That's My Story

PHOTO 1: Tuomas Holmberg from Los Angeles with one of the larger dorado taken this week. We scaled it at 41 pounds taken on a sardine in Bahia Ventana. There were alot of dorado this past week, but very few approaching this trophy sized beast!

DORADO GO ON THE RIP JOINED BY YELLOWFIN TUNA THIS PAST WEEK. BIG ROOSTERS ALSO STEP UP!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for the Week of Sept 14-20, 2008

PHOTO 2: Big dorado are the norm in the fall here in La Paz, but this past week, there weren’t many big ones at all. However, Frank Venesca holds a gem taken while fishing with our La Paz fleet north of the city.

PHOTO 3: Some guys just got the luck! Anthony Avila, Jr. came down on his first trip. Not only does he get his first billfish…a sail…but he also gets a wahoo right off the bat on his first day on the water. Go figure! Great fish. Guys come for decades and never get a sniff of one of these. Anthony is gonna get spoiled.

PHOTO 4: Goofy shots are always the best. These guys just had too much fun. From left to right holding dorado at Las Arenas Beach is Wes “Big Kahuna” Howard, Anthony Gallardo, Jorge Villegas and Ruben Gallardo, all from the Los Angeles area.

PHOTO 5: Every few days this past week, the tuna went strong to the baits. These yellowfin were 12-20 pounders. The fish also moved closer just off the old Hotel Las Arenas south to Muertos Bay. Here, Don Nose and Mark Lee heft a few tuna that ended up in their box along with a mystery dorado!

PHOTO 6: Funny thing about the tuna this past week. The smaller your bait, the better the yellowfin tuna liked them! Bigger baits caught dorado. Smaller baits caught tuna. Johnny Wong from Pasadena CA and Stever O’Rourke ripped into the tuna schools with my Las Arenas fleet.

PHOTO 7: It was a good week for roosters. The big boys were right there in the shallow waters. True to it’s reputation, there’s a reason why Las Arenas is known as the “Roosterfish Capital World.” Steve Tomata and Ray Lim were fishing with us for the first time and got a double hookup on these two 35 pounders not too far from the Las Arenas lighthouse close to shore.

PHOTO 8: Randy Lee is from Los Angeles. Bruce Dodge is from another planet. (Gotcha Bruce!) and two of the nicest and funniest guys when they come down here. Bruced hooked this nice sailfish. There were quite a few billfish around feeding in the bait schools and on the samller dorado, tuna and bonito.

PHOTO 9: Hector Chavez from Salinas CA had a good trip with us. Got his first roosterfish as well as his first dorado on his first time fishing…ever. This 40 pound rooster ate a slow trolled live bait off Las Arenas Point.

PHOTO 9: My good buddy, Pablo Bejarano from Rosarito Beach, Baja Norte, made the report this week with this nice dorado. Congratulations, Pablo. This young man can really dance too. We put a few tacos into him one night and he stopped the crowd in the restaurant when he decided to show off his footwork!

PHOTO 10: Gotta love this photo. It’s our Dave Crawford from Texas who dodged Hurricane Ike to come play in La Paz. Along with his amigo, Larry Daniels, they had a great day on the dorado and yellowfin tuna.

PHOTO 11: Shout out from Jorge Villegas showing off one of many schoolie dorado he racked up fishing two day with our Las Arenas fleet. The dorado were sometimes so thick you could “free gaff” them said one of our anglers.

PHOTO 12: Keeping it tight, Mark Avila, Anthony Avila, Manny Avila, Manny Jr. Frank Venesca and Anthony Avila, Jr. gather around a big mess of fish headed to someone’s barbecue.

PHOTO 13: Brad, Jeff and Greg Smith (they’re brothers!) and amigo, Frank Villa all came from northern California and ran into a mess of yellowfin tuna and dorado.

PHOTO 14: Pete Mason had quite a day tangling with the big roosters. Talk about grand slamming! Pete got a 34 pounder, 50 pounder and this 62 pound rooster. All fish released.

PHOTO 15: Not a big week for wahoo, but Brian Kam from the San Francisco Bay area, busted up this one near the south end of Cerralvo Island.

VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK

Turn up the sound and click this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkJn1ut6RCI

THE FISHING REPORT

Wow…what a week. It had it’s ups-and-down, but overall, I’d have to say it was a pretty darned good week of fishing down here! There were some slow moments, but I think for most guys who fished at least 2-3 days, they had some great action!

In fact, some guys had some outstanding trips…trips of a lifetime. Many personal best or heaviest fish were caught. Or, many guys got their first tuna, wahoo, marlin, or dorado. It was good to see the smiles. For instance, Patrick Tomyoy fought a 150 pound black marlin close to 4 hours on 25 pound test. Lionel Frailey, Ray Lim, Steve Tomata, Hector Chavez got their first roosters and all of them were trophy fish! Anthony Avila, Jr, got his first wahoo AND his first sailfish. I can’t even name all the guys how pulled on their first tuna this week.

But that’s how it went.

Far and away, the most prevailant catch were the dorado. Some time they were like little punks everywhere. They were some moments they were so close to the boats and so thick, guys were trying to free-gaff them! Both our La Paz and Las Arenas Fleets got into the dorado. There were more fish on the Las Arenas side, but the larger bulls were caught by my La Paz boats.

The biggest problem was actually the lack of larger fish. It seemed like the fish gods put a 10 pound dorado into a copy machine and pressed “copy!” There were so many fish that looked exactly alike! It was rare to get any fish over 20 pounds or even 15 pounds although we did have a few nice bulls to put in the boxes (see the photos). But, I could have used a few more of those. Still, there was no real shortage of the streaky spring-time dorado. Usually, this time of the year, the dorado are more like 20-50 pounders. They must be out here somewhere!

