ANGLERS WORK HARD FOR FISH…AGAIN…

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of May 10-17, 2015

It was another tough week after waters and conditions settle down from the strange crazy winds and waves we got the week before that just turned everything over and around. It brought in cooler, greener water plus residual winds and it’s taking quite a few days for things to settle down So, alot of this week was just scratchy fishing and hat’s off to all our anglers who kept grinning and kept patient and brought the smiles. I won’t lie, the fishing was way off what it should be this time of year.

There were some great highlights to be sure. But, alot of the week, it was either tough to find bait because of the waters or winds or, when we did find it, the guys had to work hard for their fish. However, with each day of better weather, the conditions were coming back. Each day the waters calmed and so did the winds and little-by-little the fishing seemed to inch better.

Las Arenas

Probably the toughest fishing the last two weeks. There’s bunches of little dorado around that are entertaining for awhile, but I mean “really little” five pounders, if that. Good for a fish or two to be released, then most anglers move on unless they’re playing and having fun with the light tackle. There’s also some good schools of white bonito around. Again, lots of fun and they’re getting 5-10 per day. These aren’t the “bad bonito” or skipjack. These are the whites that make great eating and can fool anyone on a plate that it’s actually tuna! The meat is not dark, but rather great pink meat perfect for sashime and cooks up white as well.

The highlights of the week for our guys…rooster fish. Hard to come by this week with limited smaller baits so we only had the big ladyfish to use, but that produced a few of the bigger 30-50 pounders along the shores. But, the bite was definitely off.

As well, we had some wahoo bites, but no fish landed. All from the south end of Cerralvo Island and near Punta Perrico. But, the wahoo are there. (Just as I posted this Sunday night, two of our guys landed 2 forty-pound fish and lost a bigger one!)

We also had more marlin swimming around and one big-time hookup by Al Burgess from Kansas. Allen hooked a fish estimated by our captain at 250 pounds! But, even more amazing, Al was using 40 pound test AND A SPINNING ROD! He battled the fish solo for 3 solid hours with a bad back and legs and they said the big fish bulldogged them and barely ever jumped…the worst and strongest kind…smart fish that don’t waste energy jumping around! It pulled the panga with 3 anglers and a captain in circles the entire time.

Sorry there’s no photos but what happened is the guys burned up all the batteries and memory during the battle! When the fish was finally alongside the boat, no one had any memory or batteries! Only great stories. And the fish was released!!! Well done!

The other highlight was a nice jag of 30-40 pound tuna. Another good story.

Diana Statman had never fished in salt water before! First time down here too, although husband, Jay, is a long time fisherman and has been down to La Paz many times before. Diana gets a bait and gets it in the water and minutes later she’s bit!!! Tuna on!!! Husband Jay is still rigging up! Then, Jay gets bit! Doubles on!

But what happens…some private spear fishermen pull up not 10 yards from their panga and jump in the water! Despite being asked to move somewhere else…they jump in anyway. The tuna get pulled in, but bite over! C’mon guys…some courtesy. It’s a big ocean!!!

LA PAZ

This is surprisingly where most of our action took place this week. And it wasn’t our usual bite.

Of all things, with the crazy weather, our captains have found some good spots for some big pargo and cabrilla near the islands and some of the reefs. It’s providing some pretty solid action and they’re losing some big big fish to the rocks and inexperience. Most of the fish that are coming back are delicious 3-5 pounders, but some great stories of 10-20 pound fish lost to the rocks. Plus some big amberjack up to 50 pounds caught at the north end of Cerralvo and larger ones being lost…some right next to the boat up to 70 pounds.

We did get a few yellowtail. Normally, we should be getting more this time of year, but waters are warming fast so I think the yellowtail we are getting might be the last of the season.

A few dorado around but of the larger variety and we should see more every week and we also hooked a few marlin and sails this week as well.

Again, not spectacular and not our usual. But every day seems a little better as long as the weather holds!

That’s our story!