Family fishing trip on the Enchanted Islands of Gonzaga Bay

[steelfish]

I had almost a year looking for the best date to take my whole family for a boat trip around the Enchanted Islands of Gonzaga Bay, it had to be no wind, no work, no too cold, no too hot, not much homework for the kids and wife, etc, until 2 weeks ago, my oldest daugher was in home and back from university in another city, wife was on school vacation as well as my two youngest daugthers, and I just searched for the best day with no wind, called a friend with a boat and took a day off from work.

I will put some pictures by series of 4 so, this will take almost 7 posts, wait for them,  this time they worth the time to be able to click on them and zoom them and not just see pics just like when you put them from the gallery


i was one of those day when the trips ended up much better than planned.
the main idea of the trip was to show my kids and wife the amazing Islands where I normally fish, but of course I couldnt go into the boat without one or two or maybe four fishing rods, to troll while moving from one place to another, there are 5 Islands in the zone.

there is myself and my wife fishing and admiring the amazing landscape
yep, she was using the 113hxn tani kit but I was the first to catch something, it was a ugly and angry Bonita (bonito)

[steelfish]

but my dear honey didnt wanted to be behind and caught two sierras, sorry no pictures, one of the sierra was taken by a Sea Lion and she was screaming louders than on a music concert LOL, awesome, all family was yelling my wife to reel faster cuz the sea lion was swiming after the fish and it took it, then she gave me the rod to me and fight the dog for a bit until taken the sierra all bitten.
but after a while her rod was moving again but this time was figthing stronger and the rod bended more, she was asking for help but I told her to keep reeling (on the tani kit 113hxn), man was great to see her suffering on the big fish hahaha, anyway, she could bring it to the surface and I gaff on fish, it was one nice sized grouper.
since she was really tired by the fight, my 2nd daugther wanted to take the rod, we were slow trolling, after some time, same deal, she screamed in high tone, we though her lure was snagged on the bottom but the rod tip was moving and bending so, game on!!, she didnt even could turn the handle, she was screaming all time but exited by the fish, I helped her to hold the rod while she turned the handle, with the right hand, with the left and even with both hands, until some beaufitul colors showed on the surface, green, yellow and silver a nice Yellowtail on the boat.

[MarkT]

Good times!  Man, you did luck out on the conditions, it was really flat out there.

[steelfish]

my oldest and youngest kids didnt have luck, but they were exited by the fish their sister and mom just caught, but since fishing wasnt the main goal of the trip, we saved the rods but a bit and drive to one of the islands with tons of Sea Lions, they live there, there is a big community of Sea Lion all year round, but while moving we saw some big water sprays on the horizon and big bass sound Buuufffff, there were tons of grey whales, some were kid of far but some were not to far so we move the boat the nearest we could to try to see them, they were very shy, so I just could get some pictures.
when the whales moved too far we returned to out destination, the "Lobera" Island = lobo = Sea wolf
kids and wife had a face of fascination that you will never see on any zoo, its amazing to see thousands of sea lions interaction as a big family, you could see the Alfa male, the playing zone, the nursery, etc

[steelfish]

more pics with the Lobos marinos

[steelfish]

after seeing the Lobos marinos we move to the rest of the islands, some are just regular islands nothing amazing we were going to check the bigest Island, but remember the saying, enjoy the journey not just the destination, and once again, while moving from one of the Islands to another we saw a group of Mantarrays / rays swimming happy together, hey !! I swear you can even hear them sing along a good song while swimming, check the picks and you will see what I mean
it one of those moments when you just cannot take a rod to try to fish them but just sit down and admire the mother nature and his creatures, all family were speachless

[steelfish]

after seeing those amazing animals go to the deep as relaxed as we found them, we continue our trip to the Island that one of its corners the mountain had a form of an stadium, we call it, "Plaza the toros" (bullsfigth arena), its just amazing, you will see the pictures but you cannot just imagine how that place was naturally made, part of the mountain fell off leaving a concave cut from the tip of the mountain to the bottom and also in half circle sorrounding you, with bit of imagination you can relate that to a football stadium, roman coliseum, etc.
when we were getting closer the kids moved to the front of the boat to admire the mountain, (1st pic), but they got all exited cuz mi amigo capitan told us that we could go out and walk on the island, I was just stocked, money cannot pay for this moments, kids walk away for a bit and started screaming to me and my wife, they found some Pelican nest all over the bushes, I gave to my oldest daughter a nice nikkon camera few months ago and she took almost all pictures, she also took the next baby pelican pictures, man!  standing there on a empty island and seeing this creatures make you feel back in the prehistoric time.

[steelfish]

well this how the trip ended, one more picture of a new born baby pelican, next one if a picture taken from that place with another islands in the horizon, next is my friend waiting for us near from the shore and the very last picture said it all, we called a day and took our way the safe and solid grounds my baby girl was really tired of all the adventures and just leaned on me on the way back on the boat.

we where so full of emotions that while taking the things out from the boat to the car we even forgot that we also fished and caught some fish LOL

I have some some videos, as soon as I have time to edit them to leave only the good parts and make them shorts I will upload it and post it here

hope you like the pics amigos, hasta la vista

[steelfish]

Good times!  Man, you did luck out on the conditions, it was really flat out there.

yep, few days like this one, the water was flat like glass, we were really lucky
please, check the water on the next pic, I couldnt have asked for anything better

[MarkT]

Great sightseeing!  The school of Manta's was really cool!

[Swami805]

You live in a magical place Amigo. A day your family won't forget. Thanks for the great post and sharing your day with us.

[Gman_WC]

Nice family outing. Flat Baja water
-gary

[Reel 224]

That is a nice day with the family ! Those are Beautiful pictures, wish I was there.

Joe

[Shark Hunter]

Very Nice Alex. It doesn't get any better than that.
Thanks for taking us along Amigo.

[Gfish]

Awesome day Alex! Amazing how much life is in those desert waters. The water itself must be very fertile.