May 28 to June 4 GONZAGA

[SDROB]

Originally Posted by svendawg

I just jumped on board for this trip.. Better make it three racks, I love ribs.
I'm bring Cowboy bean stew with elk meat

Nice! What day you coming down Sven?

[makobob]

Originally Posted by SDROB

Nice! What day you coming down Sven?

He is driving out tomorrow morning.

[svendawg]

I'll be going down on Saturday with Bob

Originally Posted by SDROB

Nice! What day you coming down Sven?

[SDROB]

Cool! Ill see you guys tomorrow!

[Baja_Traveler]

Originally Posted by svendawg

I just jumped on board for this trip.. Better make it three racks, I love ribs.
I'm bring Cowboy bean stew with elk meat

No thats unacceptable - a rack holder has room for four racks of ribs, so thats what we got! And more fresh corn than we'll know what to do with...

[Baja_Traveler]

Just got back from Bob's place and had a fantastic time. Got to relax, paddles around with a whale shark, caught some fish, ate great food and hung out with great people. The drive was completely uneventful, and took us 7 hours from San Diego - here we are dropping in on the final destination in the distance:



All set up on the beach, smoker sitting on the tailgate ready to be fired up for a few racks of ribs:



My artsy shot for the trip:



Chow time under the newly installed roof - Sven and Bob did a first class job of getting it constructed:



First day out fishing, unfortunately I was in such a hurry to race down the beach to catch up with the whale shark the day before, I forgot my camera, but this was pretty much the morning conditions everyday before the wind picked up.



Out around the point of Punta Bufeo is where the fishermen towed 7 pilot whales that beached themselves. Six can be seen here, the seventh out of frame to the left away from the others.



The only fish I kept, Typical size Sierra - this one gill hooked, so he will end up in the smoker. It gave us a good excuse to set up Bob's new vacuum sealer, which it turns out got a very good workout that evening.



A lot of bait in the water - small yellowtail and sierra occasionally making their way through it.



Lots of spotty action, this poor guy was giving a good fight when all of a sudden, nothing. Reeled him in to find this - surgical chomp suggests a shark of some sort. Probably would have been the biggest spotty I ever caught too...



Bob in his ever present quad - sure was nice to have it to tow the yak back up the beach, probably saved me from having a heart attack - those 14 foot PA's aren't exactly light...



The beast of the trip! 95 pounds, taken by spear off a high spot near the island. Thats a 35 pounder on the ground. I'll let those responsible tell that story...



I'd venture a guess that it's the biggest fish to cast a shadow at Bob's place...



Tuesday morning, and unfortunately I have to go home. Here is Sven heading out for the day, and as I type this some 8 hours later, I'm positive he is still out there fishing...



Great trip, and I can't wait to go back.

[SDROB]

Wow! Nice......

[Mahigeer]

Thank you for a great report from there. Finally!

The future bathroom looks promising.

The beach looks so good. Figures, I am not there.

Hope there will be other posts by others with pictures.

Bob looks good and healthy. Thank god.

[farreola]

These was a great trips like always!!!

[Dirty Curti]

Excellent report! I hope to get out there with you guys one of these times in the future.

Great detail on the info. I was wondering how long the drive was and all I was getting from google trips was 2/12 hours I knew that wasn't right. 7 hour trip isn't that bad to drive to paradise.

[Mahigeer]

My two trips took about 5 hrs. each going south from SD.

Coming up north, a 2 hr. wait for border crossing is considered a short wait.

[farreola]

Especially on holidays...we did 4 hours this past Monday!!!

[Baja_Traveler]

Originally Posted by Mahigeer

My two trips took about 5 hrs. each going south from SD.

Coming up north, a 2 hr. wait for border crossing is considered a short wait.

So yesterday I hit the border right around 11:30, took the right turn and looked to my left toward the border fence at the first intersection and saw cars, so I went up to the next intersection and it was clear. Jumped in there, and checked my time - literally did not stop until I hit the booth. Was passing through the zig zag barriers four minutes after getting in "Line" - god I love that Sentri Pass! Poor suckers on the other side of the barrier were all sitting, doors open and having picnics.
Getting the Sentri pass is a hassle, but so worth it...

