Fishing the Magic Waters of Puerto Vallarta Mexico
by JAN STEPHEN MAIZLER
Puerto Vallarta has always been on my list of mandatory exotic destinations, because of its great fishing, beautiful environs, and excellent accessibility. Long ago, this city gained notoriety for the film Night of the Iguana . Its exquisite mountains, jungles, and waters in recent times once again lured the film Predator to be shot there. So Puerto Vallarta, (or PV) has long had a draw and mystique for me.
All of the right conditions enabled me to make the trip on March 30, 2004, and am I glad I did!
RESEARCHING THE TRIP
The short time I had to make arrangements led me to an online search of PV, and Phil in PV kept coming up. I contacted him at ectm@pvnet.com.mx, and got an immediate response. I was impressed with his enthusiasm for fishing, and informed him that I would shortly be visiting PV as the first leg of a trip that would also include Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas. He said there were basically four fisheries in PV that were viable at any point in the year.
*Surf casting the beaches for roosterfish, jack crevalles, and big snook.*Inshore skiff (panga) fishing for mackerel (sierra), jacks, snappers, and roosterfish.*Big game fishing about 20 miles offshore for blue and black marlin, tuna, and dorado (dolphin).*Bass fishing in the inland lakes.
After pointing these out, he said that he was sure that one of these fisheries would be active upon my arrival, with help from the Big Guy upstairs. I booked a panga through Phil with Captain Miguel and first mate Tony, since some kind of coastal fishing would be my first choice.
The next step was for us to rendezvous, and Phil was happy to meet me at the gangway when my ship, the Carnival Pride, docked in the Puerto Vallarta harbor. He said we would recognize him by the gray beard and the Gray Taxidermy shirt. Like clockwork, when my wife, Shermin, and I disembarked the ship with an arsenal of fishing tackle, there he was.
The drive to Las Penas Marina where the panga was berthed would only take five minutes, but it would give us all a chance to establish our relationship: Phil would accompany us on our charter.
As we drove and talked, I was impressed with Phil s colorful intensity, love of fishing, and total lack of pretense. It became clear that his target is the everyday angler searching for a simply good time. Phil promised not only a day of fun on the water casting to breaking game fish and watching rolling whales, and diving boobies. He made it clear he could provide for any visiting angler prior to arrival, advice on lodgings, and personality and skill match-up between angler, captain, and vessel. Upon arrival, he provides transfers to and from your hotel or cruise ship to your charter vessel. After a day of probable success off PV, Phil can arrange for your catch to be mounted without killing it - he just measures it! - or if edible like dorado, Phil will arrange for a local restaurant to build a feast with your catch as center dish. All these features were a nice prelude to boarding our charter panga, the Sol .
OUR DAY S FISHING OFF PV
We arrived at Las Penas Marina and could see Captain Miguel and mate Tony waving salutations at us. When we got aboard the Sol, we were reassured by the full electronic array of depth recorders, VHF radio, and cell phones.
Captain Miguel smiled and said, you brought warm spring weather with you, and now, there s lots of bait just a couple miles off the beach. Based on my stated desire for light tackle inshore fishing, he said we could try for roosterfish about 10 miles away to the North, or the baitfish balls just a short run from us. Because I had an afternoon story to do on the exotic Las Caletas sanctuary show, and another boat to catch in the opposite direction, we chose the latter. This, I might add, without the least amount of frustration, since we could see clouds off birds diving not a mile straight off our bow.
The Captain gunned the twin engines towards the melee to get us to the action as quickly as possible. About a hundred yards away, he dropped the vessel to creeping pace so as to not spook the fish. My heart was pounding and it seemed like the football field distance was taking forever to cross. Miguel looked at me and laughingly said, we ll be there soon. The baitfish didn t have a prayer: from above, clouds of boobies dove into them like feathered missiles, and from below, yard-wide explosive strikes from huge jack crevalles. Although, I saw some mackerel skyrocketing with bait in their mouths, I was tackling up for the jacks, or toros (bulls) as they re called in PV.
Phil was rigging a white and blue spoon on a short surf rod to do battle. I wanted my tackle light and my strikes and battles fierce, so I used a light Diawa popping rod, Ambassador casting reel with 12-pound line, 40-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon leader, and a blue Yo-Zuri pencil popper plug.
Miguel slipped the gears into neutral, cut the engines, and slid the vessel right into the action. With watery explosions surrounding us, Phil and I cast in opposite directions. The first pop of my Yo-Zuri drew two huge jacks. The second pop caused one of the fish to leap halfway out of the water and crash my plug. No more plug, just a foamy crater as line poured off my trusty bait caster at an alarming pace. Cheers went up from the crew as Miguel turned the boat in pursuit of the giant predator to regain precious line. The fight would take about a half hour, highlighted by NasCar runs that would almost spool me all over again. As I put enormous pressure on the giant jack, I heard a sickening crack, and my rod was transformed into a 3-foot stand-up model! Thank goodness the line held, and I got the leader into my shorty rod. Underneath us a huge jack of 25 pounds thrashed; a pull on the leader affected his release.
The magic waters of PV continued to offer up this frothy bounty, until we could take no more. The day was saluted with freshly opened sodas, and Phil from PV hoisted his pop bottle skyward and said," thanks, big guy."
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