MOST FISHING BOATS ARE TARGETING BILLFISH

Jan. 20, 2006, Danny Quinonez, PV Marlin Sportfishing, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico Fishing Report:

This last week of fishing in the Puerto Vallarta area went pretty good in the billfish arena.

The striped marlin seemed to fade away slightly and we did not land 5 striped marlin in one day like last week with Tia Drath and crew.

This week we were still hitting sailfish rather consistently at Puerto Vallarta, with one giant in the 130 pound range landed by Scott Siegman on Jan. 19, 2006, while fishing in 80 degree water on the south tip of the bay near Cabo Corrientes.

Other sportfishing trips out of Puerto Vallarta included two sailfish and a decent fight on a striper with Ryan and Lisa Miller out near Corbetena two days earlier, and another decent day with two striped marlin in the 200 pound range landed by Joan Weinke, and then another sailfish landed by Jeff Green also near Roca Corbetena.

There are tuna out there but most Puerto Vallarta sportfishing boats are not finding a way to make them hit.

The week before, we landed one nice tuna and missed another on the same day. That is how the tuna eat out there. One day they are there and just ripping lines off all riggers or yanking kites or balloons, but then the next day they are just there and doing nothing at all. Each day breeds fear in the charters that they have to ask "will today be the fishless day?" but things usually work out and we all seem to find something here in Puerto Vallarta.

Most of the serious charter fishing boats have been doing okay out there and catching fish from nice big pargo, to wahoo, to sailfish, to striped marlin, to few dorado, to lots of bonita, to jack crevalle, to amberjack, and some real nice roosterfish on the inshore trips.

Puerto Vallarta is a great spot to fish in the sense that when the tuna are being stubborn and the black marlin gone, other species almost always step in and take their place. We will see what happens during the seasonal change we are going through.

(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.