Travelled from cold and wet New Hampshire for some warm blue water at Corbetena and A el Banco. Gear made the trip ok, had to explain the dissasembled handle of one of my guns to Mexican Customs, it looked like a hand gun, had them quite concerned for a while, after showing and explaining all was well. Peecha and his Uncle met us at the airport with his truck, loaded in the gear and off to Punta Mita. Jan and I had three days with Peecha and his brother Omar on the "Manana II"
Day one, monday Nov 1st, we were off at 0630 in Force 2-3 westerlies, seas 2 feet with a 6 foot swell from the WNW. Fast run out to La Corbetena at Lat 20-44N Long 105-50 W, in the water by 0800.
Drift fishing across the bank in a 1.5 to 2 knot current from the south, water temps at the surface 28 C with a one degree thermocline at 10 meters depth temp 27 C, visibility somewhat limited at 7-8 meters. Large schools of baitfish, with wahoo and some large AJ in attendance. Saw no tuna after three hours of driftfishing the bank. Would get dropped up current and try to be hanging at 8-10 meters depth as I drifted past the baitfish schools. At noon we received a report of large schools of YF busting the surface 8 miles to the south. Ran over there and got into large schools of YF in a very fast and mobile bite on pods of shrimp. The fish would attack a ball of shrimp, busting water and getting air, then would be 100 meters away in a couple minutes. Peecha would get us close to a feeding school, I would drop in and dive to 8 meters and wait, looking up. The tuna would fly past, moving very fast and changing direction as they attacked the shrimp. Beautiful to see those rockets flying past, but difficult to get a shot due to the speed and erratic motion. The bite lasted about 45 minutes at this spot and then was gone, leaving a few wounded shrimp drifting down into the blue. Finished out the day back at Corbetena, where the current had slacked, I saw tons of bait but no tuna in the last few hours. Flew back to the harbor.
Day two, Nov 2nd, was blowing again force 2-3 westerlys, seas 2-3 feet, a fast ride out to A el Banco at Lat 20-56 N Long 106-01 W. Splashdown at 0900. Water temp 28 C with no thermocline down to 20 meters, Current running to the south at 1.5 knots, visibility an easy 25 meters, again lots of bait on the pinnacle, tuna were jumping, busting small schools of fingerlings and shrimp at the surface, the bite was fast and mobile. It was possible to get close to the action and hang down at 8-10 meters and have tuna fly by on the way to and from the bite, but again difficult to get a good shot on these fast moving targets. In the afternoon while i was breathing up on the surface, a large school of bat rays (myliobatus californica) came through in a plane formation at approximatly 18 meters, I dove down for a closer look and the bat rays opened up, revealing a huge school of yellow fin tuna cruising below the rays....WOW....suddenly I was in the middle of a large school moving at cruising speed, and the evolutionary principal behind the school behavior was evident, as I couldn't decide which one to line up on, the fish were getting bigger as the school passed by, finally had to take my shot and go as i was getting past my limit, lined up on what looked to be a 100 kilo+ fish, shot, clean miss, WOW.... The rest of the day was similar, every time I saw the Bat Rays, the tuna would be with them, cruising slow and digesting, then coming up to the surface to bust shrimp and baitfish, back down to cruise with the rays. The tuna would be in formation with the smaller fish in front, the 100 kilo fish in the middle, and the Monstas taking up the rear.....quite a sight to see. I had two more shots that day and managed to miss two more times, jitters and misjudging distances in the clear water.....buck fever at 15 meters....thankful for the clean misses, a clean miss is always better than a poorly placed shot that results in a tear out.
Day three was the day, managed to calm down, slow down, and take two fish out of the schools swimming with my friends the bat rays. Every time i saw a large school of rays, I would dive, and the YF would be there between 15 and 20 meters, cruising along with the rays. Got a good ride through the trolling fleet on the tuna board from one of them, the other one was a stoner....
