327lbs yellowfin caught by Clarke Smith on his boat “Aleta”on an Avet JX filled with 80lbs Berkeley spectra on a Calstar 610H custom baitcaster wrapped by Taniguchi, Inc with Yo-Zuri 100lbs pink flouro on a 6/0 Hyabusa circle hook. Fight time was five hours. Capt Manny at the helm, Mitchell and Abel as deckies with Ali as extra gaffer and moral support.
Yawn. Another big tuna for a PV boat thiese past few weeks.
Well, now that the STFU rhubarb has settled down a bit it’s time to talk about something worthwhile - PV fishing and even some catching. Here is a recap of our 3 ½ days of fishing including the aforementioned STFU Tournament. If you’re short on time, do the pictures. For the whole shebang, read on below the photos.
Damn fish is bigger than Abel!
Dos Hermanos - The fourth 300lbs+ plus this season for Capt Manny
Ali's marlin
The 190lber with some body piercing
Saturday – The first day started out with some choppy weather on the run out to the Bank. Luckily, the weather came down as the day progressed. Lots of tuna showing with plenty of bait across the Bank with several fish hooked and boated. Animal House put a 60-70 kilo fish in the boat as well as a tuna for Lance and Songie. We got a smaller tuna on the popper, two nice dodos and a decent bite that didn’t stick. Brant, fishing on Martuni, hooked a big tuna while skipping the kite bait only to lose the fish boat side after 3-hour fight. We fished the Bank until almost dark and ran into Mita for night.
Sunday – Flats seas and plenty of boats at El Banco for Day 2 of STFU. Bait was a little easier to make today and, although there was not as much surface action as the previous day, lots of big fat meter marks showed on the sounder. Mid morning the left rigger gets bit and Ai sets the hook into a nice blue. He makes fairly quick work of the marlin and we get the fish boat side for a clean release but forget to put the tag in. Oh well. Baits go back in and shortly thereafter the downrigger rod takes the familiar downwards dip and its tuna time. A little while later we boat a 190lbs tuna. Meanwhile, the bite takes off for the fleet. Steve D. hooks into his demon, Lance gets bit, Animal House has successive bites. The fishing is damn good. Ali gets another good bite but the bait comes back chewed but not swallowed. The bite at Corbetenia also goes off with a number big fish chewing. Just another day in PV. We fished it late again but ran into the Marina to get more ice, water and a little fuel.
Monday – We had a later start today and made it to the Bank around 10:30am. Quieter on the Bank today only Southern Way ( insane yacht BTW) and one other charter boat. The rest of the fleet opted for La Piedra. It was a quiet day for us with no bites through the Noon hour. Around 12:30pm Manny decides its time to fly the kite. As we set up our drift and put up the kite, Ali and I each toss out a flylined cabbie.. Almost immediately I got picked up but, since my bait swam down, I never saw the bite or the tuna. And so the saga began at 12:30pm.
After almost getting spooled on the initial run we started chasing the fish. It didn’t take long to figure out this was going to take awhile. For the next several hours we primarily chased the fish in forward gear at 4-7 knots. Hell, I’m not sure it really even knew it was hooked based on the way it swam. In 300-400 feet of water getting spooled wasn’t a big concern unless we went dead in the water and the fish never strayed too far before changing directions. As the JX does not have eyelets for the harness we McGuivered up a safety cord to wrap around the base of the rod and allow the harness to work. I decided to not go hard on the drag early on as I didn’t really feel it would do much to slow this fish down. Steve D. and Bogii had tough 2-3+ hour fish the day before with heavy drags and the right gear. What in the hell was I going to accomplish on a similar tuna with a 6’8” baitcaster, a small diameter reel and 100lbs leader? My guess was stop it or pop was pretty much a foregone conclusion to pop it.
After over two and a half hours the fish made a wild run to the surface and double backed, allowing Manny to see it was indeed a decent fish. Manny didn’t get a great look but thought maybe over two bills. Down it went and the swimming continued, dumping line off the reel, putting it back on with a hell of a lot cranks again and again and again and again and again. The fish would occasionally slow down or even stop for minute, but then the swim-a-thon would continue. I had continued to bump up the drag every now and then with seemingly no effect on the fish. We tried maneuvering the boat at different angles, working up current, down current, fast, slow – it didn’t matter. We could never get the fish up above 180 feet before it would head off into the deep again.
After four hours it was clear that the fish was still very much in control. – it had the lead, we just followed. Luckily, I felt good and comfortable despite the make shift harness. Figuring this was going to be a marathon I tried to stay relaxed, keep pressure on the fish but only pull hard and burn energy when I needed to. I remembered Marlin Parker’s story of one of his good anglers who stayed in the chair for 23 hours straight on a huge marlin . What’s 6-7 hours compared to that? Hell, what else would I rather be doing? Absolutely nothing. This is exactly why one spends the money, time and effort to own a boat and fish Vallarta. Enjoy it while you can.
I kept waiting for the tale tell signs that the fish was changing its habits – a break from the pattern that might give a sliver of hope the fish was tiring. Everyone has been there – wondering when and if it will happen before the leader chews through, the knot fails or hook works out. Well, at about four hours and thirty minutes it happened. I have to admit I was getting somewhat skeptical if and when it would happen, but it did. The fish started a deep circle. But what did it have left in the tank?
I bumped up the drag again and started to gain inches of line on the circles and I could sense the tables had turned. Slowly but surely I got the fish up. Finally, deep color and bigger counter clockwise circles. Manny never let up on the fish, working the throttles and gears, keeping me in the corner and communicating with Abel and Mitchell on the movements. I keep pressure on the fish but gave on the out swing of the circle to try and prevent a last minute zing-pow on the 100lbs leader. After five hours, a little more patience couldn’t hurt. Finally, a couple of circles tight to the boat and the wind on leader was bringing the fish almost within gaff range. On the last circle the fish came to the surface and reversed course across the transom. Mitchell and Abel hit it with the flying gaffs next to the swimstep and Ali and Manny followed with two fixed gaffs. With four gaffs sticking out of the fish, it continued to try to swim alongside of the boat with a steady tail beat. Amazing.
If you haven’t had the opportunity to fight a big fish with Manny at the helm, you are in for treat. He does an incredible job of putting the angler in the best position possible and anticipates the movement of the fish as well as any captain I have ever fished with. I have been very fortunate to have him at the controls while on nice fish, but never more so than on this occasion. He has become a real master of his profession at the wheel.
The Avet JX performed flawlessly the entire time – smooth drag and easy shifting under pressure. I had about 27lbs of drag on the reel at the end and I felt that the reel was capable of even more. It was a fair fight in my opinion. And remember, this is the third 300lbs+ fish caught this season ( Gernsey and Manny earlier this year) on a JX or small Avet reel so it is not a lighting strike. The 80lbs Berkeley spectra was in good shape, the Calstar 610H was a long but quality stick with just enough backbone and the wind flouro was fresh.
Would I want to do it all over again? Absolutely without hesitation. It was without a doubt the most rewarding experience of my angling career thus far. I would not knowingly toss a cabbie on a JX to a 300lber, but what the hell. Shit happens out there and sometimes, if you are patient and a bit lucky, incredible things can happen.
I had a great time fishing with Ali - hopefully the next toad will have his name on it. As to the much maligned TFAC, you can stick a fork it. I'll take it any day of the week.
327lber - Avet JX style 
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