Mag Bay Jan 2017 Trip Report - Page 2 - Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge

SDROB · 05-17-2017, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WARRIORMIKE

IF there was a "Like" button on this post it this would be it. Great shots. Looks like a lot of fun!

x2 I didn't think I would like that feature when BloodyDecks added it but I do. Sometimes you want to just like something without commenting.

katchfish · 05-17-2017, 10:36 AM

Badass adventure!!

Holy Mackerel · 05-17-2017, 01:30 PM

Cool report!

brew · 05-18-2017, 07:15 PM

Ok, so we made it! Sorry to keep you hanging

Here is a pic of camp the first night at low tide.

Some cool shells

Lots of shells

Another incredible sunset.

Even managed to find some driftwood for a nice fire. Like my drying rack?👍

brew · 05-18-2017, 09:02 PM

Got up the next morning ready to explore the area (Find fish). We pretty much headed straight out from camp to the nearest island. It's was pretty shallow most of the way across.

Some cool looking birds I've never seen before. Any birders on the site!

We made it to the closest islands fairly quickly (1/2mi?). There was some current running through them and some deeper water. It was slow for about 15 minutes or so, but then we started catching.
I think my first fish was actually a small SBB, but no pic.

Corvina. Maybe slightly bigger than Coyote Estero.

Also possibly a bit bigger?

Jeff with one

Trigger. 4 species in short order!

Leo hooked up!

Nicer one!

Hobie, You know what's up...

I could see some nervous water out in the main channel, so I decided to check it out. It turned out to be just two currents meeting over a high spot. I was about halfway to the main point of one side of the boca, so I decided to head over and beach it to stretch out a bit.

The current was ripping in and there was a shelf that dropped to over 20' deep right over the edge of the sand bar. It was a fish a cast for about 15 minutes. Mostly small sbb and corvina. It would have been a great place for a fly rod, but I couldn't stop catching to set mine up!
Another cast and I feel something heavy. It takes off and immediately I wish I was on my heavier setup. Feels like a bat ray...

Manta Ray

A whole school came along the edge a little later.

Leo's Dolphin skull hood ornament

Leo in "The spot". The current had slowed down, but you can see the deep water. Funny , but we fished it again later in the trip and it was very slow. It seems to be based quite a bit on current, AND deep areas.

We all headed north and wound our way around looking for good spots. We continued picking off SBB, and corvina, but the grouper were conspicuously absent even though we found a few great looking spots for them!

Average sbb and corvina

We were working our way back towards camp and fishing our way between two islands with the current flowing between them like a river. It was about a 200yd section and not very deep, but we were nailing them on top water stuff.
Leo calls me over and says he he's on a good one. I get out my camera and get a few bendo shots, but I didn't really get excited until I saw the head come out of the water! Big Hali.

28"er stoked!

Some shade under the mangroves at low tide

You can see where the groupers are trying to take you when you hook them close to the edge

Headed in as we planned to eat dinner in town tonight.

Camp from the water

Made the drive in to town and found a restaurant recommended by some guys that came by camp on dirt bikes.

I went all out and ordered the lobster. Three tails with fresh handmade tortillas, salsa, beans, rice... heaven.. $15

Spent dinner game planning the next day looking at screen shots from google earth and typing coordinates into my gps. Btw. Google gps coordinates and Garmin gps coordinates are different?

Anyway it was a great day and we were all feeling very content (And tired, we estimated we did about 16 miles this day)

To be continued tomorrow...

steveooo · 05-18-2017, 09:28 PM

Such a badass trip!

CON KSO · 05-18-2017, 09:55 PM

Oh man. I'm leaving on the 27th... was gonna ride the moto down... now I'm definitely taking the truck and the kayak. Wow. Anyplace to stay in town and/or launch from? Or is the fishing way better a few miles outside of Lopez Mateos?

Baja_Traveler · 05-19-2017, 06:48 AM

The chin strap makes your birds easily identified as Black Brant. Used to see a ton of them down in San Ignacio lagoon during whale season - kinda surprised they are still down there, should be heading back north by now...

