First tuna trip

[AlexF]

After doing lots of reading, I have finally purchased my blue water hunting equipment and I'm ready to try it with the big fish.

Last weekend I went to the beach town of Ixtapa and started doing some research about tuna fishing and found that 50 miles (nautical) out the local fishermen have been catching large yellow fin tuna, up to 90 Kg on line, and they have been catching lots of them.

Next Friday I'm to leave to Ixtapa again (120 miles north of Acapulco) and on Saturday I will take a day long trip to search for these big fish.

I'm so anxious for this trip that I can't sleep.

Alex

 

[Pocoshower]

Que Bien!!!!

I wish you will find good seas and nice and big Atunes.

Two weeks ago the YF were around here, very close to the shore in Punta Chivato area, but not that big, all of them around 25-35 kg.

Suerte

Carlos

 

[Spinal Tap]

Good luck Alex,

I've been thinking about making a trip back there. My wife and I stayed a week in Zihuantenejo (sp?) a few years ago. We saw sailfish less then a mile from shore. I have a friend that caught a YFT over 300lbs there.

Let us know how it goes.

So many choices for Mexico, but I think I'll take Antonio up on his invitation first and go to La Paz.

Nate

 

[AlexF]

Nate, Zihuatanejo is the town where most of the people live, it also has a few tourist areas and Ixtapa is devoted to tourism, it's where the large hotels are and where most vacation homes have been built, but locally its refered as Ixtapa, Zihuatanejo, although the state is Guerrero.

Sailfish are quite plentifull in these pacific waters and tuna is also found in the area but if you want to be sure to find them (or to have the best chance of finding the school) you must go far out. Local fishermen do these long trips for a living, but not too many small boats take the long trip. When they do go and find good schools, they usually come back with 500 - 1,000 kg of tuna on their small boats. The larger ones I've heard of do range in the 150 Kg, but those are rare, 50 - 80Kg would be the normal size (for the big ones). Out in the open water visibility is over 50 feet now and can go to over 80 feet.

Right now, the waters close to shore are pretty murky due to very strong rains, and will tend to clear in the following months as the dry season has just started. Baja would be a much better destination if you are planning on coming to Mexico to do some diving or spearfishing.

At present, I have no plans of spearing fish that can spear me back in retaliation, so sailfish and marlin are off the list. Anything else is fair game.

I will post my results on my return.

Alex

 

[AlexF]

Well, the tuna searching trip was not as it was supposed to be. I traveled a total of 120 nautical miles and did not see a single tuna. I was able to spot some dolphins and ganets at 55 miles, but they were running too much and were quite spread appart to work. I dove any ways but didn't see anything but jellyfish. We did get 3 sailfish strikes, but for a whole day at sea, it's miserable. We sometimes get up to 14 strikes in half a day!!.

On the way back, we found lots of logs floating in the midle of the sea, so the following day I decided to go for Dorado. On the first reed patch I dove and found some small and too tame dorado, probably 30 to 40 cm long. Felt bad about shooting them and waited for something larger to come around. After 10 minutes a nice sized dorado showed up and came straight torwards me, I swam in it's direction and got a great head shot. First shot at fish with the new speargun and one fish caught.

I remained on the water just in case other dorado would show up, but none did. After some time a sea turtle came up and it let me approach. I started scratching it's head and after 2 or 3 minutes it was time to stop the petting and begin hunting again, but the turtle had other plans in mind and harassed me for about 15 minutes. I would push the turtule away, only to see it make a sharp turn and swim torwards me every time. In an effort to get rid of the turtle, I grabed its tail, put it out of the water, turned it upside down and pushed it again, only to have her return. I was only saved from the turtle when a mate showed up and started courting my new acquaintance.

The rest of the time I got to see lots of fish, but nothing big. Along with the small dorado were also small amberjacks, skipjacks of good size, but they taste so bad that I didn’t shoot those, and some grouper like fish that swam under the weeds, but were also too tame to shoot.

After nothing large showed up I moved on searching for more floating debris. Close to shore I found another weed patch and dove again. On this one, there was a large school of medium sized dorado (40 – 50cm) and after no big ones came in I took 3 of these ones for the evening bbq.

Oh, sorry for the picture, but by the time I got on the boat, the fish had already been cleaned and filets were on the refrigerator, so that was the best I could do. The whole fish did not fit in.

