Since the year 2000, Master Baiter’s has been in the Sportfishing Charter business. Some call it Deep Sea Fishing, others call it Sportfishing, what ever you choose to call it, it’s expensive and there’s no way around that simple fact of life. I always have potential clients enter my shop on the boardwalk in Marina Vallarta and they naturally ask for prices. When I collect all the information I need from them to make a recommendation, they are seldom happy about the price and that in itself is a deal breaker. Especially for many vacationing Anglers with a “whim” to go fishing for “Moby Dick”. When I do finally figure out the correct or best option for the client, he’s usually grabbing his chest from the heart palpitations he’s experiencing. I can understand that reaction for sure. When you tell a potential client that a ten hour trip on a nice and nicely equipped boat is going to run on average $1,000.00 usd for up to five people (total, not each person), this is normal
Every year I wait for the second week of June, to me this is when the second tourism season begins. Kids are out for the summer, teachers are free to travel and the fishing turns into something spectacular. Water temperatures are a perfect 82 degrees (rising nicely) and as blue as you´ll ever get it with bait moving in daily in massive amounts. We´ve also seem some unusual things happening with Sailfish moving in to the shore areas and taking baits as fast as they can find them. The deep water locations are doing well also with Yellowfin Tuna, Skip Jack Tuna, Marlin and more. For all you Anglers and Danglers there is fish to be had as fishing is GOOD right now. If you´re in the area or just reading about the area, Puerto Vallarta Fishing is right on time amigos.
Ok, the month of May is behind us now, water temperatures are moving upwards a little bit each day, bait is also more abundant. The water is now clean and blue, not so for the last few weeks. Dorado moving into the bay, Sailfish at the Points and Chemo at Cabo Corrientes is seeing fifty pound Football Tuna. Conditions are moving nicely into summer fishing. Tourism is down, which of course means we´re kinda empty in PV for the moment. This also means empty fishing grounds, cheap hotels, great air fares and even the Dollar is very, very strong to the peso. Everything is coming together nicely for the start of Fishing´s High Season to begin. Even with the press stories about Mexico, tourist are returning and taking advantage of the exchange rate, lower prices and the safe environment we have here in Puerto Vallarta. People have over reacted to the slanted news reports creating for those who see the opportunity a chance to basically ¨own¨ Puerto Vallarta.
May is a month when things start to happen. We are nearing the end of May now and we have already seen two hurricanes form and fizzle which seems unusual, but in reality it is right on-time. Water temperatures continue to inch up to about 78 to 80 degrees now as the days are warmer and more humid. Bait is moving into the bay which of course attracts larger fish. The Trash line will soon be a daily thing for those short trip days when you´re looking for action, but time is an issue. Blue Water ten miles before Corbeteña is a wonderful sign with Striped Marlin and a few Blue Marlin sightings. Sailfish are increasing is numbers and the fishing grounds are deserted. That´s right folks, summer is knocking and spring is stepping aside. Fishing from this point will be nothing like it has been for the past six months. Those looking for fresh information regarding fishing in Puerto Vallarta have come to the right place and here it comes….
Every year about this time we see tourism just come to a grinding halt as we fall into the gap between spring and summer. I guess it´s for the best as we move into high season for fishing to be slow in May for tourism and fishing as well. May is still early for Dorado, yet they are coming in but on the small side. As is normal at this time of the year swirling currents can bring in fish or it can chase them away. What does this mean, find warm currents if you can, but there are still cold water fish in the area of Cabo Corrientes like Jack Crevalls. With these currents we´re seeing some dirty water swirling in the bay as well. So once more your chances of running into dirty water at the fishing grounds is more likely than not. But fear not, there is still good fishing out there, you´ll just have to target the location and roll the dice.
One of the nice things about this time of the year is as things change, it is always to the positive. Water temperatures continue to increase as the humidity increases as well. Just a few signs summer is slowly makes its presence known. The days are a little warmer each day, the bait is moving into the bay, Skip Jacks or Football Tuna are chasing that bait. Larger fish are chasing them and we´re seeing the results. Dorado are at their preferred locations of the Marietta Islands, Punta Mita, Corbeteña, El Banco and at a floating long anywhere in the bay. Blue Marlin are starting to move in, which is early for them, June is more normal. But the biggest indication that we´re aggressively moving into summer is the first tropical storm warning came into my inbox this morning. We normally don´t see tropical storms or Hurricanes which they can turn into in May. NOAH is predicting heavier weather or I should say rain and tropical storms for the Americas this year and believe it or not, for fishing that is not bad news either. So stay tuned, we have something to talk about this week!
May is the transition period we see between spring and summer fishing. Cooler water is becoming a thing of the recent past. With the raising humidity comes warmer water moving into the area, naturally. One of the signals that summer is just around the corner is when the bait fish invade the bay again, like we have happening now. First the bait, then the fish. One step at a time as the bay if filling with bait. Now we have some great fishing for May right now, but things are improving daily and it looks like for the first time in three years Puerto Vallarta fishing will be somewhat normal based on past history expectations. Me, I am just pickled tink we have fish. If you are in the area looking to head out, you will find virtually empty fishing ground when it comes to boats and people. But the fish are there, the conditions are good (not great) and we have fish for the table tonight Amigo. Time to drain those fuel dollars from that special account you have the wife knows nothing of. World Class Game fishing is coming back to Puerto Vallarta as we speak.
May is the slowest month of the year, worse than September when it comes to tourism in Puerto Vallarta. But when it comes to fishing, they don´t go back to school, they hand out here at Puerto Vallarta´s World Famous Fishing Grounds…. Take a fishing trip with us, Master Baiter´s Sportfishing and Tackle and get some Super May Discounts on world class boats…. Best prices of the year are now.. Dorado, Sailfish and Striped Marlin available now….So what are you waiting for..??
For weeks and weeks I´ve been waiting for things to improve as we have been stuck in a transition period where we wait and hope the wait is not too long. For now it looks cautiously like the season may have turned the corner now as we see our world famous fishing grounds filling with the summer species we have been looking for itjust depends on where they´re and what your fishing budget looks like. But the good news is the fishing is good, not great, but it´s getting better. This trend should continue and as far as Dorado moving in, it was July before we had a chance to boat a gold and sapphire beauty last year. So we should consider ourselves lucky and thank our lucky fishing stars for the sight but positive changes.
It was funny, a few of my Captains and First Mates came in the shop yesterday to inform me that we now have Sailfish, Dorado and Striped Marlin moving into the area. Now these guys were talking about El Banco and Corbeteña. The two world famous deep water fishing grounds we have outside of Puerto Vallarta. This is big news, we normally see Sailfish move in through the month of March. This year they were here, but they left as the water suddenly chilled to frigid which of course forced them out of the area as fast as they moved in. So they have been waiting like everyone else for some positive signs and this would be one. I heard of a few Yellowfin Tuna coming in at 140 lbs about fifteen miles off the high spots north, Stay tuned….