I am so looking forward to our trip this winter!

16 miles in a Solo Skiff - no problem!

Druko · 05-19-2017, 09:55 AM

So awesome!

makobob · 05-19-2017, 10:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baja_Traveler

The chin strap makes your birds easily identified as Black Brant. Used to see a ton of them down in San Ignacio lagoon during whale season - kinda surprised they are still down there, should be heading back north by now...

I am so looking forward to our trip this winter!

16 miles in a Solo Skiff - no problem!

32 miles in a Solo Skiff, towing another yak, no problem. Going to be a great trip Kai. Christmas is coming. Tight Lines.

Gunner58 · 05-19-2017, 10:47 AM

Those "birds" are Brant Geese. Cant wait to get a chance to shoot one.

rossman · 05-20-2017, 04:08 PM

Hey Brew,did that Manta Ray bite something or was he snagged?

CON KSO · 05-22-2017, 07:55 AM

Please let there be more, please let there be more....

Mahigeer · 05-22-2017, 08:39 AM

What a great trip. Thanks for sharing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rossman

Hey Brew, did that Manta Ray bite something or was he snagged?

I was thinking the same:
“As filter feeders, manta rays consume large quantities of zooplankton in the form of shrimp, krill and planktonic crabs…” Wikipedia.

brew · 05-29-2017, 05:32 PM

Yes, the manta ray was snagged in the wing (3" swim bait).

CON KSO · 05-29-2017, 06:56 PM

I'm in Puerto Lopez Mateos right now- using internet from Hotel Refugio - did you guys drive out on the road to Playa Santa Elena? Gonna give that a shot tomorrow. Not many restaurants open this time of the year- I guess there are more during whale watching season. Lots of water moving around out there right now- kinda intimidating actually.

brew · 05-29-2017, 07:00 PM

Ok. Day whatever (2nd in Mag Bay)...

Kitchen shack visitor

There was a ton of dew in the mornings even thought the weather was very mild. 60-80F

Eggs and tangerines for breakfast and loaded up on water and snacks for the day.

Everybody had a couple of confidence baits from yesterday and conditions were ridiculous, so we were pumped to get out there again.

Our rigs.

brew · 05-29-2017, 07:49 PM

The silence was cool. You had to look behind at the wake to be able to tell if you were moving or not.

If the smallest island on the horizon was a gunsight, it would be aimed at the main boca feeding the bay. Just for an overall view of where we were at.

Looks like a good starring point to me.

Leo with a green jack. Like all jacks these things fight hard.

Jeff with a nicer corvina

I noticed some disturbances in the distance and hauled butt over there. Got a few good casts right through the middle with no luck. Tried a couple of different lures. Slow roll, burning it in, huh still nada. Turned around and started to head back and Bam.

Needlefish. Definitely the culprit. Tried for another but it was not to be

Species ID help?

First broomtail in Mag Bay. Just a baby really, but they are great fun on lightbtackle. That's a 5" crocodile just for size perspective. Maybe 5-6lbs?

Cool shot of one of many corvina for the day?

Giant lizard fish while trolling the main channel.

There was one spot that was nonstop cookie cutter spotties. All small. ~10-11"ers

Had to fight the current in today and it was not easy. I can see where other times of the year with larger tidal swings you might be screwed. We were hugging the edges of the "river" just to make forward progress and peddling pretty hard. Jeff's kayak is a beast and I thought we may have to tow him, or just wait it out, but he actually made it in before us.

Cool whale skeleton

We also had to go around some sand bars / shallow spots due to the low tide. Here is Leo walking the last 50yds or so in about 6" or water. It was a long day on the water and I think we all set records on mileage at over 25mi.

Another good day!

brew · 05-29-2017, 08:54 PM

Woke up to fog the next morning.

Some artwork from the nighttime creepy crawlies.

I think I had a protein shake, an energy drink, and some other random stuff for breakfast. Also made a second layer of padding for my seat out of some closed cell sleeping pad foam. It worked pretty well too.

No showers down here and we were getting pretty crusty!

