puerto vallarta with scotty osuna, january 2018

[alantani]

the tsutaoka charter on the marla IV, january 2018


this is trip number two out of three that were scheduled for this short stretch.  got a little carried away here, but somehow i managed to schedule three trips with the osuna's in a 4 month period of time.  a rough summer with zero fishing was part of the reason.  hey, no one lies on their death bed and says "i wish i would have spent more time at the office....".

most of you have read the reports over the last couple of years.  some things were the same.  we teamed up with scotty, roberto, scotty jr., and antonio again on the marla IV out of puerto vallarta.  this was ben's trip, so it was me, ben and james again.  same 3.5 day format, same baits, same makaira boat reels, same seeker boat rods, still brought my own personal maks and uc rods, and same success. 

there were a few things different this time.  joe ponas out of oregon was the new guy.  ben brought some new gear, a pair of penn vsx's, a united  composites rod and a seeker rod.  we used gamakatsu hooks this time.  oh, and i caught a yellowfin that taped out at 273 pounds, but more on that later......

from anywhere on the west coast, you can book with alaska airlines and get a companion fare for cheap if you have an alaska airlines visa card.  it will save you allot of money!  virgin airlines now partners with alaska, so we flew with them this time. 


january 2nd, 2018

caught the early flight out of san francisco with virgin.  when we arrived in puerto vallarta, i found this just sitting all by itself in the middle of the floor.  yup, it was my reel bag, all shredded.



it must have gotten caught in the conveyor belts.  there was no one in the baggage pick up area to talk to and we had a boat to catch, so we left.  i didn't find this until later.  it's my penn 50 vsx.  still functional, but the frame and both side plates ware shredded.  screw it.  it will works and there are fish to catch.  i'll deal with this later. 



scotty picked us up at the "oxxo" and drove us south to the old district of town for some cubans, then north to the mega for some don julio blanco, and then continued north to the boat.  dinner was at oso's. 



these guys don't drink as hard as the last group, so it was only two rounds of don julio's! 



dinner was tasty as ever!



back to the boat. 



ben, james and i each brought a pair of rods.  i had a 5-pack of these 7/0 gamakatsu ringed circle hooks, so i loaded up five of the rods with these.  nothing is more simple than a single san diego.  for ben's last rod, i just grabbed a generic non-ringed circle hook that i found in a tackle box.  remember this.   it will come back to bite us in the #### later. 




january 3rd, 2018

you know, i'll never get tired of this!



actually, i should introduce everyone.  ben is out chartermaster!



james is an old college drinking buddy of ben's.



new guy is joe ponas from oregon.



our skipper is scotty osuna.



deckhand and chef is roberto osuna.



second deckhand is antonio.



and our dishwasher and designated bait assasin is scotty osuna, jr.!



one shark hit the balloon rig and chewed through the line early the first morning.  that was it for action all day.  a long day with nothing to show for it.  we had a couple of hours between sunset and moonrise where there was total darkness.  we used that time to make bait.  we put 25 squid in the tank and bagged and froze another 25. 




january 4th, 2018

joe was first up and hooked into a slug with ben's rod.  it was flat calm and maybe 5am.  that fish literally spun the boat around 3 times.  at deep color, an hour into the fight, the line pulled from the hook.  remember the rod that did NOT get a brand new gamakatsu ringed circle hook?  yeah, that one.  the eye had to have literally opened up and the line pulled out.  the line did not break and the knot was totally intact.  yeah, the eye had to have opened up!



james was next and landed his fish, about 120 to 125.  it was with a jon vadney custom united composites viper and a makaira 20 with 100 pound braid, a 100 pound fluoro topshot, 35 pounds of drag at strike, and a hook that worked. 



ben was next and landed his, about the same weight.  he had an old seeker troller and my penn 50 vsx with all the road rash.



finally, joe picked up a nice dorado. 



it made great tacos, but that was it for the rest of the day. 



more squid!  25 more in the tank and maybe 50 bagged and frozen.




january 5th, 2018

back at it, last day of fishing, so far only two in the box.  i wanted to make sure that joe got a fish, so i told him to go next.  first thing in the morning, joe sticks a small one.  then it's my turn.  mine was a dink.  hell, antonio reeled in half way just trying to make sure the hook was set! at least we have one each.



our afternoon snack was better than the fishing had been, so far.



