Rhino's Fishing Report Blog

Saturday, 2/17/07

Chip & Tim from Stinger and I decided to drag some lures around to see what we could get. I have mainly been fishing with live bait during the 7 months we have been here and wanted to see how well lures would work. We made a big loop from Mita to El Banco to Corbetena and back to the point. We got a smaller dorado to bite a black & purple electronic noise (EAL) lure about 3/4 of the way to El Banco. We made a few passes over the high spots at the bank where there was only one other boat and the water was 74 degrees and green. Around noon, a few minutes after Chip made some sandwiches, I commented that lunch was always good for a hookup. About the fifth bite into my sandwich, we had a fish on. This one was a nicer size dodo that ate a 6.5" 7Strand Softop Mini Pusher. After that, we did an outside loop back toward the rock, where most of the other boats were. As we got closer to the rock, the water warmed up to a peak of 78 about two miles NW of the rock. The water was 76 at the rock and a little cleaner. Between the bank and the rock we saw lots of turtles. There were a couple dead ones floating that had small dodos swimming under them. At the rock, there were reports of guys getting dodos and a few smaller tuna. Bait was up all around the rock when we arrived in mid-afternoon. About 5:30 we had gotten to within 4 miles of Mita and I asked Tim if we should pull in the lines. He said let's wait until we pass the point. Within 5 minutes of that we had a zip on an EAL lure that came loose. We quickly got back up to trolling speed to see if it would come back. About 30 seconds later the outrigger line goes off and Chip grabs the pole. The outrigger clip did not release and the fish is peeling line off. The next thing we know, the outrigger comes crashing down. We look back and a marlin comes flying out of the water with a grin on its face. I hammer the throttles from the cockpit to try and keep the line tight while Chip unhooks the line from the clip that is now just dangling by the gunnel. Chip hands the rod off to me and the fish headed straight for the boat. I am reeling as fast as I can until I figure out the fish is close to the boat and still very green. I warn Tim to be ready to punch it in case the fish comes out of the water and wants to join us in the cockpit. All of a sudden the fish crosses the back of the boat from one corner to another and makes it around the side before Tim could punch it to stay in front of him. I saw the fish round the corner and felt a couple head shakes and then the lure popped out of the water. At least we know it got released in good shape. By the way, this fish ate the same small 7Strand lure that the dodo ate. Well, that was an exciting way to end the day at least. The water was pretty smooth all day with very little swell. The sunset was awesome, as usual. I heard a boat that stayed out at the rock that night had to come back to Mita when the wind started howling at 2:00 a.m. though.

Sunday night we had the underwater lights on in the marina and the snook and toros (jack crevalle) were out in full force attacking minnows swimming in the lights. Brant from Redneck could not resist the temptation, especially with Maverick (his dog) all but jumping into the water to try and get at them. Brant had some small live minnows that he put on a small hook and not before long he had a snook on. A couple quick photos and back it went in the water.

And finally, you guys would not believe how cute Gina's cougar cub is. It is very tame and friendly. You just don't see this kind of stuff in the marina office in San Diego!

Saturday, 12/16/06

Conditions- small swell, very little wind so it was smooth. The water became flat as the day progressed. The air temp was about 80 and felt pretty nice. The water was blue green, clean, clear and 80-82 degrees.

We left the dock at 5:15 am with Captain Tony Ocaranza, Chip King, who runs a big new Sea Ray that recently arrived near me in the marina and his friend Eric from Minnesota, who had never caught a fish bigger than whatever you can catch in the lakes near his home. Chip had yet to catch any of the big yellowfin the area is famous for.

We headed straight to El Banco and arrived about 8:00 am. There were already about ten boats out there including a real nice, big Viking sportfisher that I think was called Mojito that I had not seen before. There already were radio reports that the tuna were up and biting. Bait was up but it was a slow process getting them to bite. I think it took us almost an hour to fill the four tubes and get baits in the water. We trolled around the high spot for about an hour and then worked our way east to where we saw bait up on top and heard the Osunas had found some tunas. On our way over there I went in to grab a bagel and the minute I started to put on some cream cheese I heard Chip yell and looked up to see a tuna exploding on one of the baits. I ran out to the cockpit, fed the fish some more, finally locked the Penn 30VSW reel down and we had our first fish on. A few seconds later the Penn 50 VSW reel on the other corner of the boat starts to tear line out and Chip and I have a double going. We figured out real fast that Chip had the bigger fish as it was peeling line off of the 50 faster than I was losing line on the 30. We had one harness so Chip put it on. We took turns doing the over and under dance with the lines as the hot fish swam back and forth. Tony had his hands full trying to best position the boat to keep us both at the best possible angle. Tony told his amigos on the radio that we had a double working and a bunch of boats were circling us in short order. With the advantage of the 50 reel, Chip’s fish came in first. It was a nice fish that taped out at 141 pounds (64x42). My 30 reel only had 60 pound line, so with 20 pounds of drag it took me another 20 minutes to get my fish in. It taped in at 92 pounds (57x36) and was a fun fight on the smaller reel.