 

[Pocoshower]

Buen Dorado Alex

I'm sorry you did not find the Tunas, but you will sooner or later.

My weekend wasn't good, I could not dive, my outboard engine did not want to run, so I spend the whole saturday fighting with the blody motor, so. . . . .may be next week

Saludos

Carlos

 

[miles]

Hiya

Next time try chumming. Very few YF's are inquisituve enough to have a look at you and those few that do, move by so quickly, that taking a shot is virtually impossible. Chum works wonders!! It makes the fish less wary, so you can get closer to them. Also allows them to move in a certain direction, making your shot a bit easier.

We've also had days when you can SEE the fish jumping everywhere, but can't get with-in 30m of the fish!! Chumming them makes a world of difference.

Hope that helps!!

Regards
miles

 

[greendiver]

Hi Alex....sorry you did not seeor catch any tuna, but it still sounds like you have had a good day!!!

P.S...I can not sleep either, when a fishing trip comes up...wife gets really irritated..

Regards, :wave

 

[Ted Budion]

Alex,
IMHO, except for few specific locations in and around the entrance of the Sea of Cortez, hunting tuna offshore in Central America is basicaly a wild goose chase, unless you find them (and you need an expert captain for that) feeding in a bait ball in a frenzy. :vangry Miles: chumming or using flashers don't work. You've to find the school, corner it with the boat to drop a diver you've who normally has one chance to get one, before they move on. :martial

Ted
Rio

 

[miles]

hiya

Ted, that makes it VERY difficult indeed!!!

How do the local ANGLERS catch YF's? Simply trolling or do they chum and then lob live baits??

THE biggest problem with shooting ANY pelagics is FINDING them!! As Ted states, a VERY experienced Captain is indeed worth having!!

Regards
miles

 

[AlexF]

Local fishermen go trolling with fast lures until they find the dolphins and ganets diving. Once there they go to the midle of the birds and drop live bait. Sometimes you get to see the tuna jumping, sometimes you dont. I have gone fishing many times and have found situations where it would have been possible to dive and spear some tuna, but the main problem is finding them in a situation where they are not running like if they had to get somewhere. In those cases where they are running too fast, I do't even think that chumming would work.

I have another trip in a month, but this time is to the Islas Marias, which is pretty much virgin, and tuna can be found not too deep and always at the same spot, right at the dropoff, there's even a buoy that marks the spot. Every time you pass with any lure on the water you get a bite on every line, and tuna are big, smaller ones on the 30Kg range.

Marias Islands remains almost virgin because the largest Island (Maria Madre) holds a federal prison and landing a permit to visit is very difficult.

Trecking these islands is like going back thousands of years, iguanas, birds and rabits do not have fear of men, and the first ones will let you approach until you touch them before the flee. The island has lots of cardinals (deep red birds), and while walking, they come down from the trees to take a closer look at you, and I mean close, up to 6 feet away. The islands also have an endemic amazon parrot, and large flocks of up to 50 birds can be seen flying around (no where else in Mexico can you see this). It is a magnificent place.

There is no comercial fishing, so the ocean is full of life, hamerhead schools of hundreds are almos always present, there are huge wahoos, tunas and some nice sized groupers and AJ.

If I'm to hunt tuna, this will be my chance.

 

[miles]

Hiya

Chumming once we get a strike on the troll works well here. So does chumming on fish feeding on schools of baitfish. I haven't really bothered much with flashers, as the chumming is simply so effective. Not keen on trying flashers either, as our fish are almost always swimming at MACH3!!rofl

Fish react very differntly in varies parts of the world. Your best bet is to speak to guys who have speared fish in the locations you're operating in. They'll be able to advise you BEST on what works. Otherwise, you'll simply have to try out different tecniques until you find the one that works!!

Have fun!!

Regards
miles

 

[AlexF]

Now, here are the tuna I was searching for. It seems the best time to look for them in Ixtapa waters is May and June, because earlier in the year they are further away.

This tuna are fished with 3Lbs live skipjacks trolled at 30 Ft with a downrigger. They lower the skipjacks when they find birds or fish activity.

Guess I will have to wait a few months to go after them and try chumming.

On the photos, the hanging down tuna is 250 Lbs and the other is 200 Lbs. Records for these fishermen are at 350 Lbs yellowfiins.