nearly bored to death, ben gets the idea to start chunking with squid.  and i'll be damed if it didn't work.  we got a double, and on autopsy, both fish had squid chunks in their bellies!



joe got his second fish right away and suddenly our trip is turning around. 



we still have alot of work to do.  the fish have to be cut up, stuffed into bags, then vacuum sealed and dunked in slush ice.





but there's one last fish, and it grabs the boat's kite rig with the old seeker trolling rod and the makaira 50 with the busted clicker that you can't turn off. 



it taped out at 273 pounds and took 25 minutes.  i've got a long way to go before i can beat mike pate!



we still have work to do!



time to break down our gear and settle in for a 10 hour run back to port!




january 6th, 2018

back at the dock!



all packed up and ready to go!  125 pounds of filet, each!



james got rooms for us at the westin.  a nice way to decompress!




january 7th, 2018

hard to believe, but we actually did run into brian and his crew!  they were on a really tough two and a half day trip on the "success."



we had an easy flight home.  got another one of these scheduled in march.  i'm bring down some quarter inch marine grade rope to wrap parts of the bow rails so the rods don't slip.  scotty is interested in the united composite rods, so will see about that. and finally they were very interested in the gamakatsu hooks, so i'll see if i can contact the gamakatsu guy.  hope you enjoyed the report!

[mo65]

   That is a great report and a lunker of a fish...congrats Alan! 

[Wally15]

Great trip and report. I HATE that about your Penn 50. I don't think that "will buff right out".  
Great idea on the ringed Gamakatsu's. You bring those in March and I'll bring the vac bags.
You need to strike up a deal with the Osuna's to repair their reels. Broken clickers, and Bill Benz almost lost a very nice YFT last trip when the bearings froze up on a Mak 20. Doing a reel swap with a 200 lb tuna on the other end of the line is no fun.
Miguelito

[conchydong]

 Awesome job Alan. Not sure if I  like the rail mounted rod holders on the pulpit as it looks like you can get dangerously close to having the rod hit the aluminum tube  while sliding along the rail unless it is a optical illusion.
Beautiful fish. That sure is a loud clicker, even if it is broken.  
Congratulations, well deserved!

Scott

[Bryan Young]

 That was awesome Alan.

Hey did James relayed his tuner in high gear.

[Dominick]

"
but there's one last fish, and it grabs the boat's kite rig with the old seeker trolling rod and the makaira 50 with the busted clicker that you can't turn off.

I know a guy that can fix that...  Dominick

[Tightlines667]

Nice work guys!

Great report!

Yea, the ringed 7/0 Gamagatsu circles are the best hook for that job.  Even when not putting the serious breaks to the fish with spectra, as you guys do, the rings help to keep the hook in place throughout the fight.  I am a firm believer.  They aren't cheap though.  Did you guys try dropping any live squid down below the main bunch, or in the early am hours, for tuna?  I hear they can work.  I am just not sure how to properly bridle a live squid.

Bummer about the VSX.  I am considering travel insurance for my trip to La Paz next month.

John

[Shark Hunter]

Great Trip Alan! Congrats.

[steelfish]

so envy.

you are a lucky guy Jefe, and I mean it.

[thorhammer]

man that's some nice work! Mike is correct, I don't see Never Dull fixing that 50...

[David Hall]

I got so pumped watching those videos, I'm ready to book a trip.

[MarkT]

Those ringed Mustads worked well back in December and for me in November.

[Bill B]

Great report and trip Alan....hey if you want to send me that junk Mak and Penn I will dispose of them in an ecological manner    Bill

[Shark Hunter]

Any Closure on that VSX that looked like it was put against a grinder?
I know that had to be upsetting. That is a $500 reel.
You have taught me a lot of things Alan, but walking away from that would be tough for me.
Even though it is probably a no win situation.
Maybe if you had a bigger reel, it wouldn't have got caught in their grinder.
If I had to fly to my Fishing Destination, I would use a Pelican case.

[David Hall]

Any Closure on that VSX that looked like it was put against a grinder?
I know that had to be upsetting. That is a $500 reel.
You have taught me a lot of things Alan, but walking away from that would be tough for me.
Even though it is probably a no win situation.
Maybe if you had a bigger reel, it wouldn't have got caught in their grinder.
If I had to fly to my Fishing Destination, I would use a Pelican case.

Didn't we just get some really nice cases for our favorite reels here last month?  I'm using mine to hold my cordless ratchet kit.