TORTUGA FLEET BOATS FISHING WITH BALLYHOO BAITS

March 25, 2005, Gerardo Hernandez, Tortuga Sportfishing, Las Arenas, La Paz, Mexico Fishing Report:

This week, we had some excellent fishing days at Las Arenas. Although on Tuesday we had some wind that complicated the fishing. Our captains were able to reach the areas where we're getting bait these last three weeks, but the waves reaching the beach made it difficult to get close enough to capture bait with nets.

They decided to return to Ensenada de los Muertos and look for aguja azul, or halfbeaks, also called ballyhoo, so they could use them for trolling for dorado. On this day, the fishing was very bad, and all we caught were small cabrilla, pargos, and pompanos.

The next day, thinking that conditions would be the same, our friend Ben Kern, with his son Marcus, of El Paso, Texas, asked us to go fishing very early, but we were all surprised to see that the wind had stopped completely, and we had a beautiful day with a temperature of 73 degrees. They were able to enjoy a marvelous day of fishing for yellowtail and two pargo liso of good size.

The next day, the fishing was even better and they got four pargo liso, a cabrilla, and sierras, with their Capt. Jorge Lucero. Capt. Jorge said the fishing is going to improve around Punta Perico because he's seeing a large number of pargos near the beach.

The weather in our La Paz sportfishing vacation area is starting to change, little by little, and the days of sun and warmth are approaching.

(See "Mexico Fishing News" online for current fishing reports, photos, weather, and water temperatures from La Paz and other major Mexican sportfishing areas. Vacation travel articles, fishing maps and seasonal calendars, and fishing related information for La Paz may be found at Mexfish.com's main La Paz page.