Yeah, I know, it isn’t about bonefish.  Part of what I really enjoy about fishing is that it draws you deeper into the environment you are fishing.  You become more aware of what is there  and how it all interacts.  You also learn where the problems are.  The more you are out there, the more you see, both good and bad.

O.R.T.

After being down in Vallarta, seeing a turtle come ashore and lay eggs, seeing the spoiled nests and the baby turtle tracks, I contacted a turtle conservation program, Sociedad Ecologica de Occidente.

This is what the biologist, Oscar, had to say:

This is the Olive Ridley turtle, the most common species of marine turtles in the entire world, and the less threatened. However, they´ve to face a lot of dangers, of course. Fortunately the olive ridley population is very stable and increasing every year…

Well… that’s good news indeed.  More on Olive Ridley Turtles.

That's hope for the future... baby turtle tracks.

No, not from a massage parlor… the fishing kind.  Today when the monkey went to sleep I went out for one last round of fishing.  The tide was a little better and the water just looked more… fishy.  I managed my first fish while changing up my retrieve from super fast to super slow… evidently, slow and steady wins more than just the race.  First fish of the day, a Leatherjack, about 12″ or so.  Next, I saw a small log floating 50 feet off shore… fish were attacking it, hitting it over and over again.  I got a cast out, slow retrieve and the smallest fish  of the bunch hammered it… Jack Crevalle, about half a pound, little guy.

So, I stood there, casting, retrieving, casting, retrieving, ya know… “fishing.”  All of a sudden, I saw a tail cut through the murky water in front of me, swimming fast, about 5 feet from where I stood… the forked tail was clearly visible and it was… um… massive… I’d guess 20 pounds… maybe more.  Safe to say my interest was peaked.

Bait were popping, boils were sporadic, butt pretty frequent, but still… cast, retrieve, cast, retrieve.  I was starting to think about heading back, hoping my daughter had slept during her nap and thinking it was a bit of a bummer than my jig clousers had not produced.

Tug, set, bigger tug, line going out, clear the line and it was clear this wasn’t a little guy.  Now, the last nice Jack Crevalle I caught here was on a 7 wt. with a cheap Cabela’s large arbor reel… the reel did not do well (grinding is not a good sound when reeling).  This time I was fishing my TFO Clouser 8 wt., the rod I brought to the Bahamas, and my TFO Large Arbor 357 reel.  This fish didn’t stand a chance.  So nice to have confidence in your gear.

The Jack went about 4 pounds. I kept it, brought it to one of the resort restaurants and it fed 3 adults.  Toro are not known as great eating fish, but this was de-lish.

I release almost all my fish... but a couple become dinner.

Of course, I have no pictures of any of the fish-just-caught, since my waterproof camera took a header yesterday and is not recoverable.

The trip was a good family trip with lots of pool time for the 3 year old.  The fishing mostly s-ucked, but ya know… I didn’t get to fish the best tides, I got to fish the tides when my daughter was sleeping.  The surf was also much rougher this trip than I had seen it before.  As always, I was amazed at how much the river mouth had changed in just a few months.

Now… back to my bonefish fixation.

PS – The “Biggest Doucebag” award goes to the guy I saw this morning walking around in a “The Working Class Can Kiss My Ass” T-Shirt.  If you own one of these you should feel bad about yourself. If you WEAR one of these, you should jump off a really high building.

Appreciate you breaking me off a little here in Vallarta.  Maybe, just maybe, next time, you could let me catch more than one?

The skunk is broken for the trip.

I should add that this fish was caught with a Chernobyl Clouser… glow in the dark materials.  So, a skunk breaker on two fronts.

Dear Fishing Gods,

I appreciate your efforts to teach me humility.  The two goose-eggs produced the last two days are true examples of your power and my powerlessness.  That trip to the Bahamas was a real show of force as well and we don’t even need to get into the stolen St. Croix, my brush with the Message Board Which Must Not Be Named or my inability to make it to the East Walker for the past six months.

You have clearly been working overtime to show me who’s boss and I admit that it is you, not me and that I have a load to learn… including patience and humility.

Thinking back, I think you might have been behind that big fish I lost on the Metolius last summer.  Boy, that was a good lesson learned there.  You truly are a powerful and spiteful deity.  You must have had a good chuckle about that one… knot in the leader, green drake, 20″+ fish… and spectators… if there is more than one of you, you must have had a good communal giggle on my account there.

Back to present times, I would really appreciate it if you’d just knock it the hell off and let me catch some fish again while I’m down here in Vallarta for a few more days.  I would sacrafice a goat or chicken or something, but I simply don’t have any.  However, when I get back home I’ll run a nail over my Fallout 3 game for my PS3, which should satisfy your wanton desire to inflict pain on the souls of faithful anglers.

Tight Lines,

B-

I’m in Vallarta, Nuevo Vallarta to be specific.  Here for a few days with my daughter and my mother-in-law and her husband.

I’ve had some really enjoyable fishing the past few years from the beach.  This year, I have some glow-in-the-dark flies to try out, so I went out the first night.  No dice.  The flies held their glow for about three casts before needing to be recharged with the headlamp.

