That's My Story

PHOTO 1: Yes…they are here! What a week. The yellowfin tuna showed up and rampaged through the fleets in a frenzy and in the kind of madness we rarely see. Captain Jorge holds up a YFT for Sara Moss. Notice how close to shore they are!

PHOTO 2: Nothing quite like yellowfin tuna coming closer to the boat. But this is often the time when anglers relax and the fish makes another blazing run to freedom and the anglers break off. The yellowfin started as 10 pounders, but by week’s end, they were in the 25 pound class.

PHOTO 3: Looking for the headshot with the gaff so as not to spoil the sweet meat, this tuna actually did not end up as sashime but was released as were many others. Limits at times were so easy that anglers went to circle hooks to more easily let the fish go!

PHOTO 4: Outdoor TV show host, Rick Kasper from Thousand Oaks CA, ripped this beauty of a bull dorado with the south end of Cerralvo Island in the background off Las Arenas. Captain Pancho lent a hand on the gaff.

PHOTO 5: Dennis Cadal and Alan Nojadera from the Ventura CA area hold up a paid of sweet bull dorado. The fish charged on the live bait while the guys were fishing from our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet. We’re crediting Al with catching the first yellowfin tuna of our season and starting the YFT bite we’ve got this week.

PHOTO: 5: These are some beasts! (The fish, not the fishermen!). Kris Kasper and Cole Thomas just graduated from high school and came down with their buddies to fish our area for the first time and slammed the dorado. These big fish were caught of Las Arenas Beach. That’s the new lighthouse in the background.

PHOTO 6: One of our best amigas, Wendy Fantozzi, with her favorite captain Victor hung all kinds of fish while here this week including pargo, amberjack and this beutiful bull dorado.

PHOTO 7 : The Utah clan of Anthony Schmidt (here for his daughter’s honeymoon) take a family pose with their dorado. The largest is a 32 pounder on the left.

PHOTO 8: Another great group shot…the Hardesty Boys…Nick, Jim, Rob and Scott hold up their fish…well, Jim is holding a zebra fish! Dorado were still going strong but tuna moved in this week.

PHOTO 9 : Al Silvas just took this great shot. Blue water. Big smile. Big fish. Life is good!

PHOTO 10 : Reg Powell came all the way from Colorado intent on getting a rooster on his flyrod. Here he hold the proof. The fish was released.

PHOTO 11: Frank Gillespie, Jr. from Utah. Puts the gaff into this bull dorado headed to the fish box.

FISH EXPLODE FOR ANGLERS AS TUNA CHARGE IN FORCE BUT DORADO POWER IN AS WELL FOR BEST WEEK OF THE SEASON!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 28 to July 4, 2009

We possibly had the best week of fishing of the entire season this past week. What a fish-rodeo! Yellowfin tuna made a surprise crash and literally foamed and exploded on our panga fleet. We had pangas coming in back to the beach early with shocked clients and bloody ice chests.

“It was nuts!”

“Never seen anything like that!”

“It was like the old days in Baja…fish everywhere! There were so many tuna around the boat then the dorado came blasting in!” were just some of the comments.

Folks were getting limits and telling us they were releasing as many fish as they caught. At the FUBAR we were vacuum sealing fish for hours each afternoon. The early showing of the tuna was the biggest news. These fish started at 10 pounds, but towards the end of the week 20-25 pound muscle fish were not uncommon. Folks were saying they couldn’t get baits in the water fast enough. The fish ate live bait, dead bait, lures, iron, surface poppers, flies…they weren’t picky and they came ‘en masse.” This wasn’t a pick bite. This was the full panzer division blitzkrieg on the fleets. On top of that, dorado would charge in as well as if they didn’t like getting the spotlight taken away from them. Fish up to 50 pounds were ripping lines and hearts!

Bigger baits generated larger fish, but not always. Several marlin were hooked on small sardines and small hooks too. Often the method to find any of the fish was to slow troll a live bait, chunk of dead bait or small feather…enough to rip the water…when the rod went off, throw live bait and watch the foamers come tearing into the boats!

