A 1,037-POUND MARLIN CAUGHT FROM A SPORTFISHING PANGA

June 11, 2006, Danny Gomez, Dhamar Sportfishing, 1,037-pound black marlin caught from a panga:

I have been waiting for this moment for 14 years. I've gotten a lot of big fish on my panga Dhamar, but on Monday, June 5, 2006, I had my friend and longtime angler Bernard Lagughue from Santa Rosa, Calif., fishing. He has fished at Puerto Vallarta with me since 1996.

The first thing he said was, "Danny, I'm tired of billfish today. I want tunas and dorados." So I started 2 miles east of Roca Corbeteña. We got 4 skipjacks. We loaded the tubes. We kept trolling when a blue marlin came to a cedar plug. I put a dead bait out and boom, we were on a nice 350 pound blue marlin.

And then we got near the reef. We dropped live skippies for a nice black marlin around 400 pounds.

We got 2 more baits. We were on with the grander, a nice 1,037 pound black marlin. Berney fought for one-and-a-half hours. We took this fish to hoist and I called my wife to bring the scale. It was my first grander, and on a panga, okay?

I had 2 more outings, with 8 tuna of 20 to 30 pounds.

There is a lot of bait in the water at Puerto Vallarta now.

(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.