Today we headed South. Probably went a mile or so before we hit some of the gps spots we typed in the night before.

Right away Jeff on board with another new species. We didn't know what these were, but I have since figured out they are mangrove jacks.

Got one for myself

Corvina action shot

Mid morning we found a spot that was as wide open as I've ever seen. We were catching Jacks, Corvina, Pompano, And SBB every cast. We were all using different lures, and all getting bit. This lasted for about an hour until the water movement stopped. Even then it only took 3-4 casts to get one. The fish were all avaerage size, so I didn't get a lot of pics. We will all remember this spot for a long time. I also have the GPS coordinates for the highest bidder (j/k I will give them to MakoBob before the trip along with others for the turnoff, camp, etc)

A couple pics of the spot once the current had slowed.

We let the current lead us down and around the corner catching fish the whole way. This was definitely the best day I have ever had kayak fishing. Eventually we crossed to another island and it was full of frigates. I have never seen this many in one place, it must be a mating area or something. I'm not a birder, but got some good shots

Male and female

Stretched out

Ok back to fishing... it continued to be good.

A better size mangrove jack

We ended up finding a Chanel with some bigger corvina. I think this is my biggest of the trip. If so, it was 27"

Look closely... careful of those two (or three!) treble hook hardbaits. They don't mix well with green fish. We first had to cut the whole hook from the jig (already done before this pic), in order to stop the emergency of a flopping fish still on the other treble! Then pushed it through as far as possible in order to cut it below the barb and back it out.

Another nice one. Look at the size of that tail!

Searching for the next spot

We got back in around dark again and headed off to town for dinner with delirious, tired, happy grins.

We made some phone calls at the restaurant and had another great meal. The next morning we left north giving ourselves enough time to stop and fish one more day at whatever spot we chose.

brew · 05-29-2017, 09:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CON KSO

I'm in Puerto Lopez Mateos right now- using internet from Hotel Refugio - did you guys drive out on the road to Playa Santa Elena? Gonna give that a shot tomorrow. Not many restaurants open this time of the year- I guess there are more during whale watching season. Lots of water moving around out there right now- kinda intimidating actually.

Yes, I heard at times the water moves a lot! We were there during very mild tides, but even we were prepared to wait it out if we had to (headlamps, windbreakers, and food/water)

I'm not sure where Playa Santa Elena is, but we were about 7 miles north of town (dirt road). There is a big channel that is man made heading inland. I would recommend trying straight out from there and possibly a little north. Good luck. Maybe just hire a panga if it's too gnarly for a yak.

05-20-2017, 04:08 PM	#32
rossman Marginally Irrelevant Join Date: May 2007 Location: Bahia Asuncion Posts: 936	Hey Brew,did that Manta Ray bite something or was he snagged? __________________ "When beholding the tranquil beauty and brilliancy of the ocean’s skin, one forgets the tiger heart that pants beneath it; and would not willingly remember that this velvet paw but conceals a remorseless fang. " — Herman Melville Y'all come see me now, hear!

05-17-2017, 10:36 AM	#22
katchfish Paddle for Mahi Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Doing the happy paddle! Posts: 848	Badass adventure!!

05-17-2017, 01:30 PM	#23
Holy Mackerel Señor member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 1,627	Cool report!

05-18-2017, 07:15 PM	#24
brew I Exercise Fish Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: HB Posts: 44	Ok, so we made it! Sorry to keep you hanging Here is a pic of camp the first night at low tide. Some cool shells Lots of shells Another incredible sunset. Even managed to find some driftwood for a nice fire. Like my drying rack?👍

