Big Cow Down in PV....

[cohoho]

The trip was out of PV - Mexico on board the Apollo for 3 days of adventure in Mexican waters, with wild and funny Mike Jewett at the helm. It was awesome! A couple years ago, MikeeDaGuy put out an invite for the trip, I missed it the first year, but as soon as it was announced myself and a buddy jumped, as we have been talking about this trip for three or four years. After several talks with Mikee, I were able to get more slots on the boat, we added 2 more for 4, then 3 more for 7, so 7 out of 12 was our Washington gang. Once on board the Apollo, it was quite easy to see why Mikee has repeat guys, they were all awesome dudes that I am sure I will be seeing again on other trips in my future. The boat, food and comradery on the boat was excellent, we had a wonderful time sharing stories, having a few drinks and eating. The cook (Chris) was great, the relief Captain (Justin) was one of the most knowledgeable guys I have met on any boat, could have picked his brain for months. Deckhands were extremely hard working but one in particular was a bad ass young guy (Alex) that worked harder than anyone I've seen before this date.

Fishing - We rail soaked alot of bait during the course of the trip, but most of the bites came off the balloons. I was lucky, to be next in line when the bait exploded in the water. Immediately, Alex started coaching, as I was pretty excited for sure. At first, we weren't exactly sure what was on the other end of the line, and I was beginning to think, oh this is isn't that bad as I managed to get close to the rubber band that connected the balloon to the line. I was smiling and hamming it up for the cameras, thinking I kicked this fish into submission. . Following the fish around the boat, it surfaced about 100 feet from the boat, both myself and Alex looked at each and thought it was not a Tuna at first...... til the fin showed, he told me to get ready and then all hell broke loose. The fish realized it was hooked at this time, the fish dove and dove and dove peeling line like it was attached to a Greyhound bus. The look on my face, as told from Mikee, went from shear happiness to "Oh F#@&" in a matter of seconds. Now it got real, seriously real, two turns on the handle then the beast took four, three turns it took six... Another lap around the boat, some weird stuff around the anchor, some water from the Captain and some more coaching from both Captain and Alex, I finally heard the most wonderful words of - Color! But it too was put to rest as the fish dove deep again. So some more small turns and it taking more it finally began to spiral. I could barely get a 1/8th of turn on the reel on each loop it made. Finally, I heard gaff, then the call for another and one more, it wasn't til I heard Captain state "get the 4th gaff with the large opening" that I realized maybe this is a seriously big fish. With five guys pulling and lifting, I watched this beautiful creature hit the deck. I was literally exhausted, arms and hands cramped, but somehow managed to do it all in 44 minutes, but trust me - it felt like hrs... I have never ever been this tired, ever! Like a orchestrated show Alex was dispatching the fish and pulling the heart for me to take a big tasty bite out of, as this was my first big Yellowfin ever! It quickly became beer time for me while the fish was prepped for photos. A lot of high fives from everyone on board, made me realize, I got my bucket list fish, I got my bucket list fish! And it was a freaking big Cow to boot, almost a Super Cow. I'm still smiling and probably will be til next trip down in the beautiful warm waters way south of Washington...

In the end the three biggest fish were 160, 239 and my, I got the lucky "Once in a Lifetime" 284 pound Yellowfin Tuna that I now dubbed "Beast of the Deep". Some variety fish were caught too, Dorado, Marlin, Sailfish and a Hammerhead Shark. We all went home with some fine, perfectly cut and packaged Ahi. Thanks to my awesome Washington buddies for coming along - I am forever grateful. Thanks to the Apollo crew for being awesome and a special thanks to MikeeDaGuy for getting me on the trip. I will remember this trip forever. If any of you doubters a few months ago are still doubting, DONT! Get ahold of MikeeDaGuy and book one of these trips with Mikee, Captain Mike on the Apollo in the future, you will not be disappointed.

More photos to come, just awaiting an email from a guy with some serious ones he took...

[PlateauNDN]

  nice tuna!

[WapitiTalk1]

Geezus, nice tuna!

[h20hunter]

Epic. Thanks cor posting.

[jackson7]

does not get much fresher than that. we use to do the same back when, before sushi ever became a mainstream food.

[DOUBLELUNG]

Congratulations!!!

[elkboy]

Not sure if this is fishing or big game hunting, or both! Congratulations! Sounds like it was an awesome experience in every possible way. 

[bearpaw]

that's a dandy, congrats

[boneaddict]

Oh man, thats nice!

[Boss .300 winmag]

Curiosity is killing me on what a character like that runs $?

Killer fish.👍

[boneaddict]

Are you going to be the next Skipper on Wicked Tuna?

[Boss .300 winmag]

Are you going to be the next Skipper on Wicked Tuna?

Love that show.🐟

[boneaddict]

Me too!  I think the new season is about to start.

[crazywednesday]

Beautiful fish.

That guy on the left in the first picture looks like Jonathan Banks. He played "Mike" in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.

[HUNTINCOUPLE]