PV Blacks and Cows w/Capt. Danny Osuna

[coldtuna]

I flew into PV on Friday afternoon Sept 7 and made my way to ffice:smarttags" />Paradise Village. I met up with my friend Chad from NYC and we waited in the hotel bar for our friend Matt who was coming in from Dallas. Once Matt arrived we had a few coronas, ate dinner at el piscatore and caught up since we'd seen each other last year in PV. Last year's fishing was awful, and we all hoped for better luck this year.

Sept 8:

We met Danny Osuna in La Cruz at 6:30 am. It was raining hard and provided some foreshadowing for what the day's weather would be. Danny told me that he'd caught 13 tuna the day before (at el Banco) with four of those over 200 pounds. I relayed that info to Chad and Matt and we were all stoked to get to it.

We made the run to el Banco, aboard Danny’s new 32 foot Blackfin – The Marla, in the rain for the next few hours in generally miserable conditions. Joining us was Danny’s mate Alvino. When we got to the Banco, there were a few boats there and Danny immediately set us up for our first drift. Matt, Chad and I each were flylining a cabbie. After a few minutes, a private boat ran over Matt and my lines and cut us off. We reeled our lines in and Chad got bit. He put the reel in gear and was hooked up for about five seconds before the hook pulled.

We fished the cabbies for another couple hours but did not get any more bites. It was raining on and off, cool and windy. Matt, Chad and I were all chilled which is not what I expected in early September.

Danny decided to move to Corbetena for the afternoon bite. We got there and the sun was breaking through and it was finally warm. We got some skippies and slow trolled them around the rock for much of the afternoon without a knockdown. Chad said the fish are on siesta and would start to feed at about 4:30. In an attempt to break the cycle, we all agreed to have a corona. I was halfway through mine when the right rigger got hit ... I grabbed the rod, freespooled it and let the fish run with the 5 pound skipjack. Danny told me to put it in gear and the hook found the mark and we we're on. Chad was up and we got him in the harness and the fish kept taking line. Chad gained a little line and the fish took a couple nice runs. After about five minutes, the hook pulled. We were disappointed, especially Chad, but I told him better to lose it now than after 2 hours. I also explained that if I had hooked the fish solidly, he would not have lost it.

Back to fishing and within 10 minutes, we had another takedown. Same thing, ... I let the fish run, and put the reel in gear when Danny gave me the signal.fficeffice" />

The hook found the mark and we we're on again. Chad got in the Marla’s harness and Smitty plate. He settled in for the fight and the tuna on the other end of the line quickly made it clear that Chad was on his first 100+ pound tuna.

[ATTACH][/ATTACH]
The back and forth continued for about 35 minutes before the tuna began to tire. Chad was by this time drenched in sweat and was tiring quickly. Chad got color and we could see that he had a 150 pound class tuna. A few more minutes and Alvino got the wind on P-line fluorocarbon leader.


Danny jumped down from the bridge and stuck the tuna. He and Alvino dragged the fish up onto the Marla's rail for a couple of pictures of the fish. Chad was out of gas and muttered something about needing to get in shape.


I forgot to mention that Chad was fishing with one of my Penn Intl 50SW reels that had the drags enhanced by Cal Sheets. The rod was a Calstar 655XXH custom made by Louis at Badfish. The reel was spooled with 130 pound P-line spectrex, with 200 pound P-line fluorocarbon leader and an 11/0 Hayabasu circle hook.

We went back to fishing and I think we got one more knockdown, but the fish dropped the bait and that was it for the day. We got back to la Cruz at around 8 pm and caught a ride back to paradise village. Much slower fishing than Danny had the day before we arrived, but with the weather we had, not too surprising.

Sept 9:

We met Danny again at 6:30 in la Cruz. Alvino was waiting on the boat and we headed to Corbetena this morning. Weather was nice today with broken sunshine and light wind. We made skippies and while doing so hooked a couple Dorado on the hoochies we were fishing. We landed those Dorado on light tackle which was fun. We caught some small skipjack (chorito) and put those out. I have caught some good sized tuna on the little skippies in prior years and I told Matt and Chad that if a big tuna took one of these it would be straight into its gullet without a second thought.

