That's My Story

ORDER IN THE COURT! I SWEAR I DIDN’T DO IT!

Originally published in Western Outdoor News the week of June 25, 2008

I have a friend down here in Baja who’s family is in a rough patch right now. Actually, it’s not a good place at all.

Put yourself in the place of being the single parent of an 8-year-old. You work 3 jobs trying to make ends meet. But for part of the afternoon for 2 hours, no one is there to watch your kid. It’s been like this for years. It’s reality. No one likes it, but for those two hours there’s no supervision. No other nearby family members or neighbors to help out.

You live in a little studio above a garage. Not in the best neighborhood. A lot of trash and debris around. A fire starts in a wood pile where the landlord keeps flammable lubricants. Much of the building is burned. The child has to be rescued from the upstairs by neighbors. Everyone is thankful.

Until the next day. The police arrive and the child is charged with arson. The child claims to have been taking a nap as always. There are no other witnesses. But the child is now being prosecuted and could face full criminal penalties including removal from the family.

A nightmare of almost insurmountable proportions. There are no witnesses and only the child’s words of denial. What do you do as a parent? You can’t afford lawyers.

And this is Mexico. This is not the U.S.

You see, Mexico adheres to the archaic Napoleonic code of law, residue from when the French controlled Mexico. Unlike the U.S. where you are “innocent until proven guilty”, in Mexico, you are “guilty until you prove you are innocent.”

Let that sink in a bit.

Ever tried to prove a negative? Remember being a kid and trying to prove you did not kick the dog? Prove you did not make your baby sister cry? Prove it was your classmate in line who was giggling? If the authority figure said you were the culprit there wasn’t much diddly-squat you could do or say.

Fast forward to adulthood in Mexico. It can be pretty ominous. Prove you did NOT run the stoplight. Prove you were NOT drunk in public. Prove your kid did NOT start a fire that resulted in thousands of dollars of damage. Talk to the hand, Senor!
The Mexican legal system, with all its resources, doesn’t have to do a thing. It doesn’t have to prove you’re guilty. It’s incumbent upon you, even if you’re the poorest of the poor, to prove your innocence. You are already guilty because the legal system says you’re the most likely bad guy. Wrong place. Wrong time. Too bad. So sad.

Americans accidentally caught up on the wrong side of the Mexican legal system are rudely awakened…a traffic accident…a bit of “someone else’s” pot found in your car…a stupid macho bar fight…and it’s YOUR word against “the system.” Right or wrong, you’re a guest in a foreign country and are subject to the perception that you’re guilty right out of the box. To Americans that’s a scary concept that makes you wish you were in the land of Judge Judy with all it’s flaws.

Well, Mexico is about to change.

In perhaps the most sweeping legal reforms ever, Mexico is coming over from the dark side. Within the next few years, new legislative measures will be implemented that will turn the Mexican legal system on it’s cabeza (head).

Not only will the Mexican courts now start the ball rolling with a PRESUMPTION of innocence, but there will actually be open courtrooms and public trials.

As a former trial attorney myself, this is huge. I was once involved in litigation more than a dozen years ago where I was hired to work with Mexican attorneys to recover some foreclosed property worth several million dollars.

There was no trial. There was no hearing. There were no witnesses. There were no oral arguments. We never saw a judge. We never got to see the “evidence” presented by the opposing side. Everyone simply submitted papers to the judge. There was no way to know if the other side’s written evidence was true or not. There was no opportunity to challenge it. It could have been a pack of lies written on paper plates for all we knew. As I found out later, our Mexican attorneys also fabricated much of the paperwork. I was told, “The object is to win!” But that was how the system worked. I could only shake my head.

So now the Mexican legal system faces the daunting task of building courtrooms for public hearings. It now has to actually educate judges, lawyers and paralegals about trials and evidentiary matters. These are alien concepts. Remember, this is not a culture that grew up watching “Perry Mason,” “L.A. Law” or “People’s Court.”

It comes too late to help my friend and his family, but it’s a good step in the right direction for once.

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

POSTCARD 1: Hi Mom! This is what a 46 pound dorado looks like. I know. I put it in a scale. It dwarfs the angler, Ray Holguin from Los Angeles who fought it for 25 minutes (without and shirt resulting in a horrendous sunburn that made it hard to slap him on the back to congratulate him!) Ray took the fish outside off Las Arenas. Not many dorado this week, but there were a few quality fish like this one!

NOT AS WINDY AS LAST WEEK BUT WATERS STILL STIRRED UP AND GREEN OUTSIDE FORCED MOST ANGLERS TO FISH INSHORE WITH GOOD RESULTS!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for the week of June 22, 2008

POSTCARD 2: Take a look at this photo and the next. Talk about a banner day! Guys come from all over the world to get even one of these babys and they come year after year only to be eluded, frustrated and disillusioned! Well, Makani Fisher from Utah not only gets two big pargo…this one being a pargo liso (mullet snapper), but one of the largest you’ll ever see! It was scaled at 46 pounds! They get bigger, but rarely do you see them landed! Even Captain Victor is straining to lift it off the deck.

POSTCARD 3: Here’s Captain Victor giving Makani Fisher a hand again. Hey…if the kid can horse in TWO of these toads, he can hold up his own fish! Again, a spectacular catch of a pargo. This one is a dog-tooth or cubera snapper. Like a giant goldfish on steroids! A real prize!

