Gerardo Hernandez of Tortuga Sportfishing reported south side La Paz fishing weather in the high-80s, with water temperatures of 76 to 78 degrees at Isla Cerralvo and also at Las Arenas and Punta Perico on the Baja shore. "This week, we are now in the hot weather season," Hernandez said. Tortuga Sportfishing pangas at the offshore buoys found good numbers of dorado of 25 to 35 pounds plus many marlin mixed with sailfish. "We're releasing as many sailfish as marlin," Hernandez said. "Pangas fishing nearby areas brought in pargos of 20 to 35 pounds." Live bait was available in all fishing areas in seas that were completely calm at times. Anglers fishing on Tortuga pangas out of Ensenada de los Muertos included Tom Wong of Taiwan, his son Jerry Wong of Rowland Heights, Calif., and Don Rockefeller of Huntington Beach, Calif.

LA PAZ DORADO--Tom Wong, left, of Taiwan, and his son Jerry Wong of California fished on a panga south of La Paz in good action that produced dorado like this beauty caught with Capt. Jorge Lucero of Tortuga Sportfishing. Below, Don Rockefeller with a nice La Paz pargo lisa caught out of Ensenada de los Muertos with Tortuga Sportfishing's Capt. Rigo Lucero.

Gerardo Hernandez of Tortuga Sportfishing said his pangas launching out of Ensenada de los Muertos south of La Paz ran into a super abundance of black skipjack, or barrilete in Spanish, at the north end of Isla Cerralvo that hampered yellowtail fishing. "Because there were so many barrilete, we could not get to the yellowtail," Hernandez said. "But the fishing area at Isla Cerralvo still produced lots of pargos, cabrilla, and sierra, and there were lots of roosterfish at Las Arenas." Tortuga Sportfishing pangas fishing south at El Cardonal found dorado both near shore and at the offshore buoys. "The whole area has good fishing," Hernandez said. "Everywhere, we're seeing big numbers of marlin and some big dorado. We have enough bait at Punta Perico and at the south end of the island."


LA PAZ PANGAS--Frank Quiñones, right, and his group fished aboard a Tortuga Sportfishing panga at La Paz for a variety of fish fillets to take home including this dorado caught with Tortuga's Capt. Rigo Lucero.

Gerardo Hernandez of Tortuga Sport Fishing said southern la Paz waters had some days of wind during the week that kept his pangas close to shore for large dog snapper, sierra, dorado, cabrilla, and some marlin seen around Punta Perico. Calming winds at midweek allowed Tortuga pangas to run back to the north end of Isla Cerralvo and out to the buoys for very good catches of yellowtail of 30 to 40 pounds, dorado of 25 to 35 pounds, and sailfish released. "We have enough sardina bait at both Punta Perico and around Isla Cerralvo," Hernandez said. "Air temperatures were up to 88 degrees, so we're starting to feel the heat now and that's making the fishing even better."


LA PAZ ORANGE DOGGIE--Jerry Morris, left, fished out of Ensenada de los Muertos south of La Paz with Capt. Hugo Lucero of Tortuga Sport Fishing for a great mixed species catch including this brightly colored dog snapper plus dorado and cabrilla.

Gerardo Hernandez of Tortuga Sportfishing said the La Paz fishing area had warm, windless weather in the 80s, and fishing was good for a wide variety of species including dorado of 20 to 30 pounds caught at the buoys, pargo lisa and pargo perro at Isla Cerralvo, yellowtail at the north end of the island, and lots of sierra at Las Arenas. "We have lots of bait at the south end of Isla Cerralvo and also at Punta Perico," Hernandez said. "The anglers at La Paz right now are having days of good action and lots of fish. We're catching a lot of fish species from Ensenada de los Muertos to the island."

LOS MUERTOS PANGAS--John More, right, of Orange, Calif., fished on a Tortuga Sportfishing panga out of La Paz' Ensenada de los Muertos with Tortuga Capt. Nufo Green, left, and found good action including quality yellowtail like this one. In the background is the Giggling Marlin restaurant near the panga launch beach at the northeast corner of the bay.