05-18-2017, 09:02 PM	#25
brew I Exercise Fish Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: HB Posts: 44	Got up the next morning ready to explore the area (Find fish). We pretty much headed straight out from camp to the nearest island. It's was pretty shallow most of the way across. Some cool looking birds I've never seen before. Any birders on the site! We made it to the closest islands fairly quickly (1/2mi?). There was some current running through them and some deeper water. It was slow for about 15 minutes or so, but then we started catching. I think my first fish was actually a small SBB, but no pic. Corvina. Maybe slightly bigger than Coyote Estero. Also possibly a bit bigger? Jeff with one Trigger. 4 species in short order! Leo hooked up! Nicer one! Hobie, You know what's up... I could see some nervous water out in the main channel, so I decided to check it out. It turned out to be just two currents meeting over a high spot. I was about halfway to the main point of one side of the boca, so I decided to head over and beach it to stretch out a bit. The current was ripping in and there was a shelf that dropped to over 20' deep right over the edge of the sand bar. It was a fish a cast for about 15 minutes. Mostly small sbb and corvina. It would have been a great place for a fly rod, but I couldn't stop catching to set mine up! Another cast and I feel something heavy. It takes off and immediately I wish I was on my heavier setup. Feels like a bat ray... Manta Ray A whole school came along the edge a little later. Leo's Dolphin skull hood ornament Leo in "The spot". The current had slowed down, but you can see the deep water. Funny , but we fished it again later in the trip and it was very slow. It seems to be based quite a bit on current, AND deep areas. We all headed north and wound our way around looking for good spots. We continued picking off SBB, and corvina, but the grouper were conspicuously absent even though we found a few great looking spots for them! Average sbb and corvina We were working our way back towards camp and fishing our way between two islands with the current flowing between them like a river. It was about a 200yd section and not very deep, but we were nailing them on top water stuff. Leo calls me over and says he he's on a good one. I get out my camera and get a few bendo shots, but I didn't really get excited until I saw the head come out of the water! Big Hali. 28"er stoked! Some shade under the mangroves at low tide You can see where the groupers are trying to take you when you hook them close to the edge Headed in as we planned to eat dinner in town tonight. Camp from the water Made the drive in to town and found a restaurant recommended by some guys that came by camp on dirt bikes. I went all out and ordered the lobster. Three tails with fresh handmade tortillas, salsa, beans, rice... heaven.. $15 Spent dinner game planning the next day looking at screen shots from google earth and typing coordinates into my gps. Btw. Google gps coordinates and Garmin gps coordinates are different? Anyway it was a great day and we were all feeling very content (And tired, we estimated we did about 16 miles this day) To be continued tomorrow...

05-18-2017, 09:28 PM	#26
steveooo Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 1,921	Such a badass trip!

05-18-2017, 09:55 PM	#27
CON KSO Member Join Date: Jan 2017 Posts: 83	Oh man. I'm leaving on the 27th... was gonna ride the moto down... now I'm definitely taking the truck and the kayak. Wow. Anyplace to stay in town and/or launch from? Or is the fishing way better a few miles outside of Lopez Mateos?

05-19-2017, 06:48 AM	#28
Baja_Traveler Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Table 17, Bay Park Fish Co. Posts: 943	The chin strap makes your birds easily identified as Black Brant. Used to see a ton of them down in San Ignacio lagoon during whale season - kinda surprised they are still down there, should be heading back north by now... I am so looking forward to our trip this winter! 16 miles in a Solo Skiff - no problem!

05-19-2017, 09:55 AM	#29
Druko Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Torrance, CA Posts: 205	So awesome!

05-19-2017, 10:47 AM	#31
Gunner58 Member Join Date: May 2015 Posts: 81	Those "birds" are Brant Geese. Cant wait to get a chance to shoot one.

05-22-2017, 07:55 AM	#33
CON KSO Member Join Date: Jan 2017 Posts: 83	Please let there be more, please let there be more....

05-29-2017, 05:32 PM	#35
brew I Exercise Fish Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: HB Posts: 44	Yes, the manta ray was snagged in the wing (3" swim bait).

05-29-2017, 06:56 PM	#36
CON KSO Member Join Date: Jan 2017 Posts: 83	I'm in Puerto Lopez Mateos right now- using internet from Hotel Refugio - did you guys drive out on the road to Playa Santa Elena? Gonna give that a shot tomorrow. Not many restaurants open this time of the year- I guess there are more during whale watching season. Lots of water moving around out there right now- kinda intimidating actually.