We cleaned up the blood and resumed the slow process of making bait. Once we finally had three, we put two out and started slow trolling again. The tuna were still east of the high spots and we were starting to see them busting through bait boils, some totally out of the water. At slow trolling speeds it would take a while to get to the jumping fish but we finally got another one to go. The guys called me down from driving to fight this one. I could quickly tell it was smaller than the previous one, plus I had it on a 50 reel. Within a short time we had our third tuna on deck, this one in the 60-pound class, which barely raised an eyebrow after the previous two and did not even rate a photo. However, after that fish, there was barely any room left in the fish box.

We trolled around some more until mid-afternoon and decided to use our tired and dead baits to raise one of the pargo we saw stacked on the high spot on the fishfinder. Within 5 minutes we were hooked up and Eric got to pull on his first big fish. The excitement was short lived as the fish was smart and wrapped the line in the rocks. We tried moving the boat to different angles to see if it would come loose but it would not budge. The line finally broke under the pressure. We then scored a couple more skipjacks for bait and headed back to the high spot. It was not long before we had another pargo on. This time Eric was determined to turn the fish before he could find the rocks. This fish found its way to the swim step and once the gaff was in, Eric was like a little kid on Christmas morning. While it was no monster, it was huge compared to what he was used to pulling out of the lakes back home in Minnesota. With that, we called it a day. Tony and Chip filleted the fish on the way in and totally filled up the cockpit freezer to the max. This was a very fun day and the reason we brought the boat to PV.

Later that night I was cleaning up the cuts on the filets and throwing the scraps in the water near the underwater lights. It was not long before a school of jack crevalle was swarming on the chunks. Passersby were mesmerized by all the fish. Later I noticed a school of snook was lurking just outside the glow of the lights. I did not even bother throwing in a line as I felt it would not even be a challenge. People were asking if any crocs had stopped by for an easy meal. Not yet.

Thursday night, 12/14/06

A school of small bait began circling in the underwater lights and soon thereafter the toros (jack crevalle) and robalos (snook) starting slashing through them. We discovered that we could catch the baitfish with a small bait tank net when we turned off the underwater lights and the little fish would jump out of the water in fear. We entertained ourselves on the swim step for a couple hours catching the toros, snook, corvina and catfish. I still can’t believe there is such good fishing right in the marina.

PS. There was an 8 day old cougar in the marina office when I arrived. Its eyes were not even open yet. Its claws were like needles.

Monday night, 11/27/06 (Inshore fishing…in the marina)

So, I turned on the underwater lights in the slip and within minutes a school of foot long barracuda were circling at my transom. About a half hour after that I heard the cudas jumping out of the water like they were evading a predator. I decided to drop a line in with a 2” rubber swimbait to see if I could catch whatever was harassing the cudas. About ten minutes later I hooked something that took off and shortly thereafter didn’t just bend the hook straight, it completely broke it off from the leadhead! I swapped out to a bigger bait and hook and tried it again. Soon afterwards I hooked up again and a big old snook that was at least 30” long comes splashing up to the amazement of me and the other boat owners nearby. We all could not believe you could catch a fish this big off your swim step. Welcome to PV! This was at about 8:30 p.m. I finally packed it in at a little after 1:00 a.m. after continuous action on a couple species of snapper and small catfish.

About 10:00 pm Fernando from a killer 85' Hatteras sportfisher nearby came over to join the fun and told me to switch from swim baits to chunks of tuna on a 4/0 circle hook. The snappers loved this. However, one time something picked up the bait and slowly moved off but I could tell it had not swallowed it yet. Fernando is yelling at me to hit it and I said not yet. Finally I start to feel pressure and reel tight on it. Whatever it was takes off like a rocket and then the line breaks. When I pull the line in and look at it, it is shredded for two feet up from the break. The line looked like it had been shaved with long shards hanging off of it. Fernando calmly looks over and says, “Crocodile.” He was serious. I don’t know if he was right but it was funny that he thought it was possible. He had seen a big one in the lagoon next to the marina earlier in the day so I just think that was on his mind.

