PV tuna 2012 conclusion

conclusion

Friday was our last planned day of diving. The day was pretty typical on our boat except that Terry and Colleen were out so I teamed up with Iaon and David so Pete and John teamed up and jumped on our boat because it was bigger than the other one.  The diving was pretty typical except that we were seeing more and bigger tuna in the deeper water.  We would dive to 60 or 70 feet and see them at 80 or 90, always just out of range but huge.  We got a report that someone on the other boat shot a dorado.  We asked if they were having trouble finding any sheephead.  Toward the end of the day it happened.  I dove down to about 40 feet and waited.  As I started up I saw a couple tuna below me coming up to the bait.  I pointed to the tuna signaling my buddies that they were there, what direction they were coming and going and to make a dive.  While on the surface I heard Dave's gun go off.  I looked down and saw that he was pulling his spear back empty.  I breathed up and did another dive.  As I reached 45 feet I leveled off and as I looked ahead I saw a wall of yellowfin tuna swimming past me.  They were so tight together that there was no space to see water on the other side of them, it was a solid wall.  A river of tuna!!  I took aim about two feet ahead of the largest fish I could see and fired.  I hit the fish dead center and he took off like a missile.  I came up pointing like a mad man and as I broke the surface I was screaming, "get down there, it's the school!!"  All I could think about was putting my buddies on the fish, then I turned my attention to the one I had on the line.  I had changed my bungee system and had a longer bungee in front this time and it worked perfectly.  I pulled the fish up from the deep and saw that the spear had penetrated dead center and this fish was way bigger than the fish from the day before.  The slip tip was toggled on the other side of the fish and there was no tear in the meat.  A solid shot!  I also noticed that the fish wasn't moving.  As I brought it up the deck hand asked if I wanted my second gun to make a second shot.  I looked and there was still no movement, I said "No I think I got him." Then logic set in and I decided I'd better make a second shot in case he freaks out when I touch him.  I clipped my shooting line to my float so he wouldn't slip back down to 150 feet and reached up to grab my gun from the deck hand.  As I turned to look back the fish was gone.  He broke off that quick and man, if I thought I was heart broke the first time I was crushed this time.  Iaon ended up pulling a 70 pounder out of that school and David missed his chance.  Iaon and David both apologized profusely for not putting a second shot in that fish for me but it was my fault.  I should have worried about the fish I had on before I worried about anyone getting another one.  I won't make that mistake again and I'll never bypass my bungees again either.

Saturday and sunday were supposed to be our days of doing community service.  The group that came down the week before had done all the prep work for us to paint the kinder school so we spent some time presenting the families of the children with the fish we had caught, presented the school supplies to the children and played with them for a while then started working.  The plan was to spend a few hours each day painting but once we started we realized that if we just kept going we would be able to dive Sunday too.  We asked all the guys and we ended up with 5 willing to pay for an extra boat.  The other guys agreed that even though they didn't want to dive Sunday they were willing to double up on the work hours on Saturday to free us up.

Sunday we went out with high hopes.  Unfortunately for me the trip would end with the only tuna I landed being the Bonito from day 1 but there were some incredibly memorable moments.  That day one of the guys would shoot a sail fish and David saw a 500+ lb Black Marlin.  The only yellowfin I had a shot at Sunday was a little guy, approx. 20 pounds.  I dove down and took a shot at him once but his behavior was different.  It had rained on Saturday and the vis had dropped.  Now instead of being able to see the tuna coming from right to left or left to right they would come in from behind the bait and take one piece and disappear into the blue or they would change direction all over the place collecting several pieces of our bait making it impossible to track them or predict where they would be.  I went up and reloaded and told Iaon to keep chumming.  I dove down and took a second shot, another miss.  The third time I missed the same fish I was at 50 feet and when my spear disappeared empty I started screaming profanity out loud.  Long complete, or fragmented sentences of complete profanity.  When I got to the surface Iaon said, "hey Josh, it's probably not a good idea to let out all your air at 50 feet."  Thanks a bunch.  As the sun started to set the boat came over to pick us up.  They informed us that there was a monsoon comign and that we had to leave immediately.  We would end up having to go around the storm to get back, which was kind of interesting but we made it.

