Here we are, heading into late January and you’d almost think it was late November fishing. With water temperatures hovering at 73 degrees, all of a sudden the ‘clean green’ water returns. Clean green water normally isn’t a Dorados best friend, but if there’s bait in the water, minor things like water temperatures are easily ignored. None of this means much to the visiting tourist looking to get on the water and have a day they’ll never forget. To them all they want to do is catch fish and that’s easy. If you’re interested in fishing Puerto Vallarta’s world class fishing grounds, it’s not too late amigos to boat that bucket list finned fantasy. All you need to do is choose which species you want to target from Sailfish, Dorado, Striped Marlin or Yellowfin Tuna and I’ll tell you where to find them!
Normally when I write my weekly fishing reports, I’m very careful to not be too optimistic. This past week was much better than my “pessimistic” outlook. I was expecting the warm water species to move out as we see winter species moving in. What is actually happening is the winter species are still moving in, but the summer species of Dorado, Sailfish, and even Yellowfin Tuna are still “hanging out”! And in fact they’re enjoying the cooler water! Why? In a word, “bait”! With Massive amounts of Krill or tiny squids, Ballyhoos, flying fish, Sardines, the list is endless. If you were a fish, would you swim away from fast food and easy living? When it comes to world class fishing in Puerto Vallarta, sometimes the obvious isn’t so obvious!
Well here we are again looking at the seasonal fishing reversals as winter species are moving in as our summer species of Dorado and Sailfish continue to linger. With massive amounts of bait in the water, including the dominant Krill or Whale food, the fishing is still great. We’re on the tail end of summer species like Dorado and Yellowfin Tuna. All of this is normal for this time of the y ear. But with El Nino, it’s hard to predict what’s going to happen next. The last El Nino year, we had Yellowfin Tuna at Corbetena into late February! Now that’s not a prediction, but with El Nino, anything is possible when it comes to fishing in Puerto Vallarta. With drastically low water temperatures, it won’t be long before we’re looking at Sea Bass, Grouper and Snappers moving into the area. But for now we’re still boating Dorado and Marlin for those lucky enough to be in Puerto Vallarta’s world famous fishing grounds!
Welcome to my first fishing report of the New Year! And how better to start a new year with a new beginning at El Banco, so to speak. Yes folks El Banco, or The Bank is showing signs of life and it has a strong heart beat for the moment. Also, Sailfish and Striped Marlin are still running our world class fishing grounds when talking about fishing in Puerto Vallarta. It’s also Whale Season, this means there are just tons of Krill, or rather Whale food in the bay. So there are challenges, but nothing the local captains can’t figure out. What’s really news is the drastic drop in water temperatures due to El Nino. Now you’d think water temperatures would be going up, but that logic is flawed as we see the winter fishing season coming on strong and early. A month early so start thinking “winter species”.
The clock is ticking and the end of the summer fishing season is upon us. But there is still time for those late to the game. Surprisingly Dorado are still in the bay. Sailfish are still taking bait, Striped Marlin are moving in and the winter fishing season is coming on strong. Soon fishing in Puerto Vallarta will be all about winter species. But not yet! If you’re looking to boat a Yellowfin Tuna, the clock is ticking. Thinking about a Blue Marlin, it may already be too late. But those looking for Dorado still have a chance. Sailfish will “hang” for a while, as long as we have plenty of bait. For those here in Puerto Vallarta looking to go fishing, we’re still targeting summer species, but the clock is ticking. Tick tock, tick tock.
Finally, a report I can “sink my teeth into”. I’m sure from that statement you understand that the Red Tide problem has finally moved out. And what is happening in Puerto Vallarta’s fishing grounds is exciting. Yes water temperatures are still down and it looks like the winter fishing season is arriving early. All of that is true, but for now we have action all around our world class fishing grounds. As colder currents and dropping water temperatures are indications of the switch to winter fishing, early this year I might ad. What we’re seeing now may be what we would normally see in February when the Dorado north near Cabo flee the cold water. As they, the Dorado pass Puerto Vallarta fishing grounds heading south, they’re hungry, this should last for a little while. The good news is we have action, YeHa!!