I don’t know how long this will last. We have a full moon coming on this week and I”m not a big believer in the full moon thing, but this tuna bite is just so crazy that I don’t want anything to upset the apple cart…if you catch my drift! In the meantime, life is good…the fish are biting!

LIVE WEBCAM

We have a live webcam now on the TAILHUNTER BAR/ FUBAR CANTINA. If you want to watch, just click:

http://tailhunter.dyndns.org/

When you get the webpage type in the word: remoteuser

You do not need a code word. You can watch the view from the 3rd floor of the bar 24/7!

Happy 4th of July Week Everyone. I’m craving Kentucky Fried Chicken, parades and potato salad!

Best fishes!

Jonathan and Jill

Tailhunter International La Paz

PHOTO: Worse places to be on the planet. If the phone doesn’t ring it’s me…

PHOTO: Greetings from La Paz. Me, Tosh and Gordie don our masks…that no one ever used anyway! So we just wear ’em for fun now!

BAJA NOTES

Originally published in Western Outdoor News the Week of June 30, 2009

I’m writing this looking out across the sunny sand and water at Muertos Bay and you can’t imagine too many other pretty places that can be much nicer. There are some coco palms in front of me and the water is that deep teal blue you see on postcards. Barely a ripple breaks the water surface and other than the folks here in the bar behind me, it’s deserted.

OK, I fib. There’s some real estate folks chatting it up with some prospective pigeons…uh clients… a few tables over. I try to tune that drivel out. If I hear that phrase “get in on the ground floor” one more time, I’m gonna go postal.

But, all-in-all, it beats scratching out on a keyboard in some cubicle. I know I’m blessed. But all is not well in paradise.

Recent bad news from Loreto. Add one more casualty to the pyre.

The 6,000 unit Loreto Bay Resort, about 20 minutes from Loreto, has suspended all operations. The mega-resort was to have included a hotel; seaside village; as well as homes, but had been struggling recently as a combination of the economy, real estate bust, bank failures as well as negative feelings about Mexico in general tied to the swine flu and drug war scares.

The hotel and golf course have been closed and fewer than 800 home units had been sold. More than 400 workers have been laid off.

The failure of the project puts current homeowners as well as those in the middle of construction in a mess and adrift. Despite months of speculation, many were not notified until the last minute that their services had been shut off. The government has asked to take over the project until new investors can be found. Folks do remain hopeful.

On the other side of the spectrum. I don’t know if something “official” has filtered to the troops and other law enforcement personnel at ground zero. But, here in La Paz as well as what I’m hearing from other areas and travelers in Baja raises an eyebrow or two.

Are the cops and soldiers getting some kinds of be “ nice-to-gringos” edict? I think it’s more than our collective imaginations. Here in La Paz, we go through check-points regularly. It’s pretty routine to go through checkpoints set up for drunks (just like the states) as well as regular random checkpoints by the military inspecting for drugs and arms.

At these checkpoints, normally, they’re pretty business-like as a matter of routine. At best.

At worst, there’s been some pretty rude encounters I’ve had over the years. Even traffic stops that I deserved (for wrong turns, seat belts, etc…I’m bad) have been pretty business-like. Just like the cops at there back home in the U.S. Just doing their jobs and nothing says they have to be friendly about it. I get that.

However, lately, guys in uniforms seem to go out-of –their-way to be nice. Even other gringos have said so. At checkpoints I get waved through with a smile. I don’t even roll my window down anymore.

I’ve been asked how my day is going. How is the fishing? Am I enjoying my stay? What??? Sometimes everyone else gets pulled over to be checked, but I don’t.

I turned down a one-way street and immediately got the red lights flashing. Oh no! Here we go. I’m gonna get hard-nosed.

On the contrary. As I watched in my rear-view mirror, the officer walked up like he was gonna nail me. I braced myself. Then he saw my California plates (that I’ve not changed yet) and I saw him break into a grin.

I rolled down my window and he smiled. Like an understanding parent, he told me it was dangerous to turn down a one-way street and to be more careful next time. He didn’t want anything happening to “visitors” to Mexico. He wished me a good day then made sure there was no traffic so I could turn around. No lecture. No Barney Fife harangue about being an idiot and now having to pay a humongous ticket. Just a big old grin.

