short version....

four guys - me, ben, james jr and jim sr.
five fish - 160, 180, 200, 240 and 260 pounds, give or take 10 pounds
the boat - marla IV out of puerta vallarta with the osuna brothers, scotty and roberto
rods - united composites raptor for 80 pound, viper for 100 pound, and invictus for 130 pound.  the new centaur could not be finished in time.
reels - okuma makaira 16 for 80 pound fluoro and 25 pounds of drag, makaira 20 for 100 pound fluoro and 35 pounds of drag, and makaira 50 for 130 pound                         mono and 45 pounds of drag
bait - four fish wanted live squid, one was picked up on the troll with a marauder.  cabbies and skipjack did not work
high point - ben landing an estimated 260 pound yellowfin with the mak 50/invictus in 20 minutes!
low point - not getting bit until the end of day two when i tossed all the bananas overboard!  seriously, we got our first fish an hour later.  


ben has been planning this trip with the osuna brothers ever since we stepped off the boat last year.  http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=16211.0  we knew that danny had completely refit his boat with okuma reels, but i still wanted to bring my own gear.  bringing reels is no problem, it's the rods that are tough to travel with. with the help of denny kaneoka and randy penny, i got set of raptor, viper and invictus blanks from united composites.  our own local master rod builder, jon vadney http://www.californiatacklehouse.com/ wrapped the rods for me.  to make sure the fish would travel well, ben brought his own vacuum sealer and 500 bags.  ben is awesome!  after that, all we needed was a wheeled 100 quart ice chest, a "50 can" insulated travel bag, throw away clothes, a shaving kit and lots of cash!

tuesday, november 29th, 2016 - good bye, san jose!



hello, puerto vallarta!



alot of guys have asked what's involved in a trip like this.  when you first arrive in puerto vallarta, the initial shock comes from stepping out of the airplane and getting hit by a blast of warmth and humidity!  after you exit the plane, you either walk across the tarmac to the ramp, take a bus from the plane to the ramp, or hook up directly from the plane to a gangway and then straight to the ramp.  at the bottom of this ramp is a guy that will check your first round of paperwork.



at this point, you still have only your carry on luggage and you will go through customs.  you're a tourist.  that's all you have to say.



now you follow a long bare hallway to pick up your luggage.



the luggage carousels are like all the others.  suit cases come out on the conveyor belt, over sized ice chests and rod tubes are passed over to you by hand.  



now you go through the luggage inspection area.  i didn't want to take any photos here because i didn't want to draw any attention to myself.  these guys have no sense of humor.  they will ask again what you will be doing (say fishing) and if you have any food or too much cash.  note that you are only allowed four rods.  i had five with me, but fortunately ben was with me and we told the girl that three were mine and two were his.  at that point, she tells you to push a button and you seem to randomly get either a red light or a green light.  we all got green lights so we walked straight out.  a random red light (or a smart aleck answer) will send you over to the luggage inspection line where you will spend another 10-20 minutes as the guy goes through your stuff.  stay out of this line if you can.  

ok, you're through the luggage inspection and you are done with customs.  now you have to wind your way out of the building.  you will pass three to four hundred people asking you if you want a taxi or a hotel, maybe a fishing trip or a short cruise or other types of "entertainment."  "no, gracias" and a slight smile are all you need.  



just smile and keep walking until you are out of the building.  



here is your goal.  the "oxxo" shops are like our 7-11 convenience stores.  they're everywhere, and this one is 50 yards from the exit door, right across the street.  if you need to wait for a ride, go in to grab a beer and wait outside under an umbrella.  and be grateful it's not summer time!



our driver was there already.  



the toyota pickup was barely big enough for our gear.



after a short stop for beer and tequila, we arrived at the harbor.  here's a view from half way down on the dock.  





and there's our restaurant!  a light dinner, beers and shots of tequila for all!







time to board!





here's a quick tour of the boat.  it's a 36 foot blackfin.  this is the galley!



this freezer will be full of nothing but fish by the end of the trip!



a cabin for the crew.



the four bunks in the forward cabin are for us.



looking up from the cabins into the galley.  this is the youngest brother, roberto.



this panel is important, because you always have to flip on the fresh water pump before you shower.  



these are the rods that i will be using, stored up on the fly bridge.




wednesday, november 30th, 2016 - buenos dias, tres marias!  we ran all night and it was pretty calm.  actually got a decent night's sleep!



