Midriff Islands Mothership Trip Report 7/2-8

[Kelp Fly]

So we headed for the Sea of Cortez on Friday. Had a great time on the town in San Felipe friday night and boarded the boat hung over on Saturday morning. It would be 14 hours of motoring to get to the fishing grounds from where we left the dock. 6 hours into our trip the wind picked up and things got a little bumpy. It seemed like everyone, but in reality only about 75% of the people were puking over the side . Though I never barfed it was either too much cheap beer the night before (quite possibly the culprit) or the waves that made me queezy. We awoke to calm seas in the Refugio of Isla Angel de La Guardia on Sunday morning. The current was strong and my lack of diving lately made it a struggle to hit the 50 foot mark. I shot a cabrilla down deep that holed up really bad and tried to dig it out on my own. One dive I was coming up and my vision started to tunnel in and my legs were burning. I grabbed for my weight belt and popped it loose holding the tag end in case I lost consciousness. That was a wake up call that I was being stupid and I got my dive buddy over to the float line to spot me on my latter dives. The closest I've come to blacking out in a LONG time. Lucky to still be alive. The end of my dive was a little better than the start though, a sign of better days to come. The days production was only one 14lb pargo and a couple of 5lbs cabrilla.



Day two sought us at the southern tip of Isla Angel de La Guardia and the fishing was little better. After only 3 hours in the water I admitted defeat and we headed for the deep water to Hook and Line fish for Yellowtail. The evening sought us better diving as we ended up with a few smallish cabrilla.

The next day would prove to be a good one. We motored south to Isla Salsipueds and found some clearer water. It took some time but we finally found a good grade of Cabrilla and I had a run in with a 25lbs pargo twice but couldn't seal the deal. I only saw 3 yellowtail during the entire trip and they were together. I tucked and dove down to line up with the dumbest of the three fish. He swam directly away from me but after a couple of grunts from my throat he spun around and swam to the tip of my gun and turned broadside! Easy 2' shot and he was down for the count. The night fishing for squid was a blast as always. A few newbies got inked really good and the biggest squid topped the scale at 51lbs. . . now thats what I call a huge ass ball of slime!





The last day found us again on the Peninsula about midway with the big island. While the rest of the group fished for snapper, the diver panga headed for a rock point nearby. Again it took some time but after I got comfortable making 50-60 foot drops I again found a good grade of cabrilla. First cabrilla was 14lbs and he holed up really bad. 3 dives later I got a hold of his gills and pulled the shaft out of him so I could wiggle him out of a crack deep in the rocks. The next dive down I spooked a big cabrilla right on the bottom and when I turned to persue him I noticed another big one on the right so I lined up with him as he swam over a ledge. A quick charge to the ledge gave me a head on shot. Having waited for broadside shots that never panned out in the past I opted to plug him right down the old throat! He bolted into a cave and out the other side only to hole up in another. I had my dive partner hang onto the float line so the fish couldn't get any deeper and after a quick breather I headed back down. I got ahold of the fish but since he was through the first cave I wasn't sure how to go about threading him back through. The next dive down I cut his gills to end the struggle and figure it out. Headed up from my second dive and I see my budding hand lining up the blue bungee on the float line and my heart sank. . . did I cut the shooting line? What happened. THen I see the fish dangling below. Evidently when I pulled him out of the second hole and killed him it was enough for my dive partner to just pull him up through the first cave. I realized at this point I had just gotten my first GROUPER!!! It only took me 3 years and 4 - 8 day trips to Baja to finally see and let alone get my first grouper. I was stoked. Although, he only weighed in at 19lbs it was still a great first for me. Such a magical fish and hunting them is no easy feat. It was a bummer that the fish broke my only flopper shaft in half though. Had to use a slip tube for the last evening of diving (slip tubes suck BTW) The evening dive was another half hearted one. I had accomplished everything I came to baja for so diving was just for the fun of it. I did stick the biggest parrot fish I have ever seen, guess it around 14-15lbs but the scales on those things are a freak of nature. The slip tube got stuck on the scale and thus when the scale gave way the shaft pulled out Thats the way it goes though. One more good cabrilla in the 14lbs class and it was the end of the trip for me.







