The Qualifier105 Skiff/Kayak Trips; The Kayakers Perspective By Bob Falkenburg

How many times has someone told you: "I just took the best fishing trip ever." or "You need to take this fishing trip?" Well, here is one more time. Four years ago, after thinking about it for a couple of years, my buddy Scott and I signed up for one of the Qualifier 105's Calico Skiff trips. A unique trip in that only 18 fisherman go fishing for Calico Bass from 17 foot skiffs using the Q-105 as a mother ship. We fished the Islands of Cedros, Benitos and Natividad as well as the Mexican coast near Punta Eugenia. A great concept, fishing for Calico Bass in the kelp and boiler rocks near islands and coast line that seldom sees a lure. That first trip was an eye opener. Huge areas of kelp, coves that seemed to have never been fished and stretches of coast line that were untouched by line and lure. But the big thing that excited Scott and me was the potential for fishing these areas and more from our kayaks. Granted the skiffs could reach a lot of these same areas, but the kayaks could reach many more. Well as luck would have it the next year on one of the skiff trips, the Q-105 offered to take 6 kayak fisherman in addition to the regular 18 anglers. Scott and I were all over it, a dream in the making. Since then we have done 5 of these trips and have never been disappointed. The ability of the kayak to fish inside the kelp closer to the rocks, to fish in the middle of the kelp where a skiff cannot go, allowed us to catch incredible numbers of Calicos. Sometimes every cast for over an hour. So many fish that you had to stop to rest your arms. Calicos from small 1 or 2 pounder up to 8 or 9 pounders. So many 3 and 4 pounders that it was silly. We would anchor our kayaks to a kelp stringer in the middle of a large kelp canopy and drop our swimbaits straight down and catch one bass after another. We would fish the channels between the stringers and catch more. The adrenaline rush of having a 4 pound Calico hit your swimbait time after time was incredible and never got old.

Fishing from the kayaks put us in our own little world. We could go where ever we wanted, fishing coves, boiler rocks and kelp that no one else could reach. This sometimes lead to the unexpected. Everyone thinks these trips are just for fishing Calico Bass. Wrong. The real excitement is hooking a 20-30 pound Yellow Tail on your Bass rod when you least expect it. We have caught Yellow Tail in heavy kelp, deep water, in 6 feet of water right on the beach and off of boiler rocks. You never know when you are going to get bit by one. Considering that you are using light bass gear, it can be very exciting for the few seconds it takes to get spooled or broken off.  But if your are lucky neither of these things happen and you have one of the best fights you can imagine and a very nice fish to show for it.

On our last trip, four of us kayakers fished a nice cove on Benitos. One that we had fished before and we knew that it had good Calicos and the occasional Yellowtail. In one corner of the cove we could see bait being pushed on the surface and figured that the Calicos were feeding on them. Much to our surprise and delight it turned out to be a small school of Yellowtail and the four of us had them all to our selves. We hooked and lost over a dozen and each landed one or two. They were so aggressive that we couldn't catch any bass.
I guess what I am trying to say is, yes this is a trip you should take at least once. It is much more than just fishing for Calico Bass. It is exciting, it is relaxing and most of all just a whole lot of fun. Where else can you fish for big Calico Bass in numbers unheard of in our local waters and have Yellowtail be a by catch.

Qualifier 105

www.qualifier105.com Telephone # 619 223 2786

2011 Skiff/Kayak schedule:

               Trip #           Departs              Return           Days          Cost           Trip Name