FISHING AT EL BANCO ON THE CHARTER BOAT BARABBAS

Dec. 4, 2004, Tony Tringali, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico El Banco Fishing Trip Report:

My wife Christine and I fished Mr. Marlin charters aboard the Puerto Vallarta charter fishing boat, Barabbas, Nov. 29, off Puerto Vallarta on El Banco. The captain was David, and the mates were Juan and Sammy.

We left the Puerto Vallarta dock promptly at 5:30 a.m. and were out on El Banco by 8:30 a.m.

We had goggle eyes in the live well and were able to catch skipjack on the bank as well. It seemed as though the skipjack were a hotter bait because they would get bit almost immediately after being presented. We were not able to get a solid hookup with them, though. We slow trolled and drifted the live goggle eyes and were able to land five yellowfin tuna. The biggest one coming in at 70 pounds.

The heat was brutal and we had enough at that point. On the way back to Puerto Vallarta, we were looking for Dorado and got a black marlin hookup. Had him on for two minutes and broke him off. We estimated his weight around 350 pounds. A great day all around!

All Puerto Vallarta tuna were caught on El Banco. I got no precise water temps as the captain just uses a GPS. My guess is around 80 degrees. We didn't hook or see any dorado on our trip.

(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.