez from Canoga Park CA have been with us many times and always do well. Scott is holding a nice red snapper while Dave posts up a nice amberjack. They two got a number of different species including wahoo. For Las Arenas, fishing was still mixed with both topwater pelagic species as well as inshore species such as what Scott and Dave are holding.

PHOTO 3: Don’t mess with the baby! Actually, Dave Lopez shot this great photo of a “baby” whaleshark passing under the panga. This guy was only about 25-30 feet long. Docile and gentle these guys can get as big as 50 feet and will often let you swim with them. Don’t worry…they eat plankton but are, in fact, a true shark!

PHOTO 4: He lost 50 pounds (CONGRATULATIONS cuz he wasn’t even fat to begin with!) and got himself a dorado! Dave Berthold, our amigo from the East Coast turned 40 years old, lost 50 pounds; started kickboxing and came down (never wore a shirt for the whole week so he could pose for fotos!) and got himself this nice dorado. He was intent on getting a marlin which eluded him, but he sure did a number on some big dorado all week. He also has a great sense of humor…right Dave? Dave? He’s gonna beat me up after reading this. Boom! Kick to the head. Dorado got a little lockjawed this week. They were harder to come by. They are out there, but did not always want to eat. Larger ones ate lures trolled through the fishing grounds.

PHOTO 5: The East Coast has been well represented these past few weeks down here. Doug Hollinger from Trenton, NJ, was on his first trip down and hung this nice pair of dorado fishing near Espiritu Santo Island.

PHOTO 6: Our New Mexico buddy, Larry Daniel told me, “The more I fish here, the more I realize I have so much more to learn!” One of the nicest guys and easiet guys to have down here fishing, Larry is holding a barred pargo (pargo mulatto). These guys are still up around the rocks and can get pretty large. Great eating and tough fighters on the first few runs when they try to get back into their caves.

PHOTO 7: Rusty Koch, Morristown, NJ has his hands full with a sweet bull dorado. That’s Cerralvo Island in the background. Most of the dorado have been caught in the gap between Cerralvo and Espiritu Santo Island. Some days you’ll see a ton of these guys around and they won’t hit a thing. Other days, they literally eat the paint off the boat. I think we need our water temps to kick up just a few degrees more and it’s gonna bust wide open!

PHOTO 8: No, that is not me even tho’ it looks like my legs, but this is what happens when good people go bad! We had about 100 people every day this week and so we decided to toss a big taco feed party at the Sunset Bar on the pier. Great time.

PHOTO 9 : These taco feeds are a blast. Folks get into it…as you can tell ! That’s Sheila, Andrea, Yvette and Heather getting into it. Some folks left too early and missed the bar dancing and conga lines!

PHOTO 10: Nelson and Julie should just forget their day jobs and do this professionally up on the bar!

PHOTO 11: Keep folks happy by feeding them!

PHOTO 12: James Newman is from Monterey CA and is headed to the FBI academy in Virginia soon. He uses his power of investigative reasoning to try to figure out what this sign is saying. A “Boob” crossing? Dolly Parton Museum? Nuclear power plant?

THE FISHING REPORT

I won’t lie to you. It wasn’t our most shining fishing week for sure! It was pretty scratchy. Basically long periods of nothing punctuated by flurries of everything from pargo to marlin and wahoo to tuna, but the dry period in between could be quite a drag.

Water temps dropped 4 degrees earlier in the week and the fish simply went lockjaw. EVERYONE SAW FISH! Imagine schools of marlin and dorado that could care less what you threw at them. Imagine dorado and wahoo turning up their noises at baits tossed right in front of them or schools of marlin diving down when a mackerel was in front of them as if the mackerel had some kind of stink on it! Just weird!

But…that’s not to say we didn’t catch fish! On the contrary, everyone still went home with fish. You might have some down times, but there were still fish that were willing to bite and guys still got marlin, sails, wahoo, dorado, pargo, amberjack and other species. It was just hard to put your finger on the bite and certainly, you had to be either lucky or have your “A” game with you.

I would see the fish boxes with one or two fish in them and the disappointed look on the angler who would dejectedly tell me they had a “slow day.” Then, I would talk to the captain who would tell me that the angler who had a “slow day” also popped three fish off and had on a marlin or two, but farmed them! That’s actually a very GOOD day, but a bad CATCHING day! Hookups count!

If you farm fish or miss a bite, that could be your one and only shot so you have to be chilly and take your ops when you get them! You could come up on that one giant school of dorado that’s willing to chew, but if you lose ONE fish…it takes the school with it and it’s SEEE-yaaaaaa!!!! There’s goes the school. There goes the bite for ALL the boats. It’s not the captain’s fault. It’s not the bad water or bad bait. It’s pilot error!!!

But…that’s how it is…

La Paz waters were still green most of the week, so the dorado weren’t really interested, but let me tell ya…the marlin sure seemed to want to go! Boats were getting at least one marlin hook up a day or more! This was a great week to take a shot at a marlin if you were fishing on the La Paz side of town. Stripers were going about 100 pounds and there were also some blues hooked as well.

On the Las Arenas side, there were two stories. If you fished inside, you had a good shot at amberjack, pargo, cabrilla, jack crevalle and roosters. You could do that all day long OR…

You could go outside of hit the high spots and take a shot at wahoo or tuna or hit the right buoy and whack dorado. Understand this…there’s 80 or so buoys out there. It’s a matter of luck. Not everyone holds dorado. Much like kelp paddy fishing back in S.California. If you hit 6 of the wrong ones, you could go stink. If you hit the RIGHT one, it could make your day.

Toward the end of the week, fishing did pick up especially for our Las Arenas boats taking a number of different species and hopefully encouraging that we’ll get outta this bit of slump!

LAST THING…

If you’re flying in Delta and want your luggage to arrive with you…

1. Do NOT be the last in line. Be the first in line. Delta is leaving luggage behind on every trip both coming and going.

2. Put a label on all your luggage.

3. Do not pack your medicines, cash or important papers in your luggage. Carry it on with you!

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

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

Phone: (626) 333-3355

FAX: (626) 333-0115

E-Mail: Riplipboy@aol.com

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

Mexico Office: Carr. a Pichilingue KM 5, Numero 205, La Paz, Baja Cal Sur, Mexico

“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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