everyone is awake and ready to go.  meet james, jr.!



and scotty osuna!



in the last several days they were catching fish by the south island that is closer, but scotty wanted to do some recon on the north island.  



we started out trolling with marauders, then trolled some hoochie skirts to get some skipjack.  these live skipjack were then bridaled and slow trolled.



it was one of the most gorgeous days of boating that i have ever experienced!



no hookups on the skipjack, though.  scotty decided to switch over to cabbies on the flyline and balloon.  when i dropped my bait in the water, that little cabbie started taking off like crazy.  i was actually looking at the line and thinking that they were tough little guys, but not that tough.  yup, i was getting bit, but it was too slow for a tuna.  when i eased the reel into gear, a very angry sailfish popped out of the water.  ok, no interest in this, so i handed it off to ben.  it was about a hundred pounds!  





we also got a couple of nice sized pargo that made great tacos, and that was pretty much it for the day.  struck out on day one!




thursday, december 1st, 2016

the morning and afternoon were a total bust, except for one really lost dorado that made great ceviche!



later in the afternoon, jim sr. was commenting on the bananas on board and how they were such bad luck.  hey, maybe the guy's got a point!  i just picked them up, walked out to the rail and tossed them overboard.  roberto was looking at me like i was crazy, but i explained it to him and he just shrugged.  an hour later, we picked up a fish on a marauder!







after a little while, jim sr. said "no mas!" and passed the rod off to his son.  



up to the bow they went!  scotty installed a new rail and it's the perfect height!



we'll give dad credit for this one!



and so ends day two!






friday, december 2nd, 2016

ok, we've had two days of fishing and only one fish to show for our efforts.  scotty and roberto are not happy.  we were all pretty exhausted.  roberto made these killer burgers for us and, between that and a little tequila, we all passed out.  the crew, however, did not turn in.  these guys stayed up all night jigging up live squid, then they put them on 10/0 circle hooks and let them drift out about 50 yards.  at 3:30am, we woke up to yelling and the "thump, thump, thump" of guys running up to the bow.  ben was up first and they got him him set up with my 130 pound rig.  



he landed that fish in 20 minutes.  the skipper guestimated the weight at 260.





after processing it, we all went back to bed, only to be woken up again.  i had two shots.  with the first, the circle hook pulled out.  on the second try, i landed one that was around 200.  right after i landed mine, james hooked up!





remember that freezer?  yup, things are finally starting to turn around!



so i'm standing at the rail with a live squid about 50 yards out, and i get picked up.  ease it into gear, a little more, a little more....  ok, we're on!  i handed it off to jim sr. and we're going to give him another shot.  





harness and all, and he still pooped out, so he handed the rod back.  80 pound gear and he came straight in.  



it took us two hours to filet and vacuum pack these last three fish.  now things are starting to get ugly.  we had to leave early and still got caught because the storm was coming in from the south and we had to go straight into it to get home.  




saturday, december 3rd, 2016.  

we got all of our gear packed and took a van into town. jim was nice enough to book us two rooms at the westin.  here's a little tour of the grounds.  it was too early to check in, so we just walked around.









we even took a little jaunt into town.  i was thinking of getting something for joy, but she never likes anything that i buy her anymore, and besides, i would only remind her that i went to puerto vallarta without her!







we finally got our rooms and checked out the view!








sunday, december 4th, 2016

time to go!  we packed a little over 500 pounds of vacuum packed filet, now frozen solid.  good bye, puerto vallarta!





till next year!  i'll load the video later!

Awesome catches    Thanks for the trip report and pictures Alan.

Alan...I'm speechless as usual...20 minutes?  Come on!  A fish like that would take me a few hours! 

Thanks for sharing your report and all the fish porn.  I'll have to do a PV trip one of these days!   

500# of frozen fillets!!!  How do you get all that home on a plane???

Thanks for sharing!!!

500# of frozen fillets!!!  How do you get all that home on a plane???

Thanks for sharing!!!

+1 on this!  Also, 20 minutes on a size that big? Must be a great boat crew and tip top shape.  Nice one Alan, looking forward to the video(s).

I was vacillating where to go next  year but after reading this rhread,  PV it is!!

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My family and I were right next to your group going through customs in PV on the 29th. Saw all your gear and ice chests. The weather turned fairly bad Friday and through the weekend. Other than that it was quite warm for this time of year. Glad to see you came back full. That quality of fishing is hard to beat!