Jonathan Roldan's Nov. 13 La Paz/Las Arenas Report

Keone · Nov-14-2005, 12:15 AM

WATERS COOLING BUT DORADO AND MARLIN STILL BITING - FIRST PERSON REPORTS -CALENDAR HEADS UP - PHOTO GALLERY

LATE SEASON DORADO STILL BITING WITH BILLFISH

Not much changing except that I can tell the water temps are cooling having dropped a degree or two the last few days. Surprisingly, however, the 82 degree water is outside of Las Arenas and the cooler 78 degree water is around La Paz. However, La Paz has the better and most consistent fishing with continued decent dorado action as well as blue and striped marlin still surprisingly good. Hard to believe it's almost the holiday season and we've still got 20-30 pound dorado around plus lots of small ones that I think is the reason the billfish are still around chewing on the punky mahi. Las Arenas, can still be a pick bite and a day-to-day thing with jags of pargo, dorado, bonito, sierra and occasional tuna. Also got some marlin and sailfish strikes this week that didn't stick.

It's a nice time to be in town. Not much of a crowd. Sunny skies and warm breezes. Tell ya what's real funny...here La Paz sits in a desert but Christmas stuff has been in the stores since September. However, there are Christmas tree lots springing up advertising "Fresh Oregon Christmas Trees!"

FIRST PERSON REPORTS

It's ALWAYS better to let the amigos tell you what's happening! This first is from my amigo, John Okita who lives in Las Vegas, NV:

"Jonathan,

Thanks again for a great trip. While it was a little cool at Muertos Bay, once we got on the water, it actually seemed to warm up. Catching those giant squid sure provided a workout. Thankfully, I used my Shimano 2-speed so it made it a little easier. On Thursday, it seemed that I had to go down about 200 yards to get the first squid. However the second was snagged at around 75 yards and the third at about 20 yards. As I was bringing up the third one, you could see about a dozen of them up towards the surface. Jorge said we had enough so we stopped.

Jorge, as usual tried hard. We tried trolling for wahoo and marlin but no luck on either. For the two days, I ended up with two tuna (one about 30 pounds), three dorado, one pargo and one trigger fish that Jorge kept (said it was good for ceviche). I also took about six pieces of the squid. The other boats did not have any tuna and just a few dorado and pargo, although one of them got a yellowtail.

On the La Paz side, Chito was again amazing. Getting bait was somewhat of a problem. When Chito met up with the bait guy, he didn't have any so we followed up him to another cove where we finally got some pinhead sardinia. Chito then went to one of the islands, ( I think Espiritu), where he was able to make more sardinias that were slightly larger. I had to do captain duty while he made the bait. He then went about a mile offshore and the first bait he cast out he had an immediate hit. We ended up catching about 8 at this stop and then moved a little further out where he started trolling using cut up bonito. After about an hour, we hit a school and landed about another 7, of which two were real dinks. I ended up with 9 gallon sized zip loc bags of dorado fillets, which is all I wanted and Chito kept the rest.

We of course ate at Rancho Viejo for the tacos and also ordered puerco which turned out to be barbecued spare ribs and were good. La Fuente was then the next stop to load up on ice cream to take back to the condo. BTW, The walk from Rancho Viejoto La Fuente is more like 8 blocks but it was a nice easy walk. The 2nd night we had some of the dorado that I caught at the La Concha restaurant, which was excellent. We ate at the Buffalo BBQ place on the third night and I told Carlos that you had recommended the place for which he was appreciative of you. On the last night, none of us were hungry so we just had soup and salad at the hotel restuarant. They were re-doing the inside of the restaurant and it looks real nice."

This is from amigo Richard Battaglia who came all the way from Mexico City for a few days"

"Everything went smoothly during our La Paz trip last week. We were all
disappointed to leave, and return to chilly Mexico City. Your list of
restaurants proved useful as we had several great meals in town. As
expected, Jack was in constant contact and helpful. As for the fishing,
well its not called catching---all the time! The first day with Victor on
the Las Arenas side was a bit slow (I heard "you should have been here
yesterday" a few times!). Victor tried to find the tuna but they had
vanished. Instead we pulled on lots of pesky skippies and fended off the
needlefish. The second day with Chito (based on Okita's reccomendation) was
very pleasant. It was a bit of a pick on the dodos but we certainly did
better than other boats that day, which I understand was slow due to the
south wind. After six fish, Chito agreed to find some small Pargos for
dinner, which he did. The last day with Raul sr. was close to wide open.
After we had caught more than enough dorados, Raul agreed to head in early
to take my 4 y/o out to try and catch him something. We trolled out in
front and Douglas caught his first fish, a nice sierra, which we had as
ceviche that evening.