Unfortunately, we had more Dorado hit these skippies and while we ended up hooking a couple more dodos, that was not what we wanted. We made some bigger skippies and got back in the game. Matt was up and after watching Chad yesterday, he was ready to give a giant PV tuna a go. Chad was on deck and the only person who wanted Matt to get a big tuna more than Matt was Chad. He wanted a shot at a 200+ fish and was ready to start working his way up the stand up fishing learning curve.

As the day progressed, we got three bites and I farmed the first two ... The skippies came back scratched up from the big tuna that had swallowed them. I was embarrassed and angry that I'd missed these chances to get Matt hooked up. Matt and Chad sat through two super slow days last year in PV and this year I was hoping they would get to see why I'd been raving about PV and its giant tuna fishery.

I asked Alvino to take the next bite and get Matt on the fish. It did not take long and the short line got bit. Alvino let the fish run for about five seconds and then put the reel in gear, but .... nada. Again the bait came back scratched up from the big tuna. Major frustration.

By now it was late afternoon and Danny suggested that we try trolling the kite with cabbies. His brother Alonso was doing that and had just put a 150ish tuna on the deck.

I explained to Matt and Chad how this technique worked and Alvino got the kite up and the cabbie skipping along side the Marla. It only took about 10 minutes and we had a boil behind the skippie. The anglers all shouted and instantly a tuna came out of the side of a wave and inhaled the cabbie ... Alvino put the reel in gear and got the hook up. Matt brought the 50 pound class tuna to the boat in about 10 minutes to get some of the right kind of blood on the deck.




Back to skipping the kite and we got the instant blowout and Alvino got the hook up again. Chad took the rod and whipped the 50 pound tuna quickly. Back out went the kite and Matt wanted me to take the next fish. I told these guys at the beginning of the trip that I was not taking a fish until they each put a 200+ tuna on the boat (but when they did, I would take my turn or maybe two), and I was sticking to that.

Anyway, Matt took the next fish and decked another 50-60 pound class fish after an explosive take. Chad and Matt each got another tuna. After we landed Matt's fish and Alvino got the cabbie skipping Chad decided to try to hook the fish himself. It did not take long for a big blowout on the cabbie and Chad got the hookup. He manhandled the 70 pound tuna with the Penn 50 and heavy Calstar rod and Alvino gaffed the fish in about 2 minutes. Chad commented about the gear and said he really liked what it could do. Matt decided to try to hook a tuna on the kite, but we did not get another bite and it was time to head for home as the sun was nearing the horizon.

Alvino had cleaned one of the tuna earlier and set aside a chunk for sashimi. Matt brought wasabi with him and we got soy sauce at the hotel.

I cut up a small tuna loin and Chad mixed up a plate of soy and wasabi while we had a cold Pacifico as Danny set a course for La Cruz at 22 knots.

The sashimi was out of this world and the cold Pacificos were similarly memorable. We enjoyed happy hour as the sun set over Corbetena.

The days catch included 6 dorado and 6 tuna with the biggest tuna at about 70 pounds, and we had three good shots at bigger tuna. Alvino did a super job of cleaning the fish and Matt and Chad took some with them back to the states. We climbed off the Marla at about 7:45 and thanked Danny and Alvino.


Alonso Osuna on the Marla 2 got 7 tuna at Corbetena today with a couple of those in the 100 to 140 class. Scott Osuna got a bunch of Dorado off a floating log. Danny's dad aboard the Arc De Noe got a 270 pound cow at Corbetena.

We had dinner at paradise village, but stuck to appetizers and cervezas because the sashimi was so filling. I said goodbye to Matt and Chad -- they had to get back to the real world on Monday. I on the other hand had 3 more days left and had no idea what awaited me.

Sept 10:

I met Danny this morning at 6:30 again and he said we would fish at Corbetena today. We headed out to Corbetena and had hot bagels with jelly on the run as the sun rose over PV. It was a beautiful morning with light wind and mostly clear skies. We had bagels every morning with Matt and Chad as well.

We got to Corbetena and made skippies quickly. We trolled east of the rock and within the first hour of fishing had three of the skippies knocked down at once. I grabbed the left rigger rod and Alvino took the short line. Alvino was bit, let the fish run, put it in gear, but no love. The other skippies did not get eaten. When we checked Alvino’s bait, it exhibited the telltale marks of a tuna. It appeared that a pack of tuna came into our spread.

