Trip Report - Puerto Vallarta with Alan, Mark T. and Dave Hoffman

[Wally15]

2017 Puerto Vallarta Trip – Marla Sportfishing Charters 1-5 December 2017
   Fishermen – Mike Pate, Alan Tani, Mark Thomann, Dave Hoffman
Dec 1  - Day One - Left home (Albany, GA) at 4:30 AM. Arrived ATL Marriot parking at 7:30, shuttle to airport by 8:15. Flt left at 10:00.  Direct flt was full but OK. Arrived PVR 1 pm (CST). No problems and no lines at Customs and Immigration. We were all supposed to meet at the Oxxo convenience store near the terminal entrance at 3 PM. Very warm and humid, I drank several beers while I waited. No cell service for my phone. Mark Thomann arrived about 3 PM.  Waited another hour for Alan Tani and Dave Hoffman. C and I was backed up. Scott Osuna picked us up about 4:30 for the 30 minute drive to the marina. Stopped at a Mega supermarket/liquor store and got 4 bottles of tequila and a dozen limes. Loaded gear on boat. Ate a nice dinner (I had tuna steak) and drank LOTS of tequila at a marina restaurant. Left at dusk, boat ran all night to Tres Maria's South island. About 80 miles.
Dec 2 – Day 2 – Up at 4:30 AM. We caught 9 YFT school tuna, total weight about 500 lbs. Biggest two 80 lbs. I caught 2 YFT's, a 60 and a 50. I lost 2 fish, all my fault on one of them. I set the drag too tight and too early. Alan cleaned the fish, 140 bags of 1.5-2 lb tuna steaks. Food on the boat was great. Roberto is a good cook. Dave caught a nice Mahi, Roberto made ceviche. A lot less tequila was consumed this evening. And we all went to bed very early.
Good crew, brothers Scotty and Roberto, plus Antonio and Scotty jr. Marla IV is a 36' Blackfin. Great tackle. Makiera reels, Seeker rods. Plus Alan bought his usual great stuff. After dinner, started motoring to the west side of the North Island. About a 4 hour trip at 10 knots.
Dec 3 – Day 3 – up at 3 AM, my internal clock is still on EST. I lost a nice one before dawn. Went into low gear too early and he made a run for the boat. Rookie mistake. Alan caught a 215, then I caught an 85. Dave lost one, then Mark caught a huge 270. All this before 2 PM. But Scotty jr washed the lunch dishes in the bait well and killed all the bait. Bummer!!!! Trolled the rest of the afternoon and evening to the South end of middle island to sabiki up some bait after dark. No hits on the troll. With a full moon and clear skies, the crew said catching live squid would be very difficult, so we didn't even try. I ate sushi for 1st time. Not impressed, but tequila helped wash it down. Damn they like hot food down here. Almost out of Zantac by the end of day 3. Motored the 25 miles back to the North Island to overnight.

Dec 4 – Day 4 – Up at 3:30 AM. Extremely slow day. No wind and little current. Got cabbies from a panga before dawn. They didn't survive very long in the live well for some reason. Hoping to catch a nice tuna for Dave and myself soon so we can go bottom fish for pargo. No such luck. Fished for tuna all day. Nada. After dinner, headed back toward PV, trolling for about 2 hours. Nothing hit. Stopped for an hour or two on the NE side of middle island to bottom fish. I hooked a decent bottom fish on a jig tipped with live bait but got tangled in the other lines and lost him. Don't think anyone else even got bit. Put up the tackle and headed back to PV. So for half the trip, we didn't put a fish in the boat. But still ended up catching over 1,000 lbs of tuna.

Dec 5 – Day 5 – Up at 3 AM. Arrived at dock about 4:30 AM. Unloaded everything, packed fish into coolers. I only brought a 12 pack insulated cooler, so I took home only 15 pounds of fish. Ate breakfast at an open air kiosk at the marina. Got a shuttle bus back to the airport, arrived about 10 AM. Breezed through check-in and security. My flt was at 12:40. Mark and I sat and waited on Alan and Dave  for almost 2 hours. Alan and Dave got hung up in check-in with all their fish, never even saw them to say goodbye before my flight left. Had to change planes in Mexico City. Arrived ATL at 7:45 PM. No problems with Customs and Immigration. Shuttle to the Marriott, on the road by 8:45. Rained most of the way home. Home by 11:30 PM.

