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Non-Bonefish Vallarta Page

After catching a 12.8 pound Jack Crevalle from the beach while in Nuevo Vallarta my wife was joking that I’d probably start a Jack Crevalle on the Cranium blog.  I’ll resist.

I do, however, want to let folks know what is in Vallarta, as it is one of those places folks head for family vacations and, sadly, every year hundreds of fly rods are left home.  This is an epidemic, if you ask me.  Something has to be done.

Generally, I’ve fished at the river mouth of the Rio Ameca (sp?).  I would add that I’ve come up with some charming rashes from that water, but the fishing is interesting.  There are other places to fish, and as I get that info nailed down, I’ll put it here.  Here’s a little bit about the fish.

Jack Crevalle (aka Toro).  This is the most common catch for me where I’ve been fishing in Vallarta (I’d say about 80%).  Usually, these fish are not that big from the shore… a big fish would be 2 pounds, the average would be a pound or under.  However, I did catch a 12.8 pounder that put a serious hurt on my 7 wt and I’ve seen at least one fish that would go 20+.  In short, it can be a blast. (PS – I know these fish get bigger and in lots of places are much bigger… however, from shore, in this location, you don’t catch a lot of the really big JC’s… expect fish in the 0.5 to 2 pound range, prepare for bigger fish)

A slightly above average Toro

An above average Jack Crevalle

Thar Be Monsters Hyre

Ladyfish.  I caught a few of these… this year was the first year in 4 that I’ve caught them here.  Fun fish.  Jumpers.

Ladyfish

Gafftopsail Pompano. Not big, but pretty.

Purdy.

Leatherjack. I caught a lot of these.  Mostly small, but some like dinner plates.  They’d smash flies stripped quickly right up near the surface.

Leatherjack

Needlefish. There are a lot of those.  I didn’t take any pics of those.

Snapper. This is the first one  I’ve caught here… I think this one is a Dog Snapper, but I’m not 100% on that.  I may have hooked a bigger snapper the day after I caught this one.  Caught it on a glow-in-the-dark clouser (during the day time).

Snapper from the shore.

Snook. I know they are there.  I’ve seen locals carrying them on the beach.  However, have never caught one and I’m not totally sure what I need to change to catch one.

Roosters. They are near by.  Punta Mita is supposed to be the place to target those from the shore.  I have not made it up to Punta Mita.

There are other species just off shore too… Dorado, Bonito, Skipjacks and more.  I haven’t caught any of those though… or I should say “I have not caught any of those YET.”

Posts about Vallarta

Gear

I’d think more 8-9 for the stuff I was catching, although I know there certainly are bigger fish, like Dorado or Bonito that might make sense with a 10.  I threw either a sink tip or a clear intermediate sink, both with success.  The floating line didn’t work so well for me.  There certainly would be cause for shooting heads or fast, fast sink sink tips/lines.  I fished off a jetty one day and just couldn’t get the fly down fast enough.  Fishing in the surf does not go terribly well (or didn’t for me) with no-sink or slow-sink lines.  Flies… typical saltwater stuff… clousers, surf candy, gummies… I even caught some fish on a #2 Gotcha for giggles.  Next time I go down I plan on having a lot more bigger flies… 1/0′s and the like… and some faster sinking lines.

Punta Mita

Here is some advice I received on a message board about Punta Mita… I have yet to take this advice, but I plan on it.

For a more “local” (ex: price friendly) option, head North out of Vallarta to Punta Mita to “El Dorado Restaurant” (which is also the best seafood I have ever had). Ask for the owner, Hector Lopez, and he will set you up with Cacho. I fish with Cacho every time we go to Mexico and always have a great time. Cacho generally works with gear (which is 99% of the fishing done in PV), but has some experience on the fly. I prefer Cacho not only for the price, but he has tons of knowledge and experience and can generally put you within casting distance of what you want to hit.
If you want to head out on your own, get to Punta Mita (which, by the way, is nice enough to keep wives/girlfriends satisfied on their own!) and just walk north along the beach. With an 8wt w/ floating & intermediate sinking head you can cast from the beach and spend all day hooking into tons of fish. Roosters cruise the beaches around Punta Mita as well as pompano (which are lots of fun on the fly) and plenty of other gamefish. In between panga trips I’ll spend hours casting from jettys or the beach and get hooked up more often then not. PV & Punta Mita is definitely an untapped resource. Take an 8wt & 10wt (or even a 12…), a variety of heads or lines, as well as plenty of surf candies and you will have a great time. Oh, and don’t forget the mono or wire, needlefish are everywhere and will cut you off faster than anything… Have fun!