Baja trippin' en San Quintin!

A few weeks back I received a phone call from a buddy who was heading down to fish San Quintin, Baja for three days with his dad and graciously extended me an invite to jump onboard for the trip. Being that it was on such short notice, I didnt think I could make it.... but who am I kidding?! There was no-way I was turning down a trip down to one of my all-time favorite fishing grounds...

Fast-forward a couple weeks and we're in San Quintin, enjoying absolutely perfect 85 degree weather in November and hanging out with our good buddy Kelly Catian of the infamous K&M Sportfishing (www.km-fishing.com). For those not familiar with Kelly, he runs the best charter outfit out of San Quintin, complete with a pair of Parker boats and a TON of local knowledge. He and his boys are bonafide fish-killers and know SQ and the surrounding areas like the back of their hands. Ive had countless good days of fishing with Kelly and sure enough, this was the beginning of 3 more...

As we loaded up the boat with our gear, we came up with a game plan and decided on a meeting time in the morning to launch. Slid into Jardine's restaurant for some epic grinds then hit the racks early for some good kip before 3 days of fishing hard.

First day, we opted to take a look offshore for some late-season pelagic action. It ended up a no-go day , as we ran straight out to the backside of the Tuna Hole, then up the Hovan Ridge for just a couple skipjack. Kelp paddies were non-existent as well, so on our way back in we decided to go with our "Plan B" for the next two days, which was to hit the local SQ highspots for Yellowtail and the infamous bottom fish. Gotta love when fishing for Yellowtail is your fall-back option....

The following two days consisted in bouncing around the 15 Fathom, Ben's Roca and the 240 for a fun pick on the Yellowtail, Reds and Lingcod with all the 12-15lb Bonita you could ever want. Yoyo iron was the hot-ticket... in fact I personally didnt catch a single fish on live bait the entire trip. It was all "drop and grind" for two days straight. But as always, it paid off in dividends... Ya gotta love getting slammed on grind, ten cranks off the bottom!

Most of the Yellowtail were really tight to the bottom and hung in 100-120 feet of water. There also seemed to be two grades of fish cruising around.... the 12-15lb firecrackers and the 25+lb versions with shoulders. Those big boys would thump pretty good. There were a couple good ol' fashioned "cornholing's" and plenty of lost fish, but when the dust settled we ended up putting over 20 on the boat in 2 days of work... not too shabby for November fishing.

To add to the already enjoyable trip, we were hosted to KILLER baja-style BBQ's at Kelly's place and epic gourmet dinner plates at Jardine's restaurant, which is always the perfect way to cap off a long day on the water!

As always, we had yet another amazing time down in San Quintin. It's beauty and charm never cease to disappoint, the people make you feel at home and the fishing is like it was in La Jolla 50 years ago. When its all said and done, words really cant describe the fondness I have for this special place and Im stoked to have another bitchen trip down there under the belt!

In other words, I'll be back very soon...