dingding
05-05-2006, 12:06 AM
Just got back from Puerto Vallarta. I took a bunch of tackle. From what I've heard, the water is blue, calm and clear. It wasn't. It was cloudy and green. Big beach-break too, that made for some interesting if not totally dangerous body surfing. It wasn't flats sight flyfishin' water fer sure.
I flyfished a bit from the beach with no success. Locals were havin' a bit of luck throwin hand lines. They used big hollow-donut shaped, frisby sized hand reels, 50lb test, and spark plugs, bolts, washers, and whatever else as weight. They mostly used squid, or fish as bait.
I broke down, and busted out ol' goo. I had down a bunch of huge shot. I snagged up often offa the jetty and lost many hooks and shot. I was only using 12 lb test. I shoulda had at least 20lb. I ended up using castmasters and other expensive lures, tipped with squid, then started using the trebles offa thoses lures, with shock tippet, or before I lost 'em all, wire leaders. When all my lead was gone, in the middle of some hot action, I lost several expensive lures that I was using mostly as weight. Then I wised-up and found a stash of bolts etc at the end of a jetty. That worked my wallet less.
I'm saying that I totally had to improvise with what I had. One local named Juan fished with me off the jetty. He used a handline. We were catchin small pufferfish. He moved down to the beach, and flagged me down. We eneded up catching about 10 big pufferfish together. Nice guy. Pretty damn intense fish too. I also caught several what appeared to be tilapia. Big bluegill like fish with pretty turquose markings. I also caught a small leopard shark, as well as a small stingray.
Dodging waves off the jetty and on the beach was fun, and intense. I got totally sunburned. My white-ass feet and ankles were hit the hardest. My Airwalk fishermen sandles and pebbly beach rubbed my feet raw. I shoulda worn socks. I had a blast though, and would recommend that anyone going anywhere in mexico should take down a couple of rods and fish from shore. It's free and inexpensive, and you never know what the hell you'll catch.
I flyfished a bit from the beach with no success. Locals were havin' a bit of luck throwin hand lines. They used big hollow-donut shaped, frisby sized hand reels, 50lb test, and spark plugs, bolts, washers, and whatever else as weight. They mostly used squid, or fish as bait.
I broke down, and busted out ol' goo. I had down a bunch of huge shot. I snagged up often offa the jetty and lost many hooks and shot. I was only using 12 lb test. I shoulda had at least 20lb. I ended up using castmasters and other expensive lures, tipped with squid, then started using the trebles offa thoses lures, with shock tippet, or before I lost 'em all, wire leaders. When all my lead was gone, in the middle of some hot action, I lost several expensive lures that I was using mostly as weight. Then I wised-up and found a stash of bolts etc at the end of a jetty. That worked my wallet less.
I'm saying that I totally had to improvise with what I had. One local named Juan fished with me off the jetty. He used a handline. We were catchin small pufferfish. He moved down to the beach, and flagged me down. We eneded up catching about 10 big pufferfish together. Nice guy. Pretty damn intense fish too. I also caught several what appeared to be tilapia. Big bluegill like fish with pretty turquose markings. I also caught a small leopard shark, as well as a small stingray.
Dodging waves off the jetty and on the beach was fun, and intense. I got totally sunburned. My white-ass feet and ankles were hit the hardest. My Airwalk fishermen sandles and pebbly beach rubbed my feet raw. I shoulda worn socks. I had a blast though, and would recommend that anyone going anywhere in mexico should take down a couple of rods and fish from shore. It's free and inexpensive, and you never know what the hell you'll catch.