05-29-2017, 07:00 PM	#37
brew I Exercise Fish Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: HB Posts: 44	Ok. Day whatever (2nd in Mag Bay)... Kitchen shack visitor There was a ton of dew in the mornings even thought the weather was very mild. 60-80F Eggs and tangerines for breakfast and loaded up on water and snacks for the day. Everybody had a couple of confidence baits from yesterday and conditions were ridiculous, so we were pumped to get out there again. Our rigs.

05-29-2017, 07:49 PM	#38
brew I Exercise Fish Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: HB Posts: 44	The silence was cool. You had to look behind at the wake to be able to tell if you were moving or not. If the smallest island on the horizon was a gunsight, it would be aimed at the main boca feeding the bay. Just for an overall view of where we were at. Looks like a good starring point to me. Leo with a green jack. Like all jacks these things fight hard. Jeff with a nicer corvina I noticed some disturbances in the distance and hauled butt over there. Got a few good casts right through the middle with no luck. Tried a couple of different lures. Slow roll, burning it in, huh still nada. Turned around and started to head back and Bam. Needlefish. Definitely the culprit. Tried for another but it was not to be Species ID help? First broomtail in Mag Bay. Just a baby really, but they are great fun on lightbtackle. That's a 5" crocodile just for size perspective. Maybe 5-6lbs? Cool shot of one of many corvina for the day? Giant lizard fish while trolling the main channel. There was one spot that was nonstop cookie cutter spotties. All small. ~10-11"ers Had to fight the current in today and it was not easy. I can see where other times of the year with larger tidal swings you might be screwed. We were hugging the edges of the "river" just to make forward progress and peddling pretty hard. Jeff's kayak is a beast and I thought we may have to tow him, or just wait it out, but he actually made it in before us. Cool whale skeleton We also had to go around some sand bars / shallow spots due to the low tide. Here is Leo walking the last 50yds or so in about 6" or water. It was a long day on the water and I think we all set records on mileage at over 25mi. Another good day!

05-29-2017, 08:54 PM	#39
brew I Exercise Fish Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: HB Posts: 44	Woke up to fog the next morning. Some artwork from the nighttime creepy crawlies. I think I had a protein shake, an energy drink, and some other random stuff for breakfast. Also made a second layer of padding for my seat out of some closed cell sleeping pad foam. It worked pretty well too. No showers down here and we were getting pretty crusty! Today we headed South. Probably went a mile or so before we hit some of the gps spots we typed in the night before. Right away Jeff on board with another new species. We didn't know what these were, but I have since figured out they are mangrove jacks. Got one for myself Corvina action shot Mid morning we found a spot that was as wide open as I've ever seen. We were catching Jacks, Corvina, Pompano, And SBB every cast. We were all using different lures, and all getting bit. This lasted for about an hour until the water movement stopped. Even then it only took 3-4 casts to get one. The fish were all avaerage size, so I didn't get a lot of pics. We will all remember this spot for a long time. I also have the GPS coordinates for the highest bidder (j/k I will give them to MakoBob before the trip along with others for the turnoff, camp, etc) A couple pics of the spot once the current had slowed. We let the current lead us down and around the corner catching fish the whole way. This was definitely the best day I have ever had kayak fishing. Eventually we crossed to another island and it was full of frigates. I have never seen this many in one place, it must be a mating area or something. I'm not a birder, but got some good shots Male and female Stretched out Ok back to fishing... it continued to be good. A better size mangrove jack We ended up finding a Chanel with some bigger corvina. I think this is my biggest of the trip. If so, it was 27" Look closely... careful of those two (or three!) treble hook hardbaits. They don't mix well with green fish. We first had to cut the whole hook from the jig (already done before this pic), in order to stop the emergency of a flopping fish still on the other treble! Then pushed it through as far as possible in order to cut it below the barb and back it out. Another nice one. Look at the size of that tail! Searching for the next spot We got back in around dark again and headed off to town for dinner with delirious, tired, happy grins. We made some phone calls at the restaurant and had another great meal. The next morning we left north giving ourselves enough time to stop and fish one more day at whatever spot we chose.