Make my day indeed! Viva Mexico! I think they have been told to be nice to gringos. Thankful for little blessings.

PHOTO 1: “Changes in latitudes…changes in atitudes” – Jimmy Buffett. A summer sunset this week in La Paz Bay. Cheers to our Colorado amigo, Dave Hagen, for taking the shot. He spent this past week with us taking both fish and fotos!

PHOTO 2: All it takes is one! After getting skunked all day, Junior Azores from Ventura CA dropped down a live zebra fish and got hammered by this big amberjack for his only fish of the day but it made him king of the beach. The big fish topped out a 50 pound scale and we estimate that it would have gone 60 pounds. This fish is the big cousin to the yellowtail.

PHOTO 3: From Denver, Dave Wade made his first trip to see us down here in La Paz and spent a few days fishing with our Las Arenas Fleet then with our La Paz fleet. He went home with quite a few dorado fillets similar to this bull mahi he put in the boat fishing out’ve Las Arenas.

PHOTO 4: DORADO SEASON is ON! Full turbo dorado for bulls like this fish caught by Sandra Raveling from who is stationed in Seattle with the U.S. military. She’s helped by Frank Gillespie from Utah. This was especially a hard-fought fish because if you look closely at the flank, you’ll see the white “nick” where she actually snagged the big dorado and had to really wrestle with the fish for 45 minutes on light tackle!

PHOTO 5: Can it be???? A yellowfin tuna??? Yes…your eyes don’t deceive you. But don’t get too excited. I think this fish was lost or something. Our Fish Brother, Alan Nojadera, from Ventura CA was hopping the outter buoys off Las Arenas with our fleet for bigger dorado and hung this YFT. It’s the only yellowfin we’ve seen in weeks and there were no signs of any other fish either. It was just a wrong-way fish!

PHOTO 6: Newly-wed catch! Just so you don’t think that dorado are the only things we’re catching, Austin Adams and Stephanie (Schmidt) Adams from Utah came to spend some honeymoon time with us and got tangled with some nice jack crevalle (toro) that are still schooling off the beach and beating up anglers. That’s Cerralvo Island in the background.

PHOTO 7: Strike the pose! Big fish on the beach being held by Isaac Schmidt from Utah who pulled this out’ve the waters near Punta Perrico. The fish went 32-pounds and took a live sardine. Little brother, Nathaniel, holds up his own dorado in the background.

PHOTO 8: I wish I could have gotten a photo of these guys with their flyrods. Bob Yagnich (left) and Manny Martinez came to visit us from Colorado with flyrods in hand intent on roosterfish and dorado. They got both, but they really tangled with the dorado. Manny broke his 10wt rod on this big bull dorado just as it got near the boat! Time to check on that warranty! Both were fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet.

PHOTO 9: Wendy Fantozzi is one of our favorite amigas and she CAN fish! Here she holds up a nice amberjack she got on live bait. Fishing 4 days with her husband Jonathan Spier, the pair got dorado, amberjack, bonito and pargo. Also, happy birthday, Wendy!!! How was that tequila shot at the FUBAR Cantina?

PHOTO 10: I couldn’t help but publish this shot. I THINK it’s Dave Wade from Denver. He wins the tatoo award for creativity!

PHOTO 11: Sed Roldan from Hacienda Heights…yes, this is my dad…came to visit us for Father’s Day. It was great to have him down and have him hang out at the new bar and restaurant. He got his first roosterfish off Las Arenas Beach. He’s helped here by Captain Adolfo. The fish was released as were several others.

PHOTO 12: Our buddy Dave Wehner from Northern California comes to see us every year and usually goes home with a load of fish and Kodak moments such as this one with a big bull dorado he took off Boca de Alamo with out fleet using live bait. We did a majority of our fishing off Las ARenas this week because of high winds on the La Paz side, but everyone got fish!

PHOTO 13: From BAKERSFIELD, CA, Ken and son, Steve Gragg, ran into some of that rough wind and weather we had mid-week but hung in and nailed some nice dorado including this pair on live bait with our Las Arenas Fleet.

DORADO GO FULL TURBO ON ANGLERS THIS WEEK DESPITE SOME ROUGH WEATHER!

