"Two-Taco Mahi" with hot sauce, por favor.

Jessica and I made a trip to Mexico a few weeks ago, a much needed dose of warm sun and sand during the Montana winter. I had been 'gearing up' for weeks, which mostly consisted of tying saltwater flies that I knew I'd never use. Regardless, tying flies that you know are going to be tossed into the ocean has a way of delivering you from the winter duldrums, if just for an hour or two.

Our trip was mainly to visit my parents in Puerto Vallarta, but of course since I have a pesky obsession with all things swimming, I was preparing for a fishing trip. I had never fly-fished in saltwater before, so I was pretty excited to give it a try with a couple of new Redington Fly Rods, a 9 wt. RS4 with their new Rise Reel, and a 10 wt. CPX with the big ol CDL Titanium Series Reel.

I brought the 9 wt. down to the beach on our first day, making a few sloppy loops near some rocks before realizing I hadn't strung my line through all of my eyelets. I don't know what it is about fishing, but I swear I turn into an excited 9 year old when I get to do something new like cast into the surf. In my spazzy rigging routine, I had failed to breathe and concentrate, which generally results in about a 50% success rate, as was the case here.

So I re-rigged and realized the 9 wt. wasn't so difficult to cast afterall. About 15 minutes into casting my white clouser , with curious Mexican camarones vendors and pasty European couples paying close attention to the gringo on the rock with the long stick, I hooked into my first saltwater fish. I don't know exactly what it was, but it was about 3 feet long and 1 1/2 inch tall. It fought like a copperhead would've, had it decided to eat a nightcrawler on grandpa's farmpond. With that image in my mind, there was no way in hell I was going to touch this fish...and as luck would have it, it performed a "no hands release" right in front of my feet. After a little online research, I'm pretty sure it was a Giant Mexican Needlefish like the one this gentleman in the hot shorts caught.

I was pretty happy to have caught a fish that early into trip, and looked eagerly ahead to our planned outing on Wednesday. My parents friends had a visitor in town who is an avid flyfisherman, so they made arrangements for us to fish with Captain Hector out of the marina in Puerto Vallarta. Jessica and I bailed out of bed early on Wednesday and made it down to the marina with our new fishing buddy, Dave. We were ready to go, with high hopes of seeing some Roosterfish, Tuna, or Dorado. The reports I had been reading lately said those fish may be around, and had been caught within the past week.

Dave, Jessica, and I were all at the marina, but our Captain was nowhere to be found. The company who took the reservation online (puertovallartafish . com)'s office was closed "be back at 1:00 pm". Go figure. So we talked to a guy, who talked to a guy, who talked to some other guys. They tried to get Captain Hector on his cellphone, only to find that he was already out on a fishing trip on a "big boat". I quickly figured out that puertovallartafish . com is a broker, who really has no fishing fleet of their own, and either forgot to book us with a captain at all...or Hector got a gig with the much more expensive "big boat", and ditched our little $400 fly-fishing trip on the panga.

We did end up getting to go fishing, but I'm pretty sure our captain was a maintenance man for the marina. He drove us around Banderas bay, and would plow straight through schools of Albacore over and over until we told him to head back. It's not too easy to cast straight ahead into a spooky school of slashing tuna with all of a boat's momentum is at your back. We learned our lesson about Mexican Sportfishing Charters that day, but at least we were on the water in a beautiful place. We did get to see a huge school of porpoise and some sea turtles, both of which I rarely find in nature here in Montana.

I had one more chance to fish during our stay in Mexico while staying in the super-mellow little surfing and fishing town of Sayulita. We showed up on Thursday morning with my parents and spent the morning walking around the town, had lunch on the beach at Don Pedro's, then tried to surf. Jessica and I took a lesson, which was a humbling experience for me. There aren't many things that I haven't been able to "get" pretty quickly after putting my mind to it, but surfing didn't seem to care about that. I tried for about 2 hours and never really caught a wave. I stood up a few times, but came crashing down onto my face within a few seconds. Jessica did quite well. Damnit.

After my wicked surf sesh (brah), we relaxed for a few hours with some beers, then had dinner at our hotel restaurant, "O" at Vila de Amor. Our dinner was fabulous, but unfortunately interrupted by the news that Jessica's job had exploded. Literally. Bozeman landmark bar/restaurant Boodles blew up while we were in Mexico. Insane.

After we processed the news, we figured since we weren't certain how to react, we might-as-well go celebrate not being blown up, so we went and listened to some average Mexican reggae at the Red Dragon. It was a great and unusual night.

The next morning I got up at 6:30 and went down to the beach looking for someone to take me fishing. I found a dude who took me and 2 other american guys for $200. Some local fisherman had planted some floating palapas (bunches of palm branches) a mile or so from the beach, which attract Mahi Mahi in droves. I reckon that's sorta cheating, but after I was on the other end of some cheating at Puerto Vallarta marina, I didn't care. I still don't, actually.

After checking out some monster whales breaching and a few more sea turtles, I caught a Mahi Mahi on my flyrod by essentially trolling a clouser minnon, which felt really good after months of unecessary preparation. I did have the opportunity to cast at some Mahi Mahi, and had a few chases, but no takes. I think they like their dinner served faster than I could strip it. I had read that these fish grow very fast, and weigh about 6 lbs. at one year old. If that's the case, then my fish was a newborn. My young Mexican surfer guide called it a "two-taco mahi". I sure as hell didn't need a 10 wt. for that job, but it was a blast nonetheless. It actually bent my 10 wt. over the gunnels once it saw the boat during the fight, beleive it or not. Most importantly, it made me hungry for more...I can't wait to hook into a 25 - 30 pounder someday.

The guide filleted it up for me, I handed it to the cook at Pablo's Restaurant on the beach, and they cooked Jessica and I some fish tacos for lunch. It was awesome...a perfectly satisfying realization of a vacation dream.

It was an amazing trip, much more relaxing then most of my vacations. Thanks again to my generous parents for making it possible! Hasta luego...