the difference between pv and punta mita

[texicanfred]

Cowtown huh, we'll see about that. I went down to PV for a wedding in May and deceided I'd take a day off of poolsiding and frozen drinks embibery to go offshore for the legendary tuna fishing. We chartered Mr. Marlin and got jerked off on a bonita bonanza in the bay all afternoon. The captain was laughing his ass off as he happily plowed through every school of bonitas busting the surface which would knock down all 3 rapallas we were dragging around. "Tres mas tunas Senior, muy bien!" he'd cry out. After the forth school of boneheads I explained to him that I have been a mate for 5 years and that bonita was exellent chunk bait for schoolie dolphin, not tablefare. I think it frustrated him that he wasn't going to have his typical gringo jerkoff charter of bonitas and jack crevelles so he begrudgedly put out some live baits and trolled around. At 1:59 he happily declaired that it was time to go in and halfheartedly appoligized that the fishing sucked. I was speechless the whole trip home. Actually that's a lie, I was speechless until my fifth anejo and coke and then I became very verbal. I vowed never to fish out of PV again, until a close friend of mine convinced me to give it another shot with people who knew what they were doing..And Whoa buddy I'm glad she did!.......So at the end of October my good friend Hillary, my girlfriend Jen, and our 7 month old daughter Evelyne jumped on the chicken bus in Guadalajara and headed down to Bucerias to see if we couldn't get into the tunas. Josh was booked the first day and Katherine booked us with some friends of hers on La Brisa. We loaded up on ammo (skippies) around the rock and began our slow troll. Evelyne slept happily strapped in her car seat as the slow rolling of the Pacific did its job. Overcast with a little chop and tons of skippies around..hmmmm....needless to say all the boats around us started hooking up and black marlin were crashing all around us. We looked over and not 100 yards away Josh and his charter were releasing a black. After seeing the 5th black jumping behind other boats I started to wonder if we were going to get a shot but Twiggy and Coco (the sweetest couple/crew on the planet) patiently chugged along then POW! zzzzzzzzz....our left rigger got hammered and 400 pound lizzard stuck his head out of the water as if to see what was going on with his breakfast. His shoulders purpled up and he lept once before dumping the 50 wide down half a spool and the line went slack. Sommammabitch! I cranked like a madman and he put on a hell of show right next to the boat once I got back all the slack from his escape attempt. I handed the rod off to Jen so she could feel the powerful fish. I finaly got him up alongside the boat when he bronzed up and when our mate went to release him he woke up and made one more desperate run. My dumbass was watching him not considering the fact that this fish could wake up, a mistake that could have made Evelyne an only child. So there I was pinned against the side of the boat, rod out of the harness, and a pissed off marlin peeling line off the 50 I desperately clung on to. Once I was resituated we put the heat on him and finally got the release and he was still thrashing his bill around like he hadn't been fighting for the last 2 hours when we cut the leader. Amazing fish! Several schoolie tunas up to 80 pounds and a 30 pound cow(dolphin) and we called it a day.
The second day of fishing we went out with Josh who had all the swagger of a gunslinger in the old west. It was cool bullshitting about mutual friends we had when he fished down in Islamorada as we loaded up on skippies for another round at the Corbatena. The mate that day Coldo evidently had a BIG night the night before and the poor guy had to chug a beer to get straight. Most of the day was pretty slow picking some schoolie yellowfins and I noticed Josh getting a little annoyed that the fish weren't cooperating. By four o'clock we figured we were done and were happy to go home, not because we were bored, but that we had such a great trip in general and had plenty to take home. Josh had worked his ass off trying to get us on some good fish but it just wasn't going to happen that day. Just when we were about to call it, the 15 pound skippie we were free lining behind our drift got hammered and the 50 was getting dumped fast. "Get that @$#* kite in Caldo" Josh said sternly as we were running out of line quickly. Josh began thumbing the spool as poor Caldo was battling with a wicked hangover and the fish kite. Hillary started freaking out. "MARLIN! MARLIN! Holy shit I'm gonna get my marlin!" If she had a tail it would have been waggin like a black lab looking at a soggy tennis ball. Josh threw the boat in gear and we hauled ass after the fish trying to regain some line. As we are racing along we noticed the line scoping up. "Here she comes" josh commented, cool and collect. Instead of a marlin jumping there was an explosion on the surface like a torpedo detonating in one of those old black and white flicks. "Its a BIG yellowfin guys". I couldn't believe it. This fish whose inital run had dumped the 50 like a big hoo and was now fighting on the surface like a volkswagon with its cruise control set on 20. Down and dirty my ass! I always imagined big yellowfin going straight down and the fight being like a big AJ or black grouper. Obviously I was wrong. "Nobody touch the rod, this might be a new womens record" Josh instructed. "What's the record anyway" I asked assuming it to be around 200 pounds. 330. You gotta be shitting me. It was then I realized that Hillary was in for a very very long day....or night rather....We chased the fish around trying to get as much line as possible and Josh did a tremendous job of manuvering around the tuna. Hillary was so excited that she could barely stay in her harness. We were alongside our tuna who had finally gone down and began working the fish up. In the blink of an eye the tuna changed direction and sprinted under the boat. Josh, immediately spun the boat around so it wouldn't cut us off but it was too late and the line hit the wheel or something on the boat. POW!...smart damn fish. Guess that was a "crazy ivan". What a great excuse to come back next year (like we needed one). We had two tramendous days of fishing with world class fisherman, and more importantly world class people. What an amazing trip for all of us. My first yellowfin and black marlin, Jens first yellowfin and marlin of any kind, Hillary's first yellowfin, and Evelyne's first...well.....everything.
Ain't life grand.