As for other species, we had a nice surprise of tuna for my Las Arenas fleet in the area of Punta Perrico and Bahia de Los Muertos. Not far from shore at all and the fish went 10-20 pounds. A few days every boat had about 5-10 of the fish hooked. A few other days, the tuna went to ground and only a handful of tuna were brought to gaff. However, some boats hooked tuna they COULD NOT STOP!!! So some of the bigger models appear to have moved into the area.

In addition to the tuna and dorado, it was a pretty good week for roosterfish too. Funny thing. Some days we couldn’t get a sniff from the roosters. The next day when no one really wented them, they were THICK!!! Small ones…medium…sized…large models! Just depended where you were fishing. Check out the photos above. These are the ones that were not released. Quite a few others were dropped or let go to get even bigger. The largest of the fish this week were 50-60 pound brutes.

For other stuff…a few wahoo were yanked and spanked ,but more often it was the other way around. The anglers lost the fish! A few billfish were caught while guys were trying to fish dorado or tuna and sierra in the bay indicate to me that there’s some cooler water moving in.

We’ll keep you posted!

That’s our 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: , 755 Paseo Obregon, 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.”

Mexican Folklorico Dancers celebrate Mexican Independence Day perhaps the biggest fiesta in the Mexican calendar year.

GRITO (“YELL”) LIKE YOU MEAN IT!

Originally published the week of Sept. 16, 2008 in Western Outdoor News

PHOTO 1: Manny Gonzalez had never fished before. He had never even had a fishing rod in his hand. He casts his first bait and hooks this good looking dorado bull fishing just a hundred yards from where he is standing for this photo at Punta Arenas Beach. Dorado were the mainstay of the catch this week.

TROPICAL STORM LOWELL PINCHES THE FISHING A BIT WITH A FEW HOURS OF HEAVY RAIN AND ALOT OF ANXIETY BUT DORADO STILL TRY TO DO THEIR PART

LA PAZ/ LAS ARENAS FISHING REPORT FOR THE WEEK OF SEPT 7-13, 2008

PHOTO 2: Anthony Garrett was on his first trip down to see us and had a good time. (Right Anthony?) He’s holding a few of his first-day dorado here that he got on live bait off Punta Perico.
PHOTO 3: A pair of nice dorado for Brian Kam who came from the San Francisco Bay area.

PHOTO 4: Two of the funnest folks we’ve had in a long time are John and Dolores Ehler from Denver Colorado standing here with Captain Pancho from our Las Arenas fleet. Check out the dorado and yellowfin tuna in front of them. There weren’t many tuna this week. They got elusive on us again, but there were a few. The key to them was the lightest line you dare to use!

PHOTO 5: Ian Boyd, Dave Boyd, Jeff Gilbertson and Dave Stoller do a group pose with dorado at Las Arenas Beach. Dave has a roosterfish he’s cradling. (See below)

PHOTO 6: Dave Boyd wanted a rooster and got this trophy 33 pounder on live bait in shallow water off Punta Arenas. Attempts to revive the fish weren’t successful, but the meat was donated. There are still quite a few roosters around. You either find some loners like this one with the larger fish going 30-70 pounds or you hit schools of smaller fun 10 pounders.

THE FISHNG REPORT

I guess the story this week was Tropical Storm Lowell mucking things up. Like most storms at this time of year, it comes out of nowhere. One moment, you’re looking at all the 5 day forecasts and the next, it suddenly changes and shows 5 days of storms on the horizon. Our biggest concern, of course, is whether it becomes a hurricane or not. Lowell did not get bigger and badder. When all was said and done, it messed with the fishing a bit and dropped some heavy rain for a few hours. It caused the port captain to shut down the port for the most of a day. That forced us to cancel the boats for one day. That was kind of it. We feel badly for the guys who can’t fish that day, but most made good use of it…staying out later the night before to enjoy the town then getting a chance to sleep in the next day and have real breakfasts!

So, bottom line…Lowell was more a big inconvenience than an actual emergency.

As for the fishing, before the storm, we had a fairly nice bite of dorado going on. Both our fleets at Las Arenas and La Paz got into maybe 3-8 dorado per boat per day with a mix of bonito, and the occasional tuna. On the La Paz side, our boats got primarily dorado but also got to raise a few marlin and sailfish.

Most of the variety fish were caught on the Las Arenas side by our other fleet. A few tuna got into the counts with the dorado, but we got a few wahoo biters, some sailfish and pargo. Plus, our failsafe, roosterfish were pretty much good to have along the shorelines. It wasn’t great fishing, but it wasn’t bad either. Just kinda of mixed up and unpredictable because of the storm.

After the storm, it seemed to get a bit better everyday, but at the time of writing this, it’s still a bit early to say what’s up. We’ll keep you posted. My suggestions if you’re coming down fishing is to go with the flow. Don’t be “species specific.” Fish for what’s there. Don’t shoot for the homerun. The captains all want to catch fish so let them put you on the bite and you’ll have fun. By far, the boats this past week that didn’t focus on a particular species got the most bites and had the best times.

ALASKA STATE CLIENTS

If you’re one of our Alaskan clients, Alaska Airlines has some incredible fares and companion fare discounts if you book before Oct. 13th for a trip down here in 2009. Check it out. Some of the companion fares are as low as 50 dollars.

ALASKA AIRLINES FLIERS

This past week, Alaska Airlines started using Horizon Air (owned by Alaska Air) to start flying down here to La Paz. If you’re booked on Alaska to fly down here, check your schedule to make sure it’s the same flight. It may have changed slightly . Also, the Horizon planes are smaller than the Alaska planes so they’re alot tighter on weight restrictions and luggage sizes. Get there early to your terminal if you’re bringing gear with you!

That’s our story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 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: , 755 Paseo Obregon, 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.”

