Post Lidia Fishing is Incredible, Large Dorado Dominate, It’s a Fish Wonderland!

About this time last week we were wondering what was going to happen with Hurricane Lidia. Nobody knew what to expect as the predicted path of the Hurricane looked like the impossible path. Lidia came up naturally from the south, it was heading out towards Hawaii, until it took a sharp right turn and was heading right down the throat of the Bay of Banderas. Any deviation at all would have sent Lidia to a different area easily enough, but it didn’t quite play that way. As this was all happening, besides being concerned for my girlfriend who was freaking out, I was thinking “this Hurricane will push a whole lot of fish in the area. It took a few days before we had charters again, but now we’re heading out daily. All the “ills” of the Hurricane for the city of Puerto Vallarta have for the most part been taken care of. Marina Vallarta has all the utilities and no travel issues. Same goes for fishing, for now PV has almost every species our world famous fishing grounds have to offer. What looked like a possible disaster for fishing, has turned out to be a “backhanded” gift from the fish gods! For now, whatever your fishing budget looks like, get on the water. One reason, the Dorado in the bay are huge! Let’s start there.

Corbetena is “on fire”. Black Marlin (300 to 600lbs), Blue Marlin (300 to 600 lbs), Sailfish are of good size, Dorado over 30 lbs, Yellowfin Tuna running in the 60 lb range and up. The water was a little dirty, but it’s mostly blue now. Plenty of Skip Jack Tunas in the 12 lb range, perfect for bait. Water temperatures have dropped surprisingly enough to 85 degrees which is perfect. This is what we’re seeing with the few boats heading out that weren’t cancelled. El Banco was on the verge of exploding and my gut tells me there is Black and Blue Marlin to be had. Along with Yellowfin Tuna of decent size as well. It’s always hard to make a call to go to our most famous, reputation building fishing area when so few people head in this direction. For those with a full fuel tank, I’d suggest starting at El Morro, drop baits, bounce off the rock and head north, something wonderful is going to happen amigos. Water should be blue at El Banco as well, look for any debris and there’s a bunch, and you’ll have so much action your arms will turn into spaghetti!

El Morro has turned into Sailfish and Dorado Central. If heading out for a ten hour day to Corbetena, drop your baits here first. The whole area is stuffed full of Sailfish and Dorado all the way to Sayulita and points north. The water could be a little dirty, but with the strong currents this will soon be a thing of the past. Punta Mita is also on fire with Dorado from 20 to 40 lbs, Sailfish, Bonito, these are the dominant species in the area. Head farther out and Blue Marlin are running the neighborhood. Conditions are mostly blue water out there, but even with some dirty water, it won’t be too deep, so no worries, it’s a fishing wonderland out there!

Looking to the bay, there is still some dirty water until you get to Los Arcos or the middle of the bay. But once there the Dorado are large on the trash line. The hurricane stuffed the area with Dorado and Sailfish which are waiting for you to show up amigos. We still have a fair amount of Sierra Mackerels, Bonito, and Skip Jack Tuna from 12 to 20 lbs, freak Sailfish which seem to be more common by the day. I still suggest a 6 hr. trip in the bay to find the trash line which is the ultimate secret to catching fish in the bay right now.

Mexico, now, doesn’t change their clocks with the Daylight savings time any longer and the bite is a moving target. These fish pay attention to tides, water temperatures and the sunrise / sunset. We see the bite moving to a long stretch in the day. Starting at about 07:00-ish things are happening. So the early bird scenario exist for the “time being”. Good news is the water temperatures have dropped considerably from 89 to 85 degrees. Drastic, but not unusual after a cat. 4 hurricane stirring up currents. We still have plenty of bait and this week Goggle Eyes and Mullets are working well. Also with Flying fish all over the bay, along with Ballyhoos, the list seems endless. Lures of Purple and pink or Petroleros are working well too. Basically get a bait in front of a Dorado and you’re catching fish.  

Many people may be in their homes reading this article wondering if Puerto Vallarta is open for business. I’m happy to say yes, PV is alive and well and for the most part unaffected by this swirling terror named Lidia. Some outlying areas like Conchas Chinas and Mismaloya had some heavy highway damage where boulders were washed up on the roadways. Some landslides haven’t made things any easier. But other than what’s happening on the highway to the south of town, Puerto Vallarta is ready for your visit. I talked with some clients today that cancelled a charter because the press they were reading said PV was essentially shut down. So don’t be misled, PV is open for business!  

Those sierra Madres are PV’s Saving grace..

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