The last couple of weeks have been disappointing at best with the change of the season, the current changes and the lack of great fishing to the jaded and spoiled types like myself. But fear not, things have changed for the moment anyway and you´ll find Nice Sized Dorado, Sailfish, even a shot at Striped Marlin so stay tuned, fishing just got better!
For the average guy coming to Puerto Vallarta looking for a fun day in the bay fishing, you won´t go wrong. For the guy looking to boat Moby Dick, well he´s gone south for the winter! Yellowfin Tuna for the fanatics will now only be found at the Tres Maria Islands, commonly known as the prison Islands. Marlin and Sailfish for the most part have bugged out as well. You may ask ¨what does that leave to catch?¨, Well plenty, but it will be winter species. For the diehard players looking for Yellowfin Tuna and Sailfish, it will be a long day and you won´t be heading to El Banco or Corbeteña for the next four to five months. That´s the bad news, the good news is you´ll find plenty of fish worth catching on shorter duration fishing days.
What was so promising last week at Corbeteña and El Banco tuned into a disappointment factory the last few days. With perfect conditions, perfect blue water, perfect water temperatures and plenty of bait you´d think Moby Dick would be in the area, and he is! But Moby Dick isn´t very interested in your bait or lures and this will make you crazy. The same can be said for Marlin and Sailfish as well. I´d have an easier time reading my ex-wife’s mind than figuring out these fish, but looking around the ¨area¨ there are indicators of why things have cooled off. As I suspected, when we get weird situations where we have plenty of Yellowfin tuna, yet they´re ignoring whatever you put in front of them, then something is up. It turns out the famous red crabs are back and the YF Tuna are just chowing down on these crispy critters and that explains it all.
You know it´s funny, we wait for this short period of time between the beginning of November to the end of December when our world class fishing grounds go into high gear. For now El Banco is sporting Monster Yellowfin tuna well over 200 lbs to close to 300 lbs and possibly even larger. Marlin and Dorado at Corbeteña, Sailfish at the Marietta Islands and the point off Punta Mita. To say this is the time of year to be in Puerto Vallarta looking to boat a bucket list fish would be an understatement. This level of fishing is hard to find anywhere in the world. To find it here and now in PV is just your good luck.
Welcome back to yet another great week of fishing here in our world class fishing grounds of Banderas Bay. We are smack in the middle of the best time of the year to realize a bucket list fantasy fishing trip. That´s right folks, we have Marlin, Sailfish, Tuna and Dorado, just pick a species, set a heading, anything is possible including the shot at a possible world record fish! As we enter the Thanksgiving holiday season we know we´re going to see thousands of first time visitors to PV catch their first Billfish, I see no reason why this can´t be you!
After another week that witnessed yet another Hurricane pass PV, we´re seeing larger Dorado and Yellowfin Tuna return to the Bay of Banderas. They may be late in the season, but they´re here and we´re glad for that. Since we´re talking about El Banco, the Tuna turned up a few days ago unannounced. For the moment there is no need to head to the Tres Maria Islands and poach the islands when you can find the same fish, maybe a smidge smaller at El Banco. That’s the good news, but other than the occasional Marlin or Sailfish, Yellowfin is the primary player around the high spots. Dorado are just now starting to move in so it´s hard to tell the size ranges, but the ones boated there recently have all been in the 30 to 40 lb range. If you´re targeting Larger Yellowfin, the only place to find them for the moment is El Banco
We all know that predicting what will happen in the world or Sportfishing is almost impossible. Now we can tell you what happened yesterday and what we ¨think¨ will happen tomorrow, but in the end we´re just throwing out a best guess when targeting gamefish. The only thing that balances out fishing predictions is if it happened ¨there¨ yesterday, it could still be happening ¨there¨ today. Of course you´re always disappointed when you visit yesterdays spot and your targeted fantasy fish is nowhere to be found. What is exciting is when you catch a species that you didn´t expect and right now that´s Yellowfin Tuna. That´s right, I used the ¨YF¨word, but it´s far from automatic amigos, but the chance is there!
As we march into tourisms high season, fishing is still at peak performance with perfect conditions all over our world famous fishing grounds of Corbeteña and El Banco. Blue water, plenty of bait varieties and enough fish to support weekly local tournaments and sport fisherman alike. It´s simple, get on a boat, get to the Marietta Islands, drop baits and lures, head towards Corbeteña or El Banco and get ready for the action to begin amigo. It´s summer fishing in paradise and it´s time for you to get your share!
It seems that we can fall into a pattern here in Puerto Vallarta where it seems like my weekly fishing report will sound much like the week before and this week is going to be the same. But it´s not like that is bad news when the fishing is great and there are plenty of fish to be had. Every Species we´re famous for in PV is here, working its ¨tail¨ off and chasing bait. Marlin, Sailfish, Dorado but forget larger Yellowfin Tuna. But you´ll have to get out of the bay to get your targeted ¨finned fantasy¨. We´re also smack in the middle of tournament season, and why would you schedule a tournament in anytime other than Fishings High Season?
One thing for sure, when it comes to fishing what happened yesterday is no guarantee it will happen again tomorrow. Fishing is Fishing and as long as fishing is fishing, then it´s going to be fishing, which is the reason we don´t call it catching (I bet you re-read that a couple of times). Those who jumped on a boat last week expecting Yellowfin Tuna at Corbeteña for the most part came in empty handed. The sixty pounders turned into twenty five pounders, which may seem negative, but these smaller Yellowfin Tuna are perfect bait size and that is what the Marlin are chasing. Dorado are still happening at will and of course as you´d expect Sailfish have taken over. Even if the Tuna are on the sparse side, the fishing is still world class here in Puerto Vallarta.