PHOTO 1: The tuna are back!!! Bigger and stronger. South of Las Arenas, we located the tuna schools again and hit some larger 20 and 25 pounders held by Lyndon Johnson and Jack Minter from California

TUNA FOUND AGAIN WITH DORADO AND ROOSTERFISH TO START THE MONTH!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for the Week of Aug 31 to Sept. 6, 2008

PHOTO 2: Shelley and Sherm McDonnell all the way from chilly Green River, Wyoming hold some of the dorado they got fishing light tackle with our Las Arenas fleet. There weren’t alot of big dorado this week, but the numbers were nice!

PHOTO 3: Left to right…Serge Douzjian, Jamie Smith, Dan Estandia, and Greg Voudouris, hold up a few of the fish they got. Jamie is holding up a nice cabrilla (seabass) and Greg holds onto his snapper.

PHOTO 4: Nice lineup! Bottom row left to right: Nick Voudouris, Avo Oughourian, Toros Marganian. Back row left to right: Chris Greanias, Capt. Steve Greanias, Johnny Gouma, Serge Douzjian, Andre Kerian, Danny Estandia, Jamie Smith, Robert Marganian with some of the dorado they nailed one day fishing out with our Las Areanas fleet.

PHOTO 5: Tim Gudeneau is holding up some of his yellowfin tuna next to Don Baker. Both are from the Orange Co. area of S.California. Tim has been telling me for years about coming down and finally made it. He got his first dorado and his first tuna this day and you can see him eat the traditional heart of his tuna if you click the video clip above. Rookies believe anything!

PHOTO 6: Oregonians from Portland, Charlie Pongrantz and Brent Lakey got a box of these dorado on their first day fishing with us. They were off the Arenas lighthouse.

PHOTO 7: Makelle Catmull and Kent Christensen from Utah won this trip on a contest and got into the yellowfin tuna this week as well.

PHOTO 8: Too nice of a photo to ignore. Chris Greanias holds up a pretty permit. These guys roam the shores foraging and make great inshore light tackle sport as well as great eating.

PHOTO 9: One of the better dorado this past week was taken by Avo Oughourian, This nice bull was taken while Avo was fishing with our La Paz Fleet.

The WEEKLY VIDEO CLIP

Click the link and see the dorado and tuna as well as Tim Gudeneau of Mission Viejo CA eat the heart of his first tuna as per “tradition!” Turn up the sound!

Click this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfu0zVJsBUY

The FISHING REPORT

Fishing hasn’t exactly come roaring back, but I’m sure not hearing a lot of complaints. After the storm almost two weeks ago, fishing got sticky but better day-by-day. It still isn’t on fire, but darn there sure is a lot of action to be had! So, I’d have to say fishing isn’t too bad after all!

No one is going home without fish! I”ll tell you that much. And everyone is having a good time. Probably the biggest news is that our Las Arenas fleet seemed to have found the tuna schools again south of Las Arenas and this time the fish have some legit 25 pounders in there. For a lot of anglers…including a bunch of first timers…you mix in 3, 4, 5 or 6 of these hard-charging yellowfin…add in about a dozen 15 pound bonito. Throw in some pesky needlefish and maybe a handful or several dorado…and you come back to the beach just beat up to shreds! I mean it! Oh…and let’s not forget 100 degree sunshine too! Takes a lot out of anyone our there. We have to keep reminding anglers that drinking beer out there on the water is fun and part of the whole ambience of fishing here in Mexico, but YOU MUST DRINK WATER or you will cook your brains right out’ve your head! Wear a hat. Put on the sunscreen. Common sense!

Anyway, yup…the tuna came on nicely. There’s also dorado breezers too. Not many big ones, but enough to get flashes of color in the fish box. Live bait. Stripped bait. Fresh dead bait and tuna feathers are working well. Don’t forget 25 pound flurocarbon line too! That’s a big plus!

For our La Paz Fleet…the dorado were definitely here this past week. But some days you find the spot and other day, it’s picky. Most of the boats got 3-7 dorado each day out’ve La Paz. Not many big bulls but most fish were 10-15 pounds with some 25 pounders rounding it out. Several big bulls were hooked, but not many landed. Roosterfish along the shores and pargo inside the rocks have been a great change-up!

If you’re flying Alaska the next few weeks, you know that Horizon is now the new carrier. Horizon is owned by Alaska so it’s not a big deal. However, the Horizon jets are smaller. Instead of 5 seats in each row, there’s only 3 seats in each row. Space is limited in the cargo hold too. So, get there early if you’re bringing a lot of gear. Just an FYI!

That’s our 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: , 755 Paseo Obregon, 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.”“

PHOTO: When it rains, you might as well make the best of it and stay dry under your favorite watering hole!

PHOTO: Most late summer/early fall storms blow in and out quickly.

CLICK YOUR RUBY SLIPPERS, DOROTHY!

Originally Published in Western Outdoor News the week of Sept. 2, 2008

I’m typing this while under a palm roof watching the rain drip from the fronds. A steady drizzle rakes across the bay giving it an uncharacteristic greyness to what is normally a vibrant panorama of greens, blues and red sandstone. A brief flash of lighting and rumble of distant thunder pops and fades. And the rain falls a little harder.

The drops streaks across the glass in front of me and I can see it starting to puddle up under the space in the door where the wind is pushing in the water.

And I’m hiding.

There’s a pack or two of fishermen roaming the hotel grounds and they’re grumpy and bored. They can’t fish. The port is closed. No one in. No one out. No boats off the beach today, fellas. Sorry you got up so early.

Yes, blame it on me. It’s my fault. I made it rain JUST FOR YOUR VACATION. It hasn’t rained all year, but I picked YOUR vacation for the rain to come down on the parade.

It’s difficult to run a fishing business and explain to anglers that although it might not look real rough in the bay, outside, it’s churning. We don’t like to cancel trips anymore than you! We’d put you out of we could, but not only is it darn rough, it’s unsafe. It’s difficult to communicate the safety issue to anglers that have been pumped for month about getting out on the water. Understandable. So is the grumpiness.