[Dannowar]

Mahi....we waited ten minutes at the border on Tuesday at 430pm. The border official said the wait on Monday got up to 7 hours!!!





As usual another epic trip in the books. Can't thank you guys enough for the good times and good food.



The dinner at the restaurant was beyond epic. Kai's ribs, almejas, pulpo, made for a massive stomach stretching.



And then there was the grouper....we found the honey hole. Out of the hundreds we saw, we took two. Amazing creatures, and quite refreshing to see them in numbers like we did.



Seems like everyone at the town wanted to see pierres monster.









Baja mixed bag of top notch eats





And a couple souvenirs for the casa de mako

[YakHanded]

so fuckin epic

[Mahigeer]

Originally Posted by Dannowar

Mahi....we waited ten minutes at the border on Tuesday at 430pm. The border official said the wait on Monday got up to 7 hours!!!

Lucky guys.

You should have bought a lottery ticket afterwards!

Plans are at work for an October trip.

Just bought a camping hot water maker from Sport Chalet at %40 off. I already have a shower tent.

[Gr8fuldude]

Such a great trip, even if I was only there for two full days. Kai, the ribs were amazing! As was the pulpo, almejas, and Sven's elk cowboy stew (Sven if there is anyway you can send me that recipe I'd be much obliged!).

Oh yeah, and the fishing wasn't too bad either. I didn't land anything big, but the steady action had me constantly giggling like a little schoolgirl. Countless spotties/triggers/sierra, and a dozen rat yt's in a couple of days for me.

Also, to Danny and Pierre, thanks for the vacuum sealed grouper filets I found in my cooler. !!

Thanks to Makobob and everyone for such a great time! Now I'll just have to daydream of Gonzaga until the next trip down.

BTW, I had an hour and fifteen minute border wait Wed at noon.

Paul

[Baja Arizona]

I joined this forum specifically for trip reports about kayak fishing in Baja. This is awesome! I grew up 30 miles north of Mexicali and I have been taking trips down Baja (mainly Baja Norte on the Sea of Cortez side) for 39 years. Unfortunately, I only started kayak fishing 5 years ago.

Gonzaga Bay is one of my favorite destinations. I've never caught grouper like the ones pictured here but the thought of it is one (of the many) things that keeps me going back. Well done!

A group of four of us is headed south on June 21st. We are going to fish Punta Final (Gonzaga Bay) on the evening of the 21st and morning of the 22nd. PM on the 22nd we are headed to BOLA where we will likely camp at Punta Gringa and fish Isla Smith for a couple days. I have to return to the States on the 25th but some folks will likely stay a bit longer.

If you are into long paddles and battling heat exhaustion, you are welcome to join us!

[Mahigeer]

Calling farreola, calling farrola,

Did you get my reply to your PM?

I got a second notice for a PM from you, but it is my own reply!!

Let me know if you did not get it, so I can re-send it.

[svendawg]

Great fishing weather all week. Was able to fish all day long. A few days the wind came up around 1300, but if you waited it out it died down for the afternoon bite.

Lots of 50+ fish days with most of the fish being the larger model spotties, and sierra. Once in a while the YT would show but they were all rats.
The lure of the day was the 1 oz crocodile all chrome or chrome and blue.
The megabaits type lure worked also but not a consistent as the crock.

The place to fish was about one mile off the beach where there is a drop off from 40' to 100+ This ridge runs parallel along the beach from Bob's place all the way south to in front of Punte Buffeo. Fish the shallow side of the ridge. There is no structure out there but the fish are there. Paddle around and drop in fish marks and it's fish on.

I watched a shark eat one of my spotties while I was bring it in, leaving me with the head. Shark was about foot long, unknown species.

I had encounters with the whale shark on three different days where she hung out with me for a few minutes, I got video of the whale shark next to my PA with her tail inches from my hull and her swimming under my yak. (Sorry don't know how to post video)

The food was exceptional on this trip. Smoked ribs on two nights, Garlic shrimp, Bratwursts, Cowboy bean stew, Fried fish, Grouper cheeks (thanks Danny), Carne Asade, boneless Chicken and all the trimmings.

It was great to meet up with old friends and to meet new friends. I hope to fish with everyone in the future.

Border wait on Thursday at 1000 was 45 minutes.