Fished with Dennis (32luhrs) in the Bloody Decks Yellowtail Shootout back in June.
Although our catch wasn't big enough to get us on the leader board, we got lucky in the raffle and won a day charter on the Pacifico with Captain Manny.
Manny and crew are great guys and spared no effort to put us on the right kind. This was my first trip to PV and I learned a ton of info from these guys about the style of fishing they do down there. I'll definitely be fishing with these guys again, Insha'Allah!
Day 1:
First timer rookie mistake: Should have known better from my trips to Tijuana, but arrived Friday night and immediately hit every bar along the Marina Vallarta drinking whatever it was they were pouring pouring in the 2-for-1 special margaritas.
Sat. morning heading out
picking up a load of caballitos and swapping stories about last night's chicas
I'm still nursing my hangover while Dennis here is putting the hurt on a nice size dorado.
I still managed to shoot a few pics before resuming the embryo position on top of the port engine cover.
Check out how flat that water is in the background!
One tequila, two tequila, three tequila floor...Five tequila, six tequila, seven tequila morgue...
One last jump before meeting the gaff
Bull meets gaff
pinche tuna boil
free jumping dorado
something wicked this way came...
So it's sometime in the afternoon and I'm still curled up on top of the port engine cover. In a cold sweat, minding my own business, using my hands to hold the sides of my head together -- hoping to keep it from exploding.
Suddenly, I get a splash of cold water on my feet and someone tells me to grab a rod.
Huh?
Oh, Dennis is on another fish. Guess I gotta help clear some lines or something...so ok, I reach for the rod in the rocket launcher above me and then I hear somebody yelling at me:
No! Not that rod! THIS ONE!
I'm handed my calstar 760H from the corner with the Tiagra 50WLRS peeling off 200# spectra at a rather alarming rate.
Oh, shit. Double hookup. This is not good.
I can't deal with this while still keeping my hands clasped to the sides of my head so it won't bust apart.
Forgetting my head, I instinctively start cranking the handle of the Tiagra while I'm helped to get the fighting plate clipped onto my harness.
I can feel the violent tail shakes as the fish is pulling drag. Hey, there's a fairly
decent sized tuna on the end of this line! I'm sweating out last night's rotgut mezcal in bullets while I figure I'll keep cranking on this fish and just go ahead to leave my head to explode.
Maybe after that, it'll stop hurting so much.
Dennis brings in another nice dorado and a little while later I bring in this nice veal size tuna.
Ok, now that's over. I can resume the position on the port engine cover...
Then another dodo goes apeshit on the deck...
This one's an ankle-biter:
one of the beach resort hotels just outside the marina
Don't take the budget charter...
Flying the flags on the way in:
Day2:
After yesterday, it was no mas drinking for me.
Well, not really -- maybe just a little cerveza to help with the DTs and the hair o' the dog.
This time it was just me going, and after yesterday's performance on the engine cover, I had to bring my A game.
We were going out early, heading out to El Banco and Corbetena to take a shot at finding some cow size tuna.
Chatted with Manny a bit on the way out of the marina since I wasn't especially conversational the day before. Super cool guy and shared a lot of information with me as we motored west past the point of Banderas Bay.
Since we got an extra early start, it was still completely dark as we were passing the point. With so few ground lights around, I could see all the stars that give the Milky Way its name. Meanwhile some kind of plankton or something in the water was giving off firefly sized iridescent blue fireballs shooting off the stern wake. Pre-dawn paradise. Wish I could've gotten a picture of it all, but I would've needed one of those f1.6 lenses that cost almost as much as a house in Lakeside.
After a the nighttime light display in sky and water, I had a couple hours to catch a nap during the long haul out to El Banco.
At the conclusion of my nap to the somniferous diesel lullaby atop my favorite engine cover, I opened my eyes to this: Wow! Good Morning!
OK, Now was time to get down to business: We started making bait; catching skipjack and bonito with the larger models pulling plenty of drag on my Trinidad 40 and putting up a rather tough fight in their own right.
...and that was just the bait!
Once we made enough bait, we started a troll and got our first hookup on a high society sized dorado. He made several spectacular leaps until getting about 50' from the boat and threw the hook.
So much for bringing my 'A' game, "El Ranchero."
Tried to act like it didn't matter, it was just a dodo and not the super cow we came looking for. But, damn. That was a big dodo.
Next up, a sailfish and a pretty damn big one at that. If only we were catching this fish next week for the Pez Vela tourney. We might be a serious contender with this sailfish here!
Whoa! This is a seriously pissed off sailfish.
up
and over
We all strike a quick pose for the camera:
Then it's back in the water, fuck you very much...
It's very rare you get a do-over on "the one that got away". But on this day, we got a 2nd chance to catch the dorado that ate cincinnati:
Another pez vela finning alongside us
While still another is putting a knockdown on one of the outriggers. Note the broken black rubber band hanging off the line on the left and you can just make out the fin in center frame:
Manny sets up to throw a bait to a sail off the bow
While I lay down a couple examples of some seriously fine photography -- if I do say so my own bad self
Next, I pin on a cabbie and head to the bow to take my own turn at casting a bait to a finning sailfish. But, as soon as I get to the bow, there's a hookup on the left corner flatline.
Dilemma: stay at the bow and cast a fresh bait to a finning sailfish, or climb back into the cockpit and grab the rig that just got hooked up...
Well, it was my rig that was peeling off line so I figured I better go do something about it.
For you Kevan: Shameless Noah's product placement!
Failure after failure: we're out looking for super-vaca, and get another puta vela instead. (In this picture, you can see how well I completely hide my frustration at this situation.
)
Not as big as the last one
I have my revenge on that pinche tuna that made my head explode yesterday.
Lunch was Yellow Fin Tuna sashimi made PV style with serrano chili.
Also some Yellow Fin Tuna civiche
crashing tuna
and another
Fish flying over bird! DAMN! Check this out! I **GOTTA** get a better lens for this camera!!!
Dang! These are REALLY hard shots to get. (FOCUS! FOCUS! FOCUS!)
day 2 final score, Now cows for me this trip. Saw a lot of small and mid sized tuna out there, crashing everywhere, but just couldn't get them to play. Had one hookup on what might have been another fairly decent sized tuna, but couldn't keep it stuck. Looked like mostly they were going after masses of finger sized clamari and just weren't that interested in our baits.
...and back to the casa for some relaxation!
Thanks Manny and everybody from the Pacifico!!! Had an amazing time!
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