...damnit I can't find the spell check on this thing!

Its a gud thing i spehl fineticly

[Gmoney!]

good to hear you got hooked up with REAL fishermen... Josh and his crew as we all know by now do a great job of putting you on the fish.

I caught my personal best tuna on La Brisa (I still think it kills Josh, you should have seen his face that day we came back with a cow and he didnt, oh of course it was also because some of our guys fishing with him lost ANOTHER big cow they had hooked up to earlier in the day)... Coco and Twiggy are awesome...they love to fish, just like Josh. Believe me, with the big groups I bring down there, we made sure Josh got us some better captains, because 2 years ago, the other boat we took out was nowhere near Josh's caliber when it came to fishing. Nobody really can match Josh's intensity and knowledge of the fish, but Coco and Twiggy at least match his "sticktoitiveness" in putting long hours on the water to get their clients the fish of a lifetime.

Not only is the fishing better at Punta Mita, so is the surfing, and it is much quieter. The only thing missing is night life, but when you come to fish for cows, nightlife should be the last on your mind.

Ask my buddies... ask Josh... you need ALL the strength you can save up through rest in order to win against a cow. We had our share of guys tapping out because they got tired 40mins into a fight...and then fish is lost. Get your rest..dont overdrink...dont show up late in the morning, dont tell the captain where to go fishing (unless he recommends inshore stuff because he is sick and groggy hahaha)...Mita is the place to be.

But I will also add that Manny of Yolaray and Danny of Marla fleet are also excellent at what they do and produce quality fish as well. They are always my back up choice when I am going down there on a last minute trip and I know Josh is all booked up. Of course, now with Shrek, Coco and Twiggy, etc...we have plenty of options.

Cant wait for next year... Oct 19,20,21, and 22....lets make it a BD tourney... who is in??

[Bayside]

I must say you can't forget about the locals who have fished there for many years. Yes there are some bad boats in PV but that is the same every marina. Josh is as great Captain and so are Manny, Danny, Scott, Tony just to name a few. I hope everyone gets a chance to fish with one or all of the people there I mentioned. They are very good to anglers with many years of experience. Yes we all have a few fish brake the line or pull the hook. I must say that locals can't be all over looked in PV.

