P. V. Report, Marla IV, Osuna Bros 01/02-06/18

[Zarn]

Can't believe a week has already pasted and I still have a grin from ear to ear. I got the call in early december from Alan Tani to see if I could fill a spot on a 4 pack charter fishing with Marla's Sportfishing, P.V. Mexico. This was an all inclusive 3.5 day charter fishing the Tres Maris Islands, for cow tuna. In the past three Marla's trips there have been several YFT landed in the 180-346lb range. I jumped on this opportunity with out hesitation after I gain approval from "the boss".

Even with the "Wolf Super Moon" in play... this was a last minute golden opportunity I could not pass up... cow tuna... fishing with some of the best anglers on the planet and riding with a proven charter operation. Excellent weather... sunny 68-81 degrees , light ocean and wind conditions were the norm for this trip. Day one was slow... the fish were there but only one hammerhead chewed through a rig... period. We made approx 200 pieces of YFT candy (squid) that evening which would prove to out fish the cabillitos 4 to 1 over the next two days.

Scotty Osuna and his crew are amazing.... their hospitality is outstanding and their local knowledge is spot on. They put us at the tip of the North Island to start, some 100 miles NNW from P.V. In the past three Marla's trips there have been several YFT landed there in the 180-346lb range.

Consistent bird activity crashing bait and large schools of foamers around us indicated we were in the right place. We just needed to get them interested in our offerings. We took day one in stride and looked forward to what day two would bring.

Day two started off with a pre-dawn pickup of a large drifted squid... set out at 150yds. on a Okuma Mak 30, Seeker 2x4 rigged with 100 braid/floro, Mustad 7/0 (non-ringed) circle hook. Remember that... "non-ringed" hook... it would turn around to bite me in the butt. I was the first up and was on that fish for over 50 minutes. Most of that time I was completely pinned to the rail and let the boat do most of the work. At deep color, death sprial with approx 35' feet to go the eye opened up on the hook and the floro leader slipped through the gap. My shot a this cow was over. Upon inspecting the leader it was a properly tied single san diego... The knot was still intact...?...!..! The eye of the hook opened and the knot pulled through the gap...! I retained the leader clipping and plan to frame it. Roberto my mentor/deck hand said this fish spun the boat completely around three times during the hookup. Lesson learned... use ringed hooks only. The balance of the crew landed 2 other YFT...70-125lbs on squid. I managed a big (40lb class) dodo off the balloon (think kite) mid-day. A tad slow... but at least we were on the board. Roberto whipped up excellent fresh YFT sushi and sashimi for lunch, OH MY...! The dodo fish tacos for dinner were amazing...

This is a very reasonably priced all inclusive charter. The airfare is on you. The charter includes all meals & snacks (excellent stuff), ample beer, soft drinks and bottled water are provided. If you prefer leave you gear and bling home as this boat has a good variety of Okuma, Penn two speed reels and 2 x4, 3 x4 seeker, etc. rods. There is large freezer and a pro vac master on board so you can vac pack and freeze your catch directly, literally moments after it is landed and bled. All you really need to bring are fishing/street clothes, sandals, sundries and of course some Don Julio, Blanco, et.al. Each person on this charter took home approx 130lbs of fish.

Day three started with a dawn YFT then another around shortly after. The 7/0 Gamakatsu "ringed" circle hooks proved deadly on every hookup. We hit a lull until about 12 noon. James and Ben decided to start chunking and broadcasting squid. That paid off with two more YF in short order. Upon inspection of the stomachs we found our chunked squid. We pulled the lines and ran back to the top of the drift. As we did we ran up on a pod of foamers in the area we previously broadcasted some chunk. Fish, BIG fish all around the boat...!! AND they were hungry. GAME ON....! An almost instant double was followed shortly after by two more 70-80lb. class YFT. We had our hands full between landing, carking and bagging fish when at approx. 5pm a balloon goes down. Alan was up on the rotation. Before he could get to the setup... it had peeled off 200+ yds. beyond the 150 yds. on the original set. Thirty minutes later and three people pulling on the gaffs... this cow squeezed through the transom door. It taped out at 267 lbs..!  This put us all over the top... especially for our take home coolers. We still had hours of carking, bagging and vac packing to do... Don Julio to the rescue... again... ! A flat ocean for the ride back and 5:30am on 1/06 and we arrived back at the dock, satisfied... zero complaints.