POSTCARD 4: Tom Romanello is our forest firefighter amigo from Idaho. We didn’t do too well fishing directly out’ve La Paz this week, but Tom sure had an excellent day with his dad getting several nice dorado including this nice bull. However ,they had to run waaaaaay north going almost 70 miles north of La Paz just to find the cleaner warm water. That’s normally a ridiculous distance to have to run for our fish, but Tom and his dad made the most of it!

POSTCARD 5: Another good week on big roosterfish! This has to be the best year for the big boys we’ve seen in ages. It’s been on now since March. These fish are in relatively shallow waters. Kamika Fisher from Utah (that’s his son in the photos above) holds a big pez gallo. Kamika is a big guy himself! Note the gaff held by Captain Victor. Our captains have been gaffing the roosters in the lip so that they can be released. On this particular day, their smallest rooster was 35 pounds. Their largest was close to 60 pounds.

POSTCARD 6: Montebello, California in the house! June Akike and Julio Cornejo from Montebello CA came down specifically to try for pargo. When I first saw their gear, their artillery was way too light so I beefed them up some 60 pound test and my personal “meat sticks.” They lost their first 4 fish to the rocks, but finally hung these two beauties!

POSTCARD 7: It must have been a good week for pargo judging from all the photos. It wasn’t! There weren’t that many caught. Most kicked the hell out of anglers who simply could not stop the powerful fish. However, it seems that many of the ones that were caught this week were all heavyweight champs…like this pargo liso held by Kamika Fisher from Utah.

POSTCARD 8: PHIL COO from Duarte CA grins with his nice amberjack. We’re seeing more and more of these big cousins to the yellowtail. We got several last year that were over 100 pounds. Great eating and a nasty fighter too! These guys use rocks to their advantage.

POSTCARD 9: This is George Romanello from Duarte CA. George had a great trip nailing this roosterfish held by Captain Archangel (released) but also getting numerous other species as well. I really wanted him to have a good trip. Last year, George was all set , but had to cancel when his passport did not arrive on time! It got there one day late! He made up for it this year.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

PHOTO 1: Dan Flatt from Atwater CA is a school teacher who was on his first trip to visit us. Despite some tough winds, Dan and his wife, Susan (photos below) got into some of the nice dorado that showed up north of La Paz between the islands around the sargasso patches near Las Cruces.

ANOTHER TOUGH WEEK OF OFFSHORE FISHING AGAINST THE WINDS (GO AWAY ALREADY!) BUT DORADO ARE HERE FOR SURE AND INSHORE FISHING FOR ROOSTERS, JACKS AND POMPANO STILL HOT!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for the week of Sunday June 15, 2008

PHOTO 2: Susan Flatt, like her husband, Dan, (above) is also an educator from Northern, California. She’s holding one of the nicer dorado taken north of La Paz this week where a spot of mahi was found around Las Cruces.

PHOTO 3: One of the funnest guys of the week and light tackle enthusiasts, Jonathan Speir from Sonoma CA holds up the kind of roosterfish that made Las Arenas famous as the “roosterfish capital of the world.” If the rooster doesn’t look that big, consider that Jonathan is about 6’4″ tall and the tail of the rooster is barely touching the deck of the panga! The rooster was released as were most of the big roosters all week.

PHOTO 4: Another great example of a real pretty rooster taken near the lighthouse off Las Arenas where fish between 10 and 80 pounds have been hanging for the past 2 months. Dan Flatt from Atwater CA does the honors.

PHOTO 5: This is Charlie and Greg Gibson holding up a sample of some of their catch after fishing a day out of Las Arenas. Left to right: barred pargo, amberjack, snapper and pompano. This particular day they also hooked two sailfish. Charlie’s broke off, but Greg hooked, fought and released his. Both had a blast using lightweight spinning rods for all their fish. Greg also spent the week completing his PADI scuba course certification.

PHOTO 6: Smile says it all. Nick Fantozzi holds up a nice snapper here. Great eating and highly prized in the markets and restaurants and much sought after by the commercial panga fishermen, these fish are a tough fight out of the rocks.

PHOTO 7: Wendy and Cara Fantozzi got out on the water a few days with us this week. High winds made it difficult and tough to get out some days to the outter buoys where the larger dorado lurked, but some breezing school-sized dorado like these held by the ladies have moved closer to the beaches and island.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK:

PHOTO: The appearance of wahoo are usually a pretty good indication of warmer waters.

PHOTO 1: Jerry Reiter and John Torascio from the Ventura CA area hold up some of the nice class bull dorado we hit this week. Both anglers were on their first trip down here and tangled with some nice fish. Dorado fishing wasn’t great, but the fish that were caught were usually trophies like this!

A TOUGH WEEK OF FISHING MARKED BY INCONSISTENT WINDS AND DROP IN WATER TEMPERATURE – BUT STILL SOME NICE DORADO AND INSHORE SPECIES!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for the week of Jun3 1-8, 2008

PHOTO 2: On his first fishing trip ever, Andy Ewing from Seattle WA rips this 50 pound class roosterfish off the beach near Las Arenas. Trophy roosters like this moved in a few weeks ago in shallow waters. Andy released this fish after taking this great shot. Note the flat waters!