Frustration was running high now, but that is how it goes sometimes.

We trolled the skippies for nothing until about 3 pm. Danny was on the radio and said that boats at El Banco had some action on marlin and tuna and that we could run up there if I wanted. He also said that maybe we ought to leave tonight at midnight and go to el Banco to fish at night and to get the gray light bite. He was trying to make it happen and I appreciated the effort.

I noted that we'd had three good shots at Corbetena yesterday (two of which I had farmed) and hooked a good tuna the first day only to lose it before landing chad's 150 pound tuna. I also mentioned that we had gotten bit the first day at Corbetena at 4:30. Finally, I said I was not worried about the fact that we had not caught anything yet today and that we still had two and a half days of fishing left. Danny said "ok, let's stay here this afternoon and then we will make a decision."

We kept trolling and ate some lunch (Danny and Alvino provided two hot meals a day in addition to the bagels to start the morning -- quesadillas, hot dogs, cream of marlin, marinated tuna and rice -- all of it good).

About 4:30 the left rigger got knocked down. I picked up the rod, pointed it at the fish and freespooled it ... The fish took off with the skippie and when Danny gave me the okay, I put it in gear and had the hookup. Danny yelled "perfect hook up." The fish came out of the water and we saw it was a small marlin. I made quick work of it on my Penn 30SW (with enhanced drags to produce 40+ pounds of drag at full), and Alvino removed the hook for the clean release. The little blue was fat and looked about 225 pounds. We were on the board and it felt good to finally connect on a good bite.

Baits went back out and in about five minutes the right rigger went off and I picked up the rod and the clicker screeched as the black marlin took off with the skippie. I put the reel in gear when Danny gave me the okay and the 500 pound class black marlin came out of the water behind the boat shaking its head .... the skippie came flying back at us and the fish was off.

When I retrieved the line, Danny came down to look at the leader. He showed me the scuffs on the leader way above the hook and said that the marlin got the leader around its bill, but was never hooked.

Back to fishing and what had been a slow day had turned hot quickly. We only had the baits out for about 10 minutes when the right rigger line went down. I grabbed the rod and thumbed the spool and held the spectra with my left hand. The bait was nervous and then it got whacked and line peeled off the reel quickly with the clicker crying zzzzzzzz. I put it in gear when Danny gave me the okay and the line came tight and we we're hooked up. The black marlin went airborne going away from us in a series of about 8 greyhounding jumps. My Penn 50SW worked smoothly as the big black took line. Danny yelled "nice black."

Alvino got me in my Smitty spyder harness and plate and I settled in for the fight. Danny backed down on the fish and we made progress. After about 15 minutes the big black went airborne again jumping away from us and slightly to the right, but now the fish was closer to us and we could see that the fish was thick. Danny was yelling and he and Alvino were shouting back and forth. Danny was shouting “Oh my God!” and “Merle, do you see that?” I was not sure how big the fish looked. On the first few jumps it looked to me to be about 450 ... But it was a long ways out. Now it looked awfully fat. Danny later said “Yeah, when it first jumped it was 400 yards away.”

We backed down on the fish and she went deep. I was bearing down hard and I had pushed the lever past strike and was pulling something like 33 pounds of drag (strike was 26 pounds). Danny was communicating constantly ... How was I feeling? Was he backing down on the fish too rapidly?




It was straight up and down and the Calstar 655XXH was bent. Danny said "I know you wanted to pull hard." We kept on with the fish for 20 minutes before we got color the first time. The water was blue/green but clear. I saw the marlin and it looked huge ... Sure did not look like my original 450 estimate. I mean the silhouette of the fish down 20 feet was just massive and radiating cold and copper. I was pulling hard as hell, but could not budge the fish at color. The Calstar rod was nearly bottomed out, but working beautifully. Danny worked the boat and the fish came up and gave us our first good look. Danny said "did you get a good look?" And I said "not really." I kept pulling and she came along the left side of the Marla in full profile ... And I got a good look this time. "HOLY #?*@!!!!!!!" I couldn't believe how fat the fish was. Alvino got the leader but had to dump it. He got it again on the other side of the boat and this time got the bill and removed the hook. Danny grabbed my camera and got some good photos of the fish.



