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View Full Version : Royal Pelagic Mexico Trip w/video



Seatech
09-30-2007, 07:16 PM
Received an invite a few months ago to join a charter of the Royal Pelagic for a 7 day surf trip in southern Mexico.

Left last Saturday and after an overnight flight and short van ride to Hualtuco Harbor, we rounded the corner to see our home for the next 7 nights

http://www.senortuna.com/pics/data/500/DSC_0163.jpg

Pretty amazing vessel, in the same class as the Excel long range boat.

We loaded up and got our "how things work" briefing and 3 hours later pulled up to our first spot:

http://www.senortuna.com/pics/data/500/DSC_0191.jpg

Sets were 2-3 feet overhead and a fairly easy take off, with some sets connecting thru the middle and inside for a 200-300 yard ride down the point.

Surfed until dark and then enjoyed fine dining on the deck

http://www.senortuna.com/pics/data/500/DSC_0168.jpg

All the toys were stowed for the evening and ready for the next day's fun:

http://www.senortuna.com/pics/data/500/DSC_0170.jpg

Sunrise saw us up and ready for a new spot

http://www.senortuna.com/pics/data/500/DSC_0175.jpg

Skiffs in the water just at sunrise

http://www.senortuna.com/pics/data/500/DSC_0177.jpg

Quivers ready for action

http://www.senortuna.com/pics/data/500/DSC_0239.jpg


45 minutes later we pulled up to find this

http://www.senortuna.com/pics/data/500/DSC_3938.jpg

To give a bit of perspective, the larger rocks on the right are about 5 feet out of the water.

We ended up surfing this break 5 days of the trip. A few late drop-ins were rewarded with a trip thru the rocks

http://www.senortuna.com/pics/data/500/DSC_0276.jpg

...missing is the head gash and double foot laceration (repaired with super glue) but this didn't keep Warren from just destroying every wave he rode!!

Most days ended with a pretty cool color show

http://www.senortuna.com/pics/data/500/DSC_0253.jpg

...and the crew enjoying a few fine beverages

http://www.senortuna.com/pics/data/500/DSC_0304.jpg

We scored waves in the head high to 3-4 feet overhead range every day of the trip just EPIC!

When we weren't out getting pulled around

http://www.senortuna.com/pics/data/500/DSC_0320.jpg


...we did manage to get a few nice fish

http://www.senortuna.com/pics/data/500/DSC_0296.jpg


http://www.senortuna.com/pics/data/500/DSC_0278.jpg


http://www.senortuna.com/pics/data/500/DSC_0243.jpg



http://www.senortuna.com/pics/data/500/DSC_3840.jpg


http://www.senortuna.com/pics/data/500/DSC_3902.jpg


http://www.senortuna.com/pics/data/500/DSC_0291.jpg


Some that even made it into the boat:


http://www.senortuna.com/pics/data/500/DSC_0305.jpg


....and some that didn't

http://www.senortuna.com/pics/data/500/DSC_3834.jpg


http://www.senortuna.com/pics/data/500/DSC_0279.jpg


http://www.senortuna.com/pics/data/500/DSC_3923.jpg



Check out all the bait puddling in the background of this photo

http://www.senortuna.com/pics/data/500/DSC_3966.jpg


Now my goal was to score epic waves and get a big rooster on a surface popper on this trip.


Final goal accomplished

http://www.senortuna.com/pics/data/500/DSC_3961.jpg

Fought this for about 45 minutes on a bass rod, we spent 20 minutes reviving the fish and it swam away.

The gods smiled on us for doing this when a 25 foot whale shark swam up next to the boat and hung out with us for the next 20 minutes. It was a once in a life time experience to reach down and grab on to it's dorsal fin and be pulled by it!!!


I should have some INSANE surf footage shot from the water and land (photos and video) in the next few days/week and I'll post when they are up!

Great to be back to cold water, small waves and 2-3lb fish!!!

