Titas De Cabra: The San Carlos Pictorial

[Iceman]

These are some of my favorites of the trip


































Next, Adi and I are going to put the video together

[scwafish]

VERY nice photos, looks like a fun trip.

[MKNOTT]

Thanks for putting these together Andy. I want to go back, I want to go back, I want to go back. ....... MKNOTT

[Holy Mackerel]

Wow, very cool!!!!! What affect do you use in your photoshop/editor, etc on the fish for the coloring shots? I have seen you do this before, I really like them. Or is my mind paying tricks on me... :lol:

[Zed]

Nice pix.
Pretty popeye.

[lamb]

Yeah, cool pics….

Nice shot of 48 lbs tuna there Andy... :lol:

I took 385 shots... :P I'm a bit disappointed in my Olimpys. Lot of those "rape the moment" shots when I just kept firing didn't come out sharp...



I will be putting some up in a few...

[Iceman]

Chris, here is the latest software I am using as a plug in for PS7. It is great, but a little time consuming. On good shots it can take 10 minutes or more running through all of the filters. I just fiddle with em until I like what I see.

http://www.powerretouche.com/

Zed, thanks for the popeye ID, I was going to have to look that one up. That one and almost all my island fish came on the 6xjr in scrambled egg.

Adi, it looks like the camera focused on the rod in that pic. Who is the mystery marlin bogart in that pic? :lol:

I was able to sharpen the carp up a bit.



Mike, lets go! Can a person eat too much carne asada? :lol:

It was great fishing you hombres........Adi and Team Bad Lamb Fo sho' was definately the hotstick. I am saving my write-up for FishRap, so if anyone wants to give the trip report...........fire away.

[Zed]

Popeye catalufa is engrained in my head, as one was picked up on a sportboat at the Coronados [very rare] during the el Nino in the early 90's.

Looking forward to the write-up.

Z

[Useful Idiot]

I'll type my version up.

We loaded all the gear on the trailer Thurs. night before the trip and took off early Fri. morning with MKNOTT, Iceman, Adi, me and Brent rollin in the caravan. Pulled into Tucson in the afternoon where we met Seamous (one of the owners of El Duque) Todd (another passenger) and Andy's dad John and then switched the trailer over to the air conditioned/dvd playing van. From there it was another 5 or 6 hours through Mexico before we stepped into the tropical night and transferred everything down the dock and onto the boat.

First order of business was making bait. We were stoked to sabiki 5 or so caballitos in the bay, along with a bunch of small square shaped baits that we called pompano (later id'd as mexican lookdown) and a couple of croakers for good measure.

mexican lookdown


caballito


The next morning we found ourselves chugging through the sea of cortez dragging a couple jigs on the outriggers and one down the middle. We had a few dorado stops on the jigs but nothing worthy of dumping the kayaks for. On one stop Seamous decided to jump in the water with a mask and alerted us of three dorado swimming nearby. Adi was able to drop a bait back and got picked up. John reeled in the 15lber.

Still chugging along we see a marlin come up in the spread and take the starboard outrigger jig. Andy then started cussing at people and violently pushing his way toward the rod to grab it before anyone else (alright, alright, mike handed it to him) and made decent work of about a 100lb striper.

We got a call of a net setup not far from us (turned out to be a longline) so we buzzed over there and dropped the kayaks in the water. I think everybody had a shot at a dorado. Adi caught at least two that I know of at this stop. Mike got a nice one, I ended up with a ~16lber and we had plenty of clicker pulls and drops on those lookdown baits because the fish just couldn't get their mouths around the awkward shape to find the hook. Seamous speared a nice one (37lbs) and we saw a couple sailfish jumping around but couldn't get a bait on em. Catching that dorado in the middle of the sea of cortez in DEAD still and silent conditions was just unbelievable. Nothing compares to that fish launching out of the water multiple times less than 15ft from my boat. Just awesome. Oh, by the way, water temp at this spot was 90 degrees. No typo!

Once we got back to the El Duque the sun was starting to go down and we pointed the bow toward Isla San Pedro. Before the sun slipped away Andy earned himself the new nickname "Marlin Hog" by displaying another inappropriate act of selfishness as he punched Mike in the face, pushed Adi overboard and spit on me as he again charged his way toward the troll rod (alright, i called him a pussy as he was gonna hand me the rod and then he kept it....). This fish was a little bit bigger and almost spooled the 6/0 on the first run. That fish was about 130lbs (both were released).

