La Paz Mexico Spearfishing Trip Report April 16 - 23 2016 - Ricardo Cruelles

Trip to La Paz, Mexico April 16^th – 23^rd 2016

Trip Report Contributor - Ricardo Cruelles  @rcruelles

As we stuff our Sportubes with our gear the anticipation builds, it has been a long winter in New England! The boys and I have been texting constantly to figure out if we have all the gear we need and talking about the sea/weather forecast. 

At last the day comes, after many trips back and forth to see Mike at New England Freedive Spearfishing Co gathering last minute gear add-ons. We left from Providence and headed out for La Paz, we collected Ed in Baltimore during our layover and we were off. 

Once we got to Cabo San Lucas we were greeted by Don Pedro, which the guys at Pistoleros del Mar had set up for us, and loaded all the gear to make the 2 HR trek north to La Paz. The landscape is unlike any other I have seen anywhere, it is truly a vast and rather barren landscape filled with cactus with views of the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean.

We arrived at our hotel in La Paz, The 7 Crowns Centro, unloaded of all our gear and quickly made our way to “El Malecon”( boardwalk ) overlooking at La Paz’s Bay, and we made ourselves at home in one of the many restaurants along the waterfront. We indulged in some of the local dishes and a few cold Pacificos before heading back to our hotel to meet Patrick from Pistoleros. Once we met with him we devised a plan for the upcoming week. 

We spent Sunday prepping all of our gear, rigging wire/lines, making bungies, etc…. as well as taking in some of the local sites and cuisine and counting down the hours until we got to jump in the water to start hunting. 

Monday morning came around and as planned the guys picked us up bright and early, we loaded up the pick up truck with gear and we headed to the marina. Once we arrived at the marina we were pleased to see the 28ft cat style boat ready to take us to the diving spots. We sorted out our weights and we made our way out of the manmade marina channel. Once we steamed out of the channel we were in awe of the landscape that lay before us, Baja is truly a unique place unlike any I have seen before anywhere. 

Day one started off diving at one of the reefs at about 35 to 75ft in depth to get us acclimated to the water and some of the bottom structure. We were able to wrestle up a couple of good size pargos and a few cabrillas along with a monster Parrotfish Dave shot that made for a delicious dinner at the marina restaurant once we made it back to land.  Some of the lessons learned from day one where that the fish here were not going to be easy to get, mainly their speed and the distances where incredibly difficult to judge as we lined up on them, and we were going to have to work hard to achieve our daily limits. The depths in which some of the nicer fish reside are definitely deeper than any fish we are accustomed to hunt for in New England, between 50 and 90ft. Water temp was around 73 degrees and we were all happy to be wearing our 3mm wetsuits. 

Day 2 started off a little bit later in the morning and with a lot more gear being prepped as we set off to the fishing camp in the Village of San Evaristo. This was the beginning of our 3 day adventure north of La Paz inside the Sea Of Cortez, diving the Islands and making camp at night in Mr Antonio’s compound on the beach in San Evaristo. The family was most accommodating to us and treated us like kings while we were there. The accommodations are “rustic” at best and do not look for WIFI there because there is none but the remoteness and the isolation from the everyday rat race made this a truly wonderful adventure with a great group of people. 

We dove the Islands of San Jose, Santa Cruz, San Dieguito, Las Animas, Espiritu Santo and many others, all with their unique and distinct features and marine bottom. We also dove a few Bluewater spots in between that averaged 150ft to 300ft in depth, were Patrick a nice AJ and we shot few Red Snappers. I was happy to be using my new Bluewater set up, Rob Allen 130cm Carbon with a Mori Slip-Tip coupled with the Neptonics breakaway system that worked flawlessly while gliding into the fish balls at 65ft, point and shoot and BINGO! Guachinango Time! (Local name for Red Snapper)

We ended up the day with a few good Pargos, a couple of Barred Pargos, some cabrillas and a few good triggers. 

The next two days were similar in the type of diving but we were getting a lot more comfortable with our dives and understanding the fish behaviors. We loaded up on day 3 on the pargos along with a couple of monster triggers that weighed in at over 10lbs! One at 12lbs! Needless to say that Antonio and his family were happy to see all the fish coming in at the end of the day. 

We finished our time on the water with a swim with two Whalesharks clocking in at over 25ft each! This capped our water time off with a bang! 

I can truly say that this was one the best dive trips of my life, the crew at Pistoleros del Mar is second to none. Patrick, Victor and Gonzalo are exceptional at making sure all was set up for us and that we had everything we needed. They ran the boat flawlessly and brought us to some amazing spots, they set up the fish camp adventure and ensured we were comfortable. I really recommend their operation to anyone considering a trip to Baja to spearfish. 

