By Pete Gray

A journeyman is one that is fully educated in their trade or craft, and the Journeyman out of Puerto Vallarta was appropriately named by owner Robert Petigo for it’s top of the line fishing experience. I hosted the first of two Let’s Talk Hookup 2 1/2 day trips aboard the Journeyman in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in early December.  Joining me were 5 listeners who were fortunate ejourneymanerniesnap12-14nough to get on the trip before it sold out in 5 days- Andy, Cliff, Ernie, Richard and Ramon.  We truly had a top of the line crew lead by Captain Russell Oneil.  I have known Russell for years from his days at Dana Landing aboard the Impulse, and I can honestly say he is one of the top 6 pack captains in the fleet.  When he and Robert made the move with Journeyman to Puerto Vallarta a couple of years ago, Russell has really found his niche.  We were fortunate to be joined by veteran PV captain Danny Osuna,  deckhand Mitchell and Chef Sean.  Yes- we had four crewmen for 6 guys! Talk about service! There is literally nothing missing on Journeyman to make your trip top of the line- the best electronics, quality Shimano and Cal Star fishing gear- all the systems are the best.  In my ojourneymanrictun12-14pinion, unless you are a very experienced long range angler, you would be at a disadvantage not using the ready go fishing equipment aboard the boat. I have been on many long range trips, and have all the gear, and was beyond happy with the fishing equipment.  It was really nice flying to PV with only carry on bags!

Our trip started with an evening departure out of the Paradise Village Marina in Nuevo Vallarta.  The recent hot spot had been El Banco, a series of pinnacles about 55 miles from the marina.  We arrived at our destination before dawn and proceeded to catch skipjack for bait. Our bait tanks were loaded with cabilitos, and they had a very deluxe set up of tuna tubes to keep the skipjack alive. Skipjack make great bait for giant yellowfin.  While catching bait in the pre dawn, we hooked into several jacks and snapper.  As it became light, we started slow trolling the live skipjack, but Captain Russell was not happy with the conditions he saw.  We worked the bank for a few hours and saw a few big tuna on the sonar, but no bites. Russell had a report from some commercial pangas that there was a volume of tuna just to the north of our journeymanpetetun12-14current location, south of Isla Cleophus.  We made the move and it paid off.  We saw a large volume of fish and better looking water, but the tuna were feeding on red crabs and other micro bait, and did not want to bite.  Finally in the late afternoon, Cliff -aka Cliff from Lakewood- hooked into a nice tuna on the kite rig and landed his personal best 130 pound yellowfin.  Then Richard hooked a nice fish on a fly line cabilito and pulled the hook at deep color.  Then his brother Ramon hooked another nice one, and landed his personal best 130 pound yellowfin! We thought we had a real bite going, but that ended up being it for our late afternoon bite.  We were encouraged by the volume of tuna we saw both on the surface as well as the electronics, and looked forward to the next morning.  After a fantastic snapper dinner prepared journeymanRussnapp12-14by Chef Sean and a comfortable night sleep, we awoke to flat calm conditions and proceed to have the best snapper bite on jigs I have ever experienced.  Many of these were 15 to 25 pounds and literally every drop in “the zone” was a bite.  A great start for day two!  As the day moved on, things got better and the tuna started to bite.  At one point, we had 3 or 4 going, all in the 70 to 130 pound class.  We saw many more fish that what we hooked, but we were able to get a taste of this amazing fishery by landing 12 tuna for our 6 passengers, with 6 of these over 100 pounds.  At dinner that night Andy asked who had their personal best tuna, and 4 of the 6 raised their hands!  All this on a 2 1/2 day trip!  Russell commented that this was a very slow trip by comparison, so you can see the potential.

journeymanstern12-14If you want a “taste” of big tuna fishing, your best call is Journeyman Sportfishing out of PV.  Be careful, as you may catch the “big tuna bug” and want to go on a long range trip next, or  certainly another trip on the Journeyman.  Their slogan is “where angling dreams become reality” is so true. Thistle is a great way to get a quick fix for your big tuna desires in  the winter.  Journeyman operates out of Puerto Vallarta November through April, but if you want to go on hands down the best operation in PV, you must book early. They sell out every year.  Journeyman offers 2 1/2, 3 1/2 and will even custom make a trip to your desire.  We will be hosting at least 2 Let’s Talk Hookup trips in 2015-16,  and there are even a couple of open charter dates for this season on Journeyman.  Call them at 619-571-1979 or check www.journeymansportfishing.com