[texicanfred]

No doubt. it was like that at the dock i worked on in islamorada. 99% of the crews were professional and knew how to make a day even when the fishing was tough but there was certainly a few boats whose captains were clueless and could have cared less about catching people fish. The way my captain and I looked at it was that most of the people we took fishing went offshore once or twice a year and the 800 dollars they spent on the charter plus my tip, flight, hotel, etc. was probably money they saved up all year. We understood that and fished our asses off and didn't come back to the dock without a box full of fish (dolphin season) or Flags flying (sailfish season). We unfortunatly got stuck with that one percent when we first went down to pv and it left a realy bad taste in my mouth when we headed home in the middle of the afternoon on a full day charter after catching a dozen boneheads and a jack. Funny thing is I asked him if we could try something else after catching all the bonitas for the first few hours. "Oh si senior, no problem. We'll go catch some snappers and some roosterfish, no problem". I figured he knew what he was doing. We fished around a rock in the bay for over an hour without a bite. I figured he'd change things up since that wasn't working but he just drove around in circles and the mate went inside because he was bored. I reeled in one of the two flatlines, tied on a three way swivel, tied on a six ounce sinker to one end of the threeway and 30 foot of 80 pound leader to the other end and dropped down a livey for the slow troll. They looked at me like i'd lost my mind and chuckled under their breath. I played with the dept bringing it up 10 cranks, 20 cranks, etc. It wasn't five minutes later that the bait got hammered and even with the drag locked down on the 50 thumbing the spool I couldn't stop this fish. Not sure what kinds of bottom fish are in that part of Mexico but the closest thing I could relate to the way the fish acted would be a big black grouper or jewfish hooked around a deep wreck. The fight was over before it started when the fish hauled ass straight back into its home and cut me off, never even turned its head an inch. It was sad that I had never fished there in my life and yet I had the only shot at a decent fish all day. I'm certainly glad we gave it another shot because we had a fantastic trip with world class crews the second time and we can't wait to get back next october.

[Bayside]

I hear that I will be back in hopes of catching a big Marlin. I don't know if I will ever catch a tuna as big as the one I got in Oct. Oh well I may have to try the Big Bluefin on the East coast. Either way I will be back to try for more tuna and have fun with all the people I have met in a year. Good luck to all.

[Gmoney!]

texicanfred..

sounds like you got hooked up to BIG pargo....most likely... maybe that is why the captain was laughing at you He knew that gear wouldnt stand a chance against a monster Pargo....still, better to get bit than to not get bit at all....and sometimes you can get those pargo before they reach their hole...but at least you showed that idiot captain that he needs his deckie to go back there and actually WORK... I sure hope you left them no tip.

Anyways, stick to the guys we recommend on here and you cannot go wrong. I have fished with Josh, with Danny, with Coco and Twiggy... I'll try out the yolaray one of these days too... but my first choice is always Josh...of course things are never the same now that shrek has his own boat... but on days he is off, he sometimes works with Josh... I might put in a request for shrek and josh or nada next time we are down there

G

[texicanfred]

not sure what a pargo, don't have those is Florida or texas, but I would assume its an old Mayan word that means badass bottom fish that will rock up a locked down 50 wide in no time.

[Gmoney!]

Originally Posted by texicanfred

not sure what a pargo, don't have those is Florida or texas, but I would assume its an old Mayan word that means badass bottom fish that will rock up a locked down 50 wide in no time.

you got that right... BIG BADASS dogtooth snapper...check out the teeth... and this is a small one...maybe 45lbs or so... imagine an 80lber, which is very likely down in PV.




oh and not only will they lock up and lockdown a 50wide... they will break your pole too, even if its 80lb test... this fish was caught on Josh's boat last year. We were trolling big skippies and this beast came up from down under to eat. We thought it was a tuna so we let it run... how it didnt find its hole is beyond my understanding, he must have travelled a long way from home But Augusto had a fun time reeling in this fish...that trip was followed up by two 70lb tuna, then 2 90lb tuna, then I got a 120lb tuna at the end of the day... yeah it was a shitty day, thanks a lot for that JT...ahahahahahhaha

