Puerto Vallarta Trip (to Tres Marias) Dec 15-17 on the Marla IV

[Wally15]

Fishermen - Bill and LB Benz from Brunswick, GA, Scott Werner from Brooklyn, NY, and Mike Pate from Leesburg, GA. Scott and I were last minute additions to the group due to a family emergency to the other couple scheduled to go.
We all went down a day early and stayed at a nice B&B and ate at some great local restaurants in La Cruz. Will do a separate post about that.
The fishing trip:
Got to the boat at 3 PM Friday, Dec 15th.  We snacked and I had a few margaritas at marina restaurant while the crew was prepping the boat. Alonzo, Scott and Roberto's brother, replaced Antonio on the crew this trip. Paquito (Scotty's 16 yo son) was an additional deckhand and was frequently teased about killing our bait last trip. A true family affair. It does not pay to be thin skinned around that bunch!
Left dock at 6 PM. Headed to 4th, most northern, island based on a last minute fishing report texted to Scotty of some nice tuna being caught up there. Rained hard until midnight, then cleared up and we had good weather the rest of the trip.
Saturday Dec 16 - Stopped for squid at 3 AM off south island. Almost new moon. We caught 10-12 12" squid. Got to fishing spot west of 4th island about 8:00 AM. The Constitution, a Long Range boat is also out there tuna fishing. Put out lines and I almost immediately got a hit and miss on a squid, then a balloon cavvie rig hit right next to me. I moved to the tuna rig and lost a decent fish after 10 minutes. Hook pulled out I guess. A nice 4'+ sailfish hit the squid rig I had left unattended and made several spectacular jumps before getting off.  I'm not off to a good start. Weather is great, a few clouds, 80 degrees, 5-8 knots of wind from the northeast. About a perfect drift speed.
9:50 AM Fish On! Scott fights and lands a 196 caught on a balloon cavvie rig at 10:40. Between photos and fish cleaning, lines back out about 11:50.

At 12:15 I'm freelining a squid when I get a hard hit. Almost spooled a Mak 20 100 lb braid/Seeker rod boat combo. Started chasing with boat in reverse. Drag still singing with waves coming over the back. Turned boat around and I moved to bow. An hour and 15 min later I land a 347 lb super cow. Right hand is cramping and I'm jelly legged. Awesome fish!  Bucket list item crossed off. Note: I had NEVER even caught a tuna over 100 pounds before. When cleaning my fish, fresh scraps and trimmings from cleaning Scott's fish found in his stomach. Plus lots of small squid. Tuna bite slows down. Late afternoon we move inshore to jig and bottom fish for a couple of hours. Caught 9-10 Pargos total. I caught 2 on bottom rigs and lost a reef donkey, all on cavvies. Triggerfish were nailing the squid before it even got to the bottom. To bed at 9 PM after several Don Julio margaritas. Only 2 tuna caught on Day 1, but 500 lbs total catch weight.
Sunday Dec 17 - Up at 3 AM, Bill & Scott squid fishing. Need to get Bill & LB a tuna!!
4:30 AM - squid bite wide open. Live well full. 5 gal bucket filling up. Bill caught about 35 out of the 50 squid.
At 6:30 we move back to original starting spot west 4th island, off Mona Rock.
7:45 AM - Fish On! Bill landed a taped 202 at 8:45 after an hour fight. Caught on a Mak 20/Seeker boat rig on a squid fished deep. Mak 20 bearings froze up about halfway during fight. And it also wouldn't go into low gear. Crew changed reels mid-fight and Bill still landed the fish. I had never seen that done before. Roberto was hand lining a 200 lb tuna while Scotty and Lorenso splice the lines together. 10 minutes later Bill is back in business with a Mak 50. I told Scotty that I knew a guy named Alan Tani who is the Dr Phil of conventional reels!
Overcast, a few sprinkles, light wind from NE. Lower 70's AM, mid 80's PM. My right shoulder is sore as heck from yesterday's fish. I'm happy to spectate, photograph, and try to stay out of the way.
9:15 - Fish On! Balloon rig cavvies. LB landed a 192 on a boat rig after an hour fight.
10:30 - Fish On! Balloon rig cavvies again.  Scott has the honors. Good fish, long fight on a boat rig (Mak 20 I think), 1:10 minutes. Taped at 180 lbs.
10:50 - Fish On! Bill took honors, it hit his Alutechnos single speed reel while freelining a squid.  We now have two big tuna on at same time. And one already on the deck. 1:40 minute fight, took over 30 minutes to get the fish the last 50 feet. He refused to come up. Taped at 185 lbs. Now 3 big tuna cluttering the deck. Group photo with last 3 fish caught. Clean fish until 2:30. Quick lunch and move to ridge to bottom fish. We're running out of room for freezing tuna. I'm using a Mak 15 bottom rig w/ Seeker rod. Triggerfish everywhere. Managed to get 1 Pargo and 2 triggers. Lost another reef donkey, 80 lb line broke at hook. Wind picking up, fast drift. Many repositions. Everyone else jigging. Several nice grouper, 5 Pargo, 13 triggers total. Left 4th island at 6 PM headed back to port. Good dinner, several margaritas, a nice shower and in bed by 8:30. A very full day and some tired but happy campers.
Monday Dec 18 - Up at 2 AM. Overcast, mid 70's. Beautiful thunderstorm off in the distance, lightning striking water and lots of air-to air lightning between clouds. Mother Nature's awesome light show, unfortunately it's too dark to photograph. But it's not raining.
We landed 6 tuna total, and lost only one (me!). Total weight was 1300 lbs, a 217 average. Not bad for 2 days of fishing. Plus lots of nice bottom fish were landed and vacuum packed.
At dock at 9:15 AM.  Unload, pack the coolers with maybe a quarter of the catch, then a 10:30 departure for airport, arrive PVR at 11:15. Bill, LB, and I have 5 hours to kill before our 4:15 flight. Scott left us at 1 PM for his flight to NY. Plane change and customs at DFW. 8:50 departure, arrived JAX at 11:55. At 12:30 AM Tuesday, Dec 19th I told Bill and LB bye and got my car for the 3.5 hour drive home. Trip over at 4:15 AM.
I've never been so happy to only land one tuna on a 2 day fishing trip.
I'll add pictures and some Utube video links later.
GA Mike

