BIG MARLIN FISHING TRIP WITH MARLA'S SPORTFISHING

June 10, 2006, Merle Ericson, Fishing big marlin at Puerto Vallarta with Marla's Sportfishing:

I just fished two days with Capt. Danny Osuna on the Marla II.

I flew to Puerto Vallarta at the last minute from Chicago on June 8, 2006, to try to get in on the hot big marlin bite.

I was a little late unfortunately, but that is fishing. On June 9th, we fished El Banco and jumped off an estimated 650 pound black marlin at about 10:30 a.m. The fish took a live skipjack tuna. There are tons of bait at El Banco. We had one other bite late in the day but did not hook up.

We fished El Banco again on June 10th, and had a strike at about 11 a.m., but missed the fish. We hooked up at about 3 p.m. on a live skipjack on the downrigger. We had moved south west of El Banco about one-half mile. The fish was on for about 90 seconds before the hook pulled. We had a black marlin follow the skipjack on the surface at about 5 p.m., but he would not eat the bait.

In any event, I did not catch or release a fish in two days, but we focused solely on catching a big billfish. I thought the fishing was quite good considering our objectives. Danny noted that the marlin had become much less aggressive than they had been just a few days earlier. There are small tuna at Corbetena, and Danny found some big dorado north of Punta Mita.

I was impressed with Danny and recommend him highly. He speaks excellent English, works very hard, is personable, uses circle hooks, advocates releasing billfish, and is an all around nice guy. He released two marlin over 500 pounds the day before I arrived in Puerto Vallarta.



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