Lets´ just go straight to the bottom line, El Banco and Corbeteña, take your pick, Big Black Marlin pushing 700 lbs are turning into tournament winners at your favorite secret spot. Yellowfin Tuna, we have your addiction covered with 250 lb and larger at the rock and on top of the high spots at El Banco. It doesn´t really matter where you are go, you´ll be boating fish we mostly talk about for nine months and fantasize about for the summer! Seriously, no fluff, the fishing is what our jaded clients and locals have come to expect. So you won´t find much fanfare, this is what is supposed to happen anyway.
The Marietta Islands have been hot and cold, hence the pedal to the metal title. Some days last week, too much bait, couldn´t get a strike for nothing! But boy has that changed. Dorado in the 35 lb range are all around the island. Red Snappers to 30 lbs and abundant, Bonito, Sierra Mackerals, Sailfish and even some Rooster fish (not many). Roosters could be coming in now, so stay tuned, this would be great for the fly fishing or light tackle guys! Anything is possible right now, so get out there. With Spinner Dolphin in the area the Football Yellowin Tuna (Footballs) are in the 40 to50 lb size range, so keep an eye pealed! Eight hour trips are well worth the time and the fuel dollar, so get out there, this is fishing season, and it´s a great season!
The air is warm, the humidity is way up and all of a sudden these cold currents show up out of nowhere! That´s right amigos, just when you think it´s going to be a great day fishing, the water gauge shows water temperatures that are hitting a chilly 75 Degrees. As a result Black and Blue Marlin have moved out of the area for the moment, that´s the down side. The up side; Striped Marlin are back in the area and they´re good sized running 300 lbs, but you won´t see Striped Marlin occupy the same areas as Black Marlin with their preferences in water temperatures being at different levels. Having said that the fishing is great, but you may have a mixture of winter and summer species fighting for your bait!
With water temperatures at unseasonable highs, it´s more like summer fishing than winter fishing. Winter and summer species are streaked throughout our world famous fishing grounds and anything is possible. Dorado are still hanging out and have moved into the bay, which is a good thing. Monster Yellowfin Tuna at the Tres Maria Islands. Spinner Dolphin at El Banco and Corbeteña mean ever welcome Football Tuna to 70 lbs. And with Striped Marlin in the area, there seems little to complain about when it comes to fishing in Puerto Vallarta. For fair weather fisherman, you finally can have your cake and eat it too! It may be Global Warming, it may be El Nino once again, but whatever it is, we´ll just thank the stars that it seems to be continuing.
Wow, if you think you have a clue about what the fishing is going to be like today, tomorrow or next week you´re a crystal ball is better than mine! Last week I though the fishing had finally turned into winter conditions, yet here we are with Sailfish off El Morro and the Marietta Islands, Sailfish! They never left! Water temperatures are still running in the mid 70´s, with plenty of bait the mixed summer and winter species living and eating in the same area are likely to hang for a while. Strange, yes.. But if you´re out there fishing in this mixed up season, you`re catching fish you shouldn´t be seeing!
For months now I have been writing what I call ¨fluffy¨ fishing articles making what I would consider a disappointing summer sound as positive as possible. The fishing scene this summer was not about Mexico, but rather southern California. Warm water, plenty of bait and currents that swept our world class gamefish to points north of the Mexican border were very welcome indeed to the Southern Cal boys for sure. Yes we had fair sized Yellowfin Tuna, Sailfish, small Marlin, but no Dorado to speak of. With plenty of bait in the water, perfect water temperatures, Sapphire blue water at all the fishing grounds and disappointing fish counts. This week things have changed for the positive, Animal House with Captain Luis and First Mate David Chorra came in with a 300 lb Yellowfin Monster! Even The Bank or El Banco finally started firing on all eight cylinders. For those who have been saving their precious fuel dollars now is the time to raid the piggy bank amigos. We are now in the best time of the year to boat that ¨bucket list¨ fish you´ve always dreamed of as fishing explodes in Puerto Vallarta!
Many people for some reason do not know that Marina Vallarta in Puerto Vallarta Exist. It is rated in the top ten private marinas in the world and nobody knows about it. There are 150 shops, 15 restaurants, El Faro Bar where the likes of Mel Gibson visit when in town, besides the view is incredible. When it comes to Hollywood types, PV is where they started and their homes are spectacular old money homes! All in Puerto Vallarta´s ¨other¨ Malicon or Board Walk. The Dollar is strong, hotels and airfare´s are way down. Occupancy is down as well everywhere. We´re still, Two years running now, AARP Put Puerto Vallarta down on paper as the best place on Earth to Retire! The G-20 World Economic Summit happened in Cabo. We had he World Economic Conference of Latin America here in PV. President Obama was here for that as well. We had Tiangue A primarily Latin America Tourist Convention that focuses on world markets, including travel from Latin America to North America
Every year I wait for the second week of June, to me this is when the second tourism season begins. Kids are out for the summer, teachers are free to travel and the fishing turns into something spectacular. Water temperatures are a perfect 82 degrees (rising nicely) and as blue as you´ll ever get it with bait moving in daily in massive amounts. We´ve also seem some unusual things happening with Sailfish moving in to the shore areas and taking baits as fast as they can find them. The deep water locations are doing well also with Yellowfin Tuna, Skip Jack Tuna, Marlin and more. For all you Anglers and Danglers there is fish to be had as fishing is GOOD right now. If you´re in the area or just reading about the area, Puerto Vallarta Fishing is right on time amigos.
One more time, just when you think you know what the deal is, you don´t. To me it looked like we were going to have a warm water winter this year as we all enjoyed some of the warmer water species that have been hanging around. But the green water returned to the bay and if you are looking at anything under eight hours your chances of boating anything larger than Nimo is dismal at best amigo. Straight up the bay is dead, dead, dead. But not so elsewhere in our world famous fishing grounds.
Everyone knows that when October finally arrives Pesca or Fishing will be at it´s yearly best. Magazines and fishing programs know this as they begin to move into the area where they will document and film our World Class Fishing. The area between Puerto Vallarta to Cabo San Lucas will soon turn into Tournament city. The largest of which occurs mid October in Cabo San Lucas with the Bisbee´s Tournament. This is a three million dollar prize in cash and cars! The entry fee is huge, but the fish are here and the time is ripe for Huge Black Marlin, Sailfish, Dorado, and of course Yellowfin Tuna Monsters / Cows… Mooooo.This past week we had reports of Monster Black Marlin coming out of Cabo San Lucas of close to 1,000 pounds depending on the report you read. Now I know we are not Cabo, it´s only 350 miles out of the Bay of Banderas. This means that particular fish passed us at some point which is a great indication of what is possible at this time of the year in the enter region!