If I could click my rubber ruby slippers and make the great Oz take it all way, I would. Dorothy help me. We lose work. We lose money. We have unhappy anglers on the beach all day who just want to vent on someone…anyone!

That’s why I’m hiding! I’ve already heard it. I’ve already explained it. Tomorrow, the weatherman says it will all go away and the sunshine will come blasting out again and all will be forgiven as the fish fight to jump into your boat.

But today, no one is listening.

From August to September-October, it’s technically “hurricane season.” All that warm water to the south of Baja off the central coast of Mexico breeds storms. As it moves over the warm waters they gather power. Sometimes they turn into hurricanes. In actuality, they usually get no larger than a tropical depression or a tropical storm that doesn’t even warrant an official “name” like “Hurricane Marty” or “Hurricane Henrietta.” Today it’s “Number 11.” Whoop-dee-freaking-dooo…

But storms do move north. No doubt.

In all honesty, you do get some rain. These late summer and early fall months can get awfully humid for some amigos as the heat gets the water vapor rising. Then, clouds turn to thunderheads and you can see them rising precipitously like giant columns of cotton. By the minute, you can see them extend and sometimes get darker.

Then, perhaps some lightning happens. And the rain starts to fall. This is especially true in the afternoons. Very tropical. A warm shower or short blast of water. One street floods. Another remains dusty. You can be bone dry, but 100 yards away, you can see the cloudburst. On the water, you run into columns of falling water and simply drive around it.

Then, just like that, it’s over. The sun comes back out and the ground steams and basically no one left the swimming pool or stopped sipping their margaritas. No one stops fishing.

Compare that to the “torito” (little bulls) that can unleash with all the power of a mini-hurricane. They come up quickly and leave just as quickly leaving wind-ripped palm trees; community flooding; torrential arroyos; and even some structural damage. But, like a bull, they’re quickly gone. Probably not a good time to be on the water and most will head for shore if even for some quick shelter then head back out once the storm blows by. In truth, most storms here…except for the largest blows…are big wet inconveniences to Baja travelers.

But not coming fishing at this time of year or being nervous about it is unfounded. The fall is traditionally some of the best fishing time in the Baja. Avoiding it would be like deciding not to go skiing in the winter because there “might be a snowstorm.” Or not taking the freeway because accidents happen. Duh!

I’ve been here 14 years and been through a chubasco or two. Actually 4 here in that time Only 1 was really bad. The others kept me off the water no more than a day or two. Then out we went! One of the best by-products of the storms is that it washes lots of debris into the water which is perfect for dorado to hang out.

Could a hurricane or storm happen on your fishing vacation this time of year? Sure. Will it happen? Probably not. Is it a good time to go fishing? You bet.

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

PHOTO 1: King of the week is Captain Steve Greanias from the Los Angeles area who rocked the big fish all week as well as several of the largest roosters of the season. Take a look at some of the underwater photos this week. Steve also took those. Steve does well every time he comes down and released all of his big roosters. Steve got 3 fish that went upwards of 50 pounds plus they lost a few as well. Steve and his dad got marlin (released) and big dorado, but made a point of chasing the big roosters that Las Arenas is famous for.

STORM STARTS THE WEEK WITH A THUD BUT AFTER THINGS CLEAR FISHING STARTS TO GET BACK UP TO SPEED

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for the week of Aug. 24-30, 2008

PHOTO 2: Two of the funnest folks we’ve had in a long time, Sherman and Shelley McDonell left snow falling in Wyoming to come enjoy some Baja sunshine and fishing. Both are extremely experienced and figured they’d try light tackle fishing in the Tailhunter House! Well, their first day out on 17 pound test and spinning rods, they got their first taste of Baja power. Double hookup within minutes! Shelley’s fish on the right was the larger of the two and in the 45 pound class and she fought it for an hour and 15 minutes! Attempts to revive the fish were unsuccessful so the meat was donated to the San Pedro pueblo.

PHOTO 3: Check this out!!! 40-pound class dorado underwater with the Mean Joe Green jig hanging on the lip. Steve Greanias stuck his camera underwater and got this spectacular shot just below the surface. The fish was hooked just north of La Paz.

PHOTO 4: Yes, another photo by Steve Greanias with his digital camera. His dad was on his first marlin (see photo below) and Steve poked his camera underwater again for this rare shot. The yellow on it’s flank is the lure trailing behind the hook. They were fishing over the canyon near Espiritu Santo Island.

PHOTO 5: Here’s the fish you saw underwater in the shot above. Captain Eddy Carballo helps Chris Greanias with the honors. It was Chris’ first marlin and was in the 150 pound class and the fish was released and swam away.

PHOTO 6: OK, Jamie…you made the report! Jamie Smith from Malibu and his nephew Daniel Estandia from Ventura CA area hold up a nice pair. Jamie has a 15 pound yellowfin tuna, but check out the size of the bruiser bonito that Danny is holding onto! Both the bonito and the tuna got larger this week after the storm.

PHOTO 7: Yellowfin tuna weren’t thick, but they were biting sporadically south of Cerralvo Island. Armen Minissian (left) came down to celebrate his birthday here in La Paz and he’s flanked by amigo, Andre Kerian (right) with a pair of nice yellowfin headed to the sashime platter.

PHOTO 8: Greg Voudouris and Harry Gouma were quite a pair this week. Fishing both Las Arenas and La Paz, they had a good week on dorado. They were often high boat each day on the mahi. Here’s part of their catch on day on the beach at Las Arenas.

PHOTO 9: Toros Marganian had only been trolling a feather about 15 minutes when this sailfish came up and struck the lure near Cerralvo Island. It was his first.

PHOTO 10: Bakersfield Sam Smith gets alot of credit. Despite showing up in the biggest and worst storm of the season so far, he and his dad hung in with alot of patience and kept it light and fun and still got in a bit of fishing in less than ideal conditions earlier in the week. He did get this nice dorado fishing with Captain Victor out of Las Arenas.

