BdG Whirlwind - Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge

Zed · 05-26-2015, 01:05 PM

I'll throw up some werds and add pix later.

Woke up Friday to a downpour around 0200 and just stayed up since my alarm was at 0300. Got loaded up and left S OC to catch up w the rain about El Cajon/Alpine and some showers over the mountains. Imperial side was sunny w a W wind that blew us down.

At Campo Beluga the W was blowin good and driving sand. We set up and chilled, waiting out the wind. The caretaker came over to tell us just last week a kayak was blown away, and to make sure the yaks were...I stopped him and said I knew them and my dad was there too. It all connected and he remembered me (and my dad) and that I knew the group. He finished by saying just make sure to pull the yaks up. Just last [Thurs] night a boat was blown away. They didn't heed the warning and were convinced the mooring would hold just fine. Friday morning, no boat.

In the late afternoon the wind switched abruptly and came outta the E. We launched and paddled into it to the S point and picked at some fish. I got weeded by a pretty good leopard, but the rest were the smaller suspects, triggers, sierra, spotties. The wind flipped back right at sunset so we had to paddle against it both ways. We were making headway back, pretty close to shore trying to hide behind the dunes, and I was still dragging a kroc. I was thinking it was just added drag. but I didn't want to stop to pull it in so I let it ride. Then it went off and after a pretty good fight in 5-8ft of water up comes a ~12lb totuava. Pretty cool bottom of the 9th walk-off. We ate some fish and hit the rack.

Saturday was glass and we took off for the island. The fishing was good along the backside and after a while Yakhanded dialed in on the yellows and picked off a few. We worked a little specific area for an hour or so for wide open fishing on sierra, yellows, bonito, gulf grouper, triggers and pargos. I got a PB barred pargo and a new species a colorado. The barred was just over the size I want to drag up into my lap, so while getting the gaff he slacked off and dropped the hook. I got the gaff in and touched him, but it swam off. The other pargo wasn't so lucky and turned into ceviche and sauteed fillets. Yakhanded got the rose pargo for the trifecta. By 1300 a nice NE wind picked up blowing us comfortably back to camp. Spent the rest of Sat eating and chilling.

Sunday I set the alarm early. 0400 the W was blowing pretty good. Went back to sleep and got up at 0500. It was blowing harder and the marine layer was flowing over the tops of the mountains. We changed plans and took off in the LandCruiser to explore the area between Beluga and Sacrificio. Had some fun wheelin and cross country driving but the fishing was a skunk. By 1300 we were back at camp and the wind flipped to a more NE. We launched quick for the S and found good fishing there on yellows, bonito, sierra, and gulf grouper. The wind was 10-15. Fishable but a bit irritating on the fast wet drifts. I got 3 more gulf groupers (new species for me) and we did pretty well finding fish but no leopards. The afternoon we ate fish and chilled again. Dusk the wind came down and Yakhanded launched for some troll runs out front. He managed 5spots, 2 triggers and a bonefish trolling a chubby crankbait right at dark.

Monday the W was up a daybreak, but came down as we packed up. Monday would have been another good day. We split by 0930 and made good time to the border which was 2 hours of 97F slow torture. Got home around 2000.

Excellent quick trip. I knew the odds were bad hitting a window on a short trip but we did as well as could be expected. Ready for the next trip. Yakhanded is ready to drop everything to do it again and so am I.

I'm sure yakhanded will add some. I'm sure he has some kind words for iceman re cousin RayRay.

ful-rac · 05-26-2015, 01:13 PM

Whoa you guys actually went down there!! Good for you guys!

Sounds like you guys had better fishing than Icemans group....

makobob · 05-26-2015, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ful-rac

Whoa you guys actually went down there!! Good for you guys!

Sounds like you guys had better fishing than Icemans group....

SOMEBODY had to keep it going. Tony, it should of been us too. Next year.

Iceman · 05-26-2015, 01:31 PM

cool 1sts!

YakHanded · 05-26-2015, 02:26 PM

I don't want to add too much because that summed up the awesome trip pretty darn well.

Unbelievable fishing down there, realize we got lucky with conditions but the variety and speed of the fishing is on its own level from what i've experienced. See why its such a popular destination for kayak fishing - I said something to zed down there that the more I think about it nails it on the head. Its like a kayak fishing sandbox - everything seems in range, its all cast n crank keeping you engaged and you just never know whats on the other end of the line.