PHOTO 3 : One of the biggest problems this week was the falling water temperature. Inshore waters went cold lockjawing the fish. The warmer water was outside around the buoys where toad-sized dorado like this one held by Joel Ofrancia of Seattle WA were hanging out. Joel hit three good day of this kind of fishing. The problem with getting outside to the warmer water was the fact that sometimes the winds were blowing so hard, it was impossible to get across in all the chop and wet. I put this fish on a scale myself and it went 42 pounds!

PHOTO 4: Just too pretty of a photo to pass up. This is a hooked dorado next to the boat. It was unhooked and released.

PHOTO 5: Now here’s a great shot. Our amigo, Doug Oclassen from Boulder CO is hooked on a striped marlin. Captain Victor looks on. Cerralvo Island in the background. They tried to release this fish but were unable to and the meat was donated. However, during the week they released other billfish and numerous dorado, roosters and jacks.

PHOTO 6: Butch Lawson always seems to do pretty well everytime he comes to see us. He’s here with Captain Jorge and a dorado they picked up. Butch is from the Monterey CA area.

PHOTO 7: Dave Newman doesn’t get to take his shirt off very often. He’s from Chicago, Ill. and is constantly sending photos of his frozen yard. However, he’s dynamite on light tackle whether from a panga or the beach. He’s standing here on Las Arenas beach just around from the lighthouse where schools of jacks and roosters congregate. He’s holding up a nice jack he nailed on 15 pound test and a Shimano Calcutta 400 reel!

PHOTO 8 – Not sure if this needs explanation, but I promised someone I’d post it. Kids, don’t try this at home. Seen often in Baja Mexico, it’s a pink-eyed Pacific Pargo Belly.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK:

Check out some of the dorado action this week. You will see a marlin here that got taken, but almost all marlin this week were released as were most of the roosterfish. The one you see in the video swallowed the hook and the meat went to folks who needed food.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYsBqoaB4qM

THE FISHING REPORT

Right up front…IT WAS A WEIRD WEEK! It had all the makings to be an outstanding week, but for a few glitches mother nature threw at us.

Here’s what happened. Those pesky winds hit us again. One day from one side. Next day from the other. Sometimes it seemed like they sucker punched us from different angles at the same time. What occured is that water temperatures dropped. That resulted (I think) in alot of the fish going “lockjaw” on us. I mean…they were there, but just wouldn’t open their mouths to take a bait!

The warmer waters were outside by the buoys or around the islands. BUT…to get out there, you had to be willing to get your teeth kicked in going out there and getting battered around. Most guys opted to stay close to shore where the aforementioned cold water took it’s toll and even needlefish didn’t bite on some days.

This was mostly at the middle of the week with the funky weather. At the beginning and the end of the week, there was some good to great action on BIG dorado outside as well as marlin and sailfish with most billfish getting released. Inshore, especially along those shallow beaches, jacks and roosters and pompano (basically, almost all the jack family) were there varying in sizes from small 2 pounders up to 60 pounders. This made for some great inshore action.

No wahoo to speak of this week and that flurry of tuna seems to have gone back down to the trenches. The thing we’re watching is that if these winds stay down, it looks like the La Paz side fishing is actually starting to heat up with some dorado located in warm water betweeen Espiritu Santo and the north end of Cerralvo Island.

Fishing tips….

Flurocarbon leaders

CD 18 sized big Rapalas in dark colors for wahoo

Hook sizes #1 to 2/0 for most baits

Don’t forget zip lock bags for your fish

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

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

Phone: (626) 333-3355

FAX: (626) 333-0115

E-Mail: Riplipboy@aol.com

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

Mexico Office: , 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: Ever seen 60 and 70 pound roosterfish? Those are the estimated weights of these two bruisers being held by Joe Dubler from Palmer AK, and Jeff Regnart from Anchorage AK. There’s a reason they call this area the “roosterfish capital of theworld. ” The world record 114 pounder came out of these waters and fish like these are not uncommon. In fact, considering it’s early in the season we’re getting banner numbers of the big fish. Here’s the best part of this. On this particular day, Joe and Jeff got FIVE of these fish including this double hook up. THEY RELEASED EACH FISH! They rock!

DORADO BIG ROOSTERS AND OUR FIRST WAHOO OF THE SEASON HIGHLIGHT A WEEK OF HARD FISHING – FEWER FISH BUT BIGGER FISH!

LA PAZ / LAS ARENAS FISHING REPORT FOR JUNE 1, 2008 for the week of May 25 to 31, 2008

PHOTO 2: Mike Booth from Riverside CA holds up the kind of dorado that showed up this week. Nice BIG FAT BULLS! Several spots outside of Cerralvo Island, especially the elusive 88 spot and the inshore buoys some days held fields of fish and other days not a ripple. However, it seemed to be a week of all big fish in the 25 to 40 pound class!

PHOTO 3: What happend to all the small fish and females? As the boats unloaded each day, it seems like it was bull after bull after bull in the boxes! No one was complaining. Joe Dubler from Alaska hung this beauty on a live bait outside the island. Most all the fishing has been from the Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay side. Late in the week, schools of these big mahi ravaged through the bait schools. Marlin and sailfish were also in the same areas, ignoring baits one day then romping on anything thrown in the water the next day!

