Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Oct. 3, 2026 — Puerto Vallarta’s 70th international fishing tournament runs Nov. 11-14, with sailfish excluded again, the organizing club’s rules and program confirm.
At a press conference reported Oct. 2, Club de Pesca de Puerto Vallarta organizers announced prizes worth nearly 1.5 million pesos. Most of that value will be cash, organizers said.
The club’s published prize schedule lists 500,000 pesos for the winning marlin, 100,000 pesos for tuna and 50,000 pesos for dorado.
Marina Vallarta schedule and entry fees
For residents following the competition, the official program places daily weigh-ins beside the Marina del Rey condominiums. The club schedules weigh-ins from 2 to 6 p.m. Nov. 12-14 on the Marina Vallarta waterfront.
The program sets registration for 5 to 10 p.m. Nov. 11 at the club’s headquarters, 145 Hamburgo in Versalles. It lists the opening ceremony for 7 a.m. Nov. 12 on the Malecón in front of Hotel Rosita.
According to the same program, the awards ceremony is at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14, beside Marina del Rey.
For participating crews, the club’s entry fee schedule lists 38,000 pesos per team through Oct. 15. The price rises to 42,000 pesos on Oct. 16, with a maximum of four anglers per team.
Participants must arrange and pay for their own fishing licenses, the registration page states.
Sailfish excluded from tournament competition
Organizers said at the announcement that sailfish remain excluded even from catch-and-release competition. They described the measure as an effort to help the species recover.
I reviewed the club’s 2026 competition rules for PVDN. “The qualifying species are marlin, tuna and dorado,” they state, translated from Spanish.
Under those rules, qualifying marlin must weigh at least 100 kilograms. The minimums are 30 kilograms for tuna and 10 kilograms for dorado.
The club encourages anglers to release fish below those weights. Its rules impose no penalty for bringing an undersized catch to the weigh-in.
Catch evidence and fish donations
The club’s rules require video documenting each catch, including bringing the fish aboard and showing the day’s tournament flag. Judges can invalidate an entry or disqualify a team if the video fails their review.
Our coverage of the 69th edition’s opening recorded nearly 40 boats competing in November 2025.
Under the 2026 rules, catches presented for weighing become the club’s property. The rules require clubs to donate those fish to charitable institutions.