Many times I have seen fish hitting the surface in the marina in San Diego and could not catch one. Needless to say this was a lot of fun…and I did not have to think about the fuel bill.

Sunday, 11/26/06

Conditions- Flat, frequently glassy water and much cooler weather allowed us to have the flybridge windows open for the first time since arriving in July (finally no A/C required!). The humidity has dropped noticeably too. Partly cloudy skies helped calm the intense sun. There were a couple rain squalls on radar on the way out but that dissipated quickly. Water was 84-85 and a clean blue. 

Tony and I were out of the slip in the dark at 5:15 with intentions of picking up Bogart (Tiger Lilly) and Steve (Boomer) at Punta Mita on our way out. We arrived there around 6:20 and waited until 7:10 before declaring them a no-show. While waiting in the anchorage area, I got a chance to see the underwater lights attract small flying and needle fish. The sapphire blue water looked cool all lit up.

We headed straight to El Banco where it had been hot the previous three days. We made bait pretty fast catching skipjacks two and a three on a line at a time. My little bucktail bait jigs that I made are working pretty well. We filled the tubes, some with doubles and put the last two skippies caught right back out. We slow-trolled all around the high spots for a couple hours for nada but we knew we were in the right place. We watched 15-20 boats crowding the peaks catching marlin, sailfish & dorado that were putting on aerial shows. We could also see big puffs of diesel smoke as captains punched it when they hooked up. About noon we headed west of the spot to where Frantic Pace had done well the day before- and to avoid the crowd. About a mile and a half away we hooked a tuna that we first thought was a marlin because it exploded on the bait and made a big splash. When it headed straight down we figured it was probably a tuna though. I put on the harness and made a lot of progress as the fish mistakenly swam toward the boat. At deep color the fish looked pretty big but turned out to be one of the 150 pounders that we heard had been hanging around lately. It taped out at 145.6 pounds (63x43).

The rest of the day was a series of short bites and pulled hooks. We had another tuna on that pulled the hook when I bumped up the drag when the fish was close to the boat. We had a sailfish following a splashy jig for a while while we were trying to make more bait. The sail kept playing with the jig and finally bit it but the hook did not stick. We lost a dorado at the swim step just as Tony grabbed the leader. Bait was harder to make in the afternoon and boats would fly over to any spot where fish came up and birds tipped off their location. At one point, we were four boats wide through a bait boil with birds everywhere, but we still could not get a skippy to bite. Herk on Frantic Pace later told me that when they saw spinner dolphin come up in this area, they dropped in baits and instantly caught three 150-pound tunas. We had a couple other baits picked up and let go of later in the day. The bite marks on the baits looked like tuna marks.

This was by far the most active fishing day I have experienced since arriving in July. There clearly were lots of fish in the area and all the boats got their shot at at least several fish of various species. It was a spectacle to watch all the boats with marlin, sailfish and dorado hooked up and jumping out of the water. Plus the weather and water were awesome- and the totally red sky sunset that looked like it was on fire was phenomenal.

Saturday, 10/27/06

Tony was back on board today and I was fired up after hearing about the 315 pound cow they had caught the day before. After getting some caballitos for bait in Marina Vallarta we started the day looking for dorados in the same area from the day before. After a couple hours of nothing but a couple more non-stick knockdowns including one big dodo that bit through the jig leader, we started angling toward El Banco. Manny on "Pacifico" called and said he was out there and that it looked fishy. At that point we pulled in the jigs and ran over there. Upon arrival, we caught four bullet tuna to put in the tubes and two more to go right back out. We were near the high spot and Manny, who was just to starboard of us now, called to say he just hooked a big dorado. Tony finished bridling the second bait and had just dropped it in the water when he noticed the line was coming off the reel too fast for a baitfish. Tony yelled to punch it and we were hooked up. Apparently this fish was waiting patiently in the Big Kahuna buffet line and hit almost immediately after putting the bait in the water. Tony had a big smile on his face and waved for me to come down and fight the fish. Not knowing what to expect in Cowtown, I harnessed up and started evaluating what we had on. After a couple short strong runs, I could tell it was not huge but it was still mad that we pulled it out of the buffet line. Like the marlin from yesterday, this fish got easy too quickly. When we got it to the swimstep, the baitfish was stuck in its mouth and was probably drowning it. Oh well. Not a cow but still good enough to irritate the other boats that had already been there a while with nothing to show for it. It weighed 65 pounds on the spring scale. We continued to work it hard until an hour after all the other boats had left, but that one fish was it for the day. There were lots of bait up all day, as usual, and we did see some smaller tunas crashing though them at one point in the later afternoon. The water was very smooth today.