La Paz / Las Arenas Report for Week of June 21 to 27, 2009

We had some touch-and-go-weather this week as we watched storms build to the south of us and intially promise wind and rain. Fortunately, the darned things blew out and to the west far to the south of us bringing only a few days of strong winds during mid-week.

Fortunately, most of the wind was around La Paz (really rough!) but having two fleets, we simply moved those folks who didn’t want the rough stuff to go fishing with our Las Arenas fleet where waters were generally alot calmer and fish were certainly alot closer to shore.

Either way, this week there were no shortage of dorado. You might go all day and hit nothing then BOOM! You find the spot and the waters explode with 10, 20, 30 or more fish and every rod bent! Or, you might hit a fish here. Two there. Another one here. At the end of the day you realize you had a pretty full day and your box was full!

There are alot of small fish around in the 5 pound class and great to see so many of them released. However, fish in the 20-40 pound class are running out there too and some larger bulls closer to 50 were hung and even more were lost…many by angler error or simply because these are outstanding fighting fish that can rip line; do aerial acrobatics or dog-down deep!

The biggest thing was reminding folks that THERE ARE LIMITS and INSPECTORS ARE CHECKING (more on that below), but even then, in the heat of battle it’s hard to think of catch-and-release! Give it some thought beforehand so that when the time comes, it’s not a big thing to pull the hook and let the fish…especially the females and smaller fish go.

These fish are biting on live bait, dead strip bait as well as lures although the bigger fish are produced by larger baits such as caballito and dead strips of fresh bonito or skipjack.

Other species include roosterfish (sometimes all you can handle!); marlin…stripers and blues (many feeding on the young dorado)…pargo, amberjack, pompano, jack crevalle and cabrilla.

Hot areas include Boca de Alamo; the inner and outer buoys; any of the high spots and banks, the channel outside of Las Cruces, Punta Arena; Punta Perrico; the SE side of Espiritu Santo Island.

LICENSES AND LIMITS

Yes, they are checking right now! Inspectors are going boat-to-boat somedays. They are checking boat licenses as well as angler licenses. We are one of the only authorized vendors of fishing licenses so we have them here at our store…but that means you also have to have them on you when they ask for them!!! Don’t leave them in your room. Inspectors are friendly and professional, but they can and have confiscated some fishing gear; fish and other items. It’s the law!

Also, they are being much more thorough about limits. The days of packing 20 and 30 small dorado in the boat are long gone, but even then, there’s no reason to put a dozen baby dink dorado in the box. The inspectors ARE being pretty lenient, but they CAN enforce the limits harshly. Listen…I don’t agree with alot of things they do, but they have been hammering ALOT of boats, especially south of us on the East Cape. No reason to tempt anyone. Many incidents start with not having your licenses! It’s a simple thing. All-in-all, the inspectors that have been in our area have not been jerks. Very professional and a few times, were understanding when a fisherman said he forgot his license in his jacket back in his room. Just a heads-up! Our fishermen have been really great and realizing they have alot of fish anyway so have been readily releasing much of their catch as have other fleets as well. At the end of the trip, many still have more fish than they can bring home.

JACK

Thanks to all of you who offered prayers, good thoughts and money for our friend and family member, Jack Velez, who has been in the U.S. for the last 3 weeks. It turned out he had and continues to have a complicated heart problem. Doctors in Mexico could do nothing so he went to the states where they somewhat stabilized him but he’s still very weak. They were going to do a bypass on him, but are unable to do so and he’s been released from the hospital to come home now to La Paz. He hopes to be ready to pass out breakfasts and bad jokes shortly like always. I have forwarded all your great e-mails to him and he has read and appreciated all of them and says “thanks for the jokes!” God bless you all for keeping him in your thoughts and prayers.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

Tailhunter International La Paz

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

PHOTO 1: Starting the new day into a sunrise as we make bait. Just too nice of a photo to pass up. Also, an opportunity to wish everyone a Happy Father’s Day to start out the fishing report!

