ROOSTERFISH BLOW UP FOR LAS ARENAS/ LA PAZ ANGLERS - AERO CAL LATEST - FIRST PERSON REPORTS - PHOTO OF THE WEEK
ROOSTERS GO NUTS
We've had great weather all week and I think I"m going to call this the "week of the rooster." I don't recall the last time we had not just quantity but quality roosterfishing of this nature. For both our Las Arenas and La Paz fleets, if you ever had wanted to catch a rooster, the last two weeks have been pretty incredible. These are all sizeable quality fish in the 20-50 pound class and the neat thing is that these aren't isolated fish. These are entire schools coming to the surface and exploding on baits; grabbing air; and bending rods where you can look out and every boat seems to have at least one fish going; guys yelling; and fish continuing to explode. I don't think I've ever seen roostefish tailwalk like dorado or like big giant largemouth bass when hooked! You learn something everyday!
For the La Paz guys, the hot spot was over at Espiritu Santo Island on the east side where big cabrilla also put on the action. Some of these cabrilla (seabass) were large enough that some guys were calling them "grouper." It was better earlier in the week, but action was still pretty steady which also included the seabass and pargo. But the action was clearly focused on the roosters. Some days they preferred the big baits and others only wanted the smaller hooked bait sardines but none of these were small fish!
For our Las Arenas anglers, an area right at the mouth of Ensenada de Muertos, the size of a small football field literally filled with roosters for a few days. Even if you weren't hooked up, it was amazing to just watch. I often had my video camera or digital camera going in between fish taking pictures of anglers bent and it wasn't until I looked at the images and footage later than I realized how often in the background you could see fish blowing up out've the water!
Fish were up to 45 pounds but even cooler...a huge school of 30 pound jack crevalle cruised just below the rooster and were eating the sardines as well as trolled small rapalas. Jim Morris of San Francisco was on one fish over an hour on light tackle that turned out to be a 50 pound class jack. There were a few yellowtail here and there (I think the water is getting too warm now) , but the pargo were doing their usual job of pissing people off at Punta Perrico and in the channel between Arenas and S. Cerralvo, a big school of huge bonito took up residence. These were pigs!! I put one on a digital scale and it weighed in at 15.1 pounds. Several of our flyrodders busted fly rods on these toad fish. ( I try to tell 'em that even little bonito can PULL!!!!) Largest fish of the week...Scott Kendall of Van Nuys got a 55 pound amberjack.
Heads up...we're seeing ALOT of marlin towards the southern zones right now, but these fish haven't climbed on board now. Guys were almost driving over the lazy fish that almost refused to move. They ate some of the chum but otherwise were just sunning and not interested in biting anything with a hook. But...hahahahaha...just a matter of time.
Best thing of the week, which made it all the more fun...95 percent of all the roosters and jacks were getting released...and were coming right back to bite the hooks again!
Oh...and the bonus...this last Monday was May 1st so it was a 3 day weekend the equivalent of Labor Day here in Mexico so it was a major party in La Paz. Then, this weekend (May 5-7)...turns out to be the 471st anniversary of La Paz so the whole downtown and beachfront area was a major street fair and party with music, entertainment, food and a lot of fun.
AERO CAL
I still don't know what to tell you, amigos. Aero Cal says it'll be "just a matter of days," but frankly after all the stalls, I don't know what that means. But it sure seems like something is happening...mechanics were seen this week bustling about the planes lined up on the runway and I saw one plane being worked on in an open hangar. I have also heard that some pilots have been called back in...hopefully not to get their pink slips! I"ll keep you posted.
Listen...many of our clients these past 2 months have been able to switch dates so they could fly on Aero Mexico and many others are flying to Cabo San Lucas and letting us pick them up and shuttle them back up to La Paz.
FIRST PERSON REPORTS - THANKS AMIGOS!