Two days. Two fish. Certainly not "epic", but I was at least able to check off another fish on my list that I could not catch out of San Diego.

Friday 10/26/06- 1st marlin

I fished with Luis Ocaranza, as his brother Tony who usually fishes with me, was busy fishing with Clark on "Aleta". We decided to try for quantity over quality, as we heard there were lots of dorado and sailfish about 10-15 miles NW of Punta Mita. We spent about half the day trolling around for nada but a couple knockdowns that did not stick. About 1:30 we finally got a solid ZZZZip and then a blue marlin goes airborne about 100 yards out. It bit a black & purple EAL sonic lure. We got a show of 5 or 6 more jumps and then the fish settled down after peeling half my line off. After about 15 minutes I was getting a lot of line back and Luis commented that it was too easy. In low gear I was able to reel almost continuously. In just a few more minutes the fish came to the boat looking lifeless. We spent 20 minutes trying to revive it but it was not moving. I felt like the doctor on TV pounding on the patient's chest long after he had been declared dead. Luis said "It's dead" and I said, "Let's keep trying." We finally gave up and hoisted the fish on the swim step and then into the cockpit. This was my first marlin after many years trying in San Diego and I really wanted to release it, but the fish coming up dead took the excitement out of the moment. It taped out at 248 pounds and ended up as many bags of huge white meat filets. We called it a day and headed for Opequimar to make our donation to the Mexican fuel industry so that we would be ready for another adventure the next day. The water was a little bumpy today with some swell mixed in. It smoothed out later in the day though.

Saturday, 9/30/06

Conditions- Little or no swell, smooth water, partly cloudy, hot in the sun and not much better in the shade. Thank God for the flybridge A/C. Water was 85 and dirty north of El Banco and 87-88 and blue near El Banco.

We started the day at sunup and headed to a buoy that Tony knew about that was 40 miles north of Punta Mita. We stopped near Punta Mita to dive under the boat to look why the boat was running sluggishly. It looked like the bottom cleaner had not cleaned the props during the last cleaning so I was mad that I need to chase him for letting barnacles accumulate. While we were swimming, a spotted ray jumped out of the water near us and came down with a slap that startled us. Back underway, we got about half way to the buoy and the water started getting dirty. We stopped on a makeshift buoy we ran across and caught one small dorado. We turned around shortly thereafter and headed toward El Banco. On the way we ran across a huge area of trash, wood and small logs that had come out of the rivers. We figured there would be some dorado under something in there but that was not the case. We looked under anything sizeable that we came close to. We finally got to El Banco after 3:00 because we trolled jigs for nada all the way there. We caught some skipjack on the way and my homemade double bait jigs worked great pulling in two at a time. We filled the tuna tubes and continued. When we got within a half mile of El Banco, we put the skippies in and started the 2 knot slow trolling. Tony radio'ed Manny on Clark's 35 Cabo "Aleta" and they had just hooked up a big fish that turned out to be a tuna. That was their first fish after being out there all day. They got it to the boat in 20 minutes and it turned out to be the winning fish in the Hunt For Giants tournament, weighing in at 280, 10 pounds bigger than Josh's big fish from the day before. Apparently the fish did not fight very hard and quickly gave up. Tony saw the fish from 100 yards away when they stood it up in the cockpit for photos he predicted it was 280-290 pounds. This guy is good. We trolled all around the high spot until 6:30 and finally had to leave because we would get back after dark and have to run in the log infested bay at night. Everyone (except me) took showers while heading in and I rinsed off after we got in so that we could make it to dinner before they closed. After dinner we dropped in at the Hunt For Giants awards dinner and finally met Clark & Manny. Josh scored some Pacificos, t-shirts and visors for us so we were appreciative. It ended up being a nice day out on the water but slow fishing. I am going to cut back the PV trips to once per month until fishing improves and it gets cooler. Apparently this is the worst year for fishing in many years. Wouldn't you know?! Also air fares are getting ridiculous so that is another excuse to stay home. The hotel and airport was much busier this week than ever before so tourist season must be starting. I hope that is a sign that conditions in PV will be improving soon.