PHOTO 2: It’s upside down but it doesn’t diminish the great-looking dorado caught by our “Mai Tai” Queen, Amy Mann from Oregon (she has discoverd the joys of dorado as well as mixing fruit juices and Captain Morgan rum). He’s not Captain Morgan, but he’s a great captain but no for drinking…Capt. Archangel lends a hand with the gaff. The fish was caught fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. That’s Cerralvo Island in the background.

PHOTO 3: All the way from Virginia, my pirate brother, John Benson, fished out towards Cerralvo Island off Las Arenas and hooked onto this 40 pound class dorado they fought for 30 minutes. They also hooked a striped marlin as well. Both fish were picked up on live bait.

PHOTO 4: Vanessa Luciano from Canada builds websites. Charles Belnavis is one of the most awesome tatoo artists around http://www.tatoosbycharles.com/ and one of the original members of our “Team Modelo” boys that started out with us way way back in the day. The two team to hold up nice fat bull dorado that ended up in garlic and butter that night!

PHOTO 5: Inshore fishing is getting largely ignored because of the great dorado bite, but inshore fish like this tasty barred pargo held by Alan Beilstein from San Diego are still in the shallows along with roosterfish, pargo, jacks, pompano and sierra too. That’s Las Arenas Beach about 20 yards behind Alan.

PHOTO 6: Devon Morse just finished his freshman year in high school and dad, Joe Morse, brought him do La Paz for the first time to catch a few fish. They hit into the dorado nicely and show off one of their bulls they caught fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet between Cerralvo and Espiritu Santo Island.

PHOTO 7: Happy folks! All from the Northern Cal area…Janine and Roy Stenzel and Kevin Bradley and Mark Jacobs pose at Balandra beach with two of a number of dorado they hooked while fishing with us just north of La Paz. For Kevin and Mark, it was their first time out!

DORADO PUT ON A SHOW THIS WEEK AS ANGLERS GET MULTI-HOOK STOPS!

La Paz- Las Arenas Report for Week of June 14-20, 2009

If you were looking for dorado this week that was the predominantly hot biter this week for both our Tailhunter Las Arenas and Tailhunter La Paz fleets. There were bunches of fish as well as scattered fish under patches or areas of sargasso weed or under any floating structure such as buoys or floating debris. Sometimes, the best way to get them would be trolling feathers, but also slowly dragging a nice messy slab of bonito generated some viscious strikes from big bulls…or marlin which are also in the area eating bait as well as the smaller dorado.

Once you got the boat hooked up, then throw bait and hopefully the school comes charging. The biggest problem is actually getting people to slow down and release the smaller fish and female fish and remind folks of limits. No kidding you could suddenly realize after the heat-of-battle that you have several dozen fish in the box…well over limits!

Trolling patterns include brighter colors like white and blue or else pink/red/white.

Marlin, not surprisingly are hitting dorado-colored patterns or (my favorite) strips of dorado belly and collar. It leaves a nice smelly oil trail that the marlin (and other specie including other dorado love!)

Other species include roosterfish still along a lot of the beach areas and in the rocky areas, cabrilla, pargo and amberjack have been the predominant species…not to mention, too many needlefish! Live bait is working the best on pretty much everything, but if you want to play, throw plastics and retrieve slowly. Also shiny spoons working as well.

UPDATES ON JACK

Thank to all of you that have been sending their good wishes for Jack. We have been forwarding each and every e-mail to him and whenver he can, he’s been answering. He really appreciates it. He’s been hospitalized in L.A. now for over 2 weeks and it was touch-and-go for a bit. Currently, he’s been moved and had an initial heart procedure but they are now waiting for him to stabilize so they can do a bypass. You can write to me directly at riplipboy@tailhunter-international.com and I”ll forward all messages to him. We appreciate that you keep our Tailhunter Team and Family Member in your thoughts and prayers!

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY EVERYONE!

Best fishes!

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: 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.”

PHOTO 1: Glenn Delmendo hit the big time with this monster of a dog-tooth snapper (aka cubera snapper/ pargo perro). He was using a live sardine and initially thought he had an amberjack that was dogging him but lit up when he got it near the boat. He was off the SE corner of Cerralvo Island fishing with our Las Arenas fleet.

PHOTO 2: Here’s another shot of Glenn’s big pargo but Scott O’Connor also got a big dog as well. Both are S.Cal police officers.

