I'm back from Puerto Vallarta and open for business. Had a great trip!

[Vintage Offshore Tackle]

We had a great trip at Puerto Vallarta, with just 8 guys fishing on the 70' Apollo.  The daytime fishing was very spotty with just a few fish caught running and gunning on the slide with live caballitos.  I got a couple of small fish on the popper, but we only had three or four shots at them within casting range for the whole trip.  We caught maybe a half-dozen fish total on the kite and balloons.  There were a pair of seiners working the area so the fish were a little bit squirrelly and boat-shy.  We lost one day to bad weather where we had to anchor up on El Banco because it was too rough to drift.  I came up out of my bunk one time and it looked like we were in a giant washing machine with 30 kt. wind and seas going in every direction so I went back to bed for the rest of the day because I was afraid that I would get sick if I stayed on deck, but otherwise we had very fishable weather.

The night-time fishing was a different story.  I would guess that we had at least twenty fish over 100 lbs for the two nights of good fishing, both on squid and jigs (about 50/50).  I had five over 100 including a 160 and a 220.  I was on the bigger fish for two hours on 130 lb with 35 lbs. of drag once it settled down, and bumped it up to 42 lbs at the end.  The fish dragged me around the boat more than a dozen times (I mean it literally dragged me because I couldn't get the rod off of the rail).  I was using my Calstar GF755XXH with my 23 year-old old Cal's Penn 50SW full of 150 braid with a 130 lb. wind-on.  The short rod was great for pulling but I had several really close calls in the corners when the fish was doing big circles near the end.  I felt the line touch the boat twice even though I had my arms stretched out as far as I could go with the heavy drag, and I thought it was all over both times, but I got away with it.  I will not be using a short stick on a big sportboat again.

I am waiting to get some good photos from the rest of the guys as I did not bring a camera, but here's the one shot that someone sent to me of my best fish of the trip.  It taped out at 74" long to the fork, but was pretty slender so it only went 220.  It had a set of amazing sickle fins.  I am on the left with the beard and the rod.

If anyone wants any info on the Apollo Puerto Vallarta program, please let me know.

Randy

[STRIPER LOU]

WOW Randy, looks like you guys had a ball. Its a blast catching those hundred pounders on jigs huh!!!!
Nice work,  ..  Lou

[BMITCH]

NICE FISH!!!!

[alantani]

congratulations!!!!!!!  now get back to work!   

[conchydong]

Awesome, great job!

[Tightlines667]

Nice work Randy!

30K not winds are no joke, and are uncomfortable at the least, on these larger vessels. 

Way to get it done!

[steelhead_killer]

Lots of sushi!   

[swill88]

Great report Randy!

[cbar45]

Nice catch Randy!

Love the shirt as well...

Chad

[Alto Mare]

Nice fish Randy, I'm glad you had a great trip. How's your shoulder., from the pic looks like you're still standing straight, must not be too bad .
Great job and good advice on the longer rod.

Sal

[Dominick]

Well done Randy.  Dominick

[David Hall]

Nicely done.  Looks like it was a great trip.

[Shark Hunter]

Good Job Randy!

[Cortez_Conversions]

Glad you had fun Randy!

[Vintage Offshore Tackle]

WOW Randy, looks like you guys had a ball. Its a blast catching those hundred pounders on jigs huh!!!!
Nice work,  ..  Lou

Thanks Lou.  You're right about fishing the jig.  You keep dropping it down and cranking it back up as fast as you can, and after doing that a few dozen times, you go on autopilot and start daydreaming and then the handle just stops and for a second you can't figure out what's going on, and then the line starts peeling off of the reel and you remember what you were doing and the adrenalin starts pumping.