Took two days off to kayak and shoot pargo snapper at el morro, then got out to A el Banco with a local panga driver one more day for some more YF action with my friend Alvaro and Jan. A lot of jumping tuna in the morning from 10:00 to 12:00 , then quiet from 12:00 to 15:00 , the rest of the boats left for Corbetena where some tuna were taken, we stayed and had the whole place to ourselves when the action started up at 15:00. lots of fast feeding at the surface, followed by cruising with the rays, looking for the rays was productive and got me three shots, again two clean misses, and one solid hit that brought in an 80 kilo fish after a 30 minute fight. It was 17:30 by the time we left a el banco for a beautiful ride home with the phosporesence lighting up our wake....
Peecha is the best. Really knows YF and how to tend a diver. A class act and a great shipmate. His rate is 700/day. I stayed at the La Quinta del Sol, great place 5 minutes walk from the harbor, high season rates 78$/day starting nov 1st. I had two guns in the quiver, a Jordan Hamilton super tuna 6 band shooting a 72 inch 3/8 mori shaft with jordan's excellent 6 inch tri-cut slip tips rigged w/ spectra. The gun was superb, the shooter needs some target practice! Also had a bill kitto 51 inch 5 band gun shooting a 5/16 48 inch shaft with his slip tips, as a back up, I had 400 lb mono shooting line, which was good for el banco, but I would suggest wire or spectra if your'e going to try for a shot on AJ or if your'e shooting at corbetena, there's a chance a deep diving fish could break off if the mono touches rock. Had a tommy botha tuna board which was the best, and a trailing bouy with dive flag with a rob allen speedline astern of the botha board. I would reccomend a flag on a 1 meter whip, there's just to many trollers at corbetena and el banco and they just can't see you when the chop kicks up, and even when the sea is calm, the're just not looking for divers out there. Brought a rob allen 20 liter float and riffe 6 meter bungie for back up. I would recommend bringing along a small two band gun for shooting chum fish, Peecha will net you all the sardines you need, but if you're after that IBSRC record, you'll need to shoot your own chum. I'd bring your own 3 meter tailrope just in case you get that 200 kilo monsta, again your panga driver may not know the exact requirements of the IBSRC, and those monstas are there, taking up the rear of the school. I'll be working on my shot and building up my hang time. These fish will haunt my dreams until I can get back.
p.s. Anybody interested in splitting the boat with me next October (probably last two weeks) send me a pm. I'm making plans now.......
Day one, monday Nov 1st, we were off at 0630 in Force 2-3 westerlies, seas 2 feet with a 6 foot swell from the WNW. Fast run out to La Corbetena at Lat 20-44N Long 105-50 W, in the water by 0800.
Drift fishing across the bank in a 1.5 to 2 knot current from the south, water temps at the surface 28 C with a one degree thermocline at 10 meters depth temp 27 C, visibility somewhat limited at 7-8 meters. Large schools of baitfish, with wahoo and some large AJ in attendance. Saw no tuna after three hours of driftfishing the bank. Would get dropped up current and try to be hanging at 8-10 meters depth as I drifted past the baitfish schools. At noon we received a report of large schools of YF busting the surface 8 miles to the south. Ran over there and got into large schools of YF in a very fast and mobile bite on pods of shrimp. The fish would attack a ball of shrimp, busting water and getting air, then would be 100 meters away in a couple minutes. Peecha would get us close to a feeding school, I would drop in and dive to 8 meters and wait, looking up. The tuna would fly past, moving very fast and changing direction as they attacked the shrimp. Beautiful to see those rockets flying past, but difficult to get a shot due to the speed and erratic motion. The bite lasted about 45 minutes at this spot and then was gone, leaving a few wounded shrimp drifting down into the blue. Finished out the day back at Corbetena, where the current had slacked, I saw tons of bait but no tuna in the last few hours. Flew back to the harbor.