Thanks for setting this up. I enjoyed fishing with Raul jr and sr, and with
Victor, and my family enjoyed staying at the La Concha, which has a very
friendly staff. We certainly appreciated the personal attention.

Richard Battaglia"

Lastly, with much appreciation, our amigo from Upland CA, George Lee:

"Jonathan,
You do run a tight ship in La Paz. All the people did their job like you were in the room next door watching. Every thing worked like clock work except for the airline and customs. For some reason we got held up in Hermesillo for over an hour, so by the time we got picked up and delivered to Los Arcos (a stop for water and snacks) and checked in it was after 11:00. We got into the cafeteria at the hotel just before it closed and got something to eat, got back to the room about 12:00, got the equipment set up, grab a little sleep so to meet Jack at 5:00 in the lobby. He was always on time , right on the dot.
As my son told you on the phone, Thursdays trip to Las Arenas was a bust! I didn't realize that all the equipment would ride on top of the van, so I had no protection from the dust or all the rubbing together. We got to the launch area in about an hour, loaded up the panga with the gear, went out an got some huge squid in about 20 minutes. So far so good. The captain we had tried real hard to get us some fish. We trolled bonito strips that we caught along with the squid. One small dorado and a smaller pargo. And I am sure the temp got up over 100 degrees.
Taking Jacks recommendation we fished Friday out of La Paz off Espirito Santo island. we caught lots of bonito and needle fish. We did catch sierra maceral. I hadn't seen one of those in 20 plus years. We ended up with 7 dorado of modest size.
On Saturday, Mat and I caught limits of dorado up to at least 20 lbs. One time we had all four rods with dorado on at the same time.Both captains were very good and worked their butts off for us. (we tipped accordingly, I hope) My other two buddy's did not do as well and were not as happy with the days activities. I may have built the fish count up too high.But we all really did have a great time and I thank you.

I am sure that you will see me again in La Paz.
George Lee"

YOUR 2006 CALENDAR

BOOKINGS FOR 2006

Here's a few things coming up you may want to think about:

WHALE WATCHING - We're starting to book up for whale watching at Mag Bay for January to February of 2006. A once-in-a-lifetime experience as these great creature will often come right up to the panga! Best time is February when the females and calfs are less nervous about the pangas and can get quite friendly. Price is $140 per person and includes hotel pickup, breakfast and seafood lunch, several hours of whale watching and return to your hotel. We can set it all up. Hotel rooms for two persons $100-130/night.

CABIN FEVER CLASSIC - We sell out every year. Got quite a few inquiries after posting this last week and got some immediate bookings. Our annual Cabin Fever Classic will be held March 30 to April 3. We're putting everyone up this year at La Concha Beach Resort on the beach. We have a blast every year. This is not a competition. It's just a fun group of folks who get together every year to get out on the water after too many months stuff in their cabins! We eat tacos and do some fishing. Last year we got close to 20 different species of fish. Two or 3 days of fishing available. Three days of fishing is $600 per person double occupancy and includes 4 nights hotel/ 3 days panga fishing Las Arenas/ La Pas airport pickups/ skipper/ tackle/ ice/ fish cleaning'/breakfast, lunch, soft drinks on fishing days/ taco night feed/ all taxes. Book soon. We sold out last year. Couples and first timers welcome!

SAVINGS for 2006 If you're planning to come down and play with us in 2006, I am offering 2005 prices if you book before Dec. 31. As you know, gas prices have affected everyone and prices are jumping for everything. No one is getting richer except the gas companies. However, if you book early with $100 non-refundable deposit per person, we'll give you 2006 prices. Not good with any other discounts. Just a heads up...some dates for 2006 are already booked, filling up or closing out...especially on condo units or suites. So, you may want to jump on this, especially if you have a certain skipper in mind.

PHOTO GALLERY: (click on the hyperlinks)

http://www.bloodydecks.com/gallery/files/8/1/2/4/pargoKresky300tag.jpg

Kevin Resky was all smiles after taking this chunky pargo off Las Arenas Beach

http://www.bloodydecks.com/gallery/files/8/1/2/4/DoradoBlackMagic300tag.jpg

On the cruiser, Black Magic, Mike Mecanic of Newport Beach, a Marriot Exec, owner Mike Madlock and skipper Manny hold a nice bull taken outside of La Paz.

That's my story!
Jonathan