Some of the things we learned about the gear set ups are that pargo will make playdough out of steel shafts when they want to. I really recommend using coated wire vs. mono line while targeting this fish. A 130cm or bigger gun with a breakaway set up is highly recommended here, reels are not the way to go. My Carbon RA was perfect most of the time. 

A 75ft line and a 3ATM float would be preferred with your breakaway set up, this will ensure that you have all the gear you need on the reef/wrecks and also in the Bluewater situation. 

We were lucky to have loaded up with gear for the occasion that New England Freedive brought in for us over the winter to set us up for the trip, it made for a week free of gear mishaps and wishing we had this set up or that set up, we had everything we needed to get the job done. I can’t thank Mike Chace enough for that! 

This was an amazing adventure with friends! I recommend La Paz to anyone looking for some challenging spearfishing, some incredibly nice people, fantastic food and marvelous topography!

Hasta el Año que viene La Paz! Nos Vemos! Y muchas Gracias por todo!

Bass Cheeks, Tog Arancinis and Skewers ... Oh My - 2016 Tristate Kill N' Grill Report

Event:  2016 Tristate Skindivers Kill N' Grill 

Date: 2/13/2016

Every winter for the last 8 seasons the Tristate Skindivers Club has sent out a calling to wake us hibernating North Atlantic spearos from our winter slumber. A calling of the culinary clansman for a banquet of medieval proportions to challenge those who can match their cooking creations with their prowess at spearfishing, hunting and harvesting. Set precisely at mid-winter this gathering provides a chance for the tribesman of the North to gather for some camaraderie and shake off the doldrums of our off season home confinement sentence.

The Club sets forth one rule for this Olympiad of the oven… each competitor must have killed, grown or harvested yourself an ingredient in your culinary entry. From fish to beast, to shellfish and crustaceans, venison and water fowl to gardeners and foragers… what these individuals throw down in this kitchen cage match expands each year. Everyone attending sits in the judge’s seat and picks their top three favorite dishes with the winners being determined by the sum of these votes. The fair Maidens of Tristate hold this all together and handle the balloting and results.

Some find the most creative ways to utilize parts of fish, fowl and beast that others would usually discard unknowing of the potential delicacy there. Tautog Cheeks! Who the fuck takes the time to remove the tiny cheeks from blackfish when filleting? But I guess if you are "the Reverend" Kelly Gillette, your usual tautog harvest size is a little larger than the average spearo up here and then henceforth makes his tog cheeks not so tiny and worth his added effort. Candied Bass and Tautog Cheeks - yes, Bass Cheeks Wrapped in Bacon… well that’s like a 1-2 punch the emotions and senses!  You might catch me fishing through his gut piles near the dock in 2016 to find something he missed. 

 

Smoked Striped Bass and Cabbage Pierogis with Yogurt Dill Sauce? Somebody please slap Wayne Woodbury for just getting ridiculous on the creational level and tell him “do not enter the light and come back to our world”. Mad skills buddy. Last year he showed up with these stuffed bass bites with an aioli sauce that just blew my taste buds away, so I was wondering how he could step it up from here… well evidently, this is how.

 

Mike Landau whips up “Buffalo Tautog Arancinis with Buffalo Ranch Dipping Sauce”.  Not even fair, right?  Mike always brings game but this dish had to be one of my favorite ALL TIME kill n’ grill bites. 

When my effort with “Sriracha & Brown Sugar Mahi Mahi and Mango Kabobs finished with a Warm Honey drizzle and Cilantro” doesn’t even make an honorable mention. I was clearly outclassed by an extraordinary field of entries this year and rightfully so.

But Top Honors for the 2016 Contest were rightfully earned by the Captain of the Imagination, Jason (there will be no bananas or fuckery on my boat) Saiz with his outrageous - “Grass Fed Beef and Pork Stuffed Meatballs with Guancaile, Chiles, and Cream Cheese” !  Yes butchered by him, grown by him and I do not even doubt that he wills his own cream cheese into existence from milking pure happy thoughts, heating it with his bravado then culturing it with stories of past adventures at sea... arrrrrghhh. Congrats Jason ! 

Chowders, lobster bisque, venison sausages and skewers of happiness. Then fried bass cheeks, baked scallops, smoked hake followed by more – more - more as you proceed down the banquet tables. It is an all-out assault on the senses and you definitely get your money’s worth for the show. 

