With the crazy tourism, the crazy fishing conditions, the seasonal changes and some crazy warm water, fishing has been a rollercoaster act to follow. So, to say the fishing has been strange, would not be an underestimate. Once we pass the first of May, the fishing normally gets slow, breeding season is coming and the seasonal change with currents, dirty water and the always popular seasonal rains, anything is possible. For the last few weeks, there have been almost no charter boats heading out. Now this is pretty normal, but this year it feels even “slower” for lack of a better word. But even with all this “weirdness” happening, the fishing is not bad and in fact, there have been some days that probably shouldn’t be happening, thank you El Nino! For now, nobody knows what to expect fishing wise. They’re saying this could be one of the strongest El Nino’s for the last 30 yrs or so. And get this, predictions for fishing on the west coast for Yellowfin Tuna are impressive. But talk is cheap. If what we’ve seen in the last month or so is any indication, then we’re going to have a Yellowfin Tuna Season you won’t forget!
Well, here we are again, it’s that time of the year when tourism drops off drastically and as a result, nobody is going out fishing. Most of my information this week came from private boats, but even then there are just a few. But that isn’t all “doom and gloom” amigos. We’ve seen some interesting, I should say ‘head scratcher” type of things. Stripes Marlin at Corbetena! Yellowfin Tuna running anywhere from 60 to 150 lbs. Even Blue Marlin are out there, but before you get all excited, they’re spread out. You have to take a stab at where you want to go, then go with the plan. The good news is there are some early summer species out there! The bad news, you have to find them. No worries there, we’re here to help and we’re still the only source of Comprehensive, Professional Sportfishing information and Charters. Fishing in Puerto Vallarta is still alive and well for the lucky few left in Puerto Vallarta as we begin to enter the Spring Fishing season in our world-famous fishing grounds.
If you haven’t heard by now, those in the know are predicting a “Godzilla El Nino” this year. After the last six months, that’s becoming more obvious by the day. Right now, we’re seeing close to 80-degree water temperatures and it’s very early in the Spring time frame for this. A few weeks ago, we were seeing 650 lbs. Black Marlin at Corbetena. Now, the Marlin numbers are thin at best. As a general rule, the water temperatures and frankly the air temperatures are more like Mid-May and not April. This of course means we’re moving into a period where our winter species are still here, and it’s too early for the Summer Species to come in. Remembering we have the transition period from Mid-May to the last week of July, we’re wondering what’s going to happen to our fishing season. For those lucky enough to be in Puerto Vallarta right now, you’ll still find arm burning action in the bay. On the other hand, the fishing is widely spread out. So here we are again, scratching our head and asking the Ouija board where to go!
After a lead in like that, you have to be wondering what I’m talking about. And to be frank, I don’t fully understand what’s happening at our fishing grounds in Banderas Bay. Just like last week, the deep-water locations are one of your best bangs for your fishing dollar. For some reason, north Corbetena has been the place to start dropping baits, heading towards El Banco, you’ll have Blue Marlin running the area in the 250 lbs. range. There have been a couple of Black Marlin boated at the rock this week as well. Dorado, Sailfish are missing in action, but that’s the only thing normal about the fishing in this area for the time being. A couple of Black Marlin in the 300 lbs. range were also boated closer to El Banco. You looking for Yellowfin Tuna, well we’ve got them as well running anywhere from 30 to 100 lbs., but this time they’re not running with Spinner Dolphin or Proposes. With plenty of bait in the form of Skipjack Tuna, Google Eyes, Sardines, flying fish and more, there are no worries about making bait before you get to your chosen location for now. Weird stuff, but we’ll take it.
Well, here we are again, I have to tell you, soon we’ll be in the spring season, even though we’re already seeing spring water temperatures. This is very important since Puerto Vallarta’s Fishing Grounds should be about 70 degrees, not 78 degrees or warmer in some areas. We should be seeing Red Snapper, Grouper, Sea Bass and other cold-water species. This window normally will last up to eight weeks, but not this year. Instead, we’re seeing most of our summer species hanging out between Corbetena and El Banco. Obviously, we’re getting mixed signals as to what our “norm” is. For those lucky enough to be in Puerto Vallarta fishing right now, you’ve got a very rare opportunity to boat a bucket list fish in an off season. But there is always a down side to deal with. If you’re coming down to PV or if you’re here, you’ll be glad you read this weeks report of the surrounding area of Banderas Bay.
Capt. Scooby of Guanatuna panga boated this beauty off Corbetena! Here we are at the end of February and we’re seeing Black Marlin and Yellowfin Tuna at Corbetena? The normal “chill” we get in our winter fishing season isn’t happening this year. The water temperatures that would normally be in their lowest levels are warm […]
Well, here we are in February, normally the coldest water of the year, but here we are, in the first week of February and we’re boating Yellowfin Tuna at Corbetena and Black Marlin? Yes, I said Black Marlin in February, but we’re seeing unusual water temperatures as you’d expect as we enter yet, another El Nino period. We had much the same conditions last year, but the water temperatures last year at least dipped below 75 degrees. We didn’t have much of a Sea Bass bite last year, and the Red Snappers were very limited as well. What does that mean for the local fisherman, you have Yellowfin Tuna available in Puerto Vallarta’s Fishing Grounds! Later in the year, we’re going to have some special conditions, but for now, why not take advantage of the perfect weather and the lingering summer species, thanks to the El Nino coming our way.
Now that we’ve been in business now for 26 years, we’ve come to expect certain conditions at certain times of the year. One of those conditions is right at the end of the year. Normally at the time the Christmas holiday arrives, we get what I’ve called for years “The Big Chill”. You see we get this cold current, it moves in and the water temperatures drop. At that point, it pretty much announces the end of our summer fishing season. Now this condition was late this year and it’s just now showing up. Because of that the Blue Marlin, Black marlin and most of the Dorado are heading south. It happens every year and while we’re not to excited to see the Dorado moving out, it doesn’t mean the end of fishing in our world famous fishing grounds in Puerto Vallarta. But it does mean we will adjust to the transition from summer species to winter species. The good news is there are Striped Marlin, Sailfish, Jack Crevalles in the Bay and the occasional Dorado amigos.
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If you’re fishing in Puerto Vallarta right now, you couldn’t ask for better conditions. I’ll expand on this, but the water temperatures are perfect and a perfect ‘high visibility blue’. Bait conditions are at a perfect level with many varied baits species to drive you crazy. Which species are you looking to target? We have Marlin, Sailfish, Dorado, Roosterfish, Cubera Snappers and more.
