It´s funny, the first day of October was like a cosmic fish cornucopia and out came massive amounts of Sailfish, Black Marlin, Dorado and yes Yellowfin Tuna in the 60 lb range. The water is a perfect blue, bait is abundant, the Trash Line is doing its magic and the bite is on. It´s Prime time for fishing amigos and if you ever doubted that Puerto Vallarta was a world class fishing area, all you have to do is get on the water and let the humidity melt those doubts as you down another beer, YeHa!
Well it´s finally here, High Season for fishing here in Puerto Vallarta which coincides with October 1 which is the official beginning of High Season for tourism in PV as well. The summer is all but over, the kids are back to school, Tourism is picking up as you would expect and the fishing is incredible. Yellowfin Tuna have pulled back a little, less available these days, but the Black Marlin are filling the void. Dorado have moved in at all the fishing grounds and not any too soon. Water Temperatures are perfect, the water is as blue as you could ask for, when it comes to fishing in Vallarta, if you´re lucky enough to be here, then you´re in the right place at the right time amigo. Fishing in Puerto Vallarta is as good as it will get and if you´re a serious fisherman and this doesn´t excite you, then you´re dead!
As you have probably seen we had a serious Hurricane pass Puerto Vallarta, the Cabo Corrientes Mountains knocked the stuffing out of the storm as it was close to shore and the mountains are a natural barrier that protects Puerto Vallarta. So PV is fine, Cabo, that´s another thing. Fish fleeing the storms were pushed into the area, finally and as a result there are 200 lb Yellowfin Tuna at Corbeteña and at El Banco (no room in the title to say that part, ha ha). To cut to the chase in the first paragraph of this article, everything you could possibly want to catch is in our World Famous Fishing Grounds Right Now! You locals have waited for it, you deserve it and the season has finally arrived. Fishing here in Puerto Vallarta is hot, smoking hot and that could be an understatement. Abundant bait fish in the water, perfect blue water, perfect water temps, abandoned fishing grounds, I mean if you sat down and wrote what your perfect fishing day would be like, this would be it. Big Fish Return to Puerto Vallarta and it´s about time, YeHa!
The air is hot and humid. The seas are smooth and blue. Hurricanes are a fact of life here in Puerto Vallarta, we´ve seen our share for sure this year, with the only effects being some rough seas and a few days where the port was closed. So there are always challenges to fishing, it keeps things interesting and in the end the challenge is what the fishing is really all about. Fish move in and fish move out, the Hurricanes are not the primary challenge to us this season, the challenge to fishing is where the currents aren´t. El Nino is pushing currents out much farther to the west than is normal, way past El Banco, which means you have to go farther out to see our world class Gamefish. Nobody ever promised it would be easy. . . or cheap when it comes to World Class Fishing!
Well it looks like the seasonal current change, marked by the arrival of dirty, coffee colored water, is finally upon us. Right now, we were seeing the currents change in an aggressive fashion. The Dirty water we normally see as the winter season changes to summer, where the currents stir up all that adobe muck from the ocean floor bottom, has turned up months late. For those dealing with this dirty water, well it´s not fun. Fish can´t see baits, they don´t like the dirty water flowing through their gills and ultimately they will search for clean water. This was what happened this past week, but it´s moving out and clearing up now. This may seem like a bad thing, but in reality those of us in PV that understand these yearly conditions know that this is actually a good thing. With the strong summer currents come the world class fish we´ve become world famous for. We´re finally seeing the indicators of the beginning of big fish season.
Now that we´re in August, the weather or temperatures I should say are about as hot as they´re going to get. If you are in Houston or Florida, or many places in the USA you´re experiencing the same sort of conditions. Here in Puerto Vallarta (PV) we´re used to the humidity, the warm days and the tropical nights. For the fisherman in the family this is the best time of the year to be fishing here bringing with it a chance to boat a world class and maybe world record sized fish. This is more than just talk amigo.
As we move deeper into summer fishing, we are seeing an increase in the number of Black and Blue Marlin (300 to 450 lbs) moving into the area. But it´s been a weird week. The seasonal rains we expect three to five nights a week have been non-existent. Yes we do get some rain, but nothing like what we´re used to which of course means the famous Trash Line for the most part isn´t there. Yellowfin Tuna in the larger size ranges have not shown up at El Banco or Corbeteña as we normally expect to see starting mid August. We´re still a little early, but when you´re looking forward to something, that time never seems to come quickly enough, Christmas for your kids would be a great example. But we have some world class fishing happening right now
. As we come into late July we expect to see the larger Gamefish like Blue or Striped Marlin which are now moving in behind Sailfish. Dorado can be a moving target, for now we´re seeing the 25 to 35 lb variety. Fair sized, great tasting, reliable as my ex wife. The seasonal rains have returned bringing with it the Trash Line, making short day fishing trips worth the time and the expense. With July comes warm weather and an equator sun. The first time visitor will quickly learn what spots were ¨missed¨ by sunscreen. Cheap air fares, deep discounts on hotel rates, deserted fishing grounds, empty Spas for the ladies and the shopping is unique. For the guy reading my weekly endeavors, this is the time to be here in PV. If you live here in PV and are digesting this information, you´re in the right place at a great time, so get on the water already. From now until the second week of January anything is possible in our world class fishing grounds. World Class, we´re not talking trout, Shad, Carp, Salmon, or Muskie, no folks, we´re talking the Real Deal in the world of Sportfishing. By the end of October those Deep Sea Fishing trips we´ll have produced world record sized ¨fish¨. It´s time to think finances, scratch those pennies together, grab the wifeys credit card and split before she knows you put a fishing trip on it…. Paradise is calling! I take no responsibilities as to husband behaviors, but I am an instigator!
For the last three weeks it´s been all about ¨Bait, Bait, Bait¨ with perfect conditions, purple blue water, perfect water temps and ultimately Nada, Nada, Nada or in English, Nothing, Nothing, Nothing would take a bait. Talk about a monster frustration, there was fish everywhere, maybe not the exact species we would ask the fish gods for, but no shortage of fish. The past weeks were about as close as a ¨cookie cutter¨ report from the previous week as you can get. I continually spoke of how ¨Any Day Now¨, and of course it didn´t come. Well I am happy to report things are changing for the better. We´re finally past the midpoint of July which is a milestone for our world class fishing. Breeding season is finally over, migrations are still happening, but soon that will stop also. For now we´re bursting with Sailfish and Dorado in the 25 to 30 lb range. They`re taking bait and they´re not shy about it, that´s great news, but there is some really weird stuff happening as well.
It´s the old ¨Good¨ vs. ¨Bad¨ when it comes to fishing here in PV these past few weeks. Change happens, which is not always for the best, but with the ¨bad¨ there is always a balancing ¨good¨. For now the ¨bad¨ equates to the bay water turning dirty, you know, that coffee colored water fish hate. It seems that every year before the fishing actually takes off (improves) we have to see the dirty water. Normally this is an indication that the seasonal currents have changed and frankly this dirty water is long overdue. The ¨Good¨ part or the balance is you can find clean, clear, blue water just outside the bay where you have a great shot at Sailfish and Dorado. But then again there´s the balance, Mother Nature puts her spin on it all this week with thousands of 3 to 5 foot long lemon sharks migrating. So what does this mean, well for one thing trying to get bait around these sharks to the local Sailfish and Dorado can present a challenge. Unless of course you don´t mind catching Sharks like me! Getting the hook out of their eight tiers of teeth in their mouth is a whole new danger in itself. But to focus on the ¨good¨, we have fish taking bait, the conditions are perfect outside of the bay!
