The Big Chill!

Here we go again, the rollercoaster of rising and falling water temperatures has struck again. It’s frustrating because we know “The Big Chill” is coming. Every year I hope we get through the holiday season with warmer water temperatures so the fishing remains great for the holiday travelers. So we got past Christmas, but barely and now we’re seeing dramatic drops in water temperature. Which means we saw the return of dirty water and the clean green water. Both are indicators of colder water temperatures, but we’ve seen this as recently as two weeks ago. So what happened? Who knows, all I know is we have to deal with it. The good news is we still have Marlin, Sailfish and Dorado. The bad news is we also have massive amounts of Krill or Whale food. This means every species in the area is chowing down on the “fast food”, which is known as Krill. The challenges are obvious. But even with massive krill, which even the bait if feeding on, you can still have some great action. It’s not going to be easy, being equipped with the right information can improve the odds, stay tuned.

What happened at Corbetena is almost criminal. First lets address the water temperatures. Last week we were enjoying the warmer water that returned from the 74 degrees to 81 accompanied by blue water. Then BAM! The Clean Green colder water came back and that pretty much explains why the water temperatures went back down to 73 degrees. Clean Green water may not be to the liking of most of our local species, they will deal with it when it’s full of bait. Krill and Squids like colder water and that explains the Krill and the four inch Squids that turned up this week at the rock. This means we’ve gone backwards in time and once again the dominant species at Corbetena is Jack Crevalles. Now they may be running 50 lbs, but this is no reason to spend ten hour days to catch what’s running the bay. Now it’s not all doom and gloom, Dorado have been at the 25 to 35 lb range, find warm water or floating debris and you’ve found a Dorado playground. This will happen about five miles northwest from the rock. Striped Marlin and Sailfish will be in any blue water around the area. For now I expect water temperatures to come back up once this cold blast up north calms down. Stay tuned…. 12/31 Update: All of a sudden the water turned blue and the water temperatures increased again. The problem is we have this clean green circling the area and things are changing daily.. One day things are really happening. The next day nothing. For now the species running the area are much the same.

Probably your best bang for your fishing dollar right now is the back side of El Morro to the point off Punta Nayarit. For some reason there are Sailfish, Dorado, Pompano and Rooster fish all in this same area. There has been a strange current running from El Morro, past the Marietta islands, straight to the shore area off Punta Nayarit. This explains why five miles off shore the fishing is great. Once you’re out past the five mile mark things get on the “dead” side. Pretty much the same as last week. The water here is the Clean Green water, but there is plenty of action and a good fallback position if Corbetena is still being fickle. Things could change back to warmer water, we’ll have to see what happens. Normally after the “The Big Chill” we see Dorado migrating south for a few weeks and hopefully we’ll see this last “hurrah”. As far as El Banco goes, forget it, everyone heading to these fishing grounds are pretty much frustrated and disappointed. This can all change in a matter of minutes so keep that in mind and in fact by the time you read this, things could be improving. 12/31 Update: As the blue water moved in so did Dorado, Sailfish and Rooster fish. Once again things have changed. Now if off the point inside five miles is your best action. Five to ten miles is a dead zone, again. And past ten miles they’re seeing Blue and Striped Marlin. For the moment I’d suggest an eight hour trip as your best bang for your dollar.

Looking inside the bay, things are much the same. Water temperatures have dropped here as well and of course the water is dirty from the churning currents mixing sediment from the ocean floor. Nothing new and we’re used to it, but we’re not used to so much whale food. There are areas where the krill is the size of green peas and even Sierra Mackerels are stuffing themselves. To give you an idea of how much of this red, baby Krill is in the area, you can come across spots you would swear is red tide. But in fact is massive amounts of Krill turning the water red! The funny thing is even with all the species feeding heavily, they’ll still take a trolled bait, figure that one out! We still have smaller Dorado in the bay near Punta Negra in front of Garza Blanca hotel area. Jack Crevalles are normally easy to catch, but now even Jack Crevalles are picky so it’s going to take some effort to say the least. Bonito to 20 lbs is a bright spot. With Skip Jack Tuna in the 8 lb range, Sierra Mackerels to 12 lbs, Jack Crevalles running 30 lbs. Pompano near Los Arcos and there was even a Sailfish boated this week, so anything is possible. 12/31 Update: Bay fishing remains perfect for fun and family fishing. Jack Crevalles are one and off when taking baits. If you catch them coming up to a bait ball you’ve hit a Jack Goldmine. Dorado are plentiful but in the smaller baby ranges so remember to throw them back….

This coming week, I expect water temperatures to rise again after a few days. Blue water isn’t far behind so stay positive and keep your ears on. The bite is still 09:00, but it doesn’t hurt to get to your favorite location early.

Thanks for your continued support and until next week, don’t forget to kiss your fish!

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