PHOTO 11: Steven Laurentis is our amigo from “Los Angeles and world for a big radio station there. Great guy who was on his second trip to see us here in La Paz. He’s holding up a pair of yellowfin tuna, but also go his first sailfish on this trip which he released.

WEEKLY VIDEO CLIP

Click here for a little video clip of some of the week’s fishing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzESE_8WlMU

Have the sound up!

THE FISHING REPORT

Well, where do I start? Fishing really tanked as we began the week. Straight up…it pretty funky and that was because tropical storm Julio came through here.

It was weird. There was absolutely nothing on the radar. Then, we wake up and suddenly we have rain coming. And not just a little blow. Turns into a tropical storm named Julio. In truth, it wasn’t much of a storm as storms go and thankfully, it wasn’t a hurricane so thanks to all of you who wrote and wished us well.

It was just enough to get my car muddy and have to turn on the window wipers and it was bad enough that we didn’t want anyone out on the water because it was rough and wet and the port captain shut things down for a bit.

But, I felt bad for the amigos that were here and lost a day of fishing and had to keep watching the weather screens like us wondering from day-to-day if they’d be able to go fishing that day. Hat’s off to all of them who kept patience with us and kept smiling!

The fishing was not great as you might guess, but everyone made a go of it and did their best…captains and anglers both! They scratched up a few dorado, some bonito, a few too many needlefish and some roosters.

As the week went on, the rain left us and the winds died down, but the clouds still hung over us, but the fishing did improve seemingly with each passing day. More dorado started up in the counts including some larger 30 and 40 pounders. We saw quite a few billfish and got a few to bite. Several anglers got 2 or more billfish in a single day. Most were released. As well, roosters along the beaches kept things fun for the light tackle guys and ladies plus we’re seeing more sierra which leads me to believe that there’s some cooler spots of water here and there.Some of the roosters, as you can see from the photos, were the trophy-sized horses that this area is famous for. We had a few wahoo jump the lures, but nothing stuck. Tuna showed up back in the counts as well with legitimate 15-pounders at the north end of Espiritu Santo Island.

Like I said, it wasn’t great fishing by any stretch, but as the week went on, things got more promising.

Hopefully, by the time you’re reading this, we’ll be back in the swing of things and fishing is back up to speed.

That’s our 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: , 755 Paseo Obregon, 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.”

PHOTO 1: Lots of firsts for Kenny Nishimura from the Sacramento CA area. First time in Baja. First time fishing in Baja. First dorado! And it’s a gem. He holds up a sweet bull dorado that raked him across the ocean for awhile, but he put the fish in the boat! Kenny was fishing with his dad and other Sacramento firefighters this past week north of La Paz where dorado were a bit picky this week, but there were still some prizes to be had.

SCRATCHY FISHING MAKES ANGLERS WORK HARD FOR THEIR FISH THIS WEEK BUT EVERYONE STILL WENT HOME WITH FISH!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for the week of Aug. 16 to 23, 2008

PHOTO 2: One of the highlights of the week was the re-appearance of wahoo willing to go after a trolled lure or bait. Both the north and south side of Cerralvo Island had a few biters like this great 37-pounder held by Scott Singleton from the Sacramento area in California. He was fishing with our Las Arenas fleet south of the island

PHOTO 3: Tony Glover was on his first trip with us. He took a vacation from serving in Afghanistan with special forces protecting the U.S. embassy in Kabul and decided to do some fishing and also get his scuba certifcation. Tony hung this slugger bull dorado fishing north out of La Paz with Captain Marcos.

PHOTO 4: Kari Strickland from Mobile, Alabama poses with a dorado she hooked and landed east of Espiritu Santo Island. This was her first trip with us here in La Paz.

PHOTO 5: Paul Romano comes to see us every year with his dad Carl and has so many adventures every time! His first day fishing he pulls up on this huge blue marlin estimated at over 300 pounds. Many of you know famous Captain Chito Martinez standing alongside. Paul said he got the fish in about an hour. All the fish was donated to local families.

PHOTO 6: I couldn’t resist. Kenny Nishimura also got his first roosterfish with us this week as well as his first dorado. It’s great when you’re 14 years-old and on a trip with dad. He actually got several roosterfish on this particular day fishing less than 50 feet off the Las Arenas beach in water no deepter than 3 feet.

THE FISHING REPORT

I have to call it like I see it. It was a bit of a down week this past week around here. Actually, it’s been a little longer than a week of picky fishing. I know some are blaming the full moon on the 16th of August, but I hate putting the blame on a lunar cycle. Not my style. Most of the time this past year on a full moon cycle we slammed fish. But not this last week.

I can’t detect anything really different. Water is and has been a great 85-88 degrees on the surface. Our scuba divers tell me even at depth, it’s not much cooler…a warm 82. Air temperatures are in the upper 90’s each day and we have our seasonal tropical rain showers in the afternoon. Water is mostly clear. Winds have been down with only slight breezes. Criminy…we even have good bait!

Maybe it’s just Mother Nature giving us a reminder slap not to be cocky and telling us it’s still fishing! Because Jiminy Crismas, we had some good dorado and tuna fishing the past few weeks. As all things here in the Cortez are cyclical, I can only believe it’s going to go on the upswing…just in time for YOUR trip coming up! Right? I have my fingers crossed! September and October are traditionally our BEST and hottest fishing months to swing on fish so don’t get all droopy-eyed. (Yes, I know the tuna and dorado are getting caught on half-day boats in S.California so don’t write me and rub it in!) This is still Steinbeck’s and Ray Cannon’s Sea of Cortez we’re talking about!

So, wassup?

