My long time girlfriend and I got married at Las Gaviotas two weekends ago. We decided to take the rest of the week off and head down into Baja, where we have had countless great trips. It wasn't our official honeymoon, but you know you have a good chick if it's her idea to spend a week in Baja. Some of you may know the spot from the pictures, and I'm not usually the secretive type with spots, but a lot of the fun of Baja is finding your own way and places down there, so let's not name it here. If someone really wants to know just pm me.

This was our third trip there and I've never had an experience like this there before or any where else for that matter. We got there and cracked a couple of beers and talked with the people who were already there about goings on. It turns out that they had been hooking into yellowtail from the shore, and one dude eve speared about a 35lb. yellow earlier in the day. They had landed one 20 lber and the yellows broke two of their spinning rods. We were there for surf originally, because we had heard rumors of a NW swell, but after talking to these guys, I had yellowtail fever and no thoughts of surf.

It was an incredible couple of days. The first morning we awoke to pelicans and birds crashing into the shoreline. YT were pushing the bait right up onto the beach. We suited up and went for a dive, I immediately saw a 40 lb. yellow in about 10 ft. of water, but did not have an opportunity to shoot. Vis was about 20-25 ft. Very nice! I later passed on a small 20 lber. hoping to land a big one, but that was the last one I saw that day. The tide went out and the wind came up, so we went in and spent the day catching bonita from the rocks and drinking beer etc.

Next day was more of the same, except I saw 20+ yts. I had my opportunities, but could not hit the broad side of a barn that day. I'm finally coming to the realization that I'm a bad shot, and it's not the gun.

The third day the swell came up and we surfed all day, no diving. I was a little bummed because I thought that I had missed my chance the day before and the fish would be all gone to deeper water due to the NW swell.

The last morning, we awoke to thousands of birds crashing in the surf again. It was an incredible sight. I only had about an hour to dive, because we were hoping to cross the border before dark and it was a long drive. I got out and the vis was about 10-15 ft., not too bad. I had been out for about 30 mins. and was thinking that the yellows were gone, but then saw one through the murk. That got my hopes up. I managed to miss shots on two more yellows, and was feeling pretty bummed because time was running out and I suck. I was making my way back in, and I get schooled by big 30-40 lb yellows while I'm on the surface. I take an ill-advised surface shot and miss. The yellows stay around and I'm hurrying to reload. I put the first band on and my shaft shoots out of the gun because it did not engage properly. I'm doing my best to blow every chance I get! The yt are now gone, so I really feel like shit, but I reload anyways and begin to swim in. I'm in about 10 ft of water and here comes another school. I pick one out and blast him right in the middle, clipping the spine so I was able to short line him without using the float line or float. I was probably more relieved than stoked. The yellow was 30+ lbs.

As I'm heading in, the stream of yellows continues, 30-50 lb yellows are swimming by and schooling me, all in water from 6- 12 ft deep. I had plenty of fish so I leave them be. It was unbelievable and I just enjoyed the experience, figuring I might never see this again. When I dive for yellows in CA, I usually try to find the deep drop offs and pinnacles etc, not the shallow sandy bottom bay that I was in. They just seemed so out of place. On the beach you could see them through the small waves breaking on the shore! Amazing.

We headed back to the US, having dinner in La Fonda and then driving white knuckled through the dark to the border, swearing I'm not pulling over anywhere but a toll both, ready to play bumper cars if need be. It was a great trip and I can't wait to go back. It really makes me sad to hear of the problems with banditos and bad cops down there right now, but I will be back as soon as possible.

Dan Chua

Wow Dan, sounds like a hell of a trip. I'm glad you had a good time and got to blast some yt. I hope to have the same experiences someday.

Sounds like the mrs. is a keeper as well. Congratulations:toast:

Hey Dan,

Congratulations. Sorry I couldn't make the bachelor party. It was my daughter's Bday weekend.

Nice fish. I would have been swearing a lot more if I had miss all those fish, but then what would I do with multiple 30-50lb fish?

How long was the drive down?