I'm definately going back.  I told Terry, "I think I have the shooting them part down, next year I'll work on getting them in the boat."  Anyone that knows me knows I hate losing an animal in the ocean that I've injured.  In March I shot a ling at SWS that got off and I looked for it for over an hour before I found and retrieved it.  In November of last year I dove on an abalone for 45 mihutes because I tried to pry him off a rock but his back was up against the sand and the sand ended up being full of smaller rocks.  It took me 45 minutes to dig him out enough to be able to pull him but I did it because I knew I'd probably killed him by prying on him.  Hunting tuna takes patience, skill, and practice.  Patience to wait for the right shot.  Skill to be able to shoot the little buggers, and practice to be able to do the type of diving necessary.  I'll be working on these and other skills to be ready for next time.

Great write up Josh!

Bummed you didn't get that tuna, but am confident you will get a big one next time!

Great job on the work at the school down there!!

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Thanks for sharing the journey.

By the way, how did that big tuna get off?  Was there an equipment failure?

Great trip report Josh
Where was all this action taking place?  Southern California?  I agree that it is a total bummer to lose a wounded fish

Thanks for sharing the journey.

By the way, how did that big tuna get off?  Was there an equipment failure?

When I pulled it up it wasn't moving.  I thought it was dead but was going to put a second shot in to make sure.  I clipped my shooting line off to my float so it wouldn't sink back down but in doing so I basically bypassed my bungees clipping the fish directly to the float.  I looked up to get my gun from the deck hand and looked down and it was gone.  Just that fast.  I hate losing fish man and this just killed me but I'm definately going back to Puerto Vallarta and I'll definately be using Punta De Mita Expeditions again.  Excellent people!

When I pulled it up it wasn't moving.  I thought it was dead but was going to put a second shot in to make sure.  I clipped my shooting line off to my float so it wouldn't sink back down but in doing so I basically bypassed my bungees clipping the fish directly to the float.  I looked up to get my gun from the deck hand and looked down and it was gone.  Just that fast.  I hate losing fish man and this just killed me but I'm definately going back to Puerto Vallarta and I'll definately be using Punta De Mita Expeditions again.  Excellent people!

Luck can sometimes be a cruel mistress!  One thing I love about that place is that anything can happen... You can be in open nothingness for hours, then surrounded by fish in an instant!


Great write up - you have some good experience under your belt & even more prepared next time to claim your trophy! 


Btw... Pics!!! 

i met some dude who worked in a tequilla shop in the flea market , only reason i went in his shop is cuz he spoke english and said " dont worry bro im not selling time shares" , he gave me a few samples and then we somehow started talkin about fishing , turns out he has a boat at the "boca de tomatlan" which is a bit south of los arcos and he spearfishes...he started showing me pictures of big ol tuna , dorado that he shot and said that he takes people out...cool cat and if i were to bring him a pair of longfins then he would take me out for free . not sure how good i would do but it sounds like an adventure...even if blue water hunting wasnt going on he would take me and whoever im with off down the coast and set up camp at a beach , take us out to the reefs and spear small fish and hunt for octopus , prepare it right on the beach over some cold ones. gotta get back down there....thinking of buying a condo south of downtown

Thanks for sharing your experience with us Josh.  Would love to see some UW pictures of the school Tuna 

and yea awesome write up! thanks for sharing

...thinking of buying a condo south of downtown

really?  I went with my daughter and we were initially hounded by timeshare guys, but we were staying at a hotel that had a large group of deaf Canadians so everytime we walked out and the sales guys approached us we would point to our ears and shake our heads.     They stopped approaching us after a morning. 

Seriously though we stayed at a hotel on the beach in the old part of PV.  It was less than $300 for a week.  We walked to a taco truck for dinner and had the best tacos al pastor and tripas.

 There must be a reason why so many people trying to get rid of their timeshares, in some cases giving them away because the annual fees. 

Nate

Joshua R. thanks for the report.  Your experience is all too familiar .  You'll get them next time though

Joshua R. thanks for the report.  Your experience is all too familiar .

Which time?   





Sorry, couldn't help myself...




 

Joshua R. thanks for the report.  Your experience is all too familiar .

Which time?   





Sorry, couldn't help myself...




 

Pick one, doesn't matter which one. 

I'll remind you that I'm 50% on tuna.  I've shot 4 and landed 2.