Two Island Kayak Trip Report October 2004

OK, I have done the Two Island Trip about six times and I am still filled with anticipation every time. As Rich Hall put it, " It was a fabulous adventure for me. Somehow they just keep getting better."  I have to agree. This trip is so different from any fly fishing trip, and every trip is different. But they are all a real adventure. For starters, there are always new species of fish caught that I have never seen.  This fall the winds were extraordinarily merciful, so we took advantage of the calm waters and fished every morning and afternoon session. This meant that we missed our usual half day of exploring the incredible reefs and frolicking with the sea lions at the islets off Isla Espiritu Santo. I admit that I carried a little regret for the first timers on the trip, but they will return and we will squeeze it in next time. As usual we headed for San Jose Island

and it's gigantic lagoon first. John Woolridge caught this gorgeous young pampano with fins three times the length of it's body. And George Blair came up with a large black skipjack tuna inside the lagoon-totally unexpected. I just had to get busted off by something-it always happens, and this time it was three days in a row in eight feet of water- by big barred pargos- I think. I even stepped up to forty pound shock tippet but they just dove into their little caves and held on until I gave up and pulled to hard. I know, like large mouth bass you are supposed to just wait with a slack line until they relax and come back out. Anyway I loved it  and can't wait to try again. But, Lew Riffle caught a very nice mangrove snapper after we saw it boiling on bait tight to the mangroves. We saw it come out of the roots with a v-wake to jump his fly! Sometimes being in a kayak

 and having a fish pull you into structure can be difficult to say the least. Lew skillfully managed the situation, fighting the fish with one hand and paddling backwards with the other. Good fish! Here is a view of Rich Hall's fly box and a portrait of a yellowtail snapper or Pargo Amarillo. It was hard leaving remote San Jose Island, but midweek we moved on to the northern island of Partida and setup our new beach camp. This year we have a new panga, a little bigger with a center console, head, four stroke engine and a bait tank. Having bait for chum opens up some new possibilities. Our first session on the point in front of camp was terrific. I immediately hooked a small dorado which jumped three times and came unbuttoned. Honest, I don't lose all my fish. We all got into some nice skipjack, a few triggers, and some ladyfish, another spirited jumper. Jim Lang who was on the Big Game trip in July, became known as the Hot Shot  for landing one big skipjack tuna after another. He tied some up his own sardina imitations after his last trip and the skippies couldn't stay away from them.

As you can see we had some a weak front roll through-it even sprinkled one afternoon on our quick dry clothing. The fish didn't seem to mind. We fished in a half dozen different locations around the island and found plenty of fish almost everywhere. I'll wrap it up with a shot of   Lew with a good trigger fish,  a sculpin caught from the beach on the very southern end  of Espiritu Santo, and a gorgeous goat fish Rich caught near the beach at camp.

2003-2005 copyright gary bulla