When the local weather gets hot and tropical. With this dramatic change in seasons, when things are as hot and humid as they´re going to get, this is when you´ll find the Monster Yellowfin Tuna, Big Black and Blue Marlin, Sailfish and more. It would be very nice to have prime fishing in high season for tourism, but it doesn´t work that way amigos. For those in the area, we´re seeing Deep Sea fishing now like we haven´t seen for years. I was half way expecting the fishing to pull back a little since it just exploded out of the blue last week. But that´s not the case, in fact the fishing is still outstanding and picking up on a daily basis. Short day trips or long days targeting world class gamefish, whatever you´re looking for, we have it now!
What a difference a week can make and man have things changed so lets get into it! El Banco, Blue Marlin in the 400 lb plus range have returned to the high spots. Yellowfin Tuna are in the 150 to 200 lb range and they´re taking bullet skip jack tuna as favorite bait. No worry, they´re plentiful all around the bay so make bait early and get out there!! Dorado at 25lbs, good size, have also shown up Sailfish, Cubera Snappers to 60 lbs. Targeting YF Tuna, here´s the secret, if you´re not using a kite, you won´t boat a tuna. We have high visibility Blue Water and conditions are as close to perfect as it will get amigos, if this doesn´t draw you out of your man-cave nothing will.
It´s nice to finally report something other than the same old cookie cutter reports where I take conditions and focus on the positive. This week we are seeing some real action. I got reports around last Wednesday from Capt. Cesar of Magnifico that there were many striped Marlin strikes just to find everything changed the next day to a fish ghost town! Well, that has changed once again, frankly I was expecting what is happening now last week. So Much for Life in Fish City!!
Fishing here in Puerto Vallarta is little changed from Last week with some small differences.
Water is a clear green until you get about five miles past Punta Mita point where it´s a high visibility blue. Water Temps are up drastically from the 79 degrees it was last week to 81 degrees and climbing. Bait conditions are still superior with plenty of Flying fish around six inches, Plenty of Bullet Bonito and Skip jack tuna, Goggle Eyes, Sardines and the list goes on, it´s a fish smorgasbord out there bait wise!
For the third week running now we´ve had the same conditions now. Plenty of beautiful high visibility blue water, perfect water temperatures and massive amounts of bait yet we´re seeing few boats if any coming in with larger species. I was hopeful last week that we´d see Sailfish move in and ¨save the day¨. Many boats heading in different directions and all had the same results, frustration! Yes we have Sailfish, Striped Marlin, Rooster fish, the question is ¨Where are they¨?
These days when clients call or email me asking about fishing I have two basic questions, do you want to go after big fish? Or are you interested in lots of arm burning action? The answer will determine how much you´ll need to spend for a day of fishing that will meet your desires! We have large fish, but they´re moving in then out. We have plenty of Jack Crevalls, Bonito, and 30 lb Snappers with more species on the list, but they´ll be closer in, cheaper to get to and you´ll have plenty of action. For those looking for Moby Dick, well he´s in, then he´s out, but for certain Marlin are not going to be overly plentiful or easy! So there you have it, go for action or go for larger species, but you could do both!
It´s been a weird spring this year, we´re seeing cold currents mixed with warm water, now we´re seeing warm currents moving in which has raised the water temps to the 79 / 80 degree mark. But in the bay we´re still seeing water temps at 75 degrees. We´re in a funny situation, we had warm water all winter, at the end of April we had a chilled current move in, water temps dropped. Now we´re seeing warm water currents moving back in as we would normally see about now. So what does this mean to the local fishing? It means we´ve got a mixed bag and what you´ll come back with depends on your state of mind, how much you want to spend and the species you want to target. They´re all out there, but are you willing to take the chance of coming in with an empty fish box vs. Coming in with many smaller species that will give you an action filled day? Welcome to Roll the Dice Fishing in PV!
Tourisms High Season and Fishing High season are at different places on the calendar for the most part. As we enter low season for tourism we see the fishing which has been up and down, is up again. Water temperatures are about the same as last week, but the sun is staying higher in the sky these days and with the intensity the water temps will soon increase, that is if we don´t get hit with the La Nina they´re talking of… only time will tell.
This past week we´ve seen Yellowfin Tuna Cows move into El Banco and Corbeteña just to watch the Tuna Boats, the Seiners or those boats that run the nets and decimate the fishing and now there are none! What remains now is a void of fish at our World Famous Fishing grounds. For now it ¨appears¨ that we have Marlin, Yellowfin Tuna and Sailfish, but only in between the Tuna Boat Sweeps. Long liners all over the Tres Maria Islands, our last fishery and if you´re a true conservationist this breaks your heart. But the bay and Marietta Islands are picking up the void or slack and you can still have great action as long as you understand Moby Dick has been chased out of PV!
Every year we know we have to deal with the Spring Time Transition. Yes folk’s we´re moving into Spring Fishing from what has been summer fishing all winter long. Bait is not an issue, Sardines, Bullet Bonito, Skip Jack Tuna, Goggle eyes, Flying fish, it´s a fish smorgasbord out there. So you may ask where did the fish go? Nobody knows. The main thing is to remember El Nino gave us all a gift of summer species in winter. We are now seeing the conditions we would normally see in February. This is transitional fishing, so we will play to our strengths. If you´re the kinda person that thinks fishing is an action sport and you´re looking for action, which we can do easily. Now if you´re going to demand Moby Dick join you on the way back for pictures, expectations of this nature may leave you disappointed amigo.