We revived the marlin for about 5 minutes when she lit up and swam off. This was by far the biggest marlin I have ever caught and Danny pegged the fish at 700 pounds. It looked a little bit like one my friend Doug Hanna broke off with Josh Temple last year (that Josh estimated at 750), but it was fatter than Doug’s fish. A well known captain friend of mine in the Gulf of Mexico looked at these photos and put the fish north of 700 pounds. Regardless, it is and was one remarkable fish.

High fives all around and we headed for the barn with a blue marlin release and a black marlin release, and a 500 pound black jumped off. While we were stowing the gear, Alvino picked up my Smitty plate and held it up to Danny ... It was bent. Danny yelled "you bent the fucking aluminum plate on that black!"

Just a few hours earlier we were skunked. In PV, things can change quickly and when the bite turns on, you remember what all the hoopla is about.

On the run in, Danny said that he wanted to leave at 5 am the next day and that we would go to el Banco ... Someone had taken a 336 tuna there the day before.

Sept 11:

I met Danny at 5 am and off we went for the world famous el Banco seamount. I was sore as hell and bruised up from the big black marlin yesterday. With some ibuprofen in my system and the daily dosage of caffeine, I climbed up on the bridge of the Marla and it was time for the adventure to continue.

We made it to el Banco at about 8:45 a.m. and it was perfect weather ... Light wind, blue sky, the whole nine yards.

We made skippies and trolled for awhile without any action. I was still living on the adrenaline from the prior days fishing.

We tried to make some fresh bait at about 10 am and Danny got a bullet tuna on the jig. He scrambled to put it in the tuna tubes and immediately fly lined it, but no luck. Danny was marking a bunch of big fish on the fish finder and he decided to put the planers out to try to catch some more bullet tuna. On the first pass we got five bullet tuna and quickly got them in the tubes (throwing out the skippies we had). Danny and Alvino rigged up my three rods with bullet tuna and Danny, Alvino and I fly lined them. My bait had been swimming for about 20 seconds when I got bit. I said "I am bit" and I let the fish run for a count of three ... I put the Penn 30 in gear and the line came tight and I shouted "hook up!" The fish shook its head a few times and I said "I think it’s a Pargo." It felt heavy and took some line. Danny wanted to get a double header and kept his bait in the water, but then turned and saw the bend in the rod and quickly picked up his bait and climbed to the helm.

The fish bulldogged down deep and did not run far. Danny said "you have a tuna and it’s a cow." Alvino said "si, vacona." Well, I pulled hard on the fish for about 30 minutes without making much progress. I was at near full drag on the 30SW (which put me at 33-35 pounds), but I could not budge the fish. Danny said again "you have a big fish," I was starting to think he was right.




We kept on with this thing for about an hour before we got color ... I was pulling hard (again), working the spool with my left hand, and finally getting a little line. I was getting winded and hot ... It was almost noon, clear skies, no wind, scorching hot and humid ... I downed a couple of Gatorades and a water during the fight, but was running on empty. Finally we got the leader and could see we had a cowfish, but she surged away and Alvino had to dump the leader again. One more time I pulled her within leader range and Alvino got the leader, brought her close enough and we got a gaff in her. Danny jumped off the bridge and got a second gaff in the fish. I put the rod down and we dragged the big tuna up on the rail of the Marla for some photos.



I thought the fish looked like a twin to the 306 my friend Doug got at the Banco in 2004, and a good bit fatter than a 291 I watched Josh weigh in 2005. Danny said it was right at 300 and Alvino said 300 "just a little smaller than last year’s fish."



I was toast and sat down and guzzled two bottles of water. I taped the fish with my 60 inch tape and it came in at 298. Danny and Alvino taped it at 302 .... Nice cow.

Danny said let's make bait and I said if we hooked up in the next hour, Danny would have to take it ... I was shot. Danny was dying to try my Calstar rods to see what they were like. Louis at Badfish is making him a set with colors to match the Marla. We had one more live bullet tuna and Danny decided to flyline it after he set us up over the big marks on the sounder. He dropped it down and within 20 seconds, he was bit. He came tight on the fish and was on for a couple seconds, but then lost the fish. He reeled in the mangled bullet tuna and saw that the circle hook had turned into the bullet tuna preventing the hook up – he was pissed. Danny said “I got greedy. I wanted to hook another cow right away.”

