Welcome back to another incredible week of improving fishing. We aren’t quite up to the level that’s considered world class, but we’re right on time. Coming out of the winter fishing season, everything is in a state of flux as should be expected this early into the fishing season. Water temps have dropped a little, the clean green water is moving in and out. Blue Marlin made an appearance at Corbetena. Corbetena is stuffed full of bait and even a Wahoo or two have shown up. We’re moving forward into what feels like another world class season, but like always, it’s a day at a time.
In the world of world class fishing, not every day is a perfect day. The fishing grounds of Puerto Vallarta are considered some of the best in the world. Yet we still have to pay homage to the changing season, changing currents and of course changing water temperatures. We also know we have a seasonal swing from winter species to summer species. Conditions are changing and there’s no escaping that. Right now we’re in the middle of this seasonal change, which means there are some days are better than others. With plenty of bait in the area, the down side, temporarily I might add, is we now are experiencing red tide. Red tide, which is created by dead or dying plankton has taken over the entire area. We’ve seen this now for about a week and it could last for a brief while longer. Red tide is a normal condition and fishing in this red water is difficult at best. While not preferable on any level, this is a short lived condition. As you read this article, keep in mind things have probably already changed. Fish are out there, your challenge is finding clean water, even if it’s green. If not for the red tide, we’d still be dealing with “pregnant” fish!
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.
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!
Every year we deal with “low” season action, when in reality the funny thing is “low” season for tourism happens smack in the middle of “High Season for fishing”. And you might ask what that means? You see when the weather in perfect in Puerto Vallarta, that reflects the lower water temperatures in the area. As we know, weather patterns follow water temperatures, nothing new there. Well in “Low” season Puerto Vallarta Fishing is at its best because with the high temperatures, comes warmer water temperatures. Perfect for our most famous species of Sailfish, Dorado, Marlin and Yellowfin Tuna. In fact, it’s Dorado city at all our fishing grounds! And that’s where we are now. But, things are changing, as we enter October, we enter the best time of the year to be on the water in Puerto Vallarta. If you’re looking to catch a fish bigger than your car, now is the time to be booking fishing trips amigo or get left with another year before you do!
You know the funny thing about the world of fishing is, you never really know what to expect in the summer in Puerto Vallarta. With constantly passing Hurricanes hundreds of miles out, this affects currents. Currents are fish highways. The ride along and use them to their advantages. This creates crazy currents which can be for good or evil. And along with those currents come bait fish. In fact it’s a bait buffet at all the deep water fishing locations. The bay had a surprising streak of a few days were larger Dorado and even Sailfish were running the neighborhood of Yelapa to Los Arcos. Things are changing by the day, what happened yesterday, well that was yesterday.
It’s mid-July now and the calendar tells us we should have warm water, Blue and Black Marlin, Sailfish, Dorado, Trash lines and some normal dirty water close to shore in the bay. Everything that is happening is exactly right on time! With plenty of bait in many forms, blue water, smooth seas and about any “warm water” species you could want. The fishing has finally improved to measure up to a “world class” fishing experience. Tournaments have started and at weigh-in, the fish being brought in are “tournament worthy”. Now things aren’t perfect, they never are. But the fishing has gotten to the point where you can pick your fish, if you have the time and the fuel money. For those on vacation now and are “budget” locked, we can help you too. Inside the bay we’re seeing many freaky things, Sailfish are weird, but not that weird. What is weird is Black or Blue Marlin in the bay! I’m at a loss for an explanation, so I’ll keep my mouth shut and just enjoy the action!
We’re seeing small changes, but not enough to say they’re much different from last week. We’re still seeing massive amounts of different baits. Squids, Sardines, Google eyes and the list goes on. We’re still seeing the challenges of moving fish and the overabundance of food. Sounds tough I know, but there is plenty of positive stuff. Spinner Dolphin are touring the area near Corbetena. El Banco is your best fishing option with Sailfish, Dorado and Striped Marlin running the area. And of course there is always the possibility of Yellowfin Tuna the farther north you get. Water temperatures are ticking up and if things continue the way they are, once we get into a more stable situation, condition wise, we’re setting up for a beautiful fishing season in Puerto Vallarta.
Welcome back to another week of exciting fishing. We’ve seen several weeks where the fishing has gone from great to terrible, then back to great again. Now I can’t say the fishing is “great” but I can say it’s very good. The conditions are hard to beat right now, it is warm and humid but that’s to be expected especially at this time of the year. We’ve seen some swings as to “hot and cold” fishing, again that’s normal. One thing that is keeping the fishing good is the amount of Sailfish and Dorado available for the last week or so, this makes the fishing good. Now if Corbetena or El Banco would get their act together then maybe we could call it all “Great”.