PHOTO 4: Not so many big pargo this week, but no doubt they were still there! This has been an incredible pargo season with lots of big fish early including fish like this pargo liso, but also big dog-tooth and paro mulatto have also been getting into the boxes. There were lots of fish hooked but so many lost in the rocks…as usual. This nice one is being helf up by one of our best pargo captains…the very popular Captain Manny Archangel.

PHOTO 5: As waters have gotten warmer, we’re seeing the appearance of more amberjack…the bigger and tastier cousins to yellowtail, pompano, jack crevalle and roosterfish with the same bad attitudes when hooked. This one is being held by Jim Nass who also got roosterfish. Some of these fish will get over 100 pounds and hang out along the rocks and pinnacles near high spots. Great eating.

PHOTO 6: OK…can you say, “Happy Birthday?” Mark Bonami from the San Francisco Bay area celebrated his 43rd birthday with us. He goes out and nails one of our first wahoo of the season as well as this 50-60 pound roosterfish (released). YEOW! We knew the wahoo were in the area, but none had been hooked yet only some short biters that fell off. Mark got our first of the season (see the video) on a black and purple trolled Rapala!

PHOTO 7: Dennie Dyer and Matt Lederer hold up some of the best inshore eating fish we have. The silver ones are African Pompano and the reddish fish is a barred pargo. Dennie came down with the specific intent to somehow get in the fishing report. You made it Dennie! (Also check out the video this week too!). This was an incredible week for the pompano that moved into the waters right off the beach areas where the sand sloped to deeper waters. A small sinker and live bait got anglers through the needlefish schools to the fish zone!

PHOTO 8: No small fish! Chris Silva, “Texas” Bill Sharp, and Mike “I only drink Corona” Booth all from Riverside CA hold up a trio of dorado bulls typical of the kind of quality dorado that showed up this week off the buoys outside of Las Arenas and Cerrlavo Island

PHOTO 9: Jeff Regnart spent a whole week fishing with us and went home with a load of fillet and lots of variety. He got the best of this big bull dorado. As one angler said, “We pulled up on one area and there were flying fish everywhere. Bull dorado in an area half the size of a football

PHOTO 10: Dave Rose trekked with his family all the way from the Denver area. These little roosters are as hearty and feisty as their big brothers. If you want some light tackle fun, there are schools of these youngsters off some of the beaches that can be hours of incredible fun until your arms fall of!

PHOTO 11: Wahoo!!! Yup…they’re here. (check the video). Dave Newman is a frequent amigo of ours and lives in Chicago. He often sends me photos of the incredible winters they have up here so it’s always good to see him down here in the sunshine. His first day out he spanks this nice wahoo. The south end of Cerralvo Island in that high spot that kicks out so many of the skinnies each year again looks like it’s holding fish!

THE WEEK IN VIDEO!

Video 1: The week in review. Check it out. A collection of clips from the week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoHaCxAhWQo&feature=user

Video 2: Pete Savarese on light tackle goes head to head against a big jack crevalle on light tackle. Note the gaff technique in the lip by Captain Adolfo so that the fish could be released.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGhdTW7QcFQ

THE FISHING REPORT

Well, amigos…if you read the captions to this week’s photos, you get the gist. I won’t blow smoke…

It wasn’t a great week of fishing. It was a GOOD week of fishing with some GREAT fish! Some guys did better than others. The fish really did play games.

One day all the good fish were on one spot and a few boats would get them. Then, the next day EVERYONE would shoot there and the fish would POP UP SOMEWHERE ELSE. The guys who just happened to be at the new spot would get slammed. The next day everyone would shoot to the new spot an the hot bite would turn up somewhere else!!! It was like “musical fishing chairs!”

But no one could argue about the quality.

Lots of guys got their biggest…roosterfish…dorado…marlin…sailfish. Happy to say that almost all the marlin/ sailfish were released…even by the rookies (good for you!)…as well as the bigger roosters and some game guys were even releasing their big dorado too. You rock!

Some guys who knew they already had too much fish were also letting fish go. One day it seemed each of our pangas had at least one marlin/sailfish hooked, released or lost and the only ones killed were the ones that were deep hooked or were already going to die. The rest are hopefully still swimming to fight another day. A good portion of the billfish that were brought in were given to folks who needed the food.

Most of the fishing spots centered on the area around the Arenas lighthouse for the roosters, pompano and jacks. Punta Perrico and the SE end of Cerrlavo Island held the pargo and rockfish. The outter buoys were the spot to go search for the big dorado and billfish.

Almost 99 percent of our fishing was out of Muertos Bay to fish these areas. We haven’t fished the La Paz side very much because of the winds or inconsistent fishing. However…FLASH…this week we did fish a bit more on the La Paz side and got some nice dorado…a few tuna…and even some larger yellowtail so we’ll keep an eye on that for you!

That’s my story! Have a great week!

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.”

With each passing week, it seems like we’re seeing one more thing after another fall prey to the effects of higher gas prices and a slowed economy “up there” in the U.S. Icon after icon falls. Things we never thought would change, are changing.

Believe me, fish brothers and sisters, next to soccer or boxing, the U.S. economy is the most talked about coffee and beer discussion down here south of the border . It’s right up there with Follwed by whether “OBooomuh” will beat “Kleen-tune” to go against “Muh-keeen” for the White House in November.

