BIG 375-POUND YELLOWFIN TUNA LANDED IN GOOD OFFSHORE ACTION AT EL BANCO

Oct. 14, 2006, Manny Ocaranza, charter boat Pacifico, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico:

We took out a regular charter group led by Joe Furgerson of Chartle Charters in Santa Cruz, California. Part of the group fished 3 days at Puerto Vallarta on the Pacifico, and the rest of the group split between the boats Top Gun and Chappy One.

To say the least, everybody had a pretty magical fishing trip.

For the group fishing on the Pacifico for 3 days, we caught 4 yellowfin tuna between 150 and 375 pounds, several very large dorado, and had multiple releases on sailfish and marlin.

The other 2 boats over the same 3 days had 7 tuna between 140 and 330 pounds and the same variety of other fish.

Fishing on Monday the 9th, out at El Banco, we got a double hookup of what was first a sailfish and what we thought was a tuna.

The tuna came off first, and the sailfish jumped off a minute later.

The same bait then got hit again and at first we thought the sailfish had came back.

Well, what came back was something much bigger. And 45 minutes later, we sink 3 gaffs into what would be the biggest tuna of the season.

Angler Adam Stein got the hookup, but after his Braid harness blew up angler Dan McBride finished off the fish: live skipjack on an 11/0 Hayabusa, Penn 80ST, and a Yo's 755xxh got the fish in very good time, a Giant Yellowfin Tuna of 375 pounds, measured on a certified scale. We also caught a tuna of 175 pounds earlier in the day.

(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.