Well, the great tuna bite of the last month for our Las Arenas fleet tapered off. Actually the problem could very well be the bait. We have LOTS of it. Not a problem. However, during the weeks the tuna were going off, we had the scrawniest, tiniest baits imaginable. They barely fit on a hook. They were so small they were almost transparent. If you saw them you’d have to roll your eyes and figured you were in for bad fishing. On the contrary, the tuna LOVED the small baits and gulped them by the handfuls.

Well, this past few weeks we got the NORMAL sized sardines back. Good healthy swimmers. The kind we love to have in the baits wells. Unfortunately, the tuna don’t seem to like ’em as well. I guess we have to go looking for sickly bait! Go figure!

Anyway, the tuna we found dropped from about 10 per boat/day to about 1-4 per boat per day and generally caught at the north and south ends of Cerralvo Island. Football-sized yellowfin ranged from about 8-17 pounds punctuated by flurries of bonito, skipjack and the occasional wahoo, marlin or sailfish. Roosterfish sometimes turned to be the saving grace on a few days when the boats would come in go light tackle in the inshore roosters catching and releasing most fish. However, just to be totally honest, I saw two days when the main catch was TRIGGER FISH! Great eating, but hardly what you come to Baja to fish for.

For our La Paz fleet, it was picky as well. It was pretty much so-so fishing with a few highlighted spikes. Most boats that past week got only 1-4 dorado on the average with a few nice bulls. However, it seemed one or two boats each day would find a hot spots and get limits in short order. If you were on a boat that worked hard, but just didn’t find the spot, you had a scratchy day. Some of our captains blamed the lack of current and the fact that it was “too calm” some days for the dorado.

I have to believe we’ll be rolling again. Despite what I wrote, everyone DID catch fish and everyone who wanted to bring home fish brought home fish. If you fished only one day, it could be that one day that stunk, but generally speaking, if you fished 2, 3 or 4 days, you went home with a fairly full cooler. It’s just that you had to really work hard for your fish and there was no room for error. Often, I’d talk to the guys coming back to the beach and they’d tell me they “only got 2 fish.” Of course, they’d be disappointed, but the captain would tell me they “LOST FIVE!” Like I said, you gotta be on your game. No second chances!

That’s our 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: , 755 Paseo Obregon, 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.”

PHOTO: Keep an eye on the cleaning process. Cut it. Clean it. Take care of it!

HASTE MAKES WASTE!

Originally published the week of Aug. 19, 2008 in Western Outdoor News

After all these years here, it still amazes me how little attention many anglers pay to the end-product of their endeavors. They’ll spend weeks prepping and primping to get all the lures, hooks and rods together and making sure they have CD’s for the boombox and digging for that smelly fishing hat, but the object of the hunt gets scant attention.

I’m talking about your fish. That’s why you come down here, right? Fish for the barbecue when you get home…fish for the gardener…fish for all your office buddies.

Well, like anything else on the trip, it requires two things. Namely preparation and forethought. Stop and take a breath. Stop worrying so much about whether you can find your fishing shirt with the funny logo and 4 seasons of blood stains on it and give a little thought to actually bringing home some fish.

I get questions all the time from first timers. Many of them have fished places like Alaska and assume that fish can just be flown home from Baja neatly packaged and wrapped, if not by the charter service then by UPS, DHL or other carrier. NOT!

I mean, sure, it can be done, but chances are, it’s costly and in many places carrier services are not offered or even “express” service means 3 to 5 days with no guarantees!

So, assume your fish is flying home with you in most cases. That means you need some kind of packaging and something to bring it home in.

Vacuum sealing is increasing, but assume for the moment it probably is NOT available. So, bring the zip-lock style bags. Gallon size is preferred, not little teenie sandwich bags. It’s rare that anyone will have the time and patience to cut your 40 pound dorado into 4 oz. squares.

Do not assume that these types of plastic bags are readily available in Baja. Sometimes they are. Sometimes they are not. Often, they are a thinner or inferior quality and often much more expensive than in the states. Big-box retailers like Costco and Sam’s Club offer great deals on bags.

Second, you’ll need an ice chest. In the old days, we all brought down huge coffin-like 100 qt. marine coolers. These days with weight restrictions and airlines charging for excess baggage, we’ve found that a 40 qt ice chest filled with frozen fillets weighs just about 50 pounds more or less. Remember that those extra-thick chests or chests with wheels will weigh more than regular ice chests.

Sure, you can buy ice chests in Mexico, which is often a good alternative, but know that an ice chest might cost almost twice as much in Baja as back in the states.

Now, at ground zero, when you’re nailing fish and pandemonium is on the deck, don’t forget your fish. It would be nice to bleed the fish, but that’s often not possible or feasible when all heck is busting loose and the tuna and dorado are boiling.

That being said, bleed them when you can, but at least get your fish out from the hot sun. The Baja blaze will turn them to mush so put them in the shade and into some kind of chiller as soon as possible. The cooler the better. As soon as a fish is dead, it’s already decomposing. That’s nature. Heat is your enemy.

That goes for fish cleaning as well. I know it’s hard to resist the high-fiving, fish tales and beer toasts at the end of the day but keep an eye on whoever is cleaning your fish.

Pack it yourself in your bags if possible so that they’re in the size you want. If there’s only two of you eating, there’s no senses in putting 10 pounds of fillets in a bag that has to be defrosted back home.

Resist the urge to pack too much into a plastic bag as well. So often, I see anglers jam everything they can into a plastic bag.

When it goes into the freezer, it will freeze like a giant bowling ball that will have a hard time getting into your ice chest. Often, it expands as it freezes. The enclosure pops open and now you have freezer burned fish.

One trick is to put just a few fillets in the bag. Using a bucket of water that most boats have handy, push the bag under water just far enough that all the air comes out. The water pressure compresses it. Press the bag closed. Instant Mexican-style vacuum seal! And, by all means, don’t leave bags of fish on the cleaning table or deck to steam cook in the sun! Get them iced!