But it is always the kinship of seeing great friends and sharing diving stories, tales of the ocean and a chance to show off new spearfishing gear that we have built or acquired that is the underlying theme of the event. With divers coming from New York to New Hampshire, the crowd is always diverse and fun. New faces in the spearfishing scene are welcomed in and soon weaved into the fabric of the freediving community while we also get a chance to grab some advice from the local veterans in the sport. My personal tactic is to pry a few secret spots away under the sponsorship of a shot or two.  With the conclusion of the event we all leave with full bellies, our sides hurt a little from laughing, and we are now only a few weeks away from getting back in the water and chasing some tautog locally. 

Thank You Tristate Skindivers and Cheers to the upcoming 2016 season!  

Visit the Tristate Skindivers web site

September 19 2015 - Narragansett Bay Spearfishing Report

Report Contributor - Mike Chace / New England Freedive Spearfishing Co

Event: 1'st Annual Tristate Skindivers Polespear Meet

Conditions: flat seas, 79 degrees

Visibility: 3 -5 feet

Notable Gear: Crist Spears Phoenix Polespear, Mares Razor Carbon Fins, Mares Smart Apnea Freediving Wrist Computer

Diving Location: East Passage of Narragansett Bay

Water temp: 70 degrees surface

Morning started out with a good game plan and weather looking like conditions would cooperate, Hoping the fish were still where left them when scouting last week. The last two weeks has seen the fall influx of bait everywhere in the lower and upper bay so we planned on diving inside and trying to use the calmer conditions and bait to our advantage. An early start from Bristol boat ramp had us fogged in thick with less than 60 foot visibility and glass sea. Putting out at head speed to the east passage took an hour plus longer than the 30 minute usual trip with all the boats traffic in the fog.

First stop was large pier structure with 17-25 ft depth below pier dropping off to 30 + along the sides. Right off the back grabbed a tourny size tautog missed a beautiful fluke about 22 inches and lost a larger maybe 24 inches in the murk as it tried to keep up with it in the short visibility. Had to leave to pick up another diver at rendezvous point across the bay. Upon returning to same spot 3 of us were getting in all using Crist Phoenix Polespears. The Crist Phoenix polespear has a 6 1/2 ft long shaft with an 18 inch flopper head making it the ideal size for our dirty New England waters and plenty of backbone to punch a decent bass. I was the first over the side and kicked up to the edge of the  structure and dropped to find a 29 inch bass sitting behind the first pole waiting to burst on the pods of  peanut bunker and took him with shot through the gill plate. I swam over and handed the bass over the side and our poor captain grabbed it and had a couple of dorsal fin spines pierce his hand during the deck melee. My bad for not pithing the fish first, I felt terrible.

The next hour produced a couple of tautog and my bud picked a nice black sea bass under the pylons. Maneuvering polespears through the dock structure proved tricky so I began to approach the fish from the outside working in to fire into the holes int he structure where the fish would run to hide when you dropped on them. My captain approached me to tell me had just had a big black sea bass spine him through his dive glove and under his thumb nail while trying to get a handle on it after spearing it. He was heading back to the boat to check it out.

12:30 we picked up and headed to spot two. Spot two is another long cement dock structure with 50 foot depths underneath. Decent bass were ambushing bait as we threw the hook and set the boat. First diver in yelled over to "get our asses in the water, bass everywhere". Visibility in this spot was about the same 3-5 when down at least 20 feet. Almost every drop you would find yourself amid schools of borderline legal size bass. When i was separate from my dive buddies by 30 yards or so I dropped into a school of all 40 inch plus size fish, but having already secured my bass for the day surfaced and called them over to have at them . Other than recording your depth logs and monitoring surface intervals, a good freediving wrist computer (mine is the Mares Smart Apnea) also proves most useful in circumstances like these, to be able to tell others what depth your spotting good fish at. In this case yesterday, at 25 - 30  feet you could stop and hang out alongside the pillars and then the bass that scattered on your approach would come back in to shooting distance. Water temp as this depth was 65 degrees. Drops deeper produced no sign, they had there happy spot in the water column feeding. My captain was heading back to the boat with his hand in pain so we followed. Upon getting aboard he determined that the black sea bass spine had broken off deep under his thumb nail. Time to get off the water and get our captain some med attention. He was clearly in major discomfort and had ll he could do to handle bringing the boat back to dock and getting it on the trailer. Great friends needing med help trump weigh-ins, so there is always next year. Looked like the Tristate Skindivers had a great turnout and some excellent polespear fish weighed in. Thanks for a great day on the water with two great guys. Fall diving in the bay should only be getting better the next few weeks, get at it !