Trip Critique – Obviously the bait dying was the low point of the trip. We were on a good pattern and catching good fish before that happened. And didn't catch a single fish afterward.
Weather was great. Mid 80's for a high, maybe 70 for a low. Mostly clear skies, low winds and relatively calm seas. The Pacific was truly pacific.
Only change I would make to the boat is thicker mattresses on the bunks, and some cushioned seating at the stern. You do a lot of standing and sitting while waiting for the bite.
Good crew, good boat, good friends, and a good time overall. Dave and I both missed out on a 200+, but there is always "next time". Thanks for the invite, Alan.
I've already planned a return trip for 2018.

Mike Pate
12/8/2017

[stoked4fishin]

Congrats Mike!

[MarkT]

Nice report Peaches.

PS, you're such a fish hog!

[Wally15]

Congrats Mike!

Thanks, Jeff. You coming on the 8 day next year?
MP

[Wally15]

Nice report Peaches.

PS, you're such a fish hog!

Yeah, right! I caught about 200#'s this trip and you caught over 400#'s. In the last month you've got a super cow and two more that were darn close. I've never even caught a "triple digit". So who's the fish hog!
GA Mike

[MarkT]

You going again in January? Redemption awaits! Just make sure Pepita stays away from the bait.

I figure I got a 30, 40, 60, 80 and 270 so about 480#. You would've been right there too if you weren't such a farmer... Peaches!

[alantani]

yeah, there was one guy ahead of mike that i had asked before and he already booked his flight.  we'll have to figure something else out!

[MarkT]

Scotty said March was looking open. I'm not doing anything in March!

[FatTuna]

So how did doing the dishes in the well kill all the bait? Did a chunk of food clog something?

Have you guys ever fished "stick baits" for tuna? Basically you take a fresh dead bait fish and rig it to look like a live fish. First, you crack it's spine. Some guys will use a tool to remove the spine. Then you put an egg sinker in it's mouth. Take some 10lb fluorocarbon line and sew his mouth shut with a needle. Then sew it's gill plates shut. Then run a shortened wooden BBQ skewer along the spine. I like to score the skewer so it breaks easily when the fish hits. The tail should be allowed to pulsate back and forth in the current. Then you bridle rig the hook in front of the dorsal fin. Looks exactly like a live fish. Works best if you are fishing in some current. It's a good technique to have in your bag of tricks in case the bait dies, you can't make bait, or the squid are really bad. You can do it with a small bait fish like a mackerel or a large bottom fish. Whatever they are eating. The stick bait takes a lot of trial and error but I'm convinced it works almost as good as a live bait. Sometimes it actually works better if they are hungry and don't want to work for it. You'll know that you have it perfected when you are checking the baits and for a split second you think it's a real fish .

Where are the pictures of all the fish?

[alantani]

we're not really sure.  i think it was from the kid using lots of dishwashing soap.  one thing for sure, they were alive one hour and all dead the next!  and so was the bite!!!!!!

pictures are on another post, but i'll put them up here pretty soon!!!!!

[MarkT]

He was washing an electric skillet right in front of the bait tank and might've got soap or something in there that killed them. This was just before they died. However, after they died I didn't see any sign of any contamination. They treat the bait tank pretty cavalierly for my taste. Bait is sacred! I will say that there was nothing that would convict anyone in court but the bait seemed fine before he cleaned up and no one else got in there before it all died.

The boat's pictures are on the No Tuna No Chinga post on BloodyDecks. https://www.bdoutdoors.com/forums/threads/no-tuna-no-chinga.673152/#post-4473211

[FatTuna]

Sounds like a giant conspiracy, lol.

I think you guys need to do a mythbusters experiment to rule it out.

[FatTuna]

Saw the pics. You guys killed it. Congrats.

Maybe I need to starting spending my winters down in Mexico.......................

[Wally15]

Scotty said March was looking open. I'm not doing anything in March!

Me neither. How's the March fishing down there, fish hog?
Mike

[MarkT]

Yo no se, amigo. We can certainly find out. It's still long range season out of San Diego.