You paid too much for this trip and fish is too precious to waste! Take care of it.

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

PHOTO 1: Big man with big bull dorado! Mike Cramer holds up a legit 36 pound mahi. (See the scale in his hands). There weren’t alot of dorado this week, but there were surely some nice quality dorado caught this week. Mike got this bad guy fishing with our Las Arenas fleet.

TUNA STILL FRONT AND CENTER MOVING CLOSER BUT DORADO AND BILLFISH STILL IN THE RING AS WELL!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for the week of Aug. 10-17, 2008

PHOTO 2: Our buddy, Joey Fuschetti from Irvine CA rocked with this huge bull dorado that could easily have been a 50 pound class fish. Joey always does well fishing here at least once-a-year and got this dorado fishing with our La Paz fleet.

PHOTO 3: No shortage of sashime and sushi meat! Two of the nicest guys, Leo Dunn and Mitch Kawamoto, hold up just a few of the football tuna they popped south of Las Arenas. The fish got a little bigger with most now over 10 pounds. Small sardine baits were the key as well as light line and flurocarbon leaders.

PHOTO 4: Like I said…there were som brute dorado around this week. Mark Azaiwa, holds the head of a trophy bull helped by Captain Pancho with our Las Arenas fleet.

PHOTO 5: Las Vegas in the house! Eric Jones. Rob Manke, Sean Maes and Dave Jones started off their trip with a load of fillets. They hold up just a few of the tuna and dorado they whacked fishing with our Tailhunter Fleet out of Las Arenas.

PHOTO 6: Two of our best friends and darned good anglers, John Dunne and Gina Dunne from the Sierra Madre area of Los Angeles, come to visit every year. They also stack up the ice chests. This year it was full of dorado and here, some of the yellowfin footballs they scored south of Las Arenas. As the week went on, the fish got bigger and closer to the island.

PHOTO 7: First timers from Oregon, Chris and Julie Groth came down from the Portland area where Chris is a commercial fisherman who traded in his rain slickers for some shorts and t-shirts. They got so much fish they were giving it away to whoever wanted at the hotel.

PHOTO 8: Check this out. We all know what needlefish are. They are a curse to those of us who fish these waters. We have some big ones here. Well, check out Danny Wong’s needlefish! I put it on a scale and it measure 17 pounds! By contrast, the tuna this week were only about 12 pounders.

PHOTO 9: It’s soooo cool when people catch their fish fish. Here, Sharon Aurand from the S.Francisco bay area holds up her very first yellowfin tuna aided by Captain Jorge

PHOTO 10: Nice day! Tom Aurand and his son, T.J. pose with their first day of fishing. A nice rack of yellowfin tuna and a dorado in the sand. It was their first time down here to Baja and they probably caught about 9 different species of fish over the course of a week plus had billfish rising, but not quite taking their lures.

PHOTO 11: CAUGHT in the act! When you have fresh tuna you might as well make sashime while it’s fresh! Ray Quon is caught with all the essential ingredients making sashime in his hotel room!
PHOTO 12: All smiles, Captain Jacobo holds up a dorado caught off Espiritu Santo Island picked up by Leonard Kam who was on his first trip down to see us.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Check out some of the footage from this week. Click this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CamcIDxOcdg

THE FISHING REPORT

If you can put aside the weird tropical weather, it was a pretty darned interesting week of fishing…actually it was pretty good! Tuna kept up their charge and for our anglers that fished the Las Arenas area, that was what kept most of the focus. For our La Paz anglers, I’ll be honest, it was hit-or-miss. Most of the fish were dorado. Frankly, there weren’t many, but there were a few real trophy fish.

But let’s talk about the tuna first. The primary spot had been south of the Muertos Bay area. OK, so these were football sized, fish, but ya gotta admit, catching 5-10 footballs a day, plus add in a few dorado, some roosters, a bunch of bonito, a couple of jacks and way too many needlefish and it adds up to an action packed day. There were a few scratchy days when the bait wasn’t quite right (smaller the bait the better!), but over all, it was all good.

The thing about the tuna is that they seemed to be getting bigger. The 8 pounds of two weeks ago became 10 pounds. This week there were more 12 and 14 pounders. By the end of the week, there were a few 18 and 20 pounders and although we didn’t catch any, there were reports of 30, 40 and 50 pound breezers on the perimeter. Even moreso, the spot of fish has moved so that they are in spitting distance now just south of Cerralvo Island.

Not only is that a shorter boat ride, but that’s also a great area for wahoo and billfish. Sure enough, we did hang a few sails, marlin and hooked few wahoo this week as well.

For our La Paz boats, it was so-so. Not sure what’s up. One boat would hit limits of dorado. The next boat would get 2 fish. The boat 50 yards away would take 4 dorado. No rhyme or reason. The hot boat one day could go ice-cold the next. It’s fishing! There are some big billfish eating the small dorado. Paul Romano got a 300 plus-pound blue marlin at mid-week.

I’m writing this and it’ full moon. Last full moon, all heck broke out with great fishing. We’ll keep you posted!

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: , 755 Paseo Obregon, 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.”

PHOTO 1: Talk about a GRAND SLAM fishing day! Oregon boys on their first trip down here are Troy King (left) and Jess Robinson (kneeling). Captain Joel Martinez lends a hand. Fishing with our La Paz fleet, the guys got a big trophy bull dorado, the striped marlin and a mako shark! There was quite a bit of variety in the water this week!

TUNA STILL HOLD THE SPOTLIGHT WHILE DORADO FISHING SLOWS A BIT BUT BILLFISH GETTING MORE INTERESTED!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for the week of Aug. 2-9, 2008

PHOTO 2: Josh Evans from San Francisco knows how to swing on fish! He had a full week of bent rods, but did quite a few billfish including this sailfish. Hat’s off…Josh released lots of fish including ALL his billfish. You rock, amigo!

