BIG YELLOWFIN TUNA FOUND IN ON-AND-OFF THE BITE

Sept. 20-25, 2004, Josh Temple, Prime Time Adventures, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico Fishing.

Water temperature, 87.5 degrees. Puerto Vallarta fishing water continues to push from the north with a slight easterly drift and remains deep blue at the outer banks. The closer ridges and pinnacles are showing some off-colored water due to seasonal rains and runoff but dirty water has been hiding a ton of bait and working the lines between clear and off-colored water near structure has produced great Puerto Vallarta fishing over the last few days.

Giant yellowfin continue to reward and frustrate Puerto Vallarta anglers as they are feeding voraciously one day and seemingly starving the next. The trick is adapting to changing situations to remain productive and sometimes that entails going lighter on leader and main line to get the bite.

Puerto Vallarta marlin, sailfish, and dorado are beginning to congregate in the near-shore pinnacles negating the need to run to offshore banks. Black and blue marlin to over 700 pounds have been landed in the last few days on both lures and live/dead baits.

As the moon begins to wane the Puerto Vallarta yellowfin tuna bite is going to go ballistic and towards the end of the month and the beginning of next we should see some phenomenal catches of giant tuna.

Sept. 21, 2004, Josh Temple, Prime Time Adventures, Puerto Vallarta Fishing:

Dennis Braid and his film crew arrived to find less than ideal weather conditions at Puerto Vallarta as the ripple of effects of hurricane Javier 300 miles offshore sent unseasonably high winds, rain, and rolling seas our way for the first day of the shoot. It was tough to keep the kite and balloons in the air but despite the adverse conditions on the first day we toughed it out and were rewarded with great weather and some of the most awesome Puerto Vallarta giant tuna fishing we have ever seen on days two and three.

In three days of Puerto Vallarta fishing, Dennis tallied 27 tuna over 125 pounds releasing 25 tuna between 125 - 200 pounds and retaining 3 between 150 - 200. Using live caballito suspended from the balloon and kite we fished ONE ROD the entire trip.

Without knowing Dennis and having only heard of his standup techniques from other anglers who have participated on his sponsored trips i was a little skeptical that anyone could land a giant tuna in under 10 mins. Let me be the first to tell you that this guy knows his stuff. By the end of the first day we were well versed in what we needed to do with the position of the boat etc. to enable Dennis to do his job and by day two were able to bring 15 giant yellowfin to leader with the longest fight lasting no more than 15 mins.

Needless to say the fish were more than green at leader and i got a good lesson in handling big, green fish at boat side, and it was absolutely awesome to watch cow after cow swim away alive and kicking...some fish were so surprised that they were released so quickly that they actually swam along with the boat at 7 knots for a few minutes before realizing that they were no longer on the hook!

(See "Mexico Fishing News" online for current fishing reports, photos, weather, and water temperatures from Puerto Vallarta and other major Mexican sportfishing areas. Vacation travel articles, fishing maps and seasonal calendars, and fishing related information for Puerto Vallarta may be found at Mexfish.com's main Puerto Vallarta page.