Nate

Great report!
I am longing for the days to go down and hang out and shoot big friggen" yellows! Although I will not miss that many!:2gunsfiring_v1::whip::D

Great report!
I am longing for the days to go down and hang out and shoot big friggen" yellows! Although I will not miss that many!:2gunsfiring_v1::whip::D

Just don't use your gat-ku, or you may just have that problem:awink:

Nicley done A) finding a woman who enjoys Baja B) shooting a big fish. Good for you! Wife and I were thinking about heading down to TJ to do some shopping tonight, but I just wasnt up for dealing with TJ on a friday night...man, that statment makes me feel old.

way to go, that is awesome.........and a lot better than my last baja trip:scratchhead:

What type of gun were you using? I recently used an Aimrite 125cm Carbon gun. That thing is a POS. Way to light for to bands and shoots so low. Believe it or not if you were missing farther shots it could have been the gun.

Just don't use your gat-ku, or you may just have that problem:awink:

Gat-Ku on a yellowtail?:circle::bsflag:

I would never even consider it!

Hell, if the YT were stacked up that big right against the shoreline like Dan experienced, I'd try to polespear one. Lord knows I'd be setting myself up for massive failure, but with the right tip and maybe one of those gorilla polespears in the 8 or 10' configuration, I'd be down to try. I'd imagine a non-stoning holding shot would be quite the waterskiing adventure on a 50lb YT provided the polespear held up.

The way the yellows were in shallow, and super curious when I had one on the stringer, it probably would have been possible to pole spear one.

I was using a Riffe No Ka Oi with the front wings, 5/16th shaft w/ ice pick tip. I had just made and put brand new bands on it. I constantly shoot low, and for some reason never compensate for it. :banghead:

Dan

Cool story, and nice pics.
How do YT taste? They look like a cross between cobia and amberjack as far as the body shape. I was just curious.

Cool story, and nice pics.
How do YT taste? They look like a cross between cobia and amberjack as far as the body shape. I was just curious.

They're basically AJs with different coloration. They don't get as big and they aren't as reef associated, but they are basically the same taste-wise(tastes like a jack), though YT might be a bit lighter in flavor.

Yeah your bands were probably to strong. If you upset the balance on already marginal guns you'll almost always shoot low.

Yeah your bands were probably to strong. If you upset the balance on already marginal guns you'll almost always shoot low.

But he does have the muzzle wings on it, and I would think that would fix it.

Or at least it did on my Riffe Island. That gun shot low with the normal three 28.5" bands on it, but after I installed muzzle wings, it was accurate even with four bands. The tradeoff was the increased difficulty in handling.

The No Ka Oi is a shorter gun then the Islander which means that the downward forces are even greater then the Islander. So that may explain the lower shots.

A lot of guns shoot low if you overpower them. Like I said the carbon fiber Aimrite 125cm was a POS with two bands. It shot fine with 1. But perhaps I'm a namby pamby limp wrister? Also I only ever shoot with one hand. None of this second hand to brace. But are you supposed to brace the Aimrite? I didn't think you needed to with a rear handled gun.

mnguy,...thanks for the info
How far south do the YT range? I do some spearing in Costa Rica I don't recall ever hearing them mentioned??

The No Ka Oi is a shorter gun then the Islander which means that the downward forces are even greater then the Islander. So that may explain the lower shots.

A lot of guns shoot low if you overpower them. Like I said the carbon fiber Aimrite 125cm was a POS with two bands. It shot fine with 1. But perhaps I'm a namby pamby limp wrister? Also I only ever shoot with one hand. None of this second hand to brace. But are you supposed to brace the Aimrite? I didn't think you needed to with a rear handled gun.

My buddy has aimrite carbon 130 with 2-16mm bands. That thing shoots 1-3inch groups at about 15ft. Its a laser gun man, all one handed shooting. You dont need to double hand till you get to 3 or more bands as long as you lock your elbow out straight. Never had any problems with it either, all around awsome gun.

I'm not sure why this aimrite couldn't hit shit. It wasn't my gun and I was just borrowing it but I know it wasn't me because I use rear handles pretty much exclusively. Course this is the second aimrite CF gun that shot low for me. I had one of the first generation 100cm CF guns and that also shot low.

IMO the issue with these guns is that the handle is way to low in relation to the band pull and weight of the gun. With a handle that low you need more weight and mass in the gun.