Gerardo Hernandez of Tortuga Sportfishing said yellowtail counts were down slightly from the very good action of the previous week, but Tortuga pangas fishing the Las Arenas side still did well on yellowtail, sierra, cabrilla, mixed pargos, and jack crevalle near the launch beach at Ensenada de los Muertos and out at Isla Cerralvo. "We're starting to feel the effects of the warm season," Hernandez said. "La Paz temperatures are in the 80s with clear skies. We continue to find lots of bait in the different fishing areas, and this is letting us look for the fish everywhere. There are a lot of fish at the island and good fishing for jack crevalle for anglers who are looking for a good fight with that species."

LA PAZ TORO--Greg Garcia of Santa Ana, Calif., hooked this good-sized jack crevalle, or toro in Spanish, while panga fishing out of Ensenada de los Muertos south of La Paz with Tortuga Sportfishing's Capt. Hugo Lucero. Said Tortuga's Gerardo Hernandez, "Even with the big yellowtail bite now at La Paz, you still do have the opportunity to catch other species if you want to."

Gerardo Hernandez of La Paz' Tortuga Sportfishing said, "At this time yellowtail and pargo fishing is at a maximum at Punta Perico. This is going on all day long, in the morning, in the afternoon. The whole area is full of bait and action." Tortuga Sportfishing pangas out of Ensenada de los Muertos also found big numbers of yellowtail at the north end of Isla Cerralvo, but few boats ran that far. "There are also sierra there," Hernandez said, "but all our pangas are fishing at Punta Perico all day long." La Paz fishing area weather was warm in the mid-80s with few tourists present following the Semana Santa peak crowds.

NOT JUST YELLOWTAIL--The quality yellowtail bite going on at La Paz right now is also producing good specimens of mixed snappers close to Punta Perico on the south side. Here's a nice pargo lisa, or mullet snapper, landed by Capt. Nufo Green of Tortuga Sportfishing on a trip last week that produced 5 pargo and 2 yellowtail.

Gerardo Hernandez of Tortuga Sportfishing at La Paz said north winds blew early in the week but didn't stop the very good south side yellowtail run near Punta Perico. "The wind hasn't slowed the fishing down," Hernandez said.

"The whole area around Punta Perico and Isla Cerralvo is covered with yellowtail and sardina bait. The beaches are very busy and anglers are happy to stay in the good action there. We have no need to go farther out. The fishing is good right here. We invite all anglers to come and try this good fishing right now at La Paz."

LA PAZ BIGGIES--As winter turned to spring, La Paz' good south side yellowtail bite got serious on big fish last week. Here are Tortuga Sportfishing panga Capts. Jorge Lucero, left, and Rigo Lucero with a couple of forkies in the 40 to 45-pound class caught close to the launch beach at Ensenada de los Muertos.

Gerardo Hernandez of Tortuga Sportfishing said midwinter La Paz south side fishing conditions continued good last week, with very light wind, air temperatures in the 70s, more good yellowtail action, lots of big pargo broken off in the rocks, but still very few anglers in the area. "We're fishing at Punta Perico and Isla Cerralvo, and the best action is for the yellowtail," Hernandez said. "We have good fishing for the few people that have been arriving in La Paz these past weeks. There are just as many pargos as yellowtail, but they are so strong they are difficult to land. We also have a lot of sierra but the fishing is for the yellowtail."

SLUGGER LA PAZ YELLOWTAIL--Good numbers of big yellowtail are being caught by pangas fishing just a few hundred yards out of Ensenada de los Muertos south of La Paz. Here's a good one brought in by Capt. Jorge Lucero of Tortuga Sportfishing. "This is what we're catching now," said Tortuga's Gerardo Hernandez. "Maybe this will motivate anglers to come here for them."

NICE BAJA DOGGIE

Gerardo Hernandez of Tortuga Sportfishing said pangas on the Las Arenas side south of La Paz had good weather in the 70s last week with improved action for big yellowtail and no north winds, although few anglers were in the area.

Panga captains were going out alone and finding 3 to 6 yellowtail of 25 to 35 pounds on every trip while fishing at Punta Perico and other spots on the south side. "We have enough bait for this fishing," Hernandez said. "We're mostly just fishing for these yellowtail." Top catches for the week also included a 65-pound dog snapper brought in by Tortuga Sportfishing's Capt. Rigo Lucero.

