Thursday July 20-23, 2006: Tropical Storms
Here is the run down on fishing last weekend.
Thursday: Uneventful travel to PV through Phoenix with rocket launcher in hand. Got through customs without paying duty. Got to the boat and gave some fishing lessons to the new guys Justin and Andrew. Had some beers and hit up Fajitas for some dinner. After dinner bought some Cubans and smoked at the light house....forgot how good the view is from up there, even in the rain.
Friday: Left the dock a la cinco and headed straight for the bank after a quick stop by our friendly bait guys. Arrived at the bank to find good conditions with bait catching being relatively easy. Fished hard all day. Went back to Mita to cook some steaks and pasta.
Saturday: Left Mita in the dark to race a squall out to the bank. Fished in a rain storm with lighting striking the water all around us. Fished hard again for nada. Back to the anchorage for some sleep and dinner.
Sunday: Raised the anchor in the rain, ran out to the rock for some fishing. Had a tough time catching bait but the first two we caught went in immediately. Fished about an hour before zzzzzzzzzzzzzz....Could this really be? Jeff accelerates the boat, I set the hook and game on. 30 seconds later game off, some toothy animal cut our line....probably a shark. Fished a few more hours in 6-8 foot swells from a near by tropical storm and then raced to the airport.
So.....no fish on the boat this weekend. However, the beer was cold and boats definitely beats the office. We all had a great time.
Dave, thanks for the trip. Jeff, thanks for working so hard.
-Hunter
Saturday July 8 , 2006: Attack of the Billfish
Sorry Hunter, Miguel, and Dave,
The old saying of you should have been here... Well you know? So after you guys left we got some stuff... El Jefe's (Dave) amigo Tim was at the helm hollaring about a fin when a sail pick me up while letting out a cabbie... That was good! Let that one swim away after a nice tag... An hour later after looking hard at the spread a NICE black charges the short side then sticks it's big head out at about the transome...Bait hanging from her mouth and head shaking... Still never pulling from the rigger clip... ZERO pressure... Backed into the slack as Tim reeled then set the hook... ON!!450 TO 500 black marlin...Talked about leaving when Mr. Ed hooked up but broke line on a good fish... They hit the road leaving us solo... Where was everyone? Anyway we drug the baits around getting bit off by porpous several times... Similar to what I remember in the Islands... Their getting it I guess... Late afternoon we get another shot on the dead skip thing, as you know works wonders running in that special place... Tim again free spooling then WHAM! ON AGAIN!! Another nice black marlin aroung 300 gets a solid tag shot by Jose (Window) El Mangera III... Then we went home to have some cervesas...
Dave, Hunter, Miguel, we'll get em next trip.
-Captain Jeff
Wednesday July 4, 2006: Marlin World Cup updates
Team NOTORIOUS got down to PV After three days of working our asses off, here is the score....Thanks for all the hard work Jeff.
Flew down on Sat. to PV, got settled and had some dinner at Fajitas, left for mitta.
Sunday – Started at the rock, very blue water, lots of skippies, no love. Went to Banco after a couple hours and found some spinner dolphins on the way. Got some small YFT and moved on. Fished Banco for no fish. Fished Large baits exclusively.
Monday – Fished the rock all day for nothing…..again….big baits only.
Tuesday (Game Day) - Fished the Blue Marlin World Cup with one other boat, a 60 hatt named 5C’s. Fished Banco in the morning, then moved out to troll off the edge of the bank mid day, finished the afternoon at Banco with the skippies in tow. No winners in PV, oh well, life goes on.
Summary, The conditions looked great. Shit loads of bait, no problem catching skippies at the rock or el banco, even in the afternoon. It just seems that the big fish were not around in the numbers needed to make things click. I saw a few jumpers and both Manny and Chelita (sp?) caught nice blacks (300-400lbs) at Banco. It is only a matter of time before things really get rolling. Btw, its already hot down there, not fit for human.