[Pounder]

This was a record sized fish caught by Tony on Yolaray, but as we all know 130 spectra overtests and can't be considered for a record, I don't know about an 80lb pargo, but then ya never know

A good day at Corbetania

A healthy grouper caught on Danny's boat

An unweighed monster, also on Danny's Marla II

[Fishemup]

I was down there a couple of weeks ago and there was only two of us and we didn't want to pay the big bucks for a cruiser so we chartered Danny Gomez on the Dhamar. We decided to try Corbetena eventhough Danny said the bite was off because of cool water and the comercials had just hammered them. We really wanted to see what that place was all about and figured we would take our chances. Danny and his mate worked their butts off for us we tried everything. We had a couple of short strikes on tuna or marlin, but basically we just caught was our bait and that was it. During the morning Danny said that the boats on the inside were doing well on the sails and dorado. Normally when he goes to the rock you stay there all day, but around 3pm he said let's pull them in. We thought we were going home. But he said would you guys like to run in and try for sails and dorado. We say Hell Yes! He now runs about 17miles toward shore and North off Saulita. We troll until 6pm with one sail hooked but threw the hook. We left the dock in Nuevo Vallarta at 6:30 am and got back at 7:30. We figured he ran well over 100 miles. They worked their butts off and wanted fish as bad as we did. No extra charge for the long day. I would recommend Danny Gomez on the Dhamar anytime you want to try a panga.
Paul

[texicanfred]

Those I can see how its easy to get spanked fishing around the rocks with those big old dozers cruising around. Paul, Totally agree that pangas are definately the way to go on a flat calm when fishing with a budget. I was living/working in San Miguel de Allende 6 years ago and my parents asked what I wanted for my 21st birthday. I said I wanted to go to the coast and go fishing for a couple of days. So they game me 500 bucks and sent me on my way. So I had to figure out how the hell I was going to get there, find a place to stay, a boat to fish on, and a way back for 500 dollars. I got out the old atlas and found the closest town on the pacific coast which happened to be a little fishing village called Barra de Navidad. I went to the bus station because flying was definately out of my budget and took a 14 hour bus (Primera Plus bus lines) to the coast which cost around 60 bucks. Upon arriving I walked around and asked people a cheap place to stay which lead me to the hotel delphin which believe me was definately budget for a reason. The owner of the hotel, a nice german lady, checked me into my tiny room that cost me around 30 bucks a night. No big deal though, I wasn't travelling with any women so it wasn't a big deal to me about the accomodations. I walked down to the fishing pier to find out what was biting and what boat to go fishing on. I met a local that had a homade panga called the Vikingo who showed me all his fishing pictures and asked if I wanted to charter his boat. He kept trying to talk me into snorkel tours and fishing in the bay but I insisted that I wanted to go offshore. He finally agreed and we went offshore the next day. We set out our baits and the crew happily lit up a joint and put on Santana, getting their fishing mojo on I assume. We caught a nice sailfish in the 150 pound class that day which we brought back to the dock and ate. He invited his family and a bunch of fishing buddies and we ate sailfish and drank cold cervazas for several hours. I don't care what every says but fresh sailfish is delicious. I was horrified when he clubbed the fish but he explained to me that it was food and if I wanted to pay for the fish we could release it. I decieded that I didn't have the money and killing one sailfish to eat wasn't going to make me lose any sleep. The german hotel owner knocked on my door later that day when I was lying in bed after too much fish and beer and said there was a french guy who just checked in that was looking to go fishing but didn't have enough money to get his own boat. Perfect! We split the cost and went out on the Vikingo the next day catching 2 more nice sails. Fantastic experience. Definately agree that panga fishing can be very rewarding.

[MikeyLikesIt]

great report and story man.