Tournament season has started and even though it’s still early in the season for peak fishing conditions, they’re not bad. With abundant blue water, plenty of fish and now a Trash Line, conditions are good. We’ve had a pretty good run for the last two weeks since the Hurricane passed, but like all good things, they come and they go. We’re not seeing the 35 lb Dorado in the bay any longer, but we’ve still got nice sized Dorado at Los Arcos, but the Dorado have spread out in the bay now. We’re getting a steady stream of Marlin these days, Sailfish are picking up in numbers and are in more locations. Water temps are up, no bait issues. Day by day the conditions take a click in the right direction. For now things aren’t quite as good as they were after Hurricane Beatriz. Those were freak conditions where if you were here to take advantage of the situation, you had some unforgettable action. Looking forward, I feel very positive for the season. With more fish moving into the area, we know conditions will only improve.
Tournament season has started and even though it’s still early in the season for peak fishing conditions, they’re not bad. With abundant blue water, plenty of fish and now a Trash Line, conditions are good. We’ve had a pretty good run for the last two weeks since the Hurricane passed, but like all good things, they come and they go. We’re not seeing the 35 lb Dorado in the bay any longer, but we’ve still got nice sized Dorado at Los Arcos, but the Dorado have spread out in the bay now. We’re getting a steady stream of Marlin these days, Sailfish are picking up in numbers and are in more locations. Water temps are up, no bait issues. Day by day the conditions take a click in the right direction. For now things aren’t quite as good as they were after Hurricane Beatriz. Those were freak conditions where if you were here to take advantage of the situation, you had some unforgettable action. Looking forward, I feel very positive for the season. With more fish moving into the area, we know conditions will only improve.
You know for years now I’ve been writing this article and I’ve learned that when the fishing finally gets to the “World Class Level”, there are very few charter boats heading out with low tourism. So if you were here now, you would have our famous fishing locations all to yourself. It’s been just in the last few days that everything changed, Dorado, all of a sudden are very large. Sailfish are finally picking up in numbers. Yellowfin Tuna are still hanging out at the high spots. Blue and Black Marlin are fair sized and there’s plenty of bait. Puerto Vallarta fishing conditions have finally gotten to the point where the fishing is incredible. The abundance of species guarantee you’ll have the time of your life, but your arms might fall off before the end of your fishing day. Yes folks, these are the type of days that made Puerto Vallarta Fishing the envy of the free world. The only thing missing is you!
Before I move on, you legally can’t fish within twelve miles of Madre Island. Now in the winter time this doesn’t work for the Southern California boats because they’re trying to make their year, avoid the slow season of winter in California. But here’s the deal nobody is telling these California anglers, it’s not easy catching Yellowfin Tuna when the navy is busy chasing the boat you rented out. You see, these boats are fishing well within six miles of the island and frankly if you want to catch Yellowfin Tuna in February, you have to be on the reefs, the most sensitive part of the ecosystem. What the Navy does, they come and board your boat, have a nice, sometimes heated conversation with the Mexican navy protecting this area. The results these days are the Navy grabs the boat, the crew and everyone onboard and force them to go to the Island. There they’ll be held for the day if you’re lucky. The navy knows the Anglers on the boat are innocent and know nothing about them patrolling the area. But the captain, the crew and the owners are not telling you about this. You aren’t hitting these islands at the optimal time of the year!
When we come to this time of the year, everything is in a state of flux. With changing currents, then one day there is blue water, the next is the clean green water comes back. This is not unusual, in fact it’s more or less normal. It’s just very early in the summer fishing season to have more stable conditions as we continue the seasonal transition, nothing complicated. But we are seeing subtle and constant improvements by the day. The strong currents of a few weeks back that brought with it the larger Black and Blue Marlin have relaxed. For now we have most of the favorite species people are looking for. Sailfish, Dorado, Tuna, Marlin and more are already here. Sounds great, I know, but the whole thing needs some time to jell. Right now with all those famous species, massive amounts of warm water bait has come with them. Now this is a double edged sword, too much bait means it’s hard to get these fish to check out your “presentation”. Not enough bait, and they all leave. The good news is these species are filling in the entire area in all the different fishing grounds right now there are serious possibilities. With so few boats heading out in this slow part of the year for tourism, what I’m seeing could be just the tip of the iceberg. People are catching fish, but first you have to be on the water for the “action to begin”.
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.
We’ve been waiting now for warm blue water for months. We’ve had this “clean green” water, but frankly it’s a sad substitute for warm, blue water. It’s cold, green, not a fish’s first choice. We’re coming out of a three year “La Nina” running head first into what’s being quoted as a “Super El Nino”. We’ll find out what that means soon enough, but the initial “symptoms” are the return of blue water, massive amounts of warm water bait, followed by Black Marlin and now sizeable Yellowfin Tuna. Puerto Vallarta’s world class fishing is returning now and soon fishing conditions will be back to the level people have come to expect. This won’t happen overnight, but Puerto Vallarta is back in the game and until the end of December, you can expect arm burning action, big fish and even bigger smiles!
Well, here we are again, we’re still transitioning and the fish are still breeding, so we still have those challenges when it comes to fishing in Puerto Vallarta. We go through this every May until early June, we prepare for it and bear through it. It’s a perfect time of the year for this to happen with tourism down. But there are some positive signs, water temperatures are up, bait is abundant and we have fish, yes folks the fish are out there, but they’re full of eggs and their appetites subside. That doesn’t mean you won’t catch fish, but it does mean you’ll be working hard for your catch. With changing currents, massive bait and in general improving water conditions, things are finally looking up. And hopefully soon we’ll have blue water and Blue Marlin!
The month of May as you know, isn’t the best time of the year to target world class species like Yellowfin Tuna, Marlin, Sailfish and more when it comes to fishing here in Puerto Vallarta. Now that doesn’t mean the fishing is bad and this week we’re seeing many “positives”. It just means if you want to target a summer species, then you’re a little early for the party amigos. Now if you’re in town looking for a little action fishing in the bay, then we can help you out! Right now your best bang for your fishing dollar is either six or eight hour fishing trips. With water temperatures ticking up slightly, warmer currents moving in from the south are bringing with them even more bait. But the surprising news is Rooster fish are back at Caballeros and small Dorado are moving into the bay. That’s a bit of a surprise, but we’ll just be thankful and take full advantage of another fun day fishing in Puerto Vallarta.
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!