NICE BAJA DOGGIE--Tortuga Sportfishing's Capt. Rigo Lucero shows some pretty good arm strength as he hoists this dog snapper estimated at 65 pounds caught while fishing out of Ensenada de los Muertos south of La Paz. The big doggie hit a sardina bait during panga fishing near Punta Perico.

Dos Hernandez of Tortuga Sportfishing said fishing on the Las Arenas side south of La Paz was made difficult by north winds, but action for pargo lisa was fairly good in sheltered waters close to Punta Perico as schools of the snappers were seen. "This fishing is a little difficult since they go straight down to the bottom where there are a lot of rocks," Hernandez said. "They aren't very far from the beach." Commercial Mexican fishermen continued to bring in good catches of sierra from the area north of Las Arenas and off the south end of Isla Cerralvo. "We hope fishing conditions in the next few days will allow us to get to different areas to see what we can catch," Hernandez said.

LA PAZ YELLOWTAIL--John Henderson of Fort Bragg, Calif., landed this quality 40-pound class yellowtail on the Las Arenas side of La Paz last week, during a panga fishing trip with Tortuga Sportfishing's Capt. Rigo Lucero on the boat Trago Gordo.

Dos Hernandez of Tortuga Sportfishing said La Paz fishing conditions were tough due to winds attacking from the north, but production was surprising good for catches including some pargo lisa in the 30 and 40-pound class, yellowtail, and even a couple of winter dorado at 20 pounds. "The wind didn't let us go out to the island, but all these fish were caught around Punta Perico," Hernandez said. "Despite the winds, fishing was good."

LAS ARENAS SIDE--M.C. Lewis of Mendocino, Calif., scored a real nice yellowtail and some quality pargo lisa to 40 pounds while fishing last week on the Las Arenas side south of La Paz with Tortuga Sportfishing's panga Capt. Rigo Lucero.

Dos Hernandez of Tortuga Sportfishing said his pangas on the south side of La Paz were fishing mostly close to shore in sheltered water due to consistent north winds, with catches including sierra, small cabrilla, and pargo. On Wednesday, lighter winds allowed pangas to fish at the south end of Isla Cerralvo for sierra and huachinango, and at Punta Perico good counts of pargo lisa were scored, although fishing was slowed by excess numbers of greenjack and needlefish competing for baits.

Gerardo Hernandez of Tortuga Sportfishing said the La Paz fishing area had sharply lower air temperatures in the 60s during the week, with strong north wind over the weekend. "Tuna, dorado, wahoo, and some marlin are in the area of Isla Cerralvo," Hernandez said. "However, with this unfavorable weather, we are canceling boat departures and we can't guarantee that anglers will be able to get into the action." Earlier, pangas on the south side of La Paz fished at the island for offshore species and near shore at Las Arenas for sierra during periods of strong wind. "That was about the best that could be done," Hernandez said.

Gerardo Hernandez of Tortuga Sportfishing said southern La Paz fishing waters got some strong north winds early in the week that lowered water temperatures and slowed the action for pangas fishing the Las Arenas side out of Ensenada de los Muertos. At the end of the week, pangas were still looking for good concentrations of yellowfin tuna that had been scattered by the rough weather. Some tuna were caught at the north end of Isla Cerralvo. Good action was found for pargo to 15 pounds and sierra around Punta Perico, and dorado mixed with continued wahoo at the south end of the island. Live bait was available both at Ensenada de los Muertos and Isla Cerralvo.

TORTUGA PANGAS--John McVay of Valencia, Calif., got into a good haul of yellowfin tuna and dorado while fishing the Las Arenas side of La Paz aboard a Tortuga Sportfishing panga with Capt. Rigo Lucero.

Gerardo Hernandez of Tortuga Sportfishing said few anglers visited the La Paz fishing area last week as good action continued through 2 rainy days on Thursday and Friday. Pangas fishing out of Ensenada de los Muertos on Saturday had clear skies again, with very good wahoo counts again found off the south end of Isla Cerralvo. School-sized yellowfin tuna and dorado were caught off Punta Perico, and sierra were concentrated in volume at Las Arenas.

DORADO KEEPER--John Cannon of Long Beach, Calif., fished on a La Paz panga with Tortuga Sportfishing's Capt. Rigo Lucero for good action on wahoo, yellowfin tuna, and dorado including this keeper.