Sirena - 6-6-2011 at 03:19 PM
FLASH UPDATE - We got a few flurries of big tuna being lost, but finally, the fish came up and bit big time late...all out at the 88 spot. Big fish in
the 80-200 pound class like this estimated 150 pounder that Roger Thompson got. There were clients bustis off on fish and another guy that lost a rod
and reel (Penn International) that went overboard when he got tired and changed hands right when the fish surged during a 2-hour battle. No telling
how long the fish will stay, but some big boys on the growl! Will keep you posted!
It's really hard to pose correctly for a good photo when a big fresh ticked-off bull dorado comes aboard on the gaff and is whacking you in the gut,
crotch and kneecaps, but this big bull by Jon Luker of Arroyo Grande shows off one of the big dorado we got this week with dorado action heating up
just-in-time for the summer bite with some 20-40 pound fish already in the mix! Jon is one of our best long-time amigos and he got this fish just
north of La Paz where sargasso weeds and schools of mahi are starting to build up!
Sometimes they even let my rusty Baja bones in the pangas! It was another great week of roosterfishing! Check out this nice pez gallo that Walker
Schearer nailed on light tackle just off the little cliffs outside of Bahia de Los Muertos. The 10-year-old caught many of his first and largest fish
over the week including dorado, roosters, jacks and many others! Pretty good for a Montana kid on his first trip to Mexico!
Vince Acosta got his "personal best" largest dorado ever fishing with us and our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. The Pacific Beach angler was fishing near
Espiritu Santo Island north of La Paz with his buddy, Jude Martinez (see photo below) when they ran into the big schools.
When you use a PINK reel and wear wild checkered shorts like Mike Davis, how can I not post your photo in the weekly report? ...Despite warming waters
and air temps, we're still getting some yellowtail here and there. Mike got this one fishing just out of Bahia de Los Muertos!
Nice way to start the morning with barred pargo in the boat for Jeff ******* caught out of Muertos Bay. Barred pargo have been a nice bottom species
for us the last few weeks.
A mess 'o' pargo and cabrilla (seabass) meat is what Mike O'Neil and Joe Jacobs got going for them with this nice catch of barred pargo. Both are from
the San Diego area.
There was a rumor that they had to wake Jude Martinez up when this big dorado bit as he was snoozing! But he did get it to the boat and that's what
counted. It was a pretty solid week of dorado fishing.
We were all this age! When you are 8-years-old every fish is worthy of a big smile and "show-and-tell." Wyatt Schearer came to visit us from Montana
where he actually has a trout pond on the family property and knows how to fish, but couldn't be prouder of this nice yellowtail he got in Pilots
Cove! He pulled on it like a veteran!
One nice surprise the last week or two has been the appearance of pompano...members of the jack family related to roosterfish, jack, crevalle,
yellowtail and amberjack...these great eating fish are fun to catch and we've been finding them on the dropoffs next to sandy areas of the beach or
rocks. Chip Chandler of San Diego holds up one he got out of Las Arenas.
This past week or so, many clients have been catching either personal best "largest" fish or personal best "first time ever" fish. Chad Shearer, host
of "Shoot Straight" put down his rifles and bow to come visit us getting 19 different species on the flyrod and light tackle including this rooster
which was revived and released.
DORADO AND ROOSTERFISH COME ON STRONG TO START SUMMER BITE!
FLASH UPDATE:
After I had posted up the fishing report we got all kinds of late reports that I couldn’t get in on time. The big boy tuna finally came up on us out
at the 88 spot outside of Cerralvo Island. These are BIG fish up to 200 pounds and several guys had long battles only to lose fish . Others broke rods
and reels. Others just quit realizing they were overmatched. Some of these fish are being fought for 1-3 hours! We’ll keep you posted! Exciting stuff
and never sure how long this will last!
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And now back to your regular fishing programing…read on!!!!
No doubt! Unless something drastic happens, I’d say we’ve turned the corner and dorado season is finally here. It’s about time. Air temperatures have
been warm enough for several weeks, but it took awhile for the waters to catch up. A little over a week ago, they edged over the 80 degree mark and
like throwing a switch, fish that were only mildly interested like marlin, sailfish, wahoo and especially the dorado finally woke up!
Although the bite hasn’t been wide-open, it can be!
Several times our boats got into big schools of dorado with non-stop action and other times, boats hit a fish here and a fish there and at the end of
the day…wow…uh…hey, Joe…we have a stack of fish in the box! Occasionally, there’s some slower moments and only a few are caught but overall, this is
looking really optimistic as we roll into June and the summer bite. The nice thing too, is that we’re getting some nice quality fish mixed in as well!
Last season we had a good dorado bite, no doubt. But so many of the fish were punk 5-10 pounders…all year! Sure, there were some bigger fish, but a
“big” fish last year was 20 pounds instead of the big 30-40 pound bulls that we are used to hooking. But this year so far, in just the last 2 weeks,
we’ve already gotten more 20-40 pound fish than I remember all last year! The bigger fish are getting taken more by our La Paz fleet than our Las
Arenas fleet as there appears to be a better concentration of bait and floating sargasso weeds north and east of La Paz. But, our Las Arenas boats are
getting dorado too. Actually, quite a mix of fish.
Our La Paz fleet is getting more dorado and collateral hookups on big cabrilla , pargo, roosterfish, marlin and sails.
Our Las Arenas fleet is getting more of a “buffet” with catches of dorado mixed with barred pargo, smaller cabrilla, the occasional tuna and
roosterfish and wahoo.
There’s some BIG roosterfish out there right now. It seems every week we’re getting (and releasing) roosters in the 50-80 pound category…many after
incredible battles on light tackle. There’s several spots that have been very productive with most fish in the 10-30 pound class and almost all of
them getting released.
Oh…and we’re still getting a few stray yellowtail too!
VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK
It’s actually a mixture of the last week-and-a-half, but hope you enjoy it. I’m working with some new cameras and editing program so bear with me and
we’ll work out the bugs. Still…I think it’s not bad for a first effort with the new gear! Got some nice footage for you to check out including some
underwater shots too!
Click ....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hks6bWSXYI
That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jilly
[Edited on 6-6-2011 by Sirena]