Team Sewer Gonzagapalooza

[Chuck D]

So here goes the details of the trip down south with the Sewer gang. Sorry for all the details, just watch the vid if you want to see a piece of Baja.
Day 1
Meet up at 4am with Rob aka Hunter the 80’s man and combine efforts to pack into one truck and get down to the Donut shop in time to see Tony and the crew eat a breakfast sammy (Tony/extra mayo) and get ready to take the treck down South. Head on down for a fun ride, chillin with Rob having a great time talking, seeing and not eating Guardia filled tacos Get down to the Beluga Resort at aprox 2pm and proceed to unpack the essentials and on the water by 3pm. Head to the point about 2 miles away and see bait seething all around me, it looked like it was raining anchovies. Try throwing an Iron and immediately see a huge follower takes it all the way to the kayak and then slash away, I wasn’t sure what it was by the colors and size, but determined it was an Amberjack after Jim told me he saw a school run under his kayak. No luck yet but happen to see a school of YT and some other big unknown breeze by the kayak. Go into a cove and see a dorsal fin, oh snap, whale shark right under the yak, what an amazing creature. Rob comes to venture over but it is gone by then, my one and only whale shark experience, no go pro, oh well. End up popping a couple triggers that night along with some sand bass and that was it. Roby and Rob end up with some bigger models as I find out when I peddle back in the dark and get back to camp by 7pm, long night, great dinner, should be tired but end up bsing with Jorge until I realized I need to fish tomorrow then hit the sack.

Day 2
Got up at sunrise, tired, a little wobbly but ready to hit the water. First I inhale a fantastic breakfast as always prepared by Chef Roby. Thank goodness I burn some calories on these trips because the food I amazing and in abundance at all times. Get ready, hit the rock shelves and point by 7, troll and lets see what happens. Head to Jorge’s secret spot to drop down a live spottie only to get slammed within 10 seconds and hook pops out. Hear Tony gets a nice fish, I go over to him and see the Jem of the trip in my opinion, I will let him tell you what it was. I get a nice Sierra and head over to Tony give it to him since he is going in so he can ice it, on route get slammed by a Cabrilla and send him home with 2 fish instead. Troll long and far that day end up on the other side of the point only to realize that there are no toilets in the middle of nowhere Baja End up landing on part of the island to explore and see thousands of weird crustacean looking black beetles everywhere, take a swim and head back out on the troll. Bag tons of triggers and three more Cabrilla then head in for the long peddle. Saw a few turtles that day too, a little hot but pretty prime conditions. Stop on the way back at Jorge’s hot spot only to loose another battle to the big mama grouper.

Day 3
Ahh, the adventurous day! The night before I decided that I was going to head right instead of left and explore the far side of Gonzaga bay, prob twice the distance away from the other side. Part of Kayak fishing for me is exploring new untouched territory, I get bored real quick with the same spots. The rest of the crew decides its a good idea too. First one to head out and no matter what anyone would have said I was going to make it to that side. Power through and end up getting caught in the middle of a bat ray circus, 1000’s of bat rays jumping out of the water everywhere, very cool. Keep trucking and make it to this far cove that seems untouched, clear waters, amazing tiny beaches and about 10-20 feet deep everywhere. It was beautiful, but I realized I was in paradise when I found out that in this cove all the small baitfish congregated. Where there are small there are big, I look beneath me and see Cabrilla’s, Jacks, Yellows, Unknown bigs, munching on bait in packs in the clear water not even caring about the yak, I found my Mecca. Catch huge trigger after trigger, for every 10 triggers came up a nice Leopard Grouper or Cabrilla. Chilled for lunch on an untouched piece of beach and decide to cast out an Iron off the beach to see what happens. Immediately get slammed by a nice Jack Crevalle which have a ton of fight in them, awesome. Get my fill and head back with time to spare for the big trek back to camp. Of course I need to troll on the way back just incase Wind starts to pick up but in the right direction, cool. Follow the coast and turn a corner following the coast and triggers are nibbling, then BENDO, my rod gets hit hard, get him out of the rocks, peddle forward, 16lb pound Cabrilla, biggest of the trip for me, stoked. I was pretty excited about this guy, gaff him, throw him in the yak pretty green, blows up. Next thing I know look down and the front of my Rapala was still in his mouth, the back treble of the Rapala was stuck through the side of my foot under my ankle, through on one end and out the other. Me and the fish, connected by one Rapala, not a cool situation. As I pray that this Cabrilla does not blow up again and rip this Rapala through my skin or mess me up more I hold his head down and successfully remove the jig from his mouth and put him in the back, phew. Proceed to remove the jig from the treble so I I could go to work. I had hoped my pliers would be able to cut my hook so I could pass it through the skin without the barb. No such luck, ALWYAS HAVE A TOOL ON YOU THAT CAN DO THIS IN CASE OF EMERGENCIES! I am trying to all this on the yak just then the wind shifts and I am getting pushed back to the island. I land so I can work on getting this treble out of my foot, very painful peddling with a treble all the way through your foot. Decide that if I clamp the barb down as much as I can, then back it out is my only option other then peddling all the way home with a treble in my foot. Stick my foot in the water and pull back hard and thank goodness is slides out. I was so thankful for that but I needed to really get a move on with the wind and time wasting away. Wind blowing 15-25 I end up barely making it back to the beach on our side of the bay, only problem is that this spot is still 4 miles away from camp. Decide to beach it and wait out wind and/or try to contact the crew to see if they can pic me up. I have a few sips of water left, ALWAYS BRING MORE WATER THEN YOU THINK YOU NEED. I rationed but still came close to running out and I brought 4 nalgene bottles. There was a group of houses there and on the right side of the bay so I felt safe, just a little tired. Tried team S on the radio and got them, nice. It turned out the the only reason I got them is because everyone else had put a plan in place to find me. One group traveled to the point with their VHF, one group went to use the locals more powerful VHF and one group was digging out Tonys truck. Long story, long the there are Matt and Jorge on the radio and come to my rescue although I know it was a team effort. Very relieved that these guys were on top of things and looking out for me. First thing Matt hands me a power aid, Jorge gives me 2 hot waters, chug them all, load up and back to camp in 10 min I have a l a lot of things to be thankful for that day. Things could have been worse, preparation and communication are key, especially in Baja. A few final thanks.

Matt and Jorge for making my day and being there when I needed them the most.

Tony and Roby for driving down to find a communication point to get a hold of me. Jim for helping them and digging out Tonys truck.

Rob and Robert for stating positive about the situation and having faith in my abilities to get home.

I apologize to all my friends for putting anyone on edge. I do have to say that I was lucky to have people around me that we experts, responsible, caring and reliable. I had no doubt that the team would be there for me when I pushed that button on the VHF for help and this is exactly what transpired. I never feared for my life, I was always calm, but you never know out there. Be careful, prepared and go to Baja. I hope I can do this until my bones won’t allow me anymore. Then I will just have Robert tow me around in his yak while I troll.
I wish I got more footage, but here is a small clip of my Baja. Tight lines.