What has been for the most part an amazing year for fishing, I find myself scratching my head as we once again see all the indicators of seasonal changes. The largest “indicator” this week was the two to three degree increase in water temperatures. We’re moving into spring so this isn’t too unusual. We have the swirling currents, the continued clean green water and of course massive amounts of Whale food in the form of Krill Squids.
You know I’ve been writing these articles now for something like twenty years. In that time, writing and paying attention to conditions, you begin to learn and see what happens with the seasonal changes. That means how currents work, water temperatures change, the results of these types of natural ocean movements and the things that just don’t “fit” in the scenario. So it’s not surprising to me when the seasonal changes comes and frankly we’ve been waiting for it. But it’s a La Nina year, which throws a wrench into everything you’d expect, especially water temperatures. Then we come into March.
If you’ve been reading my articles, you understand that we’re on the tail end of a La Nina year. When this happens the “system” starts to swing back to “normal”. That means the water temperatures, the bait conditions and even the water color all come into play. With “not horribly cold” water, as is normal for February, we have a mix of fish that include summer species that are just hanging around. In a La Nina year you can’t predict what’s going to happen. All levels of what would be normal don’t apply right now. Because of this you can have several summer species running with winter species and of course this makes things interesting, if not frustrating.
This past week was a real Rollercoaster. The good news is Striped Marlin are north of Sayulita. Grouper are in their “holes” in the bay. And of course we still have our fill of Krill. Here we are in late February and we’re still seeing our late summer species hanging around. With water temperatures at what looks like a seasonal low, Grouper and Sea Bass are gracing the bay. Those with families and short budgets can find plenty of “Action Fishing” in the bay.
Well, here we go again, Krill, Krill and more Krill! They’re getting under my skin. Maybe not the best way to start this article, but for four weeks now we’ve had these stagnant conditions. We all know, that is if you’ve been reading my articles, that we’re ending a La Nina year. You know, when the water stays cooler for the year, then at some point it “snaps” back.
Once again the area in between Corbetena and El Banco is showing why this area produces more tournament winners than anywhere else. Fishing is “fishing” and conditions will never be perfect, but if you focus on what’s “biting” and what’s not, then Dorado right now should be grabbing your attention!
This year we have the unfortunate luck to deal with our normal seasonal transition. Throw in La Nina and now crazy currents from storms to the north and to the west, included in the mix, fluctuating water temperatures and Clean Green water. All that is in the sauce we call world class fishing in Puerto Vallarta to Punta Mita. Has it been frustrating? A little, but there is a strong upside as well. Dorado have been mostly abundant in between Corbetena and El Banco. Find floating debris or a log anywhere from El Morro to Punta Nayarit and you’ve found larger Dorado who are attacking baits. For now it’s a real mixed bag that’s hard to figure out. One thing that isn’t confusing is when you come in after a ten hour fishing trip with a fish box full of Dorado.
I was sitting in front of my shop the other day enjoying my view of Marina Vallarta and some locals came by. We started talking about his fishing day and he mentioned how when the Captain of the boat saw him with bananas, and the captain “flipped” out. He continued how the captain wouldn’t allow them on the boat because they were “Bad Luck”. For as long as I’ve been around the rumors of Bananas on boats would result in bad luck fishing days. I think I was about twelve years old when I first heard of this “fishing tale” from friends and family. As the story goes, bring Bananas and bad luck follows, something is going to happen. Seems pretty silly right? Bananas, the easy “peel and go” fast, healthy food. Perfect for fishing trips and besides that, I like bananas! But there are people who go to extremes on this like no banana bread, banana cookies, banana chips and the list is endless. Now you may think this is silly and I did agree, more on this later in the article. But the superstitions foundation is a mystery. After some research, what I learned is in the following paragraphs…
Well, we made it past the holidays with decent fishing if not challenging. When it comes to Sportfishing in Puerto Vallarta, right now anything is possible. From Corbetena to Punta Nayarit (aka Punta Mita) it’s a real mixed bag and if you don’t have the inside scoop, you’re struggling. For the last few weeks we’ve seen a rollercoaster of water temperatures, crazy currents, massive amounts of Krill (aka whale food), Blue water, Clean Green water, you name it, we’ve been dealing with it. Some days the fishing is on fire, other days they’re nowhere to be found and even worse, when you do find them, they won’t take bait. We’ve seen this all before and the experienced captains know what to do. So what’s the answer, for now we’re throwing the “kitchen sink” at them, once again demonstrating how important a “bag of tricks” at the ready is! Even with massive amounts of bait in the water lures will still “work”. But things will be changing soon, our warm water summer species of Marlin and Tuna will be bugging out soon. For now if you’re lucky enough to be in Puerto Vallarta fishing, you’ve still got time to get that “Bucket List” finned fantasy before we transition to winter species.
Here we go again, the rollercoaster of rising and falling water temperatures has struck again. It’s frustrating because we know “The Big Chill” is coming. Every year I hope we get through the holiday season with warmer water temperatures so the fishing remains great for the holiday travelers. So we got past Christmas, but barely and now we’re seeing dramatic drops in water temperature. Which means we saw the return of dirty water and the clean green water. Both are indicators of colder water temperatures, but we’ve seen this as recently as two weeks ago. So what happened? Who knows, all I know is we have to deal with it. The good news is we still have Marlin, Sailfish and Dorado. The bad news is we also have massive amounts of Krill or Whale food. This means every species in the area is chowing down on the “fast food”, which is known as Krill. The challenges are obvious. But even with massive krill, which even the bait if feeding on, you can still have some great action. It’s not going to be easy, being equipped with the right information can improve the odds, stay tuned.