Friday, 9/29/06

We played around in the bay late in the afternoon and caught a bunch of blue runners and a permit over the reef close to the islands. We tried out the underwater lights at dusk just outside the dirty water line from the rivers and they did seem to attract a lot of little fish. Given time to accumulate, I bet bait fish would show up too.

Saturday, 9/16/06

Conditions- Hurricane Lane had just passed PV the day before and boats that were out fishing Friday got caught in huge 10-12 foot sees and 35-45 mph winds with gusts to 60 mph. Saturday morning the ports were all closed until 9:15 am. Within a half hour of letting us go, they closed the ports again and we were wondering if we should head back in. As we exited the bay near the islands it got too rough to proceed. Punta Mita was knocking down the wind in the bay but once outside the bay, the unrestricted wind was having its way with the ocean. We decided to troll in the bay where there were no wind waves, just a big slow swell that was OK to fish in. The sky was cloudy and the water temperature was 84-85. The water was brown from the mud coming out of the rivers for a mile or two off the beach.

I had clients, Tony and his brother Luis fishing with me today. We trolled tuna feathers along the outside of the muddy water line that was strewn with debris and logs. We started picking up skipjack tunas right away. At least my buddies were catching something. We also caught a small dorado and lost a bigger one. We put out a small chugger lure way back and shortly thereafter raised a sailfish that looked at the lure and then sunk out. As the day progressed the swell subsided and the skies became partly cloudy. We tried to sneak outside the islands again in the afternoon but it was still too rough. About 4:00 pm we headed in and ended what was actually a pretty nice day on the water. I was surprised to find the bay so nice and the outside so rough.

I am looking forward to the end of the hurricane season and the afternoon rains that come with it. At least the rains are keeping the temperatures a little cooler.

Saturday, 8/19/06

Conditions- small swell, smooth water, cooler temps from last night's rain and cloud cover today. Water was 86-88 and a clean blue.

Fished inshore around the Marietas until noon. Lots of bait (filled the livewell in 30 minutes) but caught nothing else. Ran out to the Rock to see what was happening there. Arrived to find only a few boats so we figured this was not the place to be but stuck around anyway. Heard later that there were a lot more boats at El Banco. We concentrated on some high spots west of the Rock where the bait was up in large numbers all afternoon. We finally saw some crashing medium size tunas come up somewhat near us late in the afternoon. Two other boats were already set up in the same area with kites up but I do not know if they got any. The fish went down by the time we got there within minutes. They were only at the surface for a couple passes through some bait and then we did not see them again.

We did run across a very large 2-3" thick mooring rope that looked like it had been in the water a while. It was barely visible until we stumbled across it west of the Rock. I hope no boats end up with this in their props. I did not have anything with me that would float to mark it. Anyway, the rope had formed into a circle about 10 feet around and fish were hitting the surface but only in the middle of the circle. We thought it might be a net with fish trapped in the middle. It was a mixed bag of fish. I saw one that looked like a grouper and two dodos that bolted as soon as we got close. We worked this for a while and still nada. There was a huge amount of bait under this rope so we were not surprised that nothing paid attention to our baits. So, today was a total boat ride except we are now very good at catching bait that no other fish seem to want to eat.

Our marina neighbor took his 130 foot yachtfisher out to El Banco very early this morning and said the bait was very skittish and hard to catch. They worked this area for nada too. What's up with the PV fish? It seems you either get lucky and are the one that catches the cow d'jour or it is real slow. I would love to hear the insights and opinions of the PV veterans on what is up. Do you think it is going to be a late season or have the seiners wreaked havoc, or ????