From Steve and Megan O'Rourke:
"Well, we did make it home ok, but with a few fiascos. Our transfer from the hotel to the airport (provided by the hotel) was late, then they ordered a taxi that broke down, but we made it in time. You actually had a shuttle picking up other passengers at the hotel, taking the same flight, but your shuttle driver would not take us. I guess next time we will just have to book everything from you, as your operation was the only sure thing down there. We had a blast fishing with El Jeffe, we were one of the only boats to catch a fish, and we caught a good amount. We had two large Pargo, 4-5 Bonita, 1 Sierra, 1 Cabrilla, 1 Skip Jack Tuna (released), and several other smaller fish. To hear that some boats in other fleets had not caught a thing was sad, but made us feel like we got the best boat and captain that there was, THANKS. I am not sure I could have gotten my wife to go again had we not. The hotel cooked up a bunch of our fish and it was amazing. We had a good time meeting the other couple that was down there (they fished La Paz the last two days on Jack's new Panga), who ended up being from Huntington Beach, which is where I grew up. I think they had a lot of Cabrilla coming in on the La Paz side, but it was much less windy than when we went. All in all, I know we will be back, probably a little later in the summer, with hopefully more consistent fishing. Thanks again, for being so responsive, informative, and just plain nice."
From Chris Curran who drove the family down to us. His son hooked up a nice photo (I'll post the photo next week). Chris didn't seem real excited, but it was quite a fish for a 7 year-old-youngster!
" ... We were fishing a school of skip jack just to keep the kids busy on a slow day. My six year old son Levi was hooked up on a fish when Cruz (my other son) was bringing up his line and it was hit. Immediately we saw the bill fish breach the surface and bolt. The fight was on. I set his drag for him he was on 40 Lb monofiliment and a live sardine, I knew it would take him sometime to bring the fish to the boat if he didnt lose it first. The fish was underestimated, we predicted it to be a 30 - 40 lb fish. Fourty minutes, several breaches, and an air show later one tired 7 year old called color. A worn out bill fish 80-100 lb range was at the side of the boat. Not bad for the young fishermans first bill fish experience. "
My buddy Chas Shoemaker from Orange Co. CA...
"Had a great time in La Paz. La Concha was great, and it was fun watching the Kids Day festivities at the hotel. Hit Rancho Viejo twice, had a great lunch one day at Bismark’s and a fabulous last evening meal at Buffalo Grill. They were very happy to give me the tour of the wine cellar, and were very proud of their selection of Mexican wines, one of which went very nicely with the steak salad and BBQ baby back ribs at dinner. Friday night was a street fair for the La Paz to Baja off road race. In addition to the great food, hanging out at Rancho Viejo provided a front row seat to the parade of the off road racers, their teams, the followers and the wannabes. Had a chance to chat with two of the teams. One of them had a big time sponsor and a whole NASCAR type entourage, but they were still good ol’ boys.
My stay coincided with a transitional phase, making fishing conditions difficult. Went fishing two days on the La Paz side, with Jack’s new pride and joy, the Mama’s Mink super panga. Jack brags about a 35 knot top end. First day was very windy, and somewhat rough on the water. The fish were hiding, but still managed a large Cabrilla, several snapper, a huge bonito and of course the ever present trumpet fish and needlefish. It was just a tough day for fishing, with not much happening anywhere. We went entirely around Espiritu Santo, so we certainly covered a lot of fishing grounds.
Skipped a day to go sightseeing and then came back for another try on the La Paz side. Tried for pargo and was rocked twice. Ended up staking out a big rooster in one of the bays by the north end of the island. At one point four boats were chasing this wily predator. He finally hit one of the big slow trolled baits on the forty pound rig. This was a very strong fish, making a lot of runs against a heavy drag. The scale had him at 35 pounds."
PHOTO of the WEEK:
Glenn Oclassen of San Francisco had a great day at Bahia de Los Muertos SE of La Paz. On light tackle he got this nice rooster and totaled 5 roosters with the smallest being 25 punds, as well as 3 big jack crevalle and released all the fish. He also got several huge bonito including one that was put in the scale at 15.1 pounds before it was released.
That's my story!
Jonathan
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