THREE OFFSHORE FISHING RUNS ABOARD THE CHARTER BOAT PRIME TIME

Aug. 30, 2005, Gal Hever, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico Fishing Trip Report.

I just got back from fishing at Puerto Vallarta. I fished on Monday and Tuesday, August 22 and 23, and then also August 27, with Capt. Josh Temple of Prime Time.

On the first day of fishing, Puerto Vallarta ocean swells were huge as a result of Hurricane Hilary. However, there was a ton of bait in the water, and we had around 7 chances at landing some big tuna and one marlin. However, the fish won out that day and we went 0 for 7 on our chances.

Next fishing day, bait again was plentiful, but the fish had relocated to a different honey hole that Capt. Manny of Yolaray discovered later on in the day.

Once he found it, we headed his way and nailed a fish immediately on the skipjack bait. Sixteen minutes later, I had myself a 155 pound fish, not a cow, but a personal best.

My fishing buddy Kirk was up next, and we were racing against time as our flight was to depart at 5 p.m., and it was now 1 p.m.

We quickly made bait again, and headed back to the spot, trolling one skipjack and one cabby. At around 2 p.m., we got a hit on the cabby, and it was game on again.

It took Kirk 30 minutes just to get this fish to stop running, and it was a stalemate. Josh was looking at the clock, and he knew it was time for intervention if we were to make our flight. He started handlining the fish, and we started to make some ground. This fish was on 100 pound spectra with 80 pound fluorocarbon leader, and all of us were amazed at how the gear held up.

Josh had to go over the rail as I held his legs down to make sure he didn't go into the water. That allowed him to reach the line and push it away from the boat so that it would not get cut off. The drag was completely buttoned down, and with Josh pulling on this fish with his hands, you can hear the line sound like a guitar string being plucked. It is a miracle the line did not snap. Chalk it up to great knots tied by Shrek, the deckie, and Josh's knowledge of handlining such a beast.

Well, 45 minutes later we finally had color and stuck the gaff to a nice 170 pound tuna. Two for two, and we made the most of our chances today.

I returned back to Puerto Vallarta on Friday and was fishing with Josh again with my other two buddies Chris and Brian this time.

Bait had been scarce the day before, and it was challenging to get it Saturday as well. We made some bait, but as soon as we trolled it, one of the skippies jumped off his hook, so we had to go back and make some more. We were lucky to catch another skippie and barrilete, and we sent them out and headed for the grounds.

However, a couple of dolphins decided to ruin our day, and stole these two candy baits away from us. It was tough having to listen to everyone out there getting hooked up on big tuna on the skippies. All we needed was one or two skippies and we'd be in business. We fished for bait for 2 more hours with no luck. We decided to just head out to the spot and using a kite and couple of cabbies see if we can catch some fish. We ended up landing a couple of tuna in the 40 pound range and a nice sail in the 80 pound range. But the prized cow tuna had evaded us again.

(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.