 Friday, 8/18/06

Conditions- Breezy, moderate swell (waves breaking in Paradise Village marina breakwater) in the morning. The afternoon was pretty much back to normal- smooth, slight breeeze, partly cloudy. Water temp:86

 Had a long day with not much to show for it. We spent the morning at the Rock and struggled to even make bait. Lots of boats but did not see much action going on. The radio was pretty quiet in the morning and dead in the afternoon. About 1:30 we decided to go check out El Banco. We arrived to find bait boiling and we quickly filled the tubes and had two more that got rigged and went right back in. We worked the area until about 6:00 pm in hopes of a late bite that did not come. Just before packing it in and heading home, we tried a cabby on the high spot to see if anything was home. After a long day of nada, my friend Randy was surprised to finally see a pole with a bend in it. After a fun fight on lighter tackle, up pops a nice rainbow runner to save the day, which was a new species for the boat. A quick photo and back in the water it went. We never saw any breaking fish or jumpers all day. We are going to try it again tomorrow.

PS. Huge lightning and thunder show tonight around the bay but offshore it was clear and calm.

Saturday, 7/29/06- 1st vacona

Conditions- The wind was calm and the water was flat with no swell. Skies were partly cloudy and the temperature was tolerable because of the afternoon rains in the mountains. Water temp: 85

Today was our third fishing adventure since bringing the boat to PV and Captain Tony was again along to show us the ropes. Also along were my friend Kevin from Newport Beach and his son, KJ. We headed for the Rock because we heard the Bank had been spotty. On arrival, we were able to make bait and fill the tubes with skipjack tunas and one football size yellowfin tuna. After a while we noticed some larger tunas crashing the surface about a half mile away and Chelita and we raced over there. We worked the area for several hours for nada while most other boats moved on, but we hung in there, as there was still lots of bait in the area. About 1:30 we stopped to throw caballitos near a bait boil but left the skippies we had been trolling in the water. Just as Tony was returning from the bow to get another cabbie, the port rigger loads up right next to him and lets go with a pop as the clip releases. Tony grabs the pole and I put the boat in gear to help him come tight. Game on. Tony & Kevin, being the gentlemen that they are, invited me to fight the fish, which they thought might be a big one, and the first for Big Kahuna. Needless to say I was down the ladder fast. I started the fight with my little leather fighting belt on and quickly requested the harness. This sucker could pull and I needed to be able to use my weight against it. The first hour I got to the mono top shot once. During the second hour I got to it four more times before we pushed the drags down and started the end game. The leader came up and Tony was out on the swim step waiting with the gaff. By this time we knew we had a cow on but nothing can prepare you for the first time you get a glimpse of a fish this big as it comes up from deep color into full view. What a thrill! The thing looked huge in the water as Tony wrangled it towards him and sunk the gaff in its stomach and rolled it over. Kevin attacked next with a well-placed second gaff and began the tug to get this monster up on the step and then through the transom door. I was in awe as the fish came through the door. A new boat and a year of planning and preparation later, I had become unbelievably fortunate to land my first vacona (Spanish for "big cow") almost one month to the day after arriving in PV. Tony estimated the fish at 280-290 pounds. It taped out at 278. Good guess, huh? The word was that no other boats caught a big one today and many boats got skunked, so we were the main attraction at the marina.

The whole time I was talking to myself saying don’t screw up, keep the line tight, keep pressure on… I did not want to have to tell the story of “well, we had a big one on but it got away.” At one point the fish charged the boat and even winding as fast as I could and Tony moving the boat forward did not keep the line tight. I saw the disappointment in Tony’s eyes as the line went slack. He asked is it gone? I hung my head…and then the line came tight again! We later discovered the fish completely swallowed the skippy and the 12/0 circle hook was down deep too. I spent ten years fishing out of San Diego and never fulfilled my goal of catching a 100-pound tuna. There had been those days when I was right in the middle of a bigeye tuna bite but never got lucky. Today I finally got lucky.

Monday, 7/3/06

Conditions- Slightly breezy in the morning with a mild wind chop and minimal swell. The wind increased in the afternoon making the swell bigger and stacked up wind waves that made it pretty bumpy. Did I mention it is f’ing hot here? Water temp: 87