Day two, Nov 2nd, was blowing again force 2-3 westerlys, seas 2-3 feet, a fast ride out to A el Banco at Lat 20-56 N Long 106-01 W. Splashdown at 0900. Water temp 28 C with no thermocline down to 20 meters, Current running to the south at 1.5 knots, visibility an easy 25 meters, again lots of bait on the pinnacle, tuna were jumping, busting small schools of fingerlings and shrimp at the surface, the bite was fast and mobile. It was possible to get close to the action and hang down at 8-10 meters and have tuna fly by on the way to and from the bite, but again difficult to get a good shot on these fast moving targets. In the afternoon while i was breathing up on the surface, a large school of bat rays (myliobatus californica) came through in a plane formation at approximatly 18 meters, I dove down for a closer look and the bat rays opened up, revealing a huge school of yellow fin tuna cruising below the rays....WOW....suddenly I was in the middle of a large school moving at cruising speed, and the evolutionary principal behind the school behavior was evident, as I couldn't decide which one to line up on, the fish were getting bigger as the school passed by, finally had to take my shot and go as i was getting past my limit, lined up on what looked to be a 100 kilo+ fish, shot, clean miss, WOW.... The rest of the day was similar, every time I saw the Bat Rays, the tuna would be with them, cruising slow and digesting, then coming up to the surface to bust shrimp and baitfish, back down to cruise with the rays. The tuna would be in formation with the smaller fish in front, the 100 kilo fish in the middle, and the Monstas taking up the rear.....quite a sight to see. I had two more shots that day and managed to miss two more times, jitters and misjudging distances in the clear water.....buck fever at 15 meters....thankful for the clean misses, a clean miss is always better than a poorly placed shot that results in a tear out.
Day three was the day, managed to calm down, slow down, and take two fish out of the schools swimming with my friends the bat rays. Every time i saw a large school of rays, I would dive, and the YF would be there between 15 and 20 meters, cruising along with the rays. Got a good ride through the trolling fleet on the tuna board from one of them, the other one was a stoner....
Took two days off to kayak and shoot pargo snapper at el morro, then got out to A el Banco with a local panga driver one more day for some more YF action with my friend Alvaro and Jan. A lot of jumping tuna in the morning from 10:00 to 12:00 , then quiet from 12:00 to 15:00 , the rest of the boats left for Corbetena where some tuna were taken, we stayed and had the whole place to ourselves when the action started up at 15:00. lots of fast feeding at the surface, followed by cruising with the rays, looking for the rays was productive and got me three shots, again two clean misses, and one solid hit that brought in an 80 kilo fish after a 30 minute fight. It was 17:30 by the time we left a el banco for a beautiful ride home with the phosporesence lighting up our wake....
Peecha is the best. Really knows YF and how to tend a diver. A class act and a great shipmate. His rate is 700/day. I stayed at the La Quinta del Sol, great place 5 minutes walk from the harbor, high season rates 78$/day starting nov 1st. I had two guns in the quiver, a Jordan Hamilton super tuna 6 band shooting a 72 inch 3/8 mori shaft with jordan's excellent 6 inch tri-cut slip tips rigged w/ spectra. The gun was superb, the shooter needs some target practice! Also had a bill kitto 51 inch 5 band gun shooting a 5/16 48 inch shaft with his slip tips, as a back up, I had 400 lb mono shooting line, which was good for el banco, but I would suggest wire or spectra if your'e going to try for a shot on AJ or if your'e shooting at corbetena, there's a chance a deep diving fish could break off if the mono touches rock. Had a tommy botha tuna board which was the best, and a trailing bouy with dive flag with a rob allen speedline astern of the botha board. I would reccomend a flag on a 1 meter whip, there's just to many trollers at corbetena and el banco and they just can't see you when the chop kicks up, and even when the sea is calm, the're just not looking for divers out there. Brought a rob allen 20 liter float and riffe 6 meter bungie for back up. I would recommend bringing along a small two band gun for shooting chum fish, Peecha will net you all the sardines you need, but if you're after that IBSRC record, you'll need to shoot your own chum. I'd bring your own 3 meter tailrope just in case you get that 200 kilo monsta, again your panga driver may not know the exact requirements of the IBSRC, and those monstas are there, taking up the rear of the school. I'll be working on my shot and building up my hang time. These fish will haunt my dreams until I can get back.
p.s. Anybody interested in splitting the boat with me next October (probably last two weeks) send me a pm. I'm making plans now.......
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