 THAI CHI...AS IN CHI CHI CHABANG 235# Giant Yellowfin...12/4
Well let me tell you today was a looooooong one...let's start from the beginning shall we...
Since Juan and Zenate were booked today we had to arrange for another boat and Cath scored the 45' Mikelson ROCK & REEL...we wanted to take advantage of the morning bite that was sooooo good to us yesterday so we decided to meet the boat out here at the point at the pre-dawn hour of 6:30am...
After a quick breakfast at Cafe Luna...god it is nice to have a breakfast joint finally open up after all these years...we load the panga with all the gear again and head out...
By 6:45 i was starting to worry and by 7:15am i was just about crapping my pants that the R&R was going to be a no-show...finally at 25 after 7 i see a boat heading our way...thank god but i could tell by the faces around the panga my Thai boys were not too stoked to sit around waiting...
Oscar, Danny, and Alex explained that they thought Cath meant 6:30 Nayarit time so i had to let them off easy and chalk another mindless hour up to the damn time change...
Anyway...we loaded up the gear quickly and set off and all thoughts about missing an hour were quickly behind us...we had fish to catch...and by god we were ready for anything...or close to it...
We made bait with little effort and set about doing donuts in the area where we caught EK's cow yesterday for nothing...not even a knock down...after an hour of fruitless trolling i decided to climb the tower and have a look around...
8 hours, 7 gatoraids, and 15 marlboro lights later i finally spot a group of birds waaaaaaaaay outside the high spot...
"OSCAR!!! GODDAMNIT I'VE GOT SOMETHING COMPA...CON SONAR BEARING 249er" and off we went on the sloooow troll with our 4 remaining skipjack barely kicking behind us...the tuna tubes and bait tank crapped out sometime earlier so for sure we were not up to our usual 110% by this point in the afternoon...i had plenty of opportunity to blow a fuse but as i have said before...the new JT is trying...
Anyway...after what seems like 5 more hours trying to catch up to the goddamn birds we start seeing explosions...and i mean EXPLOSIONS...we're still a mile away and i can see the odd giant cartwheeling through the surface in chase of bait...ok...good sign...
I'm thinking to myself OK...our bait is terrible...more than half dead...but by the looks of things these open water fish are hungry and by god we might just have a shot...
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ one of the baits goes off and a massive Dorado comes jackpolting through the spread...Stan hops to the rod...no doubt something he's been waiting for all day and grinds the fish in for a quick release...i'm not sure why...but that's what they wanted to do...personally i would have liked to club the bugger to pulp but hey...viable mentality...fruitful tomorrow...but i'm sure the act left the R&R boys scratching their heads...
ANYWAY...we're back on the chase now and i've called the GO FISH boys from ESPN in on the action and they are now paralleling us as fish from 50 - 200#'s start flying through the air chasing little fin bait like anchovies or something...
Dennis, EK, and I are on the bow whipping poppers into the madness in frantic attempt to score one of the fish that are now boiling all around us...cast after cast comes up empty but all of a sudden the left rigger bait which by now i am sure was barely twitching goes night night in a hurry...ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ ZZZZZZZZZ...and we're off...
Stan straps in and let's the fish finish it's first run before he pushes the drag up to 38#'s...Stan settles in and begins the methodical rythm which he is a complete master of...and in less than 30 mins the fish hits the deck...man i barely had time to smoke a marbi...amazing...Dennis Braid watch out...
We're now down to two remaining baits...one of which is stone dead...and the other one is already going milky eyes but what the hell...VROOOOOM we hit the throttles and dump the last two soldiers in the middle of the birds again and...you guessed it...
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ and ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ....immediately i set up on one of the rods and a 350# black comes catapulting out of the water directly astern...the other fish turns out to be a wahoo which later cuts us off but oh well...
Dennis the token white guy straps in and muscles the black boatside whereas i take my wraps and try to hold the fish as it starts summersaulting away...SNAP! goes the 200# flouro in my hands and the remaining part whistles back and trashes my left forearm...looks like i had 20 lashes from the whip...SONOFA...but you know i love it...
Anyway...that was that...we had to leave because we were out of time and bait...the Thai boys talked me and the crew of the Rock & Reel into doing a solid 3 day 2 nights overnighter starting tomorrow so you won't be hearing from JT for a while...god knows what kind of trouble we'll get into out there over the course of 56 straight hours of fishing...to us i say good luck...and godspeed...
Stan's fish topped the scales at 235#'s so chalk that up as 235 more reasons why Bullshipper is right...i'm gonna have to learn some Thai reeeaaal quick...
__________________ Capt Josh Temple
40 Cabo Express "Conquistador"
35 Cabo Express "Torture Chamber"
Puerto Vallarta, MX info@primetimeadv.com | 