I was picking up exactly 0 fish, 0 hits, 0 anything.  As I was walking down the shore I noticed something bobbing just off the beach… a gill net, strung across the whole river mouth.  Well… that pretty much sorted that out.  Now I don’t know if the Chernobyl Flies would have worked or not. Bummer.

As I was walking back I noticed something in the foam line and a few steps further and I saw it was a sea turtle.  The turtle was struggling to get over a little sand berm that had been formed.  I watched as it finally struggled over the berm, made its way 20 or so feet up the beach and began digging a whole.

It occurred to me that this stretch of beach is just about the only bit of sand this turtle could have laid her eggs.  This is the most natural bit of beach for probably 15 miles in either direction with resort upon resort upon resort.  I watched her for a while as she started dropping her eggs and I left her in peace to finish her work.

Vallarta Sea Turtle

While I was bummed about the gill net and lack of fish, I felt pretty fortunate to see the sea turtle.

Today I went down to the river mouth to try my luck again.  Got skunked, which doesn’t happen often here.  On the walk back I looked for the spot the turtle had laid her eggs.

I found it… there was a hole and a couple dozen eaten turtle eggs.  Something had gotten to them and all her effort was wasted.

Well… that sucks.  C’est la vie.

Maybe people don’t actually GO to Mexico to fish for Jack Crevalle, but I’m going for a little 2/3 family trip to Vallarta and I’m going to bring a couple rods.  Tying up a few patterns to complete my beach box.  Last year I got a nice Torro from the beach, so I’m bringing some bigger flies this year.  We’ll see.

For two days I went out and turned up zeros.  The mud flowing from the river was visible, clearly, from the 4th floor deck.  Darn rain.  Today I went out anyway… back to the river mouth.

It was EPIC.  The gulls and pelicanos were crashing bait and the fishing was amazing.  I must have landed 30-40 fish, mostly Jack Crevalle.  This was on my 8/9 Albright with a 7 wt. sink tip… trying to improvise.  I had my 7 wt. with a clear sink on the shore.  I had many fish on back to back casts.  It was just a crazy, crazy day of fishing.  I was out for three hours, longer than I was supposed to be fishing.  I was bringing some fish back for some of the guys working at the resort and when I had “enough” I headed back.

Went to grab that back up rod… missing… stolen, really.  Well… the fishing will remain amazing, but my estimation of the local fisherman took a bit of a nosedive.  Probably not fair, but, the wound is fresh.

About a 2 pound Jack Crevalle (aka Toro), last fish of a great day of fishing.

I guess the bright side is that I get to do some rod shopping now.  This will be my Christmas present from my wife.  I’ll probably try to fill the gap I have in my rod selection with a solid and pure 8 weight, since I have another 7, although it is a 2 piece and not a 4.

UPDATE: Went out the next day, my last fishing day of the trip.  The fishing was almost as good although the biggest fish was a bit smaller.  I have bruises on the right side of my ribcage from the fighting butt.  Those are good bruises to have.  Caught five species of fish.  I had some really good fishing down from the beach with one big fish and lots and lots of smaller fish.  I do have a strange rash now on my legs that I’m about 95% certain is from the river water, but hey… again… gotta take the bad with the good.

Fish Species caught on this trip:

• Pacific Jack Crevalle
• Gafftopsail Pompano
• Keeltail Needle Fish
• Ladyfish
• Leatherjack

Another day here in Vallarta, still no bonefish.  However… today I caught a Toro, also known as a Pacific Jack Crevalle, that was 12.8 pounds.  I’ve caught a ton of these down here… but mostly around a pound… this fish was just lovely.  Had me so far in my backing I could see the spool.  Probably broke my 7 wt. reel, actually.  Took about 20 minutes to land. 

I couldn’t be happier at the moment.

Now, normally, I’m a Catch and Release guy all around… but after 20 minutes, I had my doubts if this fish would survive.  I brought it back to the resort and had it prepared for dinner.  It was yummy.  Way more food that we could eat, so we fed many of the staff tonight.  This is my largest saltwater fish to date.

Good times.

Toro!

Second day from the beach today.  Good times were had.  Not big fish, but lots of them.  This isn’t flats fishing or sight fishing, but it is a lot of fun on a family vacation.  Must have landed 25 or so little Jack Crevelle, just myself, out there at the river mouth all by myself.  Came back and my daughter wasn’t up from her nap yet.  Nice.

Basically, I go to the river mouth here in Vallarta and throw a sly line on my 7 wt. with a clouser and… well… it is fun.  Not big fish, but lots of them.  Great for a family vacation where the focus is on pool time with my daughter and wife.

I got a Buff for this trip (and for the Bahamas in January).  I was worried it would be too hot.  It isn’t.  It = Totally Ruling.  No sunburn on my neck or on my nose or… anywhere.  I’m pretty frigging impressed with Buffs.

Lots of these make for a fun time.

About two hours of casting from the shore by the river mouth.
5 fish to hand, 3 Jack Crevelle. Good times on the 7 wt.
Vacation = Ruling

(Slow internet connection)

One of my first day fish