Written by Jon Lauermann
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Usually this sound at four o’clock in the morning is the harbinger of some unpleasant task or onerous responsibility, but not today. Today this sound contained the promise of adventure, sunshine, and most importantly, the promise of HUGE FISH!!! I jumped out of bed as stoked as I have ever been that early, and threw on a pair of board shorts that I was to end up wearing for the next eight days. I checked my phone and had a message from the other HookBuzz.com guys telling me that they were pulling up to my house. Immediately I grabbed my three bags, which consisted of a huge dive bag full of wetsuits, fins, float lines and all the other gear necessary for shooting big pelagic fish, a gun bag with four different sized guns (90cm, 100cm, 120cm, 130cm Riffe’s) and, almost as an afterthought, a bag containing some clothes. We piled all the gear into the bed of the white Toyota Tacoma that was to be our home for the next two days of driving, and took off for the border. The group for this trip consisted legendary California spearfisherman Al Shnepperschoff, HookBuzz.com founder Clark McNulty, spearo and former Marine Recon member, Brad Monclova, and myself. After almost six months of planning the day was finally here… the HookBuzz crew was off to Bahia Tortugas.
The next two days were a blur of never-ending deserts, Mexican taco stands, and Pemex gas stations. We passed the seemingly endless drive by swapping fish stories and by speculating on the fish to come. We each talked of the white seabass that we had caught this year, of water temperature compared to the previous years, and of where we thought the fish would be later in the season. Al regaled us with stories of spearfishing California waters 30 years ago with his Father when limits were almost nonexistent, and there was virtually no regulations. He also told us about previous trips to Bahia Tortugas (Turtle Bay), and how this was a world-class yellowtail destination. By the time he was done telling stories we were so pumped that we could barely wait to get there and into the water.
After the two days of driving we finally arrived at our destination at around 3:00pm. We were all so fired up from the stories over the last two days that we couldn’t wait for the next day’s boat trip and voted for a shore dive that night. We unloaded everything but the dive gear into the house and immediately piled back into the truck for the short drive down the coast. We arrived at the dive spot and since we were diving a shallow reef Brad and myself decided on small reel guns. Brad was using a One 90cm with a reel and I had my Riffe euro 100 with the Riffe reel. Clark opted to film and armed himself with his Panasonic GF2 and 10Bar water housing which has an 8mm dome port and fisheye lens. We climbed down the cliff and were swimming to the outside of the kelp when out of nowhere a school of 30lb yellowtail swam by IN LESS THAT 10 FEET OF WATER!!!!! Only minutes into the dive and we had our first sighting… yeah this trip was going to be good. After that no one wanted to shoot the calico bass and other reef fish that were in abundance so we headed back to the house fired up at the prospect of huge fish over the next few days.
As dawn broke over the point, each of us was already awake and loading up our gear for the coming dive. You could literally feel the excitement emanating from every member of the crew. Not many words were spoken, as each man was lost in a myriad of his own thoughts. The ride to the reef was short and as we motored up current I asked Al “Is this place really as good as you say?” Al just looked at me with a smile and says, “ Just wait, you’ll see.” We got to the spot and Al was the first one in the water with me close on his heels. As soon as I hit the water, before I could even get my snorkel into my mouth Al pops his head out of the water and shouts, “ YELLOWTAIL! DIVE!” A quick jackknife into a smooth dive found me directly in the middle of a huge school of thirty or so yellowtail. I immediately line up on the closet fish and pull the trigger. BAM!! It was a solid shot right behind the gill plate and the fish took of like a bullet heading straight for open water. The fight was on! As I come to the surface holding my float line, I look over and see Brad being towed through the water by his line. He was on a fish too. This was insane! Only 20 minutes into the dive and two of us were on fish. After a lengthy battle we each boated our fish with both of them going 20lbs pounds. Now that we had gotten the skunk off the boat it was time to start looking for trophy fish. As we are both about to hop back in the water we hear Clark yelling, “ I shot a big one, bring the boat.” Due to the fact that he was getting pulled under water every few words we figured he had shot a big one. With a quick pull of the small outboard motor, it fired to life and we raced down current just as he was bringing a beautiful yellowtail to the surface. Our guess had been correct and the fish he had in his hands ended up being the yellowtail to beat weighing in 40 LBS. A few more hours fill everyone’s limit of yellowtail and we decided to head back to the beach. The rest of the evening was spent around the barbeque retelling the best stories and drinking Tecate, the unofficial national beverage of Mexico.
Over the next two days we hit our limits every day. The fishing was fast and furious with yellowtail sightings every 5 to 10 minutes. On the second day of diving I landed what was to be my personal best yellowtail at 35lbs. As I was lying on the bottom over the high spot in the reef, a single yellowtail appeared out of the blue directly in front of me, and presented a ideal broadside. I aim my Riffe euro 120 and nail him with a perfect shot to the spine. After a few spasmodic twitches the fish rolled over and sank to the bottom, with me right behind him. It was an indescribable feeling to be able to shoot and recover the trophy fish in a single breath hold. Each diver had similar stories of perfect shots and amazing fish as well a few heartbreaking losses. By the fourth day of diving, two coolers were filled to the brim with vacuum-sealed yellowtail fillets, and it was decided that the final day would be spent hunting the big grouper for which Baja is renowned.
A unanimous decision was made to drive down the coast looking for reefs that had the potential to hold big grouper. After about an hour of searching, we came upon a previously unexplored reef that was located along a deserted patch of coastline. This previously unknown dive spot turned out to be exactly was we were looking for with forty foot visibility and a reef that consisted of epic, drop offs, deep holes, and wide sand channels. After a few hours of scouring the reefs we had had a few sightings of large grouper but no one was able to land one of these massive fish. Exhaustion was starting to set in so the three of us decided to make our way back in to shore. Swimming behind Clark through a sandy channel in the reef, I suddenly see him extend his gun and dive to the bottom. Curious as to what had gotten him so excited, I swam over just in time to see him pull the trigger on a huge Pargo (Snapper). It was a textbook shot and hit the Snapper just below the lateral line, right behind the gill plate. Clark made short work of the fight and got the fish to the beach in a matter of minutes. Tipping the scale at just under 35 lbs. this unexpected fish was a perfect way to end five days of spectacular diving.
As we packed up our gear on the final day, the house contained an almost melancholy air that came with the knowledge of our imminent departure from this fish filled paradise. We knew that just over the border lurked the real world with all of its pressures and responsibilities. The two day drive back up through Baja gave us a chance to review all the footage and photos taken over the trip and prepare ourselves to reenter the world. After crossing the border and a quick stop at In-N-Out , we made it home to our respective homes and unloaded the gear. Once inside I found myself sitting on my couch thinking to myself that this was one of those trips that I will remember for the rest of my life. It doesn’t get any better than eight days of awesome weather, good friends, and big fish. Traveling with the HookBuzz.com crew was honestly one of the most enjoyable time I have had, and I am stoked to have shared such an epic adventure with them.
To see more photos and video from this trip visit the http://Youtube.com/HookBuzz channel or http://statigr.am/hookbuzz
