Puerto Vallarta’s Fishing, Fickle Fish, Massive Bait!  

Written by Stan Gabruk, owner Master Baiter’s Sportfishing & Tackle

Here we go again, I hope you’re not bald because it’s hair pulling time again. With swirling currents and mixed water temperatures, combined with massive amounts of bait, you should expect “chaos”. By this I mean some days the Billfish are taking baits, others not. Dorado finally have been taking baits again, as they come out of their breeding season. Clean blue water, Red Tide, Dirty water, clean green water, it’s all out there to drive you crazy. The other side of the coin is we have fish amigos. Sailfish, Striped Marlin, Dorado, all of which are frankly out of season. It’s easy to complain about what’s happening, or you can be happy we have species we normally wouldn’t sin a La Nina year. You may not want to head out to Corbetena quite yet, but the freaky thing is El Banco is stuffed with Sailfish and Striped marlin. Right now it all comes down to the “mood” that fish is in. Billfish are looking at baits, and at times will take them. Same with Striped Marlin, it all comes down to the bite and the mood of these fickle fish. One thing for sure, with massive amounts of two inch squid moving in, the local Captains are happy to face this out of season species challenges. Yeha!

For the moment, Corbetena isn’t the place you want to be. No spinner Dolphin running with Tuna of any size out there. Yes, you’ll find Jack Crevalles, but that’s no reason to hit the rock. You may get lucky and find Sailfish and Striped Marlin, maybe. You could see a post or hear a rumor about what’s happening in Corbetena land, but for now, it’s mostly miss and hot too much “hit”. Enough said, until further notice… Stay tuned.

Now when we talk about El Banco, strange stuff has been happening. About five to twelve miles north of the high spots there have been large numbers of Striped Marlin and Sailfish. There is probably some Tuna since the Seiners have found their way back to this area. Other than that, not too much going on there. Now with the massive amounts of Skip Jack Tuna, two inch squids, flying fish and who knows what else, the challenges are easy to see. Feeling lucky?

The area from Punta Nayarit, formally Punta Mita, to the Marietta Islands have been active and “iffy” at the same time. Yes there are fish, the question is will they take bait? The answer is a strong “maybe”. Some days the fish are stuffed, others they’ll take a trolled bait. It seems heading farther up north, but closer to share is producing better than El Banco. This week many people returned from north of Sayulita with Striped Marlin and Sailfish. So this may be the secret, move north and stay in close. One thing to remember is we’re in the winter fishing season. This means Snapper should be running the area, Bass are already in the bay, Grouper and Sole are also in the mix. Jack Crevalles are taking bait and running close to 50 lbs, but you can find them closer in, no need to burn the fuel dollars if targeting Jack Crevalles.

While conditions are improving in the entire area, the bay is still your best bang for your fishing dollar. With endless Sierra Mackerels and Bonito to 25 lbs, you’ll find plenty of action in the bay. Throw in Jack Crevalles, Snapper, Bass, Snapper and more. You’ll have fun and tired arms when you return. Four hour trips take you to where the fish were yesterday, six hours give you time to find where they went today! The bottom fishing will improve as we get past Easter conditions will start changing, I think! We’ve been putting people out in the morning before 07:00 because the Sierras like it early and they’re plentiful. But the bite is moving to later in the morning again. For now be where you want to be before 09:00 and you’ll be fine. Those heading out should be advised that brightly colored lures and many times dead baits are working better than trolling. Every day is different, so be prepared to change things up.

Until next week, don’t forget to kiss your fish!

Web page:  www.MasterBaiters.com.mx , Local Phone at: Our international number is: +52 322 209 1128. #MasterBaitersSportfishing on Instagram, Facebook: Master Baiter’s Sportfishing & Tackle. The trade mark Master Baiter’s ® Sportfishing and Tackle is protected under trade mark law and is the sole property of Stan Gabruk.