Lost a ton of tackle, learned a ton and caught a shitload of fish - most of which firsts. (sierra, rose pargo, trigger, gulf grouper, bone fish) also most wide open yellowtail fishing that I've ever been a part of (for almost an hour).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zed

I'm sure yakhanded will add some. I'm sure he has some kind words for iceman re cousin RayRay.

Iceman, thanks to your sketchy experience I was leery of stingrays - I went in the water a ton, normally it was so clear that i had no issues... but one time it was a little stirred up as I was walking in, i was super paranoid about them and was walking very slow... as i set my foot down softly between a couple rocks i felt the slimy body under my big toe and it jetted out from under and swam away right in front of me...but no sting

Zed has the pictures and they are good ones sure he will add em soon

Tight lines!

Zed · 05-26-2015, 02:50 PM

Some pix:
Campo. Ready to go. Just waiting on the wind.

Saturday morning. Gotta GO!

After some coffee squeezins

Pargo Colorado

A nice bag. The rose died early, before the others came to lunch.

These guys...
Even w the greater range, these guys demonstrated that a full days paddle w wind and extended drag up the beach is still preferable to launching a small boat. First they had to wait for high tide to reach the beach and then the older of the 3 gentlemen takes a header in the cobbles getting out, and comes up gimpy. Then the wind/waves plays with them getting it on the trailer. Then this guy talks them into letting them tow it out w his buggy.

They had it set up w their diesel 3500 and a long tow strap, but somehow thought the buggy w 2000ccs max was gonna do it. It didn't. So they went back to the truck/camper. This is the camper w the strap attacked and a long length to the boat trailer. They then just drove the camper right out the Beluga road.

I commented this can't go well. Somethings gonna break. It's gonna rip the axle off or something. Sure enough, after getting it clear of the water, it dug into the sand and BANG ripped the tongue/dolly wheels right off. Here they are, "Huh. What do you think we do now?"

They got it bound together w straps and hauled it up the berm. Don't know how they fared up the road, but we never saw them again.

This was one of our finds while wheelin. Nice cut to the shore and the cobbles S of the point. Really interesting structure channels and pools around here. Tide was bottoming out and we couldn't find the fish.

Some lunch. Pargo ceviche salad over [unintentionally] crushed tortillas. Delicioso.

Gulf Grouper

Yakhanded's nice GG.

cabojohn · 05-26-2015, 03:34 PM

coolio

I was going to ask Anthony a question but I got my answer looking at the pics. I guess it is better to paddle Baja cuz I see two OK's.

Bonita?

Denis_Ruso · 05-26-2015, 01:14 PM

Great write up. Sounds like the exact kind of trip I'd like to take.

No pictures?