After making some fresh bait (not bullet tuna), we trolled skippies for awhile, then chunked all for nada and headed for La Cruz at about 4:30 pm with plans to leave for el Banco at 4 am the next day. I took two coolers full of the cow back to paradise village. Alvino did his typical superb job steaking out the fish and that fish will be welcomed by a number of my neighbors in Chicago this weekend.

Sept 12:

I met Danny at 4 am in la Cruz and we headed for the Banco one more time. I laid down in the cabin of the Marla for the run out in the dark. The cabin is air conditioned and I bagged some sleep on the way. We got to the Banco at about 8 am and it was beautiful.

The plan was to catch some bullets, fly line them and see if we could get another cow. I told Danny that today was all "gravy" and if we caught nothing, that would be okay. He just smiled and ignored me.

We trolled the planers for bait this a.m. and caught a bunch of skippies, but no bullets. We tried fly lining the skippies where Danny was marking the big fish, but the tuna did not want the skippies.

We tried for the bullets again, but only caught two ... One at a time. I fly lined those, but nothing doing.

As the morning wore on, it was quiet.

We tried chunking again in the afternoon but did not get so much as a rainbow runner in our chunkline.

At about 2, Manny on the Pacifico called Danny to report a hook up on a big tuna. Manny got bit on a skippie, so Danny ran over to the high spot and caught three skippies on the iron (I mean he dropped the jig and caught the bait himself ... Rather feverishly, I might add.)

We got three fresh skippies out and started trolling around where Danny was marking the big fish. In about 10 minutes the left rigger went off and the clicker screeched as the fish took off with the bait. I put the reel in gear and a 115 pound sailfish came out of the water ... not what we we're after. We released it unharmed and kept trolling our two remaining skippies.

Danny had some dinner made up and I ate the marinated tuna and rice with hot bread and butter. Danny said he wanted me to get something to eat because I was going to need it when we hooked up. He said "we are going to get bit." Then he said "we are not going in skunked," with a big smile on his face.

We trolled for another 10 minutes and it was about 4:30 when the right rigger got knocked down. I picked up the Penn 50SW thumbed the spool and held the spectra with my left index finger. The bait was nervous and then it got whacked and the clicker screeched ZZZZZZZ. Danny yelled "let him take it!!!" I freespooled the reel and line peeled off quickly ZZZZZZ. Danny said "OK," and I put it in gear. The line came tight and the Penn 50SW screamed ZZZZZZZZ ... I yelled "HOOK UP!" And we we're on again.

The fish charged the boat and Danny had to gun it to keep the line tight. Then the fish turned away from the boat and burned about 150 yds of line off – I mean smoked the drag. Then it charged the boat again, then another burner of a run .... Maybe 200 yards like the reel was in freespool.

Danny was yelling "that's a big fucking cow man!" Alvino was shouting at Danny "grande grande grande"

Then the fish settled down (I got the harness on) and I slowly retrieved about 300 yards of line. I said to Danny that I thought the fish was off, and he thought it might have gotten tail wrapped. We got a lot of line back and then the fish came to life again and started dogging straight down.

Danny said again. "This is a big fucking cow. It’s going to be just like yesterday." He laughed and said "you are in deep shit."

It was getting toward 5 p.m. and very hot at the Banco and here I was again hooked up to a giant tuna .... Unbelievable.

We worked this fish hard for an hour and Alvino said to me "330 ... Big pince vacona!" And then he laughed. I was well past strike drag on the Penn 50SW and the Calstar rod was almost bottomed out, but both were working flawlessly. All aboard the Marla could see that the angler, on the other hand, was not functioning very efficiently.

The big tuna would not come up and Danny tried several maneuvers with the boat before the tuna finally came up and we saw the leader for the first time. Then the fish swung wide left of the prop wash and Danny yelled "way over 300 pounds" and I saw that this looked to be the biggest tuna of my life.

