Zihuat/Ixtapa (A little Late)

[tailchaser]

Well, we made the annual trip to Zihuat this year about 2 weeks ago and had another great time. The first few days there weren't as fruitfull as the last few, but we managed fish every day, so we didn't get disappointed by any means. Here was the shot off of our resteraunt the first evening we arrived.


The first day, I was the lucky coin toss winner and managed the only sailfish of the day, but it wasn't the last. On average, we would land 2-3 sails per day, and a token Dorado every other day that would wind up on the dinner table. Here's a picture of my uncle from Anchorage that absolutely lives for this trip every year. He fished 11 days in a row. What a trooper. More than this hombre.



Finally, he topped it off with this little beauty on the day I flew home. What a bum.....


In all we had a great year. There is always the challenge down there however, we seem to have a hookup ratio of about 25%. That sucks. Mainly for one reason. The main hook is set just below the head and all of the missed strikes bite off half the body. Getting them to change thier rig with a stinger is almost impossible. They've been doing it this way for way too long. However, they did like our Dee's Diamond Flashers!! We rigged them for teasers and on lines. We had one marlin destroy a setup with them and somehow manage to miss the hook. Not sure how that happened. But lovely to soak up some sun. Met a lot of people from Oregon on this trip also. I can't wait to go back.....

tc

[skein]

Man, I've been waiting for your report, and even pulled up some of my old Zihua pictures today just to remind myself how nice it is down there. I know just how your uncle feels; I wanted to fish every day while I was there, but somehow managed to take time out to see the sights and eat like a king.

Looks like the cruise ships are stacked up in the harbor. They were just ramping up the last time we were there, and it was changing the look and feel of the town. Kinda hated to see that. One of those good-deal bad-deal things.

Did you do any panga fishing or were you mainly on the bigger boats? How about surf fishing? Catch any roosters? Tell me more, tell me more.

Skein

[tailchaser]

There were three cruise ships that stopped in while we were there and to tell you the truth, I never noticed them. When the tourists were hitting the market, I was either fishing, laying by the pool with a cold one, or snorkeling. So I never really noticed them. They were also gone around 5 pm or so.

We only fished on the big boats this trip. I did some investigating and snooping around about the nearshore stuff, but it wasn't very good for roosters or anything that really perked my interest. So I didn't bother. Two of my normal fishing days got shot also with the worst case of Monazuma's I've ever had. Not sure what justifies a worse than normal one, but I was puking along with it so it dehydrated me to the point where I could hardly walk. So I was bound to the pool and a lot of water for a bit. I have a bunch of photo's I'll bring to the convention also with some good dvd footage of some takes and battles. I was really bummed we missed the shot at the marlin when I was out there. We actually spotted it below the surface behind the flashers about 15 seconds before he made his move. Pretty cool though just to see him.

tc

[northriver1]

Thanks for the report and pictures Jim. See you in a couple of weeks at the convention.

[tailchaser]

I'll be up there, but looks like I'm going to miss the dinner. Didn't get a ticket in time. I'll have to meet up with everyone friday night.

tc

[Gun Rod Bow]

Looks like fun Jim.

We are thinking about Costa Rica this year. I'll keep you posted.

If you ONLY drink beer down there, you'll be safer next time!

[salmonslayer]

wow thats looks like one heck of a trip. hope i can experience one like that sooner or later.