Certain things were never supposed to change. There was a sense of entitlement to certain things. We were entitled to always seeing Superman win; re-runs of M.A.S.H. were always somewhere on the dial; and there was always SOMEPLACE that still sold 1 dollar Mexican beers.

Well, I think it’s safe to say that another era is drawing to a close. It’s no longer an aberration by errant airlines intent on making YOUR travel plans more difficult. It’s a trend now to make YOUR travel more difficult.

With each passing week it seems another airline (those that are still flying!) is eliminating the 2 free bags on international flights. Those halcyon days of carefree luggage are going the way of stingray bicycles; safe drinking water out of the garden hose; and riding in the back of open pick-up trucks.

First they limited luggage weight from 70 to 50 pound per check-in bag. But you COULD bring two pieces.

Now, it seems most airlines are cutting back. You get 1 free bag and then then pay from $25 or more for the second bag and up to $100 or more for the third bag. Think rod tubes and ice chests…yup…that’s right.

Hey, I’m not talking smack against the airlines. At least not for this. Fuel is fuel. There’s not a single part of our lives that isn’t touched by the increase in fuel costs. A plane can only handle a finite amount of weight. It takes more fuel to get that weight up into the air; keeping it there; and moving forward it from point A to point B. I get that.

The surcharge, if you will, “taxes” those of us who take up the extra weight with our toys and that third set of swim trunks; the Grateful Dead t-shirt we can’t leave home without; the 50 iron lures we need for just two days of fishing; and the boom box and CD’s we MUST have. And yes, ladies (you know who you are) those 12 pairs of shoes for the weekend trip.

If you’re like my dad who seems to get by on a week-long trip with one pair of socks, two boxers (one severely lightened by the lack of elastic), and his toothbrush, then you don’t have to worry. But that’s Old School. We of the modern world like our stuff. Gotta have our stuff.

But the new fiscal reality dicates differently. Lighten up.

If you’re traveling with buds, consider putting as many rods into a tube as you can. The big giant tubes won’t pass anymore. The standard-size tubes or home-made PVC tubes can hold a surprising number of sticks. For the average 2 or 3 days fishing trip, you don’t need 10 sticks each. And keep them short. Oversize gets charged too.

The days of the 100 qt. cooler are long gone. Go with the 30-40 quart chests. Do you REALLY need wheels on them? That adds a lot of weight. A 40 quart chest when filled properly with filets weighs just about 50 pounds.

Do NOT bring empty luggage like an empty ice chest either. What I like to do is put my clothes in a soft duffle. It goes into the ice chest on your way down. On your way back home to the states, hopefully, your cooler is now filled with fish. Your duffle bag now becomes your carry-on to go in the overhead.

If you’re fishing with friends, figure out that you each do not need a long-range sized tackle box. Each of you does not need 20 feathers and iron each. I know. I’m a tackle junkie too and I’m talking blasphemy. How dare I tell you to leave fishing gear home! Well, bring it but be ready to pay for it. Consider sharing tackle. You do NOT need 8 blue and white feathers each.

Unless you really MUST have some super dooper shampoo or something, consider either bringing travel sizes of cosmetics or buying stuff like a toothbrush, razors, shampoo and toothpaste here in Baja. Unless you’re staying out with the cactus and coyotes, you can pretty much buy anything here in Mexico now and all the name brands. And it’s probably cheaper. Most hotels have a convenience store.

They’re being real sticky about weights too. In my last trip, they were charging people who were even 1 or 2 pounds over. No lenience. The new world order has arrived.

By the way, I just yesterday. Some airlines are now charging $15 for the FIRST bag too.

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

LIGHTEN UP

Originally published in Western Outdoor News the week of May 28, 2008

With each passing week, it seems like we’re seeing one more thing after another fall prey to the effects of higher gas prices and a slowed economy “up there” in the U.S. Icon after icon falls. Things we never thought would change, are changing.

Believe me, fish brothers and sisters, next to soccer or boxing, the U.S. economy is the most talked about coffee and beer discussion down here south of the border . It’s right up there with Follwed by whether “OBooomuh” will beat “Kleen-tune” to go against “Muh-keeen” for the White House in November.

Certain things were never supposed to change. There was a sense of entitlement to certain things. We were entitled to always seeing Superman win; re-runs of M.A.S.H. were always somewhere on the dial; and there was always SOMEPLACE that still sold 1 dollar Mexican beers.

Well, I think it’s safe to say that another era is drawing to a close. It’s no longer an aberration by errant airlines intent on making YOUR travel plans more difficult. It’s a trend now to make YOUR travel more difficult.

With each passing week it seems another airline (those that are still flying!) is eliminating the 2 free bags on international flights. Those halcyon days of carefree luggage are going the way of stingray bicycles; safe drinking water out of the garden hose; and riding in the back of open pick-up trucks.

First they limited luggage weight from 70 to 50 pound per check-in bag. But you COULD bring two pieces.

Now, it seems most airlines are cutting back. You get 1 free bag and then then pay from $25 or more for the second bag and up to $100 or more for the third bag. Think rod tubes and ice chests…yup…that’s right.

Hey, I’m not talking smack against the airlines. At least not for this. Fuel is fuel. There’s not a single part of our lives that isn’t touched by the increase in fuel costs. A plane can only handle a finite amount of weight. It takes more fuel to get that weight up into the air; keeping it there; and moving forward it from point A to point B. I get that.

