TINKNOCKER LANDS 10 TUNA OF 100 TO 185 POUNDS IN 2 OUTINGS

Oct. 18-19, 2005, Stan Vath, Tinknocker, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico Fishing Trip Report:

10/18/2005--Tinknocker left the dock at Puerto Vallarta's Paradise Village Marina at 0430 hours. My wife Sandy flew in yesterday and is helping us reorganize and clean inside the boat. She thinks we are just fishermen and she is correct.

With the full moon, bait making was out of the question, so we went over to Marina Vallarta to buy Caballitos. They are being rationed and we got 20 from Rafa and 10 each from 2 pangas we saw just outside the marina on our way to Roca Corbetena. On arrival at the rock we got a few Skippy’s and were off trolling. We are having a less than desirable hookup ratio while fishing with big baits and are still experimenting with bridled baits and the trap rigs and timing. This appears to be somewhat normal by the chatter on the radio but it’s tough to miss a fish on a Skippy. Jason and Justin Fleck from the EXCEL are fishing with us right now and really putting in some rail time.

We ended up the fishing with 5 yellowfin tuna 125 lbs. to 175 lbs., and a 40 lb. Dorado. The Caballitos are working well on the yellowfin tuna but we prefer to troll Skippy’s when we can get them. Sometimes during the middle of the day they are near impossible. The water is 86-87 degrees and blue. We fished right up to sunset and headed in to Punta Mita to anchor for the night.

10/19/2005--Fishing back at the rock at 0730 hours, we filled the tubes quickly with 3 extra to put out immediately. There were yellowfin tuna around and most seemed to be in the 100-185 pound range with a few bigger and a few smaller.

Jason and Justin have been rigging and pulling on most of the yellowfin tuna and are really great guys to fish with. We caught a couple of the tuna on big baits but the highlight of the day was a WFO kite bite in the late afternoon. You could not get a kite bait, caballito, 30 feet from the boat and it was hammered on the surface which makes for a hell of a show.

Our last fish right at dark was a 185 pound yellowfin tuna caught by Justin on a Skippy we had just made. We thought it might be a cow but once he got it up we all agreed it was just under and released it, as we did with all the others today.

We ended up catching and releasing five yellowfin tuna of 100-185 lbs. Jason caught a Dorado we kept for the galley.

We have been so fortunate to have Tony Ocaranza off the Yolaray Puerto Vallarta charter boat crew helping us out running the boat while we are short on crew. He has an incredible work ethic and his local knowledge is vast. He also loves to be out on the water and fish more than anything. He is a gifted guy and a lot of fun to fish with. We will be in Puerto Vallarta for several days doing boat work which all you boat owners understand. It seems there is 4 days of preparation for every 2 days of fishing. We will be back out fishing in the midweek mode next week.

(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.