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Our local fisherman Frank Arlaus, better known as Pancho Postre, won "another"
fishing tournament here in Mazatlán this past July. The Club Nautico Mazatlán
held their annual fishing tournament July 10th and 11th and Pancho, aboard
his boat "Viagras", took top honors by catching a 350 1b blue marlin on
day one. There were two other blue marlin that weighed in at 275 1bs each
on day one. Mike Ryan, fishing aboard the "Gaby" out of the StartFleet took
second place and the "Americka Sport" placed third. There were two other
blue marlin landed on day one but weren't presented for weighing since they
were much smaller than the above fish. Second place was determined by the
length of the fish as they both weighed 275 1bs. Also on day one there were
an abundance of sailfish presented for weigh-in. Top honors went to Jose
Einar Landazuri for an 80 1b sailfish and second and third was shared by
Arturo Nava and Leonel Meza for their 65 1b sails. There were no fish presented
for catagory B, dorado, tuna or Wahoo on day one. Day two was a good day
of fishing also, however, the fish presented for weigh-in were 255 1bs and
225 1bs which were presented for the "calcutta" (side bets). The side bet
on day one was worth $4,600.oo pesos to Pancho and his fishing partners
Gabriel Sánchez and Alfonso Pelligrini. Gaby and Pancho have taken two first
place finishes and one third in their last four tournaments. They also landed
two blue marlin on day two but they weren't presented for weigh-in since
they were smaller than 255 1bs. There was only one dorado caught on day
two and that took top honors for Jesus Tostado aboard the Blue Fin out of
the Flota Faro and was worth $7,000.00 pesos. The Pacific Pearl has written
about Pancho many times. The most notable was when he landed a 314 1b blue
marlin while fishing as an invited fisherman aboard the M/Y Mariah in the
El Cid Billfish Classic last November. That fish was worth $46,000.00 dollars
to thew owner and crew. That makes it three first place finishes and one
third place for Pancho in this last five tournaments. What's he got going
for him? We decided to ask. Sharky: Pancho, what makes you so lucky fishing
these tournaments? Pancho: You said it Sharky, luck! That has a lot to do
with it. Sharky: O.K. luck has a lot to say, but what makes you so lucky?
Pancho: Well, it`s not all luck. First of all, a lot of credit with my success
goes to Gabriel Sánchez, my fishing partner, we get along so well out there.
Call it Karma,or whatever you want, but we both have the same attitude fishing
these tournaments. We know you have to FISH HARD!. We knew this tournament
wasn't going to be won with a sailfish, so we never put a bait in the water.
We put my best speed trolling marlin lures in the water at 15 miles out
and started trolling at 13 miles an hour with five lures in the water.Three
on the flat lines and two on the outriggers. We zig-zagged between 15 and
18 miles out where other boats reported marlin strikes the days before the
tournament. When that didn't work we headed out 35 miles to my favorite
heading for marlins and headed back towards shore. Time dictated we do that
because you don't want to hook in to a big fish way out there and not leave
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back to the weigh-in station on time. That worked out perfect since we hooked
our fish at 1:35 pm at 18 miles out, leaving us 1 hour and 35 minutes to
land our fish and make it back to the dock for weigh-in by 4:00 pm. It took
only 50 minutes to land the fish, leaving us plenty of time to return and
comfortably drink a couple of beers on the way. SPEED STROLLING, that's
Fishing HARD!. Sharky: Fishing hard, O.K. That was aboard your boat Viagras,
where you could fish the way you want. What made you lucky enough to catch
that $46,000.00 marlin when you went as an invited fisherman aboard the
M/Y Mariah? Did you tell the capitan how to fish on his boat? Pancho: No,
I wouldn't think of telling another capitan how to fish on his boat. on
day one, we didn't catch anything. On day two, before leaving the dock,
the capitan asked me what we should do and that's different. that El Cid
Tournament is basicaly a catch and release tornament, which I'm not found
of. Again, I Knew we had to catch a marlin over 250 1bs to win anything,
that's their limit for bringing a fish to the scales. So, I told the Capitan
to forget about the baits and got out my favorite marlin lures, told him
the heading I wanted him to troll and to keep the boat at 11 knots. It's
the same heading we won this time with, but I'm not going to reveal what
heading that is for this interview. twenty two miles out we hooked our first
marlin , but knew it wouldn't make the limit and released it. Another six
miles out we hooked the big one wich I told the mate to gaff, since I knew
it would make the limit and then some. That's how we won $46,000.00 in El
Cid Tournament, Fishing HARD!! Sharky: Why is the particular heading you
like so important for catching marlin? Pancho: Looks like your fishing here
on land Sharky. I won't tell you the heading, but I'll tell you this. As
you know, some other writers for sportfishing magazines have said that there
isn't any structure here in the waters off of Mazatlán. Well, that's not
true. They, or the captains they fish with, should take the time to read
the navagation charts and they would see where the structures are for fishing
for big marlin. The most obvious are the 100 fathom drop offs at 15 to 18
miles out at certain headings. My favorite heading shows a chain of sea
mounds from 18 to 40 miles out and that's all I'm going to tell you. Sharky:
Do you ever use baits when fishing these tournaments? Pancho: Sure, that's
how we took first and third place at the Topolobampo Tournaments these past
two years. However, we knew that a striped marlin or big tuna could win
that one. We only fished hard (speed trolling) a day before the tournament,
to locate the fish, which we did. We fished there with baits, won one and
placed third the other. Sharky: When are you fishing another tournament?
Pancho: As of right now I'll be fishing aboard the M/Y Mariah again at the
El CidBillfish Classic this November. Fred Dowey, the owner of the Mariah
heard I won the Club Nautico Tournament, called to congratulate me and invited
me to fish with him again at El Cid. Sharky: You won a new VW sedan this
time and you drive a Mercedes, what are you going to do with the VW? Pancho:
Sell it, give some cash to Gabriel Sánchez and buy some new lures. Sharky:
Pancho you're a good sport and sportfisherman. Thanks for the interview. |
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Pancho Postre,
Gabriel Sanchez and Alfonso
Pelligrini.
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