I was lying back in my harness and pulling like hell. I was pretty tired to start the day, but now I was reaching meltdown. This fish was pulling harder than the tuna yesterday (but not as hard as the black marlin), and we were having a hard time controlling the fish. Danny had to take quick action several times as the fish tried to get into the props. I went back and forth across the transom from corner to corner trying to control the fish, and to gain ground. Danny said “are you in low gear” and when I said I was not, he said “put it in low, and start short stroking the fish.” I did as directed and we gained a little ground. We were circling and the fish was using its body well to make it difficult to gain ground. We got six inches at a time, and finally Alvino got a grab on the leader. The fish took off and he had to dump the 200# P-line fluorocarbon. We kept at if for a few more minutes (that seemed like an eternity), and Alvino got the leader again. Once again, the fish surged away. There was a lot of shouting “Big fucking cow!” and “Pince Vacona” as we went around and around. Danny said “one more time” and I pulled to get six inches, then another, and another and I could see the big tuna in the clear blue/green water just out of reach. Alvino got the leader a third time, took a couple wraps and we got our gaff shot and Danny was on the deck with the second gaff sticking the fish in the head. Shouts went up and we worked together to get the tuna up on the rail for a photo or two and into the boat.



Danny was almost as excited as I was. Alvino looked at the fish and said “330” Danny said he thought the fish was 330 or maybe a little more. I took off my soaking wet shirt and jumped in the ocean to cool off. I then guzzled a couple Gatorades. Danny said “let’s get our last bait out …” and before he could finish I said I didn’t think that would be a good idea (not exactly what I said). Danny laughed and we pulled in the outriggers, and got out the tape measure. The big cow was 79 by 58 inches which put it at 332 pounds. It was fat, and the same length as the tuna I got last season at el Banco with Danny and Alvino, but just slightly fatter (it looked a little fatter than the one last year) -- Danny said he’d weigh the fish at the dock, and he e-mailed me on the evening of Sept. 13^th that the tuna weighed 322 pounds. This tuna set a new personal best for me (beating out the tuna I got with Danny and Alvino last August at El Banco).

We headed for La Cruz at 5:45 p.m. with another cow on the deck. After rehydrating, I had a beer with Danny and he said “I told you we were gonna get bit.”



For five days of fishing on the Marla, we got 6 Dorado, a sailfish (released), 6 school size tuna, a 150 pound class tuna, a 225 pound blue marlin (released), a 300 pound class tuna, a 322 pound tuna (a new personal best), and an estimated 700 pound black marlin (released, another personal best). Neither Matt nor Chad got the 200+ tuna I’d hoped they would get, but got a better glimpse into what PV can be.

For me the last three days of the trip will be unforgettable – a giant black marlin and two cows with one well over 300 pounds. What is the right word or phrase? Unbelievable? Surreal? Killer? Phenomenal? Remarkable? Trip of a lifetime?

I don’t know what to more to say about Danny and Alvino. They work their asses off every day, and they have an unbelievable work ethic and drive to get their clients on fish. What can I say? Two big cows and a monster black marlin in three days. These guys are awesome. Thanks to Danny and Alvino for another trip of a lifetime. If you want hard core fishing on a top notch boat with good people at a reasonable price, get in touch with Danny atmarlas_fishing@yahoo.com.mx, or www.marlasportfishing.com. I am back down to PV in a few weeks with Danny and Alvino, and looking forward to it.

[Mstonefish]

Damn, great pics............excellent trip and report!

[@-EZ]

Fantastic report and pix.... Thank you...

[locobro]

Thats fishing heaven right there Merle, Congrats!

[captainpound]

This is great news as I fly out tommorow

[mercerm]

Fantastic report and pics!! Thanks.

[byeye]

AWESOME reports and pictures, thanks.

[seanboi]

that shit is nuts excellant report and pics!!!!

[Dshore]

Merle..

Great clients have epic trips!!

Always a pleasure fishing with you offshore!

[Compromise]

NICELY DONE!

[Gmoney!]

congrats Merle, you are one lucky SOB And excellent job by Danny and Alvino.

Damn, why did we have to have the BD tourney in August

[Bogii]

Merle u put the time and it shows!!
awsome fishing amigo and well done.

Bogii