Next day was island fishing at San Pedro Island. Most of us had hopes of a big grouper but it wasn't to be. Adi was able to find another small dorado just off the island while the rest of us caught plenty of triggerfish, small grouper, sculpin and a variety of first time catches. That afternoon we packed it up and headed back to port. Ended up back in San Diego at 1:30 on Tuesday morning with a cooler full of dorado, cameras full of pics and a lot of awesome memories.
-Brian

[splitty]

Congrats on the awesome trip, great pic's too!
Also looking forward to the writeups...

Guy

[Useful Idiot]

By the way, the purpose of this trip was a trial run to see if these trips will work down there for organized expeditions through OEX and the overall consenus is definitely yes. They're taking the boat out to re-power and make some more kayak friendly changes that will make getting the kayaks on and off a breeze as well as re-doing the galley and bunkrooms (which are air conditioned). Instead of two days fishing, the trips will be three days fishing and two travel days so we can run to Isla Catalina where the bigger grouper are to be found, along with the offshore stuff. I can't give a definitive price at this time, but it will be VERY reasonable The food was excellent (ceviche, carne asada tacos, chorizo breakfast burritos, etc) and the best part is you get to bring all your own gear. The trip will be all inclusive from Tucson so we truck all the gear out to Tucson on the trailer and you have the option of caravanning or flying to Tucson and then we take the El Duque van down through Mexico. We're looking at sometime in '07 to start the trips, we'll update when we're ready to take reservations.

[Holy Mackerel]

Sounds cool, I could be down for one of these trips...so long as I can fly to Tucson... Or can you fly into San Carlos? Also, I saw some dive tanks, is that an option, just for looking around, not for killing things...not that there is anything wrong with that.

Chris

[Useful Idiot]

I would recommend flying into Tucson but there's no airport in San Carlos. That drive home was not fun after fishing for a couple days. The boat is operating as a dive boat right now so scuba diving and freediving are absolutely options as well. Brent did a quick scuba dive at the island in the morning and Seamous is a big freediver.

[tylerdurden]

Cool report and pics guys. That looks like a blast. I hope I can make it down there sometime to try it out.

[lamb]

crap...

I on the 3rd page of my report, and I just got to the 1st marlin... I've got to trim it down...

Good thing my customer postponed the work I was supposed to do this morning.

Stay tuned, I'm getting there.

Here is a bit more clue into the identity of marlin bogart – the same guy, different marlin though:



MIKE, I'M IN! LET'S GO BACK!!! TOMORROW!!!

[kurt]

Looks like a blast. Hope to get in on it next year.

[Spinal Tap]

Damn, I coulda been a contender but I called Brent back too late. Looks like an awesome time.

[Dan]

Put me on the waiting list for the next trip. Sweet photos, bring on the video!!!

[lamb]

It is not easy to write a report for the trip like this.

It may be just me, but I feel it takes a novel to really capture awesome fishing experience and great time we just had down in San Carlos. It was a major blast, every minute of it including the non-fishing time. Having all 8 or so of us plus the driver stacked up in that caravan while laughing my ass off trying to keep my neck intact since we were doing 50mph on that bumpy road in a beat up car – priceless… The whole time, I felt like I was 18 years old again.

So you better get ready – this WILL be the longest report I ever put together.

On Our Way There…

We loaded our kayaks and gear on Brent’s trailer the night before. I know I wasn’t the only one having difficulties falling asleep... I was way too hyped up. You wonder if that childish excitement the night before is ever going to die off. Fishing won’t kill me, but the lack of sleep the night before fishing may.

We got together and headed East around 6:00AM. Long drive to Arizona flew by rather quickly. Good times chit-chatting in the car, feasting on Chinese bagel sandwiches (ok, I bought bagels in Ranch 99 store the night before), enjoying desert scenery and listening to Mexican music in effort to acclimate (yeah right).

At the Tucson airport we met up with Andy’s dad John, a wonderful gentleman. Shames (I know, how the hack did he say you spell that?!?), a co-owner of El Duque mothership, was waiting for us. We hooked the trailer to his van and headed towards the border.

I was surprised how nice the road to San Carlos is. Nothing like Baja – we were cruising 70+ mph on a highway with 2 lanes going in each direction, physically separated and in very good condition. The van was rather new – it had an AC, DVD player… First class.

Shameless without an “l�, experienced free-diver, clued us in to the local situation. We were to expect warm water, warm weather and warm welcome from dorado, marlin, sailfish and a variety of bottom critters. Running into some tuna was a possibility. We learned that the local fishermen were not big on live bait. They were getting the most of their fish trolling feathers and rigging dead ballyhoo… Bally who, what hoo?!?



We figured 7 knots trolling speed would be quite a problem for our kayaks. We were really hoping to have live bait. Our local skipper Alex was trying to get some for us. Besides, we brought our Sabikis .