All in all a very good trip with great friends. The H/L boys wouldn't let me in the daily big fish pool because of the "ease" of spearfishing. . . OH BARF!!! But good decision for them because I would have taken it two of the 5 days.

Later, Kelpy

[The Freediver]

Awesome! Congrats! Thanks for posting.

[Mobius1]

oh this makes my blood boil! I want to kill some damn YT's this season already awesome report and awesome fish makes me wish i had the money for a good dive trip! awesome!

[John Hughes]

Thanks for the report Ken!

Glad you had a good trip and got your first Grouper.

What kind of water temps were you guys having down there? I'm trying to stir up some info to make some decisions on next month. I'll be in Baja for 3 glorious weeks and trying to figure out where I'll go. Thanks!

[caldiver]

Ken, what an epic trip! You're a freaking animal buddy! Good to see that I wasn't the only one to gain a few lbs since we made that trip out to the islands!!!

I have a new theory: the bigger I get, so will the fish I catch

[Kelp Fly]

Originally Posted by caldiver

Ken, what an epic trip! You're a freaking animal buddy! Good to see that I wasn't the only one to gain a few lbs since we made that trip out to the islands!!!

I have a new theory: the bigger I get, so will the fish I catch

I like your theory Lu! I like to think of it as storing up for college. You know, when the budget gets cut its going to make for some tough winters. Esp. in Idaho

Kelpy

[Kelp Fly]

Originally Posted by John Hughes

Thanks for the report Ken!

Glad you had a good trip and got your first Grouper.

What kind of water temps were you guys having down there? I'm trying to stir up some info to make some decisions on next month. I'll be in Baja for 3 glorious weeks and trying to figure out where I'll go. Thanks!

I'm not sure what the temps were John, but from what the guys were talking about it was 5 deg cooler than it normally is this time of year. I would say that unless you want small yellows then the Midriff's aren't the place to go. . . It's always fun though!

3 weeks I'm totally jealous, Kelpy

[donny]

Ken-

Nice report, looks like you guys rode the Erik. I was on the trip a week before on the Tony Reyes. My first ride on that boat and I will never ride another, they are DIALED in, no room for improvement with these guys. I took the Erik two years ago on my last trip since the boat I had rode many many years the Ceciala Angelina was retired, RIP. I don't care much for the Erik though I did have a blast on that trip. Scotty was with me and it was a fun time though I'll just say there is room for improvement by the crew and ownership.

I had a fun trip this year but H&L most of the time, dove maybe 30%... and at spots that were basically the closet mass of land after we were done fishing and not as productive as they could have been if we had time to make some longer runs to better dive spots, did find several spots that had 15# cabrilla a plenty and not 50' deep. One spot right where you were it was practically as fast as I could load the gun. I am going to try and post a full report when I get the pictures form my brother... my camera died the first day.

My highlight was a grouper shot first day morning session after being in the water 15 minutes... took me about 5x that much time to get to the surface. Nothing very big, low 30’s. Only pic I have of the trip.

Our group found a nicer grade of YT than usual in most of the spots, we got a lot in the 25# range and few bigger, all H&L. Those pull HARD. Unfortunately the YT I saw diving were all chickens not worth shooting.

Thanks for posting and looks like a sweet trip. I love the pictures and story. If you do another lets get in touch and maybe go together next year. More sprearos the better! My panga this year had a buddy that was not much of a diver, I think the ideal mix would be have enough spearos that you could get a group that would be dive only for any session if you wanted.

Also, man, your story of the deep dive scared me… take it easy down there! Stay safe.

Donny

PS John, during my trip we hit the islands out from San Francisquito on up north to the south tip of de la guardia and then to the whole back side of DLG than a brief fly by of refugio and then enchanted islands. As far as water temps, south was 72-78 depending on how shallow you were and as you moved north you could add 5 degrees or so. Life was best in the middle near the south tip of DLG and vis was all over the place but divable everywhere. We didn’t go inside DLG at all. The bigger schools of YT were between the islands just south of DLG mostly down deep or up seconds then down again. Everything changes so fast down there that it all pretty useless info probably. Let me know where you are headed and I’ll suggests some spots if I know any nearby.

[John Hughes]

Thanks Donny!

Keep me in mind when you're trying to round up spearo's for a run!