I know I will be back to fish with the Osuna Bros. again this year. I was fortunate to get hooked up some great folks Alan, Ben and James for this trip. These guys have fished with the Osuna's on several occasions so that made it easy fro me to get with the program directly. It has been 22+years since my last "long range" style trip. I got a renewed "taste" of the possibilities a trip like this represents. Fishing at this level has been on my bucket list for some time now.

I do not know of any other "long range" style trip where you can leave your home at 7am on a 4 hour direct flight, have the charter operator pick you up at the airport and get you to the boat for a 6pm launch the same day, fish for 3 full days and fly home the afternoon your return to the dock, if you choose, w/ a pile of premium, frozen YFT. From an ROI standpoint after all expenses.... the YFT I brought home cost me just north of $23/lb.

I will try to get some pics put up in my gallery soon.

If you think you might be interested in a trip like this please PM me for details.


   

[croaker stroker]

Wow ! Trip of a lifetime.    :bowdown:

[Fisherdv]

Awesome!  :applause:

[DevMah]

Sounds like a wicked Trip!!!

Dev

[Rokefin]

Great write up!  I need to treat myself to one of these trips sooner than later.

[Zarn]

I am considering riding stand-by or actually booking a charter in qtr. 4 this year.  PM with questions and comment.

[BruceL2_Fish]

Wow, sounds like as you said "a trip of a life time".   Congrats!

[Yachter Yat]

   Zarn:  What is "reasonably price"?  Don't mean to be overly inquisitive, just thought some might want to know.  I didn't happen to see any cost in your post.

Yat

[Zarn]

Initially stated I brought home 130 lbs premium YFT (sashimi grade, IMHO) The actual was 146lbs after I double checked my baggage receipt today. Reconciling my overall spend after the trip places the fish I brought home @ $23.42lb. I did need to purchase three large water proof totes. And... my airfare was approx 20% higher as I booked the flight within two weeks of the travel date and around a holiday. Overall that cost me an additional $550 over my initial boat cost estimates. If you have everything you need already for a trip like this (bring at least 150-250 4 mil chamber vac bags per person) and book airfare early you can easily get your (based upon 146lbs.) frozen catch back home at approx $19-21/lb.

As appropriate, please go to Marla's Sportfishing to check out this family run operation.  I am happy to discuss this trip including my takeaways in detail via PM. I will most likely be going back on a new moon series to fish with the Osuna's in Qtr. 4 2018. Dates fill up quickly.

   Zarn:  What is "reasonably price"?  Don't mean to be overly inquisitive, just thought some might want to know.  I didn't happen to see any cost in your post.

Yat

[Zarn]

I am now looking at planning a 3.5 day Nov. 2018 trip with the Osuna Bros, Marlas Sportfishing on Marla IV. At this time there are two open spots on this 4 pack fishing trip. If you are interested in the opportunity fish the Tres Marias Islands with the opportunity to land Yellow Fin Tuna from 100 to 300+lbs plus Dorado, Pargo, etc... this is the angling adventure you want to consider.

The first step in this process is to solidify potential participants and delineate pertinent trip info so you can make an informed go/no go decision. Please PM me for details and add. info. Currently I am looking at the new moon dates in early November 2018... sometime between the dates of 11/03 thru 11/10/18.