PHOTO 3: Don Snyder decided to celebrate his anniversary by giving his wife their first fishing trip to La Paz. Don is a famous turkey hunting guide in Kansas. He got a number of fish including this big dorado which happens to be his personal best fish while fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. Don said he couldn’t believe how hard ocean-fish pull! He also had on a marlin for about 10 minutes that broke off after some nice runs!

Photo 4: Nancy Engel from Colorado was on her first trip down and proved that the waters are still cool enough to hold some yellowtail! Captain Armando looks on while Nancy holds up the forktail. She was fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet just off Punta Perrico when she hooked the fish.

PHOTO 5: Lucky gal, Heidi Crannel from Portland OR, is helped by Captain Jorge just a few yards of Punta Perrico with this nice school-sized roosterfish. Heidi got the fish and later that night, she got proposed to on the beach by Brian Mayo her new fiance! He bought a 25 dollar ring off one of the beach vendors but delivered the real stone when they got home! Congrats to both of our amigos.

PHOTO 6: This is the week our dorado finally busted through. About 80 percent of the fish were dorado for both our Las Arenas and La Paz fleets. Glenn Delmendo, Don Mariano and Scott O’Connor hold up a trio of mahi at Las Arenas beach.

DORADO SEASON FINALLY SHOWS UP!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 13-20, 2009

If I here going to mark a calendar, I would mark this past week as the official start of SUMMER as well as the official kick-off for dorado season!

We’ve been having dorado on-and-off since March and some nice flurries here and there, but this past week was the week they showed up in numbers! We had to advise clients that they needed to start releasing the smaller ones and females which often isn’t easy in the heat-of-battle as some of the bites came on fast and furious! Folks had some fun.

For both our Las Arenas Fleet and our La Paz Fleet they both found the dorado as sargasso weed patches came down the channel. The sargasso weed not only provide shelter for baitfish, but flying fish and other lay eggs in the sargasso. You can almost see the dorado laying in wait for the hatchings as well as for the adults. Often patches of weed just explode in the water as dorado slash into the patches.

Actually, just about any floating debris out there or other object such as trash or commercial buoys can hold dorado if you hit the right spot. Fish were variable in size from 5-10 pounders up to 50 pound fish. Pretty neat stuff too considering we had a full moon going.

As for other species, the roosterfish showed no signs of letting up although we didn’t get any larger fish this week. Still, I think we’ll go on record as being one of the best roosterfish seasons in a long time. Smaller fish in schools of 10-20 pound fish were not uncommon so these weren’t exactly “small fish.” It’s just that for the first time in many weeks we didn’t have any HOGS in the 50, 60 or 70 pound class.

Other species this week included a smattering of marlin and sailfish plus pargo, cabrilla, sierra and even some scattered yellowtail still around as well.

On a more somber note:

Many of you know Jack “Crazy Jack” Velez who has been with us since the beginning almost 15 years ago. He’s been our manager, our team member and our friend. Jack’s not doing very well. He has a serious heart condition so we sent him up to S.California to get checked out as the doctors here in La Paz weren’t doing much. As it turns out, Jack’s very sick and in the hospital the last 2 weeks. He needs surgery but may be too week to undergo the procedure.

Many of you remember him over the years with his nutty jokes too early in the morning or have been unfortunate enough to have gotten a “wake-up” call from him as he would shout into the phone “LETS GO FISHING!” then hang up! Jack is always the one who delivered the breakfasts and lunches in the morning as well. If you can, please keep Jack in your thoughts and prayers as one of the TAILHUNTER FAMILY.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

Tailhunter International La Paz

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

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

PHOTO 1: Can it get much better than this? Double hook-ups; sunshine; flat water with dad and son in Baja? Priceless.

PHOTO 2: For lots of us it started like this. A simple Kodak moment in the sun begins a life-changing experience with our dads and kids.

UNBROKEN CIRCLES

Originally published the Week of June 16, 2009 in Western Outdoor News

“When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could barely stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished to see how much the old man had learned in 7 years.” Mark Twain

“Never raise your hand to your kids. It leaves your groin unprotected.” Red Buttons

_________________

One of the great joys of working down here in Baja in the fishing industry is seeing families doing things together. Even moreso, to see the kids and parents interact, but especially for me, watching the dads and their kids or particularly, dads and their sons.