[steelfish]

At 12:15 I'm freelining a squid when I get a hard hit. ....... An hour and 15 min later I land a 347 lb super cow. Right hand is cramping and I'm jelly legged. Awesome fish!  Bucket list item crossed off.
GA Mike

so happy for you compadre .. Ajuua !!
Karma works fast.
next time you want a super cow, just give away tons of reels again days before your trip 

congrats !!

[MarkT]

Nice report and result Mike. You certainly got the result you were looking for... and then some! You'll be having a good Christmas since you got the present you really wanted!

The baits are called Cabbies... short for Cabbalito (little horse), also known as google-eye or big eye scad up here. Great bait for tuna... almost as good as squid which is THE candy bait for pretty much everything!

[Swami805]

Yup that good Karma kicking in. What a fish!!! Fish of a lifetime X10.  Been on over a dozen trips 16 days and longer and the biggest tuna I've seen landed was 297. Crazy big fish, HATS OFF to you.
Quick Question- We fished el Banko below the tres marias on a 21 day and were scared to death to get within 5 miles of those islands since they're a prison.  Has that changed? We're you fishing tight to the island?

[coastal_dan]

I just commented in the other post Alan started, but it was fun reading this report...

Some of it was almost poetic "drag still screaming with waves coming over the back..." 

[MarkT]

Yup that good Karma kicking in. What a fish!!! Fish of a lifetime X10.  Been on over a dozen trips 16 days and longer and the biggest tuna I've seen landed was 297. Crazy big fish, HATS OFF to you.
Quick Question- We fished el Banko below the tres marias on a 21 day and were scared to death to get within 5 miles of those islands since they're a prison.  Has that changed? We're you fishing tight to the island?

They're locals... 'nuff said.

[alantani]

just friggin' awesome! 

[dangalang]

Now that's a tuna!! Way to go Peaches!!

[Big Tim]

You can't make this up....Amazing 

Tim

[Vintage Offshore Tackle]

Congratulations on the monster fish Mike!  Some people (like me!) fish their whole lives and never get a shot at a 300lb. yellowfin.  I can't call it a supercow because "cow" seems like such a demeaning name for something that beautiful.

Thanks for the great report!

Randy

[Wally15]

After 4 failed attempts, I finally got a UTube video of the supercow. It's 4 minutes of a 90 minute battle.



GA Miguelito

[alantani]

absolutely amazing!   

[foakes]

Great job, Mike!

Best,

Fred

[Dominick]

That was a good job Mike.  Dominick

[David Hall]

Awesome video, great catch Mike!  No way that fish was coming in over the rail!