The surcharge, if you will, “taxes” those of us who take up the extra weight with our toys and that third set of swim trunks; the Grateful Dead t-shirt we can’t leave home without; the 50 iron lures we need for just two days of fishing; and the boom box and CD’s we MUST have. And yes, ladies (you know who you are) those 12 pairs of shoes for the weekend trip.

If you’re like my dad who seems to get by on a week-long trip with one pair of socks, two boxers (one severely lightened by the lack of elastic), and his toothbrush, then you don’t have to worry. But that’s Old School. We of the modern world like our stuff. Gotta have our stuff.

But the new fiscal reality dicates differently. Lighten up.

If you’re traveling with buds, consider putting as many rods into a tube as you can. The big giant tubes won’t pass anymore. The standard-size tubes or home-made PVC tubes can hold a surprising number of sticks. For the average 2 or 3 days fishing trip, you don’t need 10 sticks each. And keep them short. Oversize gets charged too.

The days of the 100 qt. cooler are long gone. Go with the 30-40 quart chests. Do you REALLY need wheels on them? That adds a lot of weight. A 40 quart chest when filled properly with filets weighs just about 50 pounds.

Do NOT bring empty luggage like an empty ice chest either. What I like to do is put my clothes in a soft duffle. It goes into the ice chest on your way down. On your way back home to the states, hopefully, your cooler is now filled with fish. Your duffle bag now becomes your carry-on to go in the overhead.

If you’re fishing with friends, figure out that you each do not need a long-range sized tackle box. Each of you does not need 20 feathers and iron each. I know. I’m a tackle junkie too and I’m talking blasphemy. How dare I tell you to leave fishing gear home! Well, bring it but be ready to pay for it. Consider sharing tackle. You do NOT need 8 blue and white feathers each.

Unless you really MUST have some super dooper shampoo or something, consider either bringing travel sizes of cosmetics or buying stuff like a toothbrush, razors, shampoo and toothpaste here in Baja. Unless you’re staying out with the cactus and coyotes, you can pretty much buy anything here in Mexico now and all the name brands. And it’s probably cheaper. Most hotels have a convenience store.

They’re being real sticky about weights too. In my last trip, they were charging people who were even 1 or 2 pounds over. No lenience. The new world order has arrived.

By the way, I just saw yesterday. Some airlines are now charging $15 for the FIRST bag too.

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

PHOTO 1: Now this is the right kind! Guys dream about nailing one of these bad boys. Many bite, but few are taken! This is a pargo. It’s a pargo liso (mullet snapper) to be exact. Big schools of these big fish are up on the shallows right now. Jeff Regnert from Anchorage AK pulled this one out’ve the rocks in shallow water with live bait.

WINDS RIP ANGLERS IN LATE SEASON BLOW ALMOST AS HARD AS THE BIG PARGO and YELLOWTAIL!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Report from Tailhunter International for May 24, 2009

PHOTO 2: Wally Huang and Frank Lui from the Los Angeles area hold up a 45 pound roosterfish taken off the lighthouse at Punta Arena. The big roosters have definitely moved into the area now. Lots of small ones around, but the big bad boys are cruising the beaches too! Most are getting released, but we’ve had some taken this week up to 70 pounds with larger ones being lost.

PHOTO 3: Another good one for the table, this is another type of pargo. It’s called a pargo mulatto…barred pargo. They get alot bigger and can be tough in the rocks. Jeff Santa holds this one. Jeff is from just south of San Francisco. CA.

PHOTO 4: Don White has a charter business up in Oregon, but comes down to check out the sunshine and fish without slickers on! Here he’s holding up a pargo taken off Punta Perrico. It was another week of good bites for the pargo. Perhaps this is one of the best pargo seasons in a long time.

PHOTO 5: This is Dimitry Postovalov. He’s from Russia. But he currently lives in Utah. He’s pretty funny and has himself a good time. . .all the time. He and his buddy Mike are favorite amigos of ours. He likes vodka and has been known to eat live bait from the bait tank as well as eat fish raw just after they are caught. He loves sashime! He also loves to flyfish and light tackle fish. This day he got a small roosterfish, but released over twenty. (See the attached video).

PHOTO 6: Here’s a real typical catch this week as strong winds late in the week really kept alot of our fleet confind close to the rocks and beaches where a number of rock species were hanging out and thankfully still eager to chew. Jeff and Jason are from the Orange Co. area of S.California. They are holding a nice fat cabrilla (dark brown seabass), a nice amberjack (cousin to yellowtail) and have several nice pargo as well.

PHOTO 7: Lately Captain Jorge has been on fire with the pargo. He’s holding up a nice pargo pero (dog tooth snapper) on the gaff that was taken by our amiga Sara Moss from British Columbia.

PHOTO 8: Spring time is when all species of jacks seem to come into the shallows near the sandy areas. They make for great fun as all of them are natural fighters. These include the yellowtail, amberjack, big eye jacks, jack crevalle and this one…a pompano. Kent Petre from the Denver Co area holds it up off Muertos Bay.

PHOTO 8: Once again…Captain Jorge…on fire with another big pargo taken by Joe Czechan who lives up at Lake Isabella, California, and happily tells you he “fishes every day now that I’m retired.”