 

[Ted Budion]

Local fishermen go trolling with fast lures until they find the dolphins and ganets diving. Once there they go to the midle of the birds and drop live bait. Sometimes you get to see the tuna jumping, sometimes you dont. ...Marias Islands remains almost virgin because the largest Island (Maria Madre) holds a federal prison and landing a permit to visit is very difficult.

Miles: there you go, you do exactly like the fishermen, except that when you find them, the boat move parallel to the school, passes ahead of it, then turns towards it and let the divers in the water. If tuna isn't feeding, they just pass by. You barely get a chance to shoot one.

Last August we saw (small tuna) jumping like water was boiling, but no cigar. We saw two or three big ones, 150 pounders, but mostly were 50 pounders. Nevertheless, we got skunked :vangry

Alex: tell us more about the Tres Marias. I thought they all were out of bounds; that you couldn't even approach them. What gives?

 

[miles]

Hiya

Ted knows his stuff!!! Next time try that approach.

Miles: there you go, you do exactly like the fishermen, except that when you find them, the boat move parallel to the school, passes ahead of it, then turns towards it and let the divers in the water. If tuna isn't feeding, they just pass by. You barely get a chance to shoot one.

Thats EXACTLY the way we shoot yellowtail here. Problem is, we seldom see schools of YF tuna feeding on the surface. Longfin (albacore) do that, but we've had a bad season over the past two years.

We've also had YF's jumping out of the water. Big 70-80kg fish leaping like dolphins completely clear of the water. The novice guys normally see them but assume they're dolphins until you show them the yellow sickle!! Tried on numerous occations to jump in and get at them but with no sucess. Don't even see them in the water!!!

Chumming is the tecnique that works best on OUR fish. I've read about guys hunting YF's where they swim slowly past you. I've also read of spearo's just doing drifts and shooting YF's.

Once you've figured out HOW to get them in your area, you're in for the time of your life!!

Regards
miles

 

[AlexF]

Ted, I sent you a PM but never got a repply, did you see it?

About the Marias (four islands, not three), you can't even approach them unless you get a special permit from the goverment. I have never been directly involved in getting the permit, but my family/family business has always been able to land one. On the largest island, Maria Madre, there is a federal prison where prisoners live without bars. Neat little town, and prisoners are confined to the island but wander around doing their chores for self sustainment. Some attend hog farms, others chickens, others fish. They live in their own houses with their families (I believe that no children over 14 or 15 are allowed and must leave the island when they come of age), they have movies and other entertainment. Really does not look like a regular prison, but couldn't tell as this is the only one I have ever seen.

It is this lack of visitors that keeps the islands pristine and FULL of fish.

On the tuna approach, I'm planning different approaches. The first one is to go out often and take live bait and chum. I will try the Miles approach if I get to see the ganets or dolphins and if nothing comes around I might land a large tuna on rod and reel the way local fishermen are catching them.

If I can't attract the tuna with chumming, then I'm going to try and dive in front of the school, but that method is easier said than done as the school not always follow a direct path and sometimes come up only to dissapear and appear again on another spot.

Worse case is tha I take a nice long fishing trip and in between I get to splash in the blue water. Worst fishing/diving day surely beats a day at the office!

Another good aproach would be to contact these capitans that fish the large tunas and take them with me to try and figure out a way to approach these huge beasts freediving. If I'm not mistaken, they only charge around US$50 for a whole day out (not on their boat).

 

[Amphibious]

Nice Dorado, I really like the Master America you're holding

had mine out a couple times so far, in love with that gun.

 

[freediver7]

Just got back from a weeklong Mexico tuna trip my self. Loads of tuna in the 40 to 300 lb class. The fish were hanging on the pinnacles.

 

[Ted Budion]

Can we know where and how? :wave Pleeeeaaase.

 

[seaman]

Good luck Alex,

I've been thinking about making a trip back there. My wife and I stayed a week in Zihuantenejo (sp?) a few years ago. We saw sailfish less then a mile from shore. I have a friend that caught a YFT over 300lbs there.

Let us know how it goes.

So many choices for Mexico, but I think I'll take Antonio up on his invitation first and go to La Paz.

Nate

You bet on that brother!! your room is ready and the guns are loaded!! Can`t wait to have you here ....