Here is a link to their website: http://www.marlasportfishing.com/

[GregE]

Wow.  Not sure if my fused back would do well but .......   :arms:  In  I HI had  a 300# Yellow Fin ( estimated by boat captain )  on for about 45 mins  many years ago.  My buddy was in the fly bridge and saw it but it pulled the hook as the double leader was grabbed.  No pics ....

Fishing with Alan Tani too.  I've emailed with him a couple times and he checked out an Accurate reel I bought used that wasn't repairable.

[Zarn]

I framed the intact knot snippet from the big one that bent the eye on a 9/0 mustad (non-ringed) circle hook and got off. The picture now hangs in my music studio labeled "My 300lb Cow Tuna... NOT...! I have to look at it most every day. I already purchased 2 packs of gami. heavy, ringed circle hooks, 7/0, 10/0 for the next time around. No more Mustad hooks for me... ever. I also bought some "yummies" to try off my kite or their balloon rigs.

It would be nice... but Alan will not be part of this particular trip I am attempting to put together. He is already booked for some later dates w/ the Osuna's. Alan has probably forgotten more about fishing and reel repair then I will ever hope to know.... lol.

Wow.  Not sure if my fused back would do well but .......   :arms:  In  I HI had  a 300# Yellow Fin ( estimated by boat captain )  on for about 45 mins  many years ago.  My buddy was in the fly bridge and saw it but it pulled the hook as the double leader was grabbed.  No pics ....

Fishing with Alan Tani too.  I've emailed with him a couple times and he checked out an Accurate reel I bought used that wasn't repairable.

[Zarn]

I am now looking at planning a 3.5 day Nov. 2018 trip with the Osuna Bros, Marlas Sportfishing on Marla IV. At this time there are two open spots on this 4 pack fishing trip. If you are interested in the opportunity fish the Tres Marias Islands with the opportunity to land Yellow Fin Tuna from 100 to 300+lbs plus Dorado, Pargo, etc... this is the angling adventure you want to consider.

The first step in this process is to solidify potential participants and delineate pertinent trip info so you can make an informed go/no go decision. Please PM me for details and add. info. Currently I am looking at the new moon dates in early November 2018... sometime between the dates of 11/03 thru 11/10/18.

Here is a link to their website: http://www.marlasportfishing.com/

UPDATE:
Available Dates are: 11/06-10/18, Fly in 11/05, set sail 6pm. Boat arrives back in port 7-9am 11/10/18. I am planning on flying out late in the afternoon of 11/10/18.

[Arimadrifter]

What a great trip! Thanks for the report!

[Zarn]

That was a great trip. One that I will not soon forget.

Still looking for two people interested in participating in the November trip. I will be attending the Sportsman show in Salem tomorrow. If you attending and want sit for a few, have a beverage and discuss the trip in detail PM me.

Since that January trip I have received reports of 200+lb tuna landed from their most recent trips. The interesting thing is these are "home guard" fish, there all year long... so you have a good chance for a close up encounter with that fish of a lifetiime.

[Zarn]

I am now looking at planning a 3.5 day Nov. 2018 trip with the Osuna Bros, Marlas Sportfishing on Marla IV. At this time there are two open spots on this 4 pack fishing trip. If you are interested in the opportunity fish the Tres Marias Islands with the opportunity to land Yellow Fin Tuna from 100 to 300+lbs plus Dorado, Pargo, etc... this is the angling adventure you want to consider.

The first step in this process is to solidify potential participants and delineate pertinent trip info so you can make an informed go/no go decision. Please PM me for details and add. info. Currently I am looking at the new moon dates in early November 2018... sometime between the dates of 11/03 thru 11/10/18.

Here is a link to their website: http://www.marlasportfishing.com/

UPDATE:
Available Dates are: 11/06-10/18, Fly in 11/05, set sail 6pm. Boat arrives back in port 7-9am 11/10/18. I am planning on flying out late in the afternoon of 11/10/18.

UPDATE 03/03/18: ALL OPEN SPOTS HAVE BEEN FILLED, The offer is now closed.