BajaNomad - Gonzaga kayak trip

Gonzaga kayak trip

tattuna - 5-19-2015 at 07:14 AM

Headed down from L.A. with about 10 other friends. Rossman made the drive from Asuncion and met up with us. The wind was up! Way up. We were able to set up camp at Campo Beluga before it got too bad though.

Fishing was a bit slower than years prior but still good. The group caught a mix of sierra, various pargo, shortfin corvina, sculpin, leopard grouper, and hogfish. My only focus is leopard grouper when I fish the area and I mostly caught them from shore for the first time.

I found a small patch of structure that was holding, but the drift was too fast to fish it from the kayak, so I went to shore and waded out. Tried various lures but the only thing that worked was jerkbaits on a quick retrieve with short pauses.

The Daiwa SP Minnow produced the bigger fish, but I should've upgraded the hooks and split rings. I was lucky to land this guy. The front hook was in his mouth and the split ring was nowhere to be found.

The tide came in and I couldn't cast to the spot any more so I paddled out just as the wind kicked into high gear. I couldn't paddle against it so I headed towards shore and walked my kayak back towards camp. I took this picture of my kayak a couple hours before it was swept out to sea.

The wind let up a bit and I was able to paddle back to camp. I set my kayak well above the water line. I went to Alfonsinas for lunch and the tide was so high that the runway and road were under a few feet of water. I didn't think much of it but when I got back to camp Rossman ran up and told me my kayak was swept away. There was another guy camping there who tried to swim out and save it but it was moving too fast for him to catch it. The wind was blowing near 40 mph by now.

I'm sure it's long gone by now. Someone is going to score big time. It was fully loaded with, a fish finder, digital scale, Boga grip, pfd, hand pump, Accurate pliers, tackle box stuffed with top notch lures, paddle, etc. I have my name and info written on the underside of the center hatch, but I don't expect to see it again. Hopefully some local kid finds it and fishes the hell out of it.

A shot of Ranch Grande from camp after I got back from lunch. That's not fog out there...

The rest of the group launched from Papa Fernandez to be more protected from the wind but ended up having to beach their yaks on the island for a couple hours as the wind and water spouts ripped through the channel.

The next day the wind laid down a bit and everyone paddled to the island. Now that I was without a yak to fish from I walked the beach back to where I caught fish the day before and was able to stick a smaller grouper before the tide got too high.

The winds came up again but this time from the northeast and about 15-20 mph.

We met a couple girls at camp from Whistler BC who drove down from there and were on a trip driving the whole peninsula from Mexicali, down to Cabo, then back up the Pacific side and back to Canada. They were really cool and great company. I forgot to ask if they were writing a report or blog, but if anyone happened to see them I really like to hear about their adventure. Christine and Sarah I think their names were.

The following day my buddy was a bit under the weather so he let me take his kayak out. I only caught a couple small leopard grouper and some spotties. I had a school of yellowtail come up near by but they wouldn't eat anything.

Everyday Rossman is the first to launch around 5 a.m. The oldest of the group and as hardcore as they come. Caught a shot of him just as I was waking up

Even though I lost my kayak I had a great time and a much needed getaway. We had marooned kayakers, a lost kayak, broken gear, someone stung hard by a stingray in the foot, kayakers flipped at sea, severe winds, lost gear, etc. It was a true Baja adventure. The drive down and back was the smoothest yet with fast checkpoints and only a 30 minute wait at the Mexicali border.

I've been kayak fishing the area since 2004 and I always warned everyone about the "bad wind". The wind you can't paddle against. We've been really fortunate the last 4 years we've been going as a group with good weather every trip. After this trip they now know what I was warning them about.

BornFisher - 5-19-2015 at 08:04 AM

Very sorry about your yak.
Beautiful pics and report, thanks.

Rossman - 5-19-2015 at 08:55 AM

Great seeing you again Charles! Very impressed with the quality of the photos from that phone. What phone is that?

Udo - 5-19-2015 at 09:00 AM

Too bad about your Kayak, Tattuna! I think I would have at least anchored the yak to a rock before i left to eat.

The dangers of launching at low tide. I have witnessed vehicles being gone between low and high tide...never to be seen again.

tattuna - 5-19-2015 at 09:27 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Rossman

Great seeing you again Charles! Very impressed with the quality of the photos from that phone. What phone is that?

Great seeing you too Ross! It's the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge. Just got it and I dig it.

We always leave our kayaks on the beach without incident. I just left mine a little too close to the water. Lesson learned.

