FISHING STRUGGLES TO COME BACK AFTER STORM BLANCA

La Paz – Las Arenas / Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 7-14, 2015

Well, we “survived” Hurricane/ Tropical Storm Blanca. I say “survived” because it was almost a non-event. I don’t want to scoff at the weather as it needs to be respected, but I think everyone in S. Baja was a bit nervous when Blanca appeared on the radar. Winds over 100 mph and 10-16 inches of rain were predicted and many folks in the state have yet to fully recover the devastating effects of “Odile” last September that tore the state apart.

In that regard, folks could be seen boarding up windows; hauling out their boats; stocked up on water and batteries, etc. Even us at Tailhunters, dismantled our restaurant and set up sand bags. Then, for 4 days, we watched and waited. And waited. And communally huddled before our computers and smart phones watching every bit of social media as the ominous storm approached.

Then…nothing really happened. Some big waves. A bit or strong rain (in some cases only minutes). And strong winds. And that was it in most of Southern Baja. Further north of La Paz, they got some heavier rains, but nothing biblical. In La Paz, there was some debris. Lots of dust. No flooding. For us we lost a day or two of fishing. And that was only because the port captain prevented boats from leaving the bay. For the most part, seas stayed flat and we could have fished. But, I understand the precaution.

When we did get back on the water, early in the week, it was with some trepidation. Fishing at Las Arenas had been pretty darned good . The wahoo bite had been off-the-charts. For La Paz, we just started to finally get into some nicer dorado.

Well, when we got back in the water after the storm, it wasn’t totally expected. Waters were green and cloudy. Water temperatures had plummeted 8-10 degrees from 80 to the low 70’s.

Fish were around. Our anglers saw them. But, they didn’t want to eat!

It took a few days, but with each passing day post storm Blanca, the waters cleaned up and fishing got just a little better. Not 100% back to previous conditions, but we started seeing some wahoo again. (some really BIG wahoo!) Billfish got a little more active. Dorado seemed to get hungrier as well. Our La Paz boats were finding some spots of small to medium dorado which was nice to see. It’s about time we see some better dorado! We even saw our largest dorado of the year which were 30-40 pounds. Inshore, some roosters were biting as well as yellow snapper, cabrilla and pargo. Still too early to be definitive, but signs are encouraging. There’s alot of variety around. Every day seems different.

That’s our story