For a lot of us that have come to cherish the Baja, somewhere along the line, our dads played some role in those memories. For many of you, maybe it was dad who hauled you and the family into the old truck or station wagon down that dusty old Baja road.

You may not have even fished at first. Maybe it was just those weekend trips to Tijuana, Rosarito or San Felipe (back in the day!) that got Mexico in your blood. If it wasn’t fishing, then maybe it was a camping or surf trip to some remote beach.

You had an old green aluminum Coleman ice chest (Didn’t we ALL have one of those?). You may or may not have had that musty green canvas tent from Sears Roebuck.

You ALWAYS had a dog-eared copy of the Auto Club travel book plus the AAA map that never re-folded properly. If it was a long trip, you always had rope, a shovel and a roll of toilet paper. Bottled designer water was unheard of, but some of us carried those canvas water bags and plastic jugs of real honest-to-goodness TAP water! And it tasted just fine and no one got sick!

You surely might not have appreciated it then. . .all the things dad had to go through to get that trip underway with or without all the kids or mom. He had to think of everything.
There wasn’t a fallback plan. AM/PM mini marts were not along the way. You may have the map, but Auto Club was not going to come out so he better know how to fix a tire.

Restrooms ? That’s why you brought the toilet paper and shovel. No one grumbled. It’s just the way it was! (Try telling your kids to do that these days!). If you needed air-conditioning, you just rolled down the windows and drove faster. And choked on the Baja dust.

But, now that you’re older and know what it’s like just to get everyone to the movies or Walmart or have mustered your own outdoor trips, you have a special appreciation for what it must have taken for dad to marshall all the troops…and do it generally with a smile.

Only a saint could have listened to another verse of “Wheels On the Bus Go Round-and-Round” coming from the zoo in the seats behind him. “Are we there yet?” “You’re not the boss of me!” “Jimmy is touching me!”

With my own dad, he didn’t get me to Baja. Not initially. When I was a kid, dad got seasick! However, it was his love of fishing, camping and outdoors that got him to impart to me a love for those things as well. He did pile us into the Dodge station wagon many-a-time.

So, in a round-about-way, I’d have never found Baja had my dad not shared those qualities and experiences with me in the first place. When I got older, Baja seemed a natural calling and off-I-went.

Little did I know that I’d later make a life and career down here. And it was me that eventually introduced my dad to Baja and we’ve since shared some wonderful priceless moments together. (His seasickness got better as he got older).

So, it’s with great pleasure that I see dads and sons together. But it’s even more gratifying to see the circle go unbroken as sons grow up and take their own dads fishing and watching the role reversals.

“Dad, don’t worry, I have the tackle.”

“Where’s your jacket? You’ll need a jacket on the boat.”

“ Stop asking. I didn’t forget the beer!”

“Make sure to call mom tonite.”

“Yes, we’ll find you a bathroom. There’s always the shovel!”

“No, I will NOT pull your finger!”

My own dad is coming to visit this week. I will not mind baiting his hook or making sure he brought the sunscreen. I hope he catches more and bigger fish than me. He surely got smarter as I got older!

Happy Father’s Day to you all. Feliz Dia de Los Padres!

If you ever need to reach me, I’m down here in La Paz riplipboy@tailhunter-international.com

PHOTO 1: Jorge Romero got a late start. He wasn’t even going fishing because he got up too late, but he and his buds decided to go out anyway. They did not even get to the boats until 9 a.m.!!! By 11 a.m. they were done….FIVE WAHOO up to 70 pounds. Taken at the south end of Cerralvo Island. Two hours of fishing in perfect conditions! The only reason they stopped was because they broke their Rapalas!

PHOTO 2: This is a Rapala. This is a Rapala after it has taken 5 wahoo. Looks like a pit bull chomped on it. This is how powerful the wahoo teeth are. If you look at the tail, you can see where the tail hooks finally broke at the body and the lure would no longer “swim.” Time to go home! It’s a CD-18 size about 9 inches long.

