My First Deep Sea Fishing Trip in Puerto Vallarta
I’ve never been deep sea fishing before. My first deep sea Fishing Trip was in Puerto Vallarta and was amazing. I’ve seen lots of videos on YouTube and watched TV shows when I was younger, I’ve also experienced a lot of lake fishing in Alberta and British Columbia where we would catch loads of Northern Pike or Kokanee if we were in the beautiful lakes in British Columbia’s interior but have never been in the open ocean. I am eager to go back and do it again.
I really didn’t know what to expect on my first deep sea Fishing Trip as far as what we would catch, and I was a little nervous about getting seasick. I have spent many hours on sailboats of the shores of Maui and absolutely loved every moment of those trips, so I’m not sure why I was nervous about being seasick, I guess I didn’t know how rough the water would be. As it was my first deep sea fishing trip in Puerto Vallarta, I wasn’t sure what kind of boats where common, ours was a 28 ft Super Panga.
We arrive at the docks at about 7:00 am in Nuevo Vallarta (now called Nuevo Nayarit). Puerto Vallarta Fishing Tours has many peers and docks that they can pick you up at and this one was the most convenient. We had the pleasure of heading out with Gabby and his wife on the fishing trip, both of them are outstanding people and for different reasons they were both key to the trip, as you will see later on.
It was a very hot day in September but we had the proper Puerto Vallarta fishing tour shirts on to protect us from the sun and keep the air flow to a maximum. The wind was low and the sea was calm, I soon realized that all my worries about getting seasick where completely unfounded. Our first stop was about 10 minutes from shore was to a lone boat floating in the Bay of Banderas water in the middle of nowhere. Here we picked up our live bait for the fishing. I imagine that the bait provider got up very early in the morning and either picked up fish from nets he had in the water or through some nets out and collected some sort of small (10 inches) bait fish.
Stops on My First Deep Sea Fishing Trip
Off we go, out to the deeper sea on my first deep sea fishing trip. The boat we had was a 28 ft Super Panga, one of the more common fishing boats for a Fishing Trip Puerto Vallarta. It was absolutely perfect for our fishing trip with lots of seating areas and lots of shade to keep out of the sun. The trip was smooth, no large waves at all. We made our first stop Just south of Punta Mita, which I guess is still within the Bay of Banderas. I’m not sure why that spot was chosen, I think that Gabby has had success there or maybe he saw some signs of fish in the area. Being my first deep sea fishing trip, I wasn’t sure why he decided to stop there. We threw in a few lines and started trolling but it turned out to be a very short stop. He soon determined it was not a great spot, so we moved on.
Out to deep ocean. We headed out past the tip of Punta Mita. For some reason I don’t have a good recollection of the time it took to get out there but it didn’t seem long. We soon saw a few other boats and Gabby describe the area as where there was kelp and other things floating in the water like tree branches. Gabby soon found the spot and we threw in 5 lines. He then trolled through an area where there must have been a school of Mahi-Mahi because in very short order, we hooked 3, almost all at once. Click here to see video of Rick reeling in his fish. Rick, Arnulfo and I got on the lines and reeled the fish in. Wow, I did it, I caught my first fish while deep sea fishing. What made it even better was that Mahi-mahi is my favourite fish to eat. The colors are amazing. We spent another hour out there and ended up catching 2 more. It became obvious that in a Fishing Trip Puerto Vallarta you will need a good experienced captain, and Gabby new what he was doing.
One of our goals was a sail fish, so we baited some lines and started to troll on the way back into the Bay of Banderas. Alas, no luck. But Gabby’s wife was on the lookout and she did spot a couple.on my
Arnolfo with one of the Mahi Mahi.
Fishing Trip Puerto Vallarta
During this time Gabby cleaned one of the fish and his wife made an amazing ceviche. Ceviche making blog will follow soon. The ceviche was delicious. Nothing compares to eating fish that was caught only minutes before. We ended up giving the remainder of the fish to Gabby and Arnulfo but other options are out there if you want to make a meal that night or find a restaurant that will do that for you, Puerto Vallarta Fishing Tours has contact information for that. If you catch something outstanding you can even have it mounted. On my first deep sea fishing trip I caught a great Mahi-mahi but I didn’t see the need to mount it.
We made out way back to the shore and I conked out on one of the benches and was sound asleep. As it was my first deep sea fishing trip, I feel that this was ok. I’ll post a picture if it’s not too embarrassing.
All in all it was a great day with some wonderful people. Was my first deep sea fishing trip a success? Well, I can’t wait to do it again.
In summary, my first deep sea fishing trip was better than I could have expected. I am heading back next month to do it again. I can only hope that your first deep sea fishing trip is as good as my first deep sea fishing trip.