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When visiting Puerto Vallarta, we really didn’t plan on doing many tours. However, when we saw all tours about charter fishing in Puerto Vallarta, we knew we needed to jump on the chance to do some fishing in Puerto Vallarta.
The best part of charter fishing in Puerto Vallarta is the fresh ceviche served on board. After all, fresh ceviche is probably the number one food you should try if visiting Puerto Vallarta.
Most fishing tours take a full day of vacation, and we were not all about that. Instead, we wanted to take a morning trip on the boat. Allowing us to still relax poolside or on the beach in the afternoon. After checking out different charter fishing in Puerto Vallarta, we landed on Charly’s Fishing Tours.
Charly’s Charter Fishing Tour Highlight VIDEO
Why Take Charly’s Charter Fishing in Puerto Vallarta?
Charly’s Charter Fishing offers boats ranging from 28 feet to 38 feet. And are set for the number of people on tour as well as the area you’ll be fishing. The boats are equipped with fighting chairs and toilets (hello, huge plus with the early morning departures). All charter fishing tours come with a deckhand and a captain. We didn’t realize how extremely beneficial this is when reeling in the fish.
I’m sure it’s not always the case, but, we caught over 20 fish on our four-hour trip out at sea. Hello, SO MUCH FUN!!
When we arrived at the marina after the trip, we were talking with another family that had just come back too, and they only caught 1 fish. So, that’s a major plus! and double thumbs up for going with Charly’s Tours.
Our Charter Fishing Boat + Team
We had a group of five people and took out a 28-foot boat, and were pleasantly surprised with the space it offered. Both the captain and deckhand were extremely knowledgeable about where to catch different kinds of fish and how to reel in the big guys!
We had so much fun joking around with the crew and were so happy with them both. They got just as excited as we did when we were reeling in fish. They were stoked when we saw dolphins and sea turtles. And were just all-around fun guys to be around!
The boat not only had a toilet on board, but also a cooler with beers and water bottles for all five us of to enjoy. We were surprised to see loads of fishing lines all out at one time maximizing the total fish we caught.
Fresh Ceviche?! Tell Me More…
Hands down, one of the best parts of our entire charter fishing tour was the fresh ceviche on board. After we caught over 20 fish. Yes, over 20 of them. While heading back to the marina, fresh ceviche from the fish we had just caught was prepared and served.
It was mouth-watering, yes, I’m drooling, good! Honestly, nothing better than freshly caught ceviche. In fact, that’s one of the must-try foods in Puerto Vallarta.
If you’ve not heard of ceviche, it’s raw fish, chopped up and drenched in lime juice, mixed with veggies. In Puerto Vallarta, they make their ceviche with cucumber, jalapeno, tomato, and onion, and it’s literally to die for!
What Kind of Fish Can You Catch with Charter Fishing in Puerto Vallarta
Depending on where you go out at sea, you can catch Mahi Mahi, small tuna, marlin, yellow finned tuna, and more. We were catching so many small tuna (which is perfect for ceviche and bait fish), and one of the guys in our crew, Nick, caught a really big fish too. It was a jackfish I believe!
Anyways, there are loads of different kinds of fish you can catch. We wanted to go for some mahi-mahi, but our captain and deckhand weren’t really into it. They told us where we would have to go to catch mahi-mahi (where the bluest water is), and then avoided taking us there, even though we asked about it a handful of times. (more on that later).
Anyways, the smaller fish is best for fresh ceviche, but it’s super fun to reel in the big guys too.
How Many Fish Can I Expect to Catch While Charter Fishing in Puerto Vallarta?
The answer to this question greatly depends on the fishing guide you get. Honestly, we were blown away by how many fish we caught during the four-hour charter fishing in Puerto Vallarta. It felt like we were reeling in the smaller fish one after the next. To the point where we were all actually tired of reeling them in and we were throwing them back out to sea.
However, arriving back at the marina, we talked with another family that had gone fishing, and they only caught one fish. They were out for the same amount of time as we were, and legitimately only caught one, were we easily caught 20 or more.
This was a huge bonus to going with Charly’s Charter Fishing. The captain and deckhand really knew where to go to catch us loads of fish. And while most of the smaller fish is really just used as bait fish for the bigger guys, we were still able to eat quite a bit of ceviche and bring home half of the big fish Nick caught.
Any Downsides to Charly’s Charter Fishing in Puerto Vallarta?
Unfortunately, while we loved Charly’s Charter Fishing Puerto Vallarta, there were also a couple of things that we didn’t love.
Number one..
When booking and paying for the fishing tour, they really prefer to get paid in cash. This is because it costs them money to use PayPal. Totally understandable, however, it also costs a lot for most people to pull out money from an ATM, so it wasn’t good for us either. When we then wanted to pay with PayPal, because it would cost us so much to pull out cash, we had to pay the extra $20 PayPal fee.
Not necessarily a huge deal, but just more of an annoyance when it’s advertised on their website they accept payment via PayPal.
Number two…
We caught loads, and I mean loads, of the smaller tuna. It’s amazing to eat raw or even cook as a whole fish. Like, we were legitimately catching so much that we had to start throwing them back to sea. However, when we asked for those fish to take back home with us, they didn’t give us any.
This was a bit bothersome because it was the only time they had trouble understanding our English. And, we had literally caught so much (again, we were throwing them back to sea) that to not have any to take back with us was just a bit weird. Yes, they did let us take half of the big fish we caught home with us. However, literally zero of the smaller ones.
Honestly, I’m still a bit upset about that part of the trip. As I’m just confused why we were throwing them back if there wasn’t any for us to keep! All that to say, be sure to be clear about what kind of fish you want and that you want to bring it back to your accommodation while you’re out at sea!
Number three…
We really wanted to go out and catch Mahi Mahi. After about an hour of reeling in fish after fish of the smaller guys, we were ready for some change and all five of us were dying for some Mahi Mahi, as that’s not something we can catch at home.
However, when we asked if we could go there, we just kept getting the answer of where to catch the Mahi Mahi, and then they slowly went in that general direction but turned around and went back to shore.
It felt like we were sitting in the small fish section for a long time, even though we all were ready to go somewhere else. I’m not sure if this is normal or not for fishing tours, as none of us have been on many. However, when it’s advertised on their website to get that kind of fish, and we verbalize (on multiple occasions) we wanted to go try, and then we didn’t get to, that was a major let down.
So Can We Recommend Charly’s Tours for Charter Fishing Puerto Vallarta?
Aside from the three issues we had listed above, we had an amazing time with Charly’s Fishing Tour Team. We met Charly before getting on board, and he was super professional and happy to have us on tour.
While it was a bummer we didn’t get to take home any of the smaller fish we wanted to keep, that could just come down to a total miscommunication, so we can say be sure to communicate what you want before going on tour to ensure that doesn’t happen with you!
After getting back to the marina and speaking with the other family that had just returned from a different fishing tour, we were super glad we went with Charly’s, and I’m sure you would be too!
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