So I reserved the trip on line, got the confirmation and never heard Ariel until late the day before asking me to call him. So I did. He says to me that his phone was wet and did not work and then asked me if we could go fishing one day later. Told him I could not and offered me to go with one of his friends, same boat. I said ok, let me know where to go and I will. He emailed me later with the name of the Marina and the name of the Captain. Had to find the Marina on google map, and at this point I was very close to not going. Woke up the next day and decided to go anyway. Honestly I was very lucky to find the marina. There was a little sign on a wall, right next to a military base, and I was welcomed by two security guards who did not know the Captain. Anyway they let me in and we found the Captain, Manuel Santana. The boat was OK, old but engines seemed to run well, 24 foot center console. So we get out of the Marina and 15 minutes later we are of the “fishing grounds” really close to Puerto Vallarta, murky waters and no fish in sight for a couple of hours. Don’t get me wrong, the Captain was a nice guy, he seemed like he knew what he was doing but I don’t think our chance of fishing something was great. His brother was on the water too and we went next to him since he had caught something.
Finally caught a fish, and Manuel tells me it is a yellow fin Tuna! Nice! Then he tried to fish for smaller fishes which I thought could be fun for my 9 year old daughter. Caught nothing. Went back to live bait but nothing. Anyway I was happy to have one fish for Dinner.
On the way back Manuel started filet the fish on the back of the boat and I became suspicious because that meat looked really dark brown, not red or pink. Anyway went back home after Manuel gave me some advices to cook the fish. Once home I looked on line and it became evident that the fish was not a yellow fin tuna. It did not look like the bonitos we have in Florida from the outside, but the meat looked the same. Anyway I decided to cook a piece before dinner to see how it tasted, and it was awful. So I guess it was a “Mexican Bonito”. So he the end it was a complete disappointment for the last day of our vacation.
So the morale of this story is this, for anyone who is interested
Half day fishing are never good. Charters don’t like it, they don’t want to go far and you end up fishing lower quality fishes. You basically get what you pay for, I get it, but then don’t tell me we caught a yellow fin tuna! (We paid $260 total, the Captain got $220 and the website $40)
What I found interesting is that the boats in Puerto Vallarta were nicer, but shipper. Originally we were going to leave from Nuevo Vallarta which may be was better fishing, I don’t know.
What is interesting is that we were staying at Punta Mita and there the boats are very basic, but they charge between $320 and $400 for half a day, which I could not understand. What I saw though is that they were bringing back Sail fish, Mahi and Groupers and told me they caught them in front of the Four Season, so right on Punta Mita. So to me Puerto Vallarta is not a good spot unless you go for a day, and pay more money for a nicer boat for comfort, and get away from the end of the bay and go toward the entrance of the pay. I am also amazed that it is as expensive as the US and you are not on an Hatteras! I paid $1000 for a day in the keys and caught 22 Mahi for example. Anyway I hope this help anyone wanting to fish there.
Again nothing against Manuel, he was a nice guy, and professional beside his mistake for the type of fish!
So I reserved the trip on line, got the confirmation and never heard Ariel until late the day before asking me to call him....