PHOTO 9: One of our best guys here is Wayne Moss who always hammers fish. Wayne is a commercial pilot from British Columbia who took this nice roosterfish on his flyrod south of Bahia de Los Muertos. He said he must have released more than 30 fish one afternoon but “stopped counting after awhile.”

WEEKLY VIDEO CLIP

Give this link a click and check out some of this week’s fishing action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zie1L6acBqs

THE FISHING REPORT

There were some nice fish caught this week, especially big pargo and roosterfish. However, there’s alot more that weren’t caught. We’d have done ALOT better but the big story this week was the 3 of 4 days of extremely high winds that came tearing through here.

We haven’t had winds like this since winter and I kid you not…if you know how calm it normally is here…these were the biggest waves and chop I have ever seen here in years that weren’t attached to a hurricane. However, the sun was out. Not a cloud in the sky, but winds came through like a freight train. Chop…gusts…dust…furniture getting blown over…big waves…what a mess! What a pain to be out on a panga! The guys who fished with us this week were gamers…hats off to them. They hung in there despite conditions that had most of us dressed in hooded sweatshirts and long pants shivering. I guess the weather is all screwed up this past week with tornados in California and the mid-west; snow in Los Angeles and other messed up weather patterns uncharacteristic of this time of the year.

However, as I tap out this report, things have calmed and it’s looking and feeling more like Baja again!

There’s no doubt there’s fish here, but if you’re getting bounced out’ve the panga; getting soaked in the waves; or the wind is blowing you off the spot, it’s gonna be hard. However, the pargo are still here. No doubts. I mean…BIG BIG SCHOOLS of BIG FISH FISH! Most anglers who have never felt the power, don’t have any idea of what these big fish can do. No B.S. guys were busting off 60 and 80 pound test on these fish and guys with 50 pound test and fully buttoned-down drags could only watch helplessly as the heavy gear failed to stop the fish from heading into the rocks! Excercises in frustration! You can see the fish. You can see the inhale your bait, then it’s like trying to stop a baby freightrain with a piece of string and a stick! Many bites…few fish. It wasn’t altogether bad fishing. It was bad catching!

However, roosterfish again stepped into the gap and provided great action inshore on small schoolie fish you could catch more than a dozen or the bigger bruisers up to 80 pounds lurking along the beaches. Shaping up to be an incredible roosterfish season. Most do

n’t taste good, but few would argue that these bad boys know how to slug it out when hooked.

Other than that, it was hard to get outside to the buoy spots because of the wind, but a few dorado were hooked and lost and there’s a ton of marlin cruising outside that just wouldn’t eat. We were almost running over the lethargic fish content to basically sit on the surface and sun. I have a feeling they’re ready to bust loose.

Inshore, more sierra, small cabrilla and snapper rounded out the catch.

Newsflash…we’ve been catching just about every species lately…except two…wahoo and tuna. I kept saying it was jut a matter of time. Sure enough some of the commercial guys got wahoo juswt south of the island and a pop of 40 pound tuna rolled off the east side of Cerralvo Island…just before two commercial Mexican seiners dog piled on the spot and wrapped up everything. Exhale….rat bastards…right in front of the fishing pangas! They wrapped up tuna, bonito, skipjack…three days of it. We never even got a shot at them.

Hopefully, the fish will move to a high spot and get out’ve the blue water. The commercial guys can’t fish on the high spots. As you remember, last year, we had several months of tuna in about 30 feet of water. That’s what we’re hoping for again.

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 whopper! YEOW! Sara Moss from British Columbia has the knack every time she comes down. Captain Jorge gives her a hand with this 40 pound class dorado picked off the outer shark buoys. Sara nailed this on a light salmon rod with live bait. We normally don’t see this kind of quality bull dorado until a bit later, but the fish are here and show all signs of busting loose!

INCREDIBLE VARIETY OF SPECIES MARKS THE WEEK WITH SOLID FISHING AND A BIT OF EVERYTHING FROM MARLIN TO CABRILLA AND ROOSTERFISH TO DORADO RIPPING LINES!

LA PAZ – LAS ARENAS FISHING REPORT FOR MAY 18, 2008

PHOTO 2: Hard to beat a photo or a fish like this. Our amigo, Wayne Moss, a commercial pilot and former fishing guide in British Columba holds a coveted dog-tooth snapper. This horse of a fish is a rarity. They are hooked, but difficult to drag out’ve the rocks not to mention they have sharp gills and armor plating and they don’t call ’em dog-tooth snappers for nothing…they have fang-like choppers. Great eating.

PHOTO 3: A great week for roosterfish. They ran the gamut of fish from this school-sized 5 pounder up to 60 and even 80 pound fish. The smaller guys are balled up south of Muertos Bay where you can have a day of catching several dozen but the big bull roosters are hanging out in the place they call the “Roosterfish Capital of the World”…The Punta Arena lighthouse where the world record 114 pounder was caught and were several of our anglers got tagged by fish up to 80 pounds this week.