PHOTO 3: Take a look at the back of the truck and what’s inside lying on the ice! Except for a few steaks, the guys donated all the fish to the La Paz orphanage! Double bravos!

PHOTO 3: One of our best amigos…Doug Oclassen from Boulder CO ripped this big roosterfish near the Las Arenas lighthouse. Note how close they are to shore! Doug said it had the biggest body and the “tiniest face” he had ever seen on a big fish! Look closely at Captain Jorge. He has his tongue sticking out!

PHOTO 4: This is a BIG dorado. I know because Denny Dyer (left) is about 6’4″ and our captain estimated the fish to be about 60 pounds! This fish was taken outside of Las Arenas towards the buoys. More dorado showing this past week!

PHOTO 5: Bob Lederer comes all the way out from the East Coast each year to spend a few days fishing with us. He’s holding a real nice bull dorado here.

PHOTO 6: This is a nice amberjack. It’s even nicer when you put this fish onboard with a light spinning rod like Glenn Oclassen from Mill Valley who has been visiting us for years. Glenn got a variety of fish over a week of fishing with us.

PHOTO 7 : Everyone keeps asking now the new TAILHUNTER bar is doing! Well, we’ve survived the first month now and so-far-so-good! We’re fine tuning things, but the food is hot and the beer (on tap beer!) is cold and we’re carrying all the NBA and NHL playoff games so we’re drawing some nice crowds. Got some good rock’n’roll and blues as well. Hope to add live music and karaoke in the next month too! We’re right on the waterfront and have the two bars; two restaurants; the mini-mart; fish packing facilities; our offices and…soon…the tackle store (I hope!)

PHOTO 8: We’ve kind of become a nice destination for local Harley Clubs which is pretty cool. Here, they pose for a photo op. Despite all the leather…most of these guys are attorneys, doctors, executives and business owners just having a good time and stopping by for beer and tacos!

PHOTO 9 – World’s BIGGEST pinata! Our staff has named him “Sancho.” He’s an 8-foot great white shark hanging from our ceiling 3 stories up above the waterfront. All our fish mounts for the restaurant were done by Rocky Markham of Worldwide Fish Mounts in S.California.

DORADO ROOSTERFISH AND WAHOO POP THE HITLIST AS WATERS WARM!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of May 30 to June 6, 2009

Both the weather and humidity went up this week matched only by the fishing as numerous varieties again visited us and bent sticks. It wasn’t WFO but good to very good fishing for a number of species put fish on the hooks!

For our La Paz fleet, they still ran into some windy conditions and it’s not going great guns just yet, but all week the sargasso patches have been growing north of town in bigger areas and bigger patches. As well, more flying fish are laying eggs and hatching in the area as well. That means one thing…DORADO CITY! So, yes, more dorado and bigger dorado started to whack the lines this week with some nice catches as large as 40-50 pounds. We’re not fully amped just yet, but things sure look promising to only get better. Still some off-days but over all, any day can turn on and be banner. We also saw more marling this week also!

For our Las Arenas fleet, we had a few jags where the wahoo just went OFF! I think the secret is to be there when there’s the least amount of boat traffic. The more boats criss-crossing that south end of Cerralvo, the lower the chances of hooking up. Each time a panga has done well, there were very few boats out there. Forget that the captains only insist that the wahoo bite in the early morning. Try it out early then either hang out and commit to staying there (gamble but what the heck!) or…go and come back later when fewer pangas are dancing on the spot. Trolled Rapalas and Y0-Zuri lures in dark colors do the trick.

For other species, again, roosterfish are putting on a show. If you ever wanted to catch a roosterfish, this is the year. I’ve never seen so many roosters…big and small…around the area. I guess this is why it’s called the “roosterfish capital of the world.” Our larger fish were all 50 plus pounds this week, but seemingly no shortage of 5-15 pound fish either that are great on light tackle.

As for other types…we still have straggler yellowtail and big pargo here. Even some sierra are still being caught. In the areas of the roosterfish, jack crevalle and pompano have been working over the light tackle and flyfishing guys.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

Tailhunter International La Paz

www.tailhunter-international.com

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/

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

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.”