Rossman - 5-19-2015 at 09:38 AM

BTW I saw the girls again at Chapala They had their air compressor out and we're airing up after their Gonzaga to Chapala trip. The rest of the Nomads should keep an eye out for them should they need assistance. Their first trip to Baja but seem very prepared and confident and very much into the go with the flow attitude down here. Black Ford F450 with a couple surfboards strapped to the to of a small camper shell. They were going to spend some time in the Conception area before heading further south. Easy on the ears and a veritable smorgasbord for the eyes.

ehall - 5-19-2015 at 09:41 AM

Sorry about the kayak. We were there at the same time as you. I was with the guy that swamped his boat in front of Alfonsinas. I ended up riding a lot more than fishing because of the wind. I did end up spearing a trigger at Punta Final ( my first) after missing 9 times in a row.

tattuna - 5-19-2015 at 11:21 AM

Quote: Originally posted by ehall

Sorry about the kayak. We were there at the same time as you. I was with the guy that swamped his boat in front of Alfonsinas. I ended up riding a lot more than fishing because of the wind. I did end up spearing a trigger at Punta Final ( my first) after missing 9 times in a row.

Bummer about getting swamped. I didn't hear about that. Better to stay off the water no matter what the vessel when the bad wind comes. Congrats on the tasty trigger!

ehall - 5-19-2015 at 12:18 PM

Too bad you missed it. We are still laughing about it. He tied the boat off to the buoy and when the tide went out it turned broadside to the waves.

[Edited on 5-23-2015 by BajaNomad]

freediverbrian - 5-19-2015 at 04:33 PM

you must be aware in the Gonzaga aera of big tides and fast wind changes they can be deadly. I have been going there for 35 years a still get surprised by the sea.

alafrontera - 5-23-2015 at 08:13 AM

Looks like a good time, going to have to try it

Any trick to anchoring a tent in soft sand with high wind ? Special stakes or just bring along some weight plates for the corners :cool:

bkbend - 5-23-2015 at 08:24 AM

Quote: Originally posted by alafrontera

Looks like a good time, going to have to try it

Any trick to anchoring a tent in soft sand with high wind ? Special stakes or just bring along some weight plates for the corners :cool:

Leave the tents stakes that came with the tent at home. I replaced mine with 24" lengths of rebar. That will work in a moderate wind, no guarantees if it really starts howling. It seems like there was a post years ago on holding down a tent in wind. Try a search???

David K - 5-23-2015 at 08:32 AM

That dust photo says it all about Rancho Grande vs. Beluga! It was a few years ago when it was reported here when Rancho Grande graded away all the vegetation behind their palapas (why in the world?)?
Thanks for the report on your trip!

Rossman - 5-23-2015 at 09:05 AM

Quote: Originally posted by bkbend

Quote: Originally posted by alafrontera

Looks like a good time, going to have to try it

Any trick to anchoring a tent in soft sand with high wind ? Special stakes or just bring along some weight plates for the corners :cool:

Actually of the 10 or so tents that we had there I don't believe we had much problem with stakes getting pulled. The ground at Beluga is compacted gravel and rocks under a couple inches of sand. Most of the problems that I saw and experienced myself was ripped seams, broken stays and in my case, the little canvas pocket that the stays fit into got ripped. And of course the sand dunes over the corners.

basautter - 5-23-2015 at 07:34 PM

One of my favorite places in the world....as long as the wind is not blowing. Looks like u made the best of it!

Stake in sand

AKgringo - 5-23-2015 at 08:23 PM

Quote: Originally posted by alafrontera

Looks like a good time, going to have to try it

Any trick to anchoring a tent in soft sand with high wind ? Special stakes or just bring along some weight plates for the corners :cool:

In sand (or snow) I like to girth hitch the center of a stake and bury it as a 'dead man anchor'.
Standard wood survey stakes work well, or drift wood, or watcha got around your camp.

paranewbi - 5-24-2015 at 04:46 AM

We usually carry some of the plastic grocery bags with us for many uses and one of them is to fill a few with sand, tie off the handles, and place them around the edges of the interior of a tent to hold it down in winds.
As well if you carry large bags for trash these work great for larger volumes of sand and you can shape them into tubes to keep your floor space available. Once again just place them around that interior perimeter area of the tent.
Once when the winds were flattening out the tent on us in the middle of the night...I took a beach umbrella and opened it up on the inside of the tent with a folded towel under the post in the center of the tent. The tension of the height kept it centered and the umbrella structure added just enough to the tent tension rods to keep it pretty much in shape. also created plenty of hanging elements for our damp clothes to hang on.