Arrival

We got to San Carlos around 8:00 PM… Tasty carne asada tacos for dinner at the local stand - the 1st ones out of many we will have during the trip. We then started loading all our stuff on the mothership. Having to do it in 85 degree humid conditions after a long day of driving made it pretty tough… But I guess the idea of eventful tomorrow kept our spirits up.

We ventured out to find shelter and anchor in one of many small coves that exist in this natural harbor. Brian did great job quickly putting their bait tank in business. Smelt and other small bait started swarming under the boat lights. We dropped our sabikis down, but they found very little interest. Andy, Mr. hot bait stick (and marlin stick, we would learn later on) managed the first caballito. Great bait – we started howling and hollering in excitement. I remember thinking – gee, wonder how are we going to behave tomorrow…

Since it was slow pick on bait, we convinced the skipper to move us to another spot. We found more action not far away and managed to load our bait tank with maybe 6-7 cabalitto, a handful of small croakers and a whole bunch of “mexican lookdown�. We had some nicer/bigger fish on the sabiki. Andy’s sierra would be the most notable. Feeling great about how we kept accomplishing the small steps of our mission despite the glitches we encountered, we went horizontal to catch a couple of hours of much needed rest.

The plan for the first day was to head out West in search of exotics and big game fish. We were to come back to spend the night at San Pedro Island, some 14 miles out. We were going to fish the Island hard during the second day. Pretty good plan, we all agreed.

Day 1

The feathers we trolled from the boat started getting hit only a couple of miles out. Dodos would hit and start their remarkable dance, proving it to be quite an efficient survival technique. I’d say we landed only 1 in 4 fish that hit the trolling rods.



In order to launch our kayaks, we knew we had to find some “target� – a bunch of floating debris we’ve been reading about, lots of birds revealing the presence of a big school of dorado, something. We would see a piece of bamboo floating not longer than 6�; we would troll by it and pick up a dorado. We saw some birds working the surface – we would get a dodo or just miss one… Fish or strike here and there, but we found nothing promising and inviting enough to make us commit to launching our kayaks. We worried if we launched and ended up in non-productive area, we would loose a lot of time loading our kayaks back on the boat to move someplace else. We wanted to be certain we found the “real battlefield�, where we would just knock them dead.

At one point we saw the birds working. Porpoise feeding on real small bonito (or where those small skippies??) were under them. We started catching these small fish on sabikis 5 at the time. They looked great for bait, but we learned quickly they just couldn’t survive in the bait tank.

I wanted to soak my kayak in that area baaaaaad… I wish we did. It was the only spot out in the blue water where we found a ton of bait. It was already almost passed noon… I was getting anxious to launch… I kept thinking and still do - Dodos must have been there.

Alex, the skipper, finally tells us that his buddies on the panga are about 10-ish more miles out. They had the “net� put in the area, and supposedly – the fish were there too. Sounded like what we were looking for – a specific target likely to hold the fish, a point of reference that we can work up and down…

Close Encounters of the Lamb Kind

Few minutes into the troll we see two marlin chillin’ on the surface. Just as we passed them, Brent’s hand made marlin jig gets slammed… Mike gets to enjoy a couple of wild jumps…



…then, let me see… I think his phone rang; was it that his girlfriend was calling about landscapers working on sprinklers in the yard or something?!? Anyway, he was too much into the exciting phone conversation so he handed the rod over to masta Andy.



Andy made a quick work out of that ~100# striper, bringing it to the boat in about 10 minutes.



Brent, the most experienced of all of us with marlins, grabbed it by the beak to get the hook out.





He must have sustained shaking in the equivalent of magnitude 8.0 earthquake for a few minutes. Good thing that big MKNOTT was holding his shirt… If it was anyone else, Brent would have been riding on that fish.



The crew wanted to filet the fish. We explained we’re not about killing beautiful fish (yeah right, like dodos are ugly).

So, the striped beauty swam away unharmed. High fives all over… Our local crew all bummed out… We promised we would go for the kill if we happen to hook a lil’ one… I asked them which ones are better to keep, thinking maybe smaller marlin tastes better?!? Their reply was “biiiig one… more meat�.

We jumped in the water to cool down and celebrate. Brent and Seamous grabbed their snorkeling masks to work on a tank intake hose - we were getting the air in when boat was moving, stopping the water flow.