We got cabbies from Rafa at Marina Vallarta just as the sun was coming up. I read Josh is now selling bait in Mita, which could save some time, so I need to check that out. We made the run directly to El Banco where there were reports of marlin and tuna. Unlike two days ago, the bait was down and we were lucky to score two skippies to put in the tubes. The wind chop also made it hard to spot surface activity. We were still trying for a few more skippies when Tony’s cousin Manny on Pacifico called from about a mile away and said they found some spinner dolphin with tuna mixed in. We pulled the bait jigs in and ran over there for a little run and gun action. We would race to get in front of the dolphins and then watch the birds to tell us where the tuna were. The caballitos would get picked up pretty quickly if we set up correctly. We did this 4 or 5 times and released six 25 pound class YFT…just babies in this neighborhood, but our first PV tunas nonetheless. We decided to return to our previous project of catching skippies and hunting marlin and bigger tunas on the El Banco high spot (which is only 60 feet below the surface at low tide). In hindsight, we made the error of leaving fish to find fish but then this is PV and everyone wants to try for the big kind. We were unable to get any more skippies so we put in the two we already had. The wind had now come up and it was hard for me to keep the boat and lines straight and keep the trolling speed under 2.5 mph to keep the skippies swimming well. After about an hour of getting rocked around on increasingly rougher water, we decided to put the Moldcraft jigs in and start trolling for home. Minutes after making that decision, Manny called again to say he had a marlin hooked up. They released an approximate 350-pound black marlin shortly thereafter but not before it knocked three tuna tubes off his boat with its tail as it was being released. Today was the first rough day on the water since we began our trip here from San Diego 10 days ago. It was a dose of reality, as it has been lake smooth all this time until today and I was starting to think this was the way it always was. Everyone is talking about how the big tuna should start showing up soon. Whenever a boat returns to the dock, other fishermen run over to ask, “Did you find them?” Maybe the next trip.

Saturday, 7/1/06- First fishing trip in PV

After getting the boat here on Wednesday, our first chance at fishing in the new neighborhood came yesterday. We hired Tony from Vacona (Manny’s cousin) to show us the drill and the hotspots. Tony is a highly experienced, very knowledgeable fisherman and I highly recommend using him if you get the chance. He speaks good English, works fast rigging etc and fishes with intensity. Tony’s amigos on the radio said it had been slow. After buying caballitos in Marina Vallarta, we headed to the Rock but it was pretty quiet, with a few boats trying to coax something off it. We headed west to a shelf edge where the water was bluer and then turned north headed to the Banco high spots. The water temp was around 87. The wind was slight and the water was near flat with no swell at all. Oh yeah, it’s f’ing hot here and they say it will get even hotter, which explains many of the empty slips in the marina. As we got close to El Banco, we could see lots more life and the bullet tuna and skipjack were boiling constantly. It was easy to make bait in minutes, as needed all day, and I got to use my tuna tubes for the first time. We watched a marlin that was hooked up jump several times at the back of a big Bertram sportfisher but it came unbuttoned. An hour later we saw another marlin slash through a bait boil so we knew they were there. There had been no signs of YFT all day though. We caught three Cubera snappers for the day (Tony kept one for dinner). There seems to be a huge amount of fish there though and I have never metered so many fish. The high spots seemed to be covered with fish. Lively baits get bit pretty quickly by the snappers and wounded baits did not get much returning interest, as you would expect. I need to refine my technique for feeding big baits to these fish, giving them plenty of time to swallow the bait, coming tight and setting the circle hooks. I pulled in a number of munched baits where I was too slow or too fast on the trigger. I’ll learn. In fact, I feel like I have to learn how to fish all over again as this is an entirely different gig than fishing in SD. There were many nuances that I was not familiar with. There are many things that you would not think about without instruction. For example, my little hoochie jigs that I use for albacore had double hooks that kept hurting the skippies. Tony made us switch to single hooks and all of a sudden the skippies were coming in lively, fighting hard all the way to the boat- ready to go in the tubes. Tony also showed us a bunch of new leadering and tackle tricks to get us up the learning curve faster.

This whole experience was new to me with every aspect exciting, having only fished out of San Diego and Ensenada before. There is a level of “fishiness” here that far surpasses anything I have ever seen up north. You can just tell that the bite could erupt at any second. We are going to try it again tomorrow.

PS. If you are looking to upgrade to a luxury sportfisher, you might want to check out this 130’ Lazzara that has had a cockpit added for fishing. The owner is a hardcore fisherman and they even take this monster out on day trips. They just got into PV from Costa Rica. They told us it burns 100 gallons an hour, so stop whining about your fuel bill. On that subject, we paid $2.06 per gallon in Turtle Bay, $2.08 in Cabo and $2.14 n PV. I paid $3.36 to fill up in SD before we left- and they said that was the lowest sport boat rate.  Somebody in the US is making some serious windfall profits on fuel.

Stay tuned for more adventures of Big Kahuna. Hopefully you will be able to watch us evolve into a tuna catchin’ machine.