PHOTO 4: At first, I thought these were two of the largest cabrilla (Mexican seabass) I had ever seen in all my time here that weren’t underwater when I was scuba diving. Surely the largest I’ve seen on hook and line. Dr. David Jones and his son, Brian Jones from Sylmar CA hold some doozies! Brian (right) for sure holds a HUGE cabrilla. However, the more I look at Davids fish (left) I see something that tells me it’s NOT a cabrilla and I don’t know why I didn’t notice it when we were on the beach. Perhaps there was too much commotion and excitement about the fish, but now I think it’s a broomtail grouper. Look at the tail! Either way…wow…great catches! Smiles say it all. (See the video below)

PHOTO 5: William and Robyn Bristol from the Los Angeles area had a day to spare so they came out fishing. Not only did they nail this trophy pompano, but also got yellowtail, pargo, cabrilla and numerous jacks. William says Robyn caught all the fish to which Robyn agrees, but says she handed the rod to William when this particular pompano got the best of her. Numerous species this past week were the name of the game. I got over a dozen species logged.

PHOTO 6: A helluva day no matter how you look at it. Scott Foster from Los Osos CA holds an amberjack (big cousin to yellowtail) on the left and a pargo perro (dog-tooth snapper) on the right. It seemed we got an inordinate number of great dog tooth this week which is pretty rare. Usually we get more of the pargo liso (mullet snapper). Also, we’re seeing more amberjack now too. These guys are in the rocks with the pargo and May and June are excellent months for them. They get big! We had several between 70 and 100 pounds last year.

PHOTO 7 : Now THIS is a pargo liso (mullet snapper) unlike the dog tooth snapper (pargo perro) in the photo above. Len Veahey from the eastside San Francisco Bay area holds up a nice pargo liso headed for the grill. Great week for pargo. They were biting off Punta Perrico as well as the SE end of Cerralvo Island. Big schools could be seen like dark red moving balls in the shallow water with fish boiling on thrown chummed sardines. However, dead bait seemed to work particularly well for them.

PHOTO 8: More pargo. Darned good week for the big snapper. Scott Foster on the left and Tyler Sikes on the right hold a nice pair of big fish that are up on the shallows schooling right now. Both anglers are from Los Osos CA.

PHOTO 9 : Bob Veahey (left) and Jack Shade (right) hoist a nice female and male bull dorado respecitvely. Both guys got a wide variety of fish topped by those two mahi on their last day. The dorado are out at the buoys in several spots along with marlin and sailfish. The problem is one day they’ll bite and the next day they’ll just look at you and your bait and swim away. They also got a sailfish and released it.

PHOTO 10: Jim Stewart was on his second trip with us. He’s sometimes from Arizona and sometimes from Wyoming! He hooked two sailfish while on a panga with Captain Gerardo (on the left). He was able to release one, but not this one and the meat was divided among alot of hungry folks back at the captains pueblo. Jim and his wife Judy also got quite a few snapper.

PHOTO 11: Dr. Ralph Kettlekamp hails from San Luis Obispo CA and had a spectacular few days with us this past week. He got numerous pargo like this one here as well as other inshore species like cabrilla and amberjack. His topper was his last fish of the trip…a 50 pound dorado.

PHOTO 12: While a couple of the guys were fishing…in fact, had a fish on the line, this “baby” whaleshark felt like playing and checking them out. Gentle and plankton eating, this baby could grow to be over 50 feet long and will often let divers swim with them. These are real sharks and are the largest of their species. They don’t bite people, but are the favorite food of killer whales and are killed as food in many countries since they are easy targets.

PHOTO 13: How good was the pargo fishing? This is a shot of pargo under the panga swarming. These might not look big because there’s no perspective, but these are 20-50 pound fish in shallow water!

THE FISH REPORT!

I guess this is one of those weeks when I can just let the photo images do the explaining! It was a solid week of fishing. Can’t believe the variety too! Not every species was biting every single day and the winds sometimes dictated where you could and couldn’t fish. There might also be a day when you decided you were gonna go for a home run and head off shore to the buoys for dorado and marlin and they wouldn’t bite…and you’d come back skunked. Everyone who stayed inside had pargo, cabrilla , sierra and yellowtail in ther boxes…oh well.

However…here’s the ticket. If you fished 2-3 days like most of our clients, everyone is hooking fish! Not every fish is a keeper. By that, I mean there’s some fish out here that are full-on warrior fish…ask anyone who has battled one of our 30 pound class jack crevalle or taken on a a big bonito on light tackle. They will kick your butt! But they don’t taste real good so you might toss them back. But…wow…no shortage of action! Hard to complain when every other bait in the water gets bit by SOMETHING.

You might also be one of the guys who hooks say…5 big pargo and loses every single one of them in the rocks. You then hook 3 big cabrilla and those pop off too. When you come back to the beach, you ‘ve only got some 12-inch snapper. That wasn’t bad fishing. That was bad catching! Just one of those days. But you might also have hooked 3 jacks that you released as well as 10 bonito that tore you up as well and you threw those back too!

Here’s just some of the species we got: dorado, sailfish (released most), marlin (released all…or they released themselves!), amberjack, pargo liso, barred pargo, cabrilla, broomtail grouper, yellow snapper, red snapper, sierra, roosterfish (up to 60 pounds), jack crevalle, china maru, African pompano, big eye jacks, small yellowtail and dog-tooth snapper.

THE WEEK IN VIDEOS!

We have two this week. Click these!

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

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

Phone: (626) 333-3355

FAX: (626) 333-0115

E-Mail: Riplipboy@aol.com

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

Mexico Office: , 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.”