Normally at this time of the year, we’re in the best of the “best time of the year” to be here in Puerto Vallarta for world class fishing. Normally, but this year we’re seeing some interesting challenges. As you all know were’ in an El Nino year. What does that mean, well nobody really knows how to answer that question. Pretty much all we can do is look at what’s happening, analyze the situation and then make your best guess. Frankly there isn’t anything new about that, but when it’s an El Nino year, it’s hard to predict. With strange currents and dropping water temperatures, we’re seeing Jack Crevalles moving into the bay. This is a winter species that will hang around in warmer water if the bait conditions are to their liking. In the last few days we’ve seen Jack Crevalles picking up in numbers. To the optimistic, this is all just a glitch in the fishing season. To the pessimistic, it’s the end of the summer fishing season. Me, I find it’s almost impossible to predict the future now that I dropped and cracked my crystal ball!
It’s been a real rollercoaster kind of year. If you recall, we moved from a La Nina year directly into an El Nino year. When you go from one extreme to another, something is going to happen. The entire summer in PV, even in an El Nino or warm water environment, the water never got as warm as it should have. We never got over the 88 degree mark in the middle of September. At that time I noted to myself that “I hope this doesn’t mean an early chill”. By that, normally by the end of December, right about the week before New Year’s Eve, we always get the “chill currents”. When this happens, water temperatures drop like a rock and the next thing you know we’re looking down the throat of our coming winter fishing season. With the recent cold snaps north of the border and in Canada, these weather patterns push their “influence” all the way to Mexico. This week we’ve seen the normal results of weather shocks like this in the form of cooler weather here in PV and cooler water temperatures. Now this could be temporary, but it’s an early indicator of what could be coming. For now we’ve seen some changes, but nothing drastic as yet. If you’re in Puerto Vallarta looking for world class fishing, then you better get in the game before it’s over amigos. We’ve had a wonderful season, but all good things eventually come to an end.
After another week of outstanding fishing, things are starting to slow down just a touch. Yes, we still have Marlin, Sailfish, Dorado and more in our world class fishing grounds of Puerto Vallarta. But now we have Krill. Krill, also known as “Whale food”. These tiny squids and micro fish are back in the area of course with the Whales. This creates a specific set of challenges we deal with on a yearly basis. How do you get fish to pay attention to your presentations, aka bait, when they’re stuffed with Calamari? No worries, we have been dealing with conditions like this from the beginning of time. There are always challenges and as challenges change, captains have to come up with solutions. Krill for the most part are more abundant in the bay, but they will be all around the Bay of Banderas’ fishing grounds.. Again this is normal, but it’s a pain in the backside at times. Larger species like Marlin and Yellowfin Tuna are not affected by this Whale food since they like larger baits. So one challenge can produce opportunities if you know the seasonal basics. As we enter the final stretch of fishing high season, there are some big fish out there waiting for you to show up!
Welcome to another wonderful week of fishing. As we all know, fishing is an emotional Rollercoaster. When things are great, you can still have a down fishing day. Once we get into this time of the year, it’s difficult to not catch fish, if you’ve got an experienced captain and enough bait. There are some small, but important changes this past week as we start to enter Whale Watching Season. For many fisherman, this is a trigger. When the Whales arrive, the Krill are not far behind. And we’re seeing some of this “whale food” coming into the bay. The bait fish will start feeding on this Krill, the larger species like Dorado to smaller species like Skip Jack Tuna will all happily chow down on this “fast food”. This is not a “big thing”, but it is a “thing”. And will become a bigger “thing” in the coming weeks. But this is normal. Presently, Puerto Vallarta fishing is at its yearly peak! The warm water species will be hanging around until the end of December. Those looking to target world class species like Marlin, Dorado and Sailfish should make a move. If not, it will be another year before you realize you should have “done this years ago”!