Seamous came up on the surface… He was all excited, telling us there were 3 dorado under the boat. My flyline rod was close by… I pinned one caballito on and tossed it overboard. Dodo inhaled it instantly… I counted – I’m getting picked up… I’m getting picked up… Long baaaaaaaaah twice and 3 short baaahs… BAMMM, Jumping Jack Flash was on. That fish had a privilege to be landed by Andy’s dad John. He proved that it just runs in the Allens family…





We picked up maybe one or 2 more on the troll and lost as many or more by the time we arrived at our destination. The panga (btw the “cutest� I ever saw, lovely color selection) was there, so were the canisters along hundreds of yards long “net�. Definitely something to work around.



It was 2:00 PM and dead calm. No swell, no wind what so ever. It was one of the most memorable moments in my fishing career – you see the Baja waaaaay out in the distance West; Mexico’s mainland as far out in the East. We launched our kayaks in the middle of Sea of Cortez in to the 90.5 degree water. We had more than a descent shot to hang some lamb. Does it get any better than that?!?







Mike got picked up first. He had a nice weight on for a couple of seconds, than the fish bit off his 30# leader.

Hoping for a shot at Marlin or Sailfish, I fly-lined caballito on my stocky 6.5’ rod with Avet 2 speed, 400 yards of 50# spectra and a few feet of 40# fluorocarbon leader. I paddled along the side of the “net�, hoping for dodos hanging out under those colorful floating canisters. As Brent announced on VHF that he just got picked up by a dorado that shook the hook while jumping, I got hit… I set the hook and I was on for a nice fight. Those dorado are pretty cool fish to catch, and they really make you work for it. It jumped many times, while my heart was pumping… I watched the school of 7-8 of them following my fish, right under my kayak.

Dodolamb on board! Here’s the BloodyDecks series shot – porn on kayak edition… :lol:

Thanks for the pics Andy!!!



I paddled back to our mothership to put the fish in the cooler. I kept bleating and yelling “sheeba�, which is what the captain told me is how you say “lamb� in Spanish. I don’t think that’s the case – I could not find any reference on the net….

Whatever - I got to see that 37#-er that Seamous speared. He later said he saw the fish under our boat right as we all got in the water. He waited for the plastic fleet to split so he can shoot it. It could have easily been caught by one of us. Seeing his fish got me all pumped up.



As far as bait, at that point we only had a few of those “mexican lookdowns� left in the tank. I took some dead whole squid I got at Ranch 99 with me. I flylined this “foreheady� bait, and rigged 2 oz sliding sinker to flyline dead ballyhoo. The big dead bait was too much for my clicker, so I slightly engaged the lever to stop the line from coming out. That turned to be a bad idea. Ballyhoo soon got picked up; as the fish started running, the drag got engaged more and more. By the time I reached for the rod to put the reel in free spool, the fish spit the bait.

We kept seeing big fish breaking the surface not too far away from us… Marlin and sails… It was quite tense out there.

Brian then picked up a nice one:



We started getting hit on pompano, or I should say that “Mexican lookdowns�. It turns out that ridiculously shaped, almost squared fish, was just too much for those dodos. It was hard for them to swallow it. It was even harder for us to set the dang hook.



As I lost my last bait, I pinned the whole dead squid on…. I trolled it suspended with 1.5 oz led with only my clicker on. 10 minutes later, zzzzzzzzzz…. Poor thing didn’t jump at all. I let it run with that squid for too long - the hook was deep in her throat. Andy got the whole fight on tape – another smaller hen in my lap.



Despite me crying, the crew insisted that we all get back on the boat. The panga was picking up their “net� (bringing a ton of dorado on board, btw) and leaving… the Sun was about to slip behind Baja. We had a couple of hours to go to make it to the island.

Masta Mike showed up with a hefty bull, I thing 23 or 24 lbs… He picked it up on dead ballyhoo.



We loaded our yaks back on the mothership and jumped in the water to wash off and have fun. We started trolling back towards the Island.

10 minutes later the clicker goes off. DéjÃX Vu - Andy catches another marlin. This model was some 30-40 pounds bigger than the 1st one. It made an impressive first run quickly shaving off almost all the line from that spool… Alex started backing the boat, and Andy quickly put the things under control.





Another 10-15 minutes goes by and we have the fish by the swim step. It was still green when Brent grabbed it, and quickly managed to break off with the hook in its mouth. We were all happy. Our Mexican crew was bummed out again. Despite that, they set us up with another awesome dinner. Carne Asada tacos (at that point we were already addicted), and they cooked some fresh dorado. Very, very tasty.

We arrived at San Pedro Island in the dark. The crew dropped the anchor; Andy and I dropped sabiki. Everyone else dropped unconscious, including big Mike who kept BS-ing how he was going to fish the whole night. We tried hard for about ½ hour, but just couldn’t get anything to go. We went to sleep.

[katchfish]

¡EL CORDERO!! indeed!!

Great report and trip!!

Gotta love Baja!

Ken