PHOTO 1: Yes...they are here! What a week. The yellowfin tuna showed up and rampaged through the fleets in a frenzy and in the kind of madness we rarely see. Captain Jorge holds up a YFT for Sara Moss. Notice how close to shore they are!

PHOTO 2: Nothing quite like yellowfin tuna coming closer to the boat. But this is often the time when anglers relax and the fish makes another blazing run to freedom and the anglers break off. The yellowfin started as 10 pounders, but by week's end, they were in the 25 pound class.

PHOTO 3: Looking for the headshot with the gaff so as not to spoil the sweet meat, this tuna actually did not end up as sashime but was released as were many others. Limits at times were so easy that anglers went to circle hooks to more easily let the fish go!

PHOTO 4: Outdoor TV show host, Rick Kasper from Thousand Oaks CA, ripped this beauty of a bull dorado with the south end of Cerralvo Island in the background off Las Arenas. Captain Pancho lent a hand on the gaff.

PHOTO 5: Dennis Cadal and Alan Nojadera from the Ventura CA area hold up a paid of sweet bull dorado. The fish charged on the live bait while the guys were fishing from our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet. We're crediting Al with catching the first yellowfin tuna of our season and starting the YFT bite we've got this week.

PHOTO: 5: These are some beasts! (The fish, not the fishermen!). Kris Kasper and Cole Thomas just graduated from high school and came down with their buddies to fish our area for the first time and slammed the dorado. These big fish were caught of Las Arenas Beach. That's the new lighthouse in the background.

PHOTO 6: One of our best amigas, Wendy Fantozzi, with her favorite captain Victor hung all kinds of fish while here this week including pargo, amberjack and this beutiful bull dorado.

PHOTO 7 : The Utah clan of Anthony Schmidt (here for his daughter's honeymoon) take a family pose with their dorado. The largest is a 32 pounder on the left.

PHOTO 8: Another great group shot...the Hardesty Boys...Nick, Jim, Rob and Scott hold up their fish...well, Jim is holding a zebra fish! Dorado were still going strong but tuna moved in this week.

PHOTO 9 : Al Silvas just took this great shot. Blue water. Big smile. Big fish. Life is good!

PHOTO 10 : Reg Powell came all the way from Colorado intent on getting a rooster on his flyrod. Here he hold the proof. The fish was released.

PHOTO 11: Frank Gillespie, Jr. from Utah. Puts the gaff into this bull dorado headed to the fish box.

FISH EXPLODE FOR ANGLERS AS TUNA CHARGE IN FORCE BUT DORADO POWER IN AS WELL FOR BEST WEEK OF THE SEASON!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 28 to July 4, 2009

We possibly had the best week of fishing of the entire season this past week. What a fish-rodeo! Yellowfin tuna made a surprise crash and literally foamed and exploded on our panga fleet. We had pangas coming in back to the beach early with shocked clients and bloody ice chests.

"It was nuts!"

"Never seen anything like that!"

"It was like the old days in Baja...fish everywhere! There were so many tuna around the boat then the dorado came blasting in!" were just some of the comments.

Folks were getting limits and telling us they were releasing as many fish as they caught. At the FUBAR we were vacuum sealing fish for hours each afternoon. The early showing of the tuna was the biggest news. These fish started at 10 pounds, but towards the end of the week 20-25 pound muscle fish were not uncommon. Folks were saying they couldn't get baits in the water fast enough. The fish ate live bait, dead bait, lures, iron, surface poppers, flies...they weren't picky and they came 'en masse." This wasn't a pick bite. This was the full panzer division blitzkrieg on the fleets. On top of that, dorado would charge in as well as if they didn't like getting the spotlight taken away from them. Fish up to 50 pounds were ripping lines and hearts!

Bigger baits generated larger fish, but not always. Several marlin were hooked on small sardines and small hooks too. Often the method to find any of the fish was to slow troll a live bait, chunk of dead bait or small feather...enough to rip the water...when the rod went off, throw live bait and watch the foamers come tearing into the boats!

I don't know how long this will last. We have a full moon coming on this week and I"m not a big believer in the full moon thing, but this tuna bite is just so crazy that I don't want anything to upset the apple cart...if you catch my drift! In the meantime, life is good...the fish are biting!

LIVE WEBCAM

We have a live webcam now on the TAILHUNTER BAR/ FUBAR CANTINA. If you want to watch, just click:

http://tailhunter.dyndns.org/

When you get the webpage type in the word: remoteuser

You do not need a code word. You can watch the view from the 3rd floor of the bar 24/7!

Happy 4th of July Week Everyone. I'm craving Kentucky Fried Chicken, parades and potato salad!

Best fishes!

Jonathan and Jill

Tailhunter International La Paz