Ed

Fisher-of-Men
10-01-2007, 04:20 AM
The trip you guys went on lookds amazing! Nice pictures. The guy with the bruises is lucky they weren't worse judging from the large rocks I saw in the pics.

The fish you guys caught were awesome! And the Sushi Boat looked good as well. :wink:

Thanks for sharing!

Fisher-of-Men

sandiegojoe
10-01-2007, 10:24 AM
Beautiful. I've always wanted to go on a surf trip or a long-range fishing trip, but never could justify spending the cash one way or another to the wife. but a combined surfing/fishin trip I may be able to justify.

If you don't mind my asking.. what is a ballpark figure for a trip like that?

ThemBastards
10-01-2007, 11:50 AM
Tubular those fish were gnar gnar bro. J/k Seriously that trip looked awesome man. Congrats on the Rooster that is a big boy.

uno
10-01-2007, 12:36 PM
wow!!!! the surf looks amazing....im jealous....nice fish too!

fisheromen
10-01-2007, 02:19 PM
OUTSTANDING trip!!!!

Those are some quality fish!

:thumb:

Seatech
10-03-2007, 12:14 PM
Thanks guys it was just a killer trip!!!!

For info on the boat, here is their link

http://www.pelagic-charters.com/

Basically you must charter the entire boat (or hope someone is a few short in their charter and join in) and the boat runs out of Hualtuco Mexico. Although they may be doing a few trips out of Cabo later this year. It's primary mission is surf trips, but the guys on the boat love to fish too!

Cost will depend on the # of people on the trip, as you are chartering the boat. We had 10 on our trip and it was the perfect # both for cost and lack of crowding on the boat/waves.


ed

uno
10-03-2007, 12:29 PM
....$30,000 is a lot of money though. damn...haha

Seatech
10-03-2007, 07:47 PM
Yeah $30K sounds pricey (I guess cause maybe it is :lol: ) but with 10 guys it was a bit over $3K each + airfare.

Going out on the Excel for an 8 days, with 32 guys, is a bit over $2,000 each and the boats/service are very similar. We started fishing an hour after we were on the boat and in quality surf within a few hours of that!

Not something I can swing every year but worth every penny. They have a sister ship in Indo that may be the next destination for the group!

Ed

uno
10-04-2007, 08:28 PM
let us know when the surf vids up...

Seatech
10-09-2007, 05:58 PM
A few videos shot from the water

Not quote epic but still a few view

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1J2S5KC8hw


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ED_1OSGuRw

sansou
10-09-2007, 09:19 PM
Awesome trip!

Now that is fishing in style!

uno
10-09-2007, 10:17 PM
wow those waves look soooo ripable!!

one_leg
10-10-2007, 12:43 PM
Ed, thanks for the report/pics/vids.

That looks like a lot of fun.

One_Leg

Greg Madrigal
10-13-2007, 11:24 AM
Freakin a Ed. That was an epiuc tripo for sure! What was that colorful lil grouper you were holding?
Can't believe you caught my dream fish on a popper?! I wanna rooster! What did u get it on? Were you fishing the beach?

GM

Seatech
10-14-2007, 07:29 PM
Greg,

That is a Chino Mero, Clown Hawkfish, we caught it trolling the surfline for roosterfish:

http://www.mexfish.com/fish/chawk/chawk.htm

I've caught them in East Cape a few times too.


All the fish were caught off a boat, either the big boat or one of the skiffs in close to one of the reefs or pinnacles we stumbled across.

I caught the big rooster, the jack and a few pargo on the Yozuri Surface Cruiser, in black/purple. I eventually lost it to a big fish that hit about 40 yards off the reef we were fishing and freight-trained right into the rocks. Not a single chance of stopping it. In total I lost somewhere around 10 BIG surface poppers down there, either busted or bitten off.

The wild thing about that rooster is that it was one of the smaller fish chasing our baits that day. We say a few the were easily 70+ lbs, just monsters! It was caught by a pinnacle a few miles offshore.

Thanks for the comments!!!

Ed