Heavenly Fish in a Heavenly Place

After Rick's recent post about Heathen Fish I felt I had no alternative other than to arrange for fishing in a heavenly place.  With vaccinations received, we wanted to celebrate the fact that son Brian and his wife Amaya graduated from Brigham Young University in Provo last month.  So we booked a trip to lovely Puerto Vallarta, Mexico where we have traveled previously.  At what a more Merrill way to celebrate than to go fishing!

To make this possible we persuaded the women that beaches and sunshine were the objective, but followers of this blog will immediately recognize that was simply a ruse to permit us to spend some time with lines in the water.

We first disguised our intentions by scheduling a snorkel trip to Los Arcos with Fernando at La Vida Bella Private Boat Tours ( https://lavidabellaprivateboattours.com ) We'd gone with him a couple years ago with grandchildren. We had a great snorkel trip and we arranged a subsequent day for fishing with him.  

We met him before 7:00am and put out our lines as soon as we exited the marina.  Within minutes (and within sight of our rooms at Club Regina) Brian started the day by hooking and landing the first two fish--a double--on a squid fly and Rapala.  I phoned Mary so she could go to the room balcony and see us wave to her.  Off to a good start!

Brian with two fish within first five minutes

Brian noted that these fish pull really hard for their size.  He also noted that they all have lots of SHARP teeth.  Very much an "eat or be eaten" world here.  Nobody seems to believe the statement from Nemo that "Fish are friends, not food."

Rob playing catch up

Less than five minutes later I managed to even up the number of rods that had caught fish, but Brian still had me on total fish count.  We also brought in our second unique species of the day.  Things were boding well for a successful morning on the water.

Brian with mexican bonita

Brian responded by getting a Mexican bonita, then quickly followed with a California variety.  Note the different striping patterns--vertical vs. longitudinal--and different dorsal fin shapes. California bonita also have longer teeth and a slightly different shape to their mouth.  These relatives of the tuna family fight hard and according our guides are firm and tasty.  We ended up landing six different species of fish with Fernando.

California bonita

We enjoyed steady action throughout the morning, bringing various toothy critters to the boat where some went into the box and others were returned to the sea.  Even got a strange looking fish the guide called a "caballo" or horse-fish.  Shortly after I returned it to the water Brian had a HUGE strike on his rod that bent it nearly double and as fast as the fight started, it was over leaving nothing but a severed line.  The fish had completely engulfed the 5-6" Rapala with two sets of treble hooks and cut the line above it with his teeth.  The guide seemed to be more impressed with the size and power of this fish than concerned about the loss of a big lure.  Wish we had gotten that one into the boat!

Yet another type for Brian

Brian found another fish and we were happy to be able to keep a few so the guides could also take home some fish for their families.  They filleted our catch, topped the fillets in the bag with ice and we asked where the best place in the marina could be found to cook our catch and without hesitation Fernando recommended Victor's Place Cafe Tacuba along the waterfront in Marina Vallarta.

We took our filets to Victor's Place Cafe Tacuba that evening and they prepared us breaded, beer-battered, and butter/garlic fish, garnished with grapefruit slices.  Served with chips and salsa, steamed veggies, rice, mashed potatoes and garlic toast.  Their fish preparations were delicious--by far the best I've had in many years of taking the day's catch to a restaurant to have them cook it for our dinner.  Our total came to 600 pesos for the five of us.  Great food, great price, and incredible service.  We will come back to Victor's any time we catch fish here in Puerto Vallarta.

If you're in Puerto Vallarta and want to fish, snorkel, or just take a nice tour, we highly recommend Fernando and his La Vida Bella Private Boat Tours.  Great people and great trip.