VALLARTA SAILFISH--Larry Van Rickley of Bonita and his sailfish caught with Capt. Augustine on the Puerto Vallarta boat Desca. Photo courtesy Larry Van Rickley.

THREE SPORTFISHING OUTINGS ON PUERTO VALLARTA CHARTER BOATS

Nov. 11, 2004, Larry Van Rickley, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico Fishing Trip Report:

While on week and a half's vacation at my girlfriend's condo in Puerto Vallarta, we fished out around the Marietas Islands three times.

The first Puerto Vallarta fishing day aboard Los Orcas was a total bust. Not even a strike.

The second trip aboard Laura was slow and smokey. But I landed my first Dorado off Punta Mita which put up a terrific fight. I was impressed.

The third Puerto Vallarta trip was aboard the Desca with Captain Augustine and Domingo. He is a crazy, but knows how to catch fish. We left at 0800 and trolled until noon west of the Marietas Islands before I got my first sailfish hook up on my own gear, a Kingfish trolling rod with a Daiwa Sealine SLD30-II 2-speed reel and 80# mono, caught on live bait. That fish came in easy. I think it was overpowered. We ended up trolling east of the Marietas Islands around 1340 and the Skipper announced that in 20 minutes we would be heading home. Not five minutes later we hooked another sailfish up with my Seeker American Series 6' boat rod with a Penn 500 reel and 30# P-Line and trolled bait on the starboard outrigger. That fish peeled off line and I thought I was getting close to spooling a couple of times. I could feel the heat building up in my reel. But with expert boat handling from the skipper and crew I was able to boat a 102" sailfish in twenty minutes.

I was elated and the captain headed for Punta Mita for more beer and told me how great my fish was. It was then that I realized my next challenge would be navigating the taxidermist at the Puerto Vallarta dock.

(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.