05-26-2015, 01:05 PM	#1
Zed BANNED Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: W of 5 Posts: 1,265	BdG Whirlwind I'll throw up some werds and add pix later. Woke up Friday to a downpour around 0200 and just stayed up since my alarm was at 0300. Got loaded up and left S OC to catch up w the rain about El Cajon/Alpine and some showers over the mountains. Imperial side was sunny w a W wind that blew us down. At Campo Beluga the W was blowin good and driving sand. We set up and chilled, waiting out the wind. The caretaker came over to tell us just last week a kayak was blown away, and to make sure the yaks were...I stopped him and said I knew them and my dad was there too. It all connected and he remembered me (and my dad) and that I knew the group. He finished by saying just make sure to pull the yaks up. Just last [Thurs] night a boat was blown away. They didn't heed the warning and were convinced the mooring would hold just fine. Friday morning, no boat. In the late afternoon the wind switched abruptly and came outta the E. We launched and paddled into it to the S point and picked at some fish. I got weeded by a pretty good leopard, but the rest were the smaller suspects, triggers, sierra, spotties. The wind flipped back right at sunset so we had to paddle against it both ways. We were making headway back, pretty close to shore trying to hide behind the dunes, and I was still dragging a kroc. I was thinking it was just added drag. but I didn't want to stop to pull it in so I let it ride. Then it went off and after a pretty good fight in 5-8ft of water up comes a ~12lb totuava. Pretty cool bottom of the 9th walk-off. We ate some fish and hit the rack. Saturday was glass and we took off for the island. The fishing was good along the backside and after a while Yakhanded dialed in on the yellows and picked off a few. We worked a little specific area for an hour or so for wide open fishing on sierra, yellows, bonito, gulf grouper, triggers and pargos. I got a PB barred pargo and a new species a colorado. The barred was just over the size I want to drag up into my lap, so while getting the gaff he slacked off and dropped the hook. I got the gaff in and touched him, but it swam off. The other pargo wasn't so lucky and turned into ceviche and sauteed fillets. Yakhanded got the rose pargo for the trifecta. By 1300 a nice NE wind picked up blowing us comfortably back to camp. Spent the rest of Sat eating and chilling. Sunday I set the alarm early. 0400 the W was blowing pretty good. Went back to sleep and got up at 0500. It was blowing harder and the marine layer was flowing over the tops of the mountains. We changed plans and took off in the LandCruiser to explore the area between Beluga and Sacrificio. Had some fun wheelin and cross country driving but the fishing was a skunk. By 1300 we were back at camp and the wind flipped to a more NE. We launched quick for the S and found good fishing there on yellows, bonito, sierra, and gulf grouper. The wind was 10-15. Fishable but a bit irritating on the fast wet drifts. I got 3 more gulf groupers (new species for me) and we did pretty well finding fish but no leopards. The afternoon we ate fish and chilled again. Dusk the wind came down and Yakhanded launched for some troll runs out front. He managed 5spots, 2 triggers and a bonefish trolling a chubby crankbait right at dark. Monday the W was up a daybreak, but came down as we packed up. Monday would have been another good day. We split by 0930 and made good time to the border which was 2 hours of 97F slow torture. Got home around 2000. Excellent quick trip. I knew the odds were bad hitting a window on a short trip but we did as well as could be expected. Ready for the next trip. Yakhanded is ready to drop everything to do it again and so am I. I'm sure yakhanded will add some. I'm sure he has some kind words for iceman re cousin RayRay. __________________ Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Give a fish a man and he'll eat for a week.

05-26-2015, 01:13 PM	#2
ful-rac Emperor Join Date: May 2009 Location: Buena Park Posts: 3,649	Whoa you guys actually went down there!! Good for you guys! Sounds like you guys had better fishing than Icemans group.... __________________ There's nothing colder than yesterday's hotdog.

05-26-2015, 01:31 PM	#4
Iceman Administrator Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: 1-2 miles off the point Posts: 6,943	cool 1sts! __________________

05-26-2015, 02:50 PM	#6
Zed BANNED Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: W of 5 Posts: 1,265	Some pix: Campo. Ready to go. Just waiting on the wind. Saturday morning. Gotta GO! After some coffee squeezins Pargo Colorado A nice bag. The rose died early, before the others came to lunch. These guys... Even w the greater range, these guys demonstrated that a full days paddle w wind and extended drag up the beach is still preferable to launching a small boat. First they had to wait for high tide to reach the beach and then the older of the 3 gentlemen takes a header in the cobbles getting out, and comes up gimpy. Then the wind/waves plays with them getting it on the trailer. Then this guy talks them into letting them tow it out w his buggy. They had it set up w their diesel 3500 and a long tow strap, but somehow thought the buggy w 2000ccs max was gonna do it. It didn't. So they went back to the truck/camper. This is the camper w the strap attacked and a long length to the boat trailer. They then just drove the camper right out the Beluga road. I commented this can't go well. Somethings gonna break. It's gonna rip the axle off or something. Sure enough, after getting it clear of the water, it dug into the sand and BANG ripped the tongue/dolly wheels right off. Here they are, "Huh. What do you think we do now?" They got it bound together w straps and hauled it up the berm. Don't know how they fared up the road, but we never saw them again. This was one of our finds while wheelin. Nice cut to the shore and the cobbles S of the point. Really interesting structure channels and pools around here. Tide was bottoming out and we couldn't find the fish. Some lunch. Pargo ceviche salad over [unintentionally] crushed tortillas. Delicioso. Gulf Grouper Yakhanded's nice GG. __________________ Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Give a fish a man and he'll eat for a week.

05-26-2015, 03:34 PM	#7
cabojohn PROBATION Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 656	coolio I was going to ask Anthony a question but I got my answer looking at the pics. I guess it is better to paddle Baja cuz I see two OK's. Bonita?

05-26-2015, 01:14 PM	#8
Denis_Ruso Senior Member Join Date: May 2015 Posts: 571	Great write up. Sounds like the exact kind of trip I'd like to take. No pictures?