PHOTO 3: Here’s a hog of a fish! This is a “dog tooth snapper” aka “pargo perro” aka “cubera snapper.” Vince Preszler holds it up while standing on Las Arenas Beach. These fish are rare, not because there are so few, but because they are so difficult to catch. They get much larger and usually hang out in the rocks and are near impossible to wedge out. Well, this guy must have been lost because it ate a tiny sardine way out in deep water where the tuna schools were feeding!

PHOTO 4: Wally and Jeff Lee are from the bay area and were on their first trip with us. Here they are after their first day of fishing where they whacked the yellowfin tuna that have been on the chew now for over a week.

PHOTO 5: Nice dorado for Grace Ching from the San Francisco area. Gracie fished with us for about a week and hung some nice tuna as well.

PHOTO 6: Rob Burns is our buddy from Texas. He has way too much fun and this is his 3rd trip to visit us this year. Rob fished several days again, but on this particular day, he decided to use his flyrod and got 8 fun yellowfin tuna.

PHOTO 7: Justin Simon and his pals area all from Los Angeles area. They raced up to see us from Cabo San Lucas to squeeze in a day of fishing with our Las Arenas fleet and nailed a box of tuna from that school just to the south of Muertos Bay.

PHOTO 8: Leon Throckmorton was on his first trip with us. Donnie Rhea (on the right) visits us all the time and was on his 2nd trip of 2008. They love the light tackle and show off two of their bull dorado. Both fish took almost an hour to boat on the smaller gear fishing with our La Paz fleet north of La Paz near Espiritu Santo Island.

PHOTO 9: Steve Bryan and Dave O’Leary came down from the rainy state of Washington to check out our La Paz sunshine and get in a few days fishing. They spanked the yellowfin tuna as shown by two of the several tuna they caught their first day. Most of the fish have been about 10 pounds more or less, but as show by Steve’s fish, there’s some large models swimming in the schools! Steve and Dave also got in a day of dorado fishing and hooked and released a sailfish as well.

PHOTO 10: This is a real special fish. Chris Dufour is on the right. His wife Alissa is on the left. Chris did not catch this striper. Allissa did! On 25 pound test, she battled this fish for almost 4 hours north of La Paz! Quite an accomplishment and she did NOT hand off the rod. Alissa has fished with us a number of times and always does well.

PHOTO 11: OK…yes…that’s a yellowtail on the left being held by Kevin Kurstin about to enter his senior year in high school and fishing for the first time with Tailhunter International. We normally do not get yellowtail down here during this time of year, but this 18 pounder and others like it seem to show up a few times a week to remind us they’re still around. Kevin also got a nice yellowfin for his fishing efforts!

VIDEO CLIP FOR THE WEEK

Click this and turn up the sound:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Qw2P9DD7Mw

THE FISHING REPORT

Not sure who to characterize the week. It was one of ups-and-downs! If you were fishing for yellowfin tuna, well, that school of football tuna south of Muertos Bay for our Las Arenas fleet just continued to rip for a 2nd straight week. If you were fishing for anything else like dorado, billfish, roosters, etc., it kinda depended on where you fished and just being plain lucky, not to mention having your game plan together and your “A” game in place.

Listen…everyone got fish. That tuna bite for our Las Arenas fleet continued to roll. Nothing big but certainly alot of fun and our light tackle guys had a blast as well as flyfishers. The fish are about 8-15 pounds, but FLASH…bigger 40 and 50 pounders have been seen and were boiling just outside the zones but were either moving too fast or wouldn’t eat what we chased them with or threw at them. However, seeing them is sure encouraging. I did check out one of the larger fish caught on the troll by a commercial fisherman and it’s guts were full of little squid so that might be the ticket OR could signal that the squid might be coming up from the deep channel and bringing the tuna with them. We’ll keep you posted!

But, on top of the tuna, we also got a handful of dorado, billfish and roosters each day as well. The ticket for these tuna were the eenie-meenie little sardines we were using all week. If you had big sardines, the tuna weren’t interested. If you had the tiny sardines, you’d better hold onto your socks!

For our anglers fishing with our La Paz fleets it was hit or miss at times. You could hit the right spot on the right day and it could be well over by mid-morning. You’d have enough fish or enough BIG fish to call it a day. Dorado tails would be hanging out of the fish box. On the other hand, there were times you really had to work at it and spank the water to get fish to rise or find the right spots. Some boats got ’em and some boats didn’t. The next day, you could go from goat to hero or hero to goat. Alot of it was just luck.

However, we also did see quite a few billfish. A number of them were hooked and lost and proud to say quite a few of them were also released as well. The fish are scattered. Some days there wouldn’t be a billfish. The next day, the boats would have 2, 3 or more fish around the boat. That’s fishing.

Weather has been real tropical lately. (It even hailed one day!That’ right HAIL!!!)Almost everyday, a bit of rainstorm falling somewhere for a few minutes. Sometimes, they’re real gully-washers and others are like a warm shower. They blow over pretty fast but are putting alot of debris in the water for dorado schools to hide under! We’ll keep you posted. Still, might be a good idea to bring a light windbreaker or cheap pancho, or do like I do and just cut some holes in a trash bag!

CAPTAIN JORGE

Our ever-popular Captain Jorge appears to be sick again. As many of you may recall, he was out about 4 years ago with serious intestinal problems that required surgery in Guadalajara. Apparently, the symptoms have come back. Not sure what it is, but he’s getting checked out. He’s been out of the lineup for 2 weeks now and until further notice, w’ere not sure when he’ll be back in the starting rotation with the first string. We’ll keep you posted. Jorge is one of the best captains not to mention one of the most likeable of any captain you’ll ever meet. Bear with us if you’ve requested Jorge. Believe me, he’s chomping at the bit to be out on the water ASAP.

That’s our 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: , 755 Paseo Obregon, 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.”