I’m afraid this week’s report is much like last weeks, but that’s not a bad thing. As we continue to see Corbetena on and off again when it comes to Marlin, we’ve seen Dorado move into most of our world famous fishing grounds. Now that we’re in the solid beginnings of world class fishing in Puerto Vallarta’s fishing grounds, things will only improve with the coming days. But it’s a “menu” item fishing report. It seems that each area has its particular species of choice. Water temperatures are warmer yet perfect, but don’t expect any changes there with an El Nino year. The water is blue, plenty of bait and the only thing missing is you!
Once we finally enter September, you automatically know the fishing will be great. The only questions is which fishing ground(s) to choose. For now you pretty much can’t go wrong and for the most part you can get your target species if you’re willing to go the distance, literally. For those lucky enough to be in Puerto Vallarta, the fishing is great and getting better by the day. Does that mean there aren’t any fishing challenges? Of course not, but it does mean is the challenges are minimal and we have all the summer species people want. We also have Ballyhoo’s swimming all around the area and this is a favorite bait of the “locals”. Now you can’t, for some reason, purchase Ballyhoo’s at the bait boats in the morning on the way out. This means you need to have the correct equipment if you want to be “in the game”. Now that we’re into the summer species pattern, Puerto Vallarta fishing is wonderful. Not perfect, but good enough to have life long memories and plenty of burning arm action. Not to mention a few less pesos in your pocket.
Here we are again, a week has gone by and things have changed considerably! The bait issues at Corbetena and El Banco have gone away. Sailfish and Marlin have returned to both Corbetena and El Banco. All the deep water locations have blue water and mature Trash Lines. Dorado and Sailfish are also on the menu, thanks to the fish gods. We’ve even seen some decent sized Yellowfin Tuna as well. Two days after I wrote the last article, things changed drastically as Skip jack Tuna moved back into Corbetena, El Banco and Punta Mita! While water temperatures are still warmer than we’d like, we’ll have to endure since this warm water isn’t going anywhere soon. All the necessary “elements” are here now. The only question is if you can put those elements together. If so, the results will be the stuff memories are made of and will last a lifetime!
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.
“Things” this week are really mixed up. When you stop and think about fishing, we all naturally assume water temperatures are pretty much the same at all our fishing grounds. But when you’re fishing in Puerto Vallarta you know fishing logic many times doesn’t apply. Right now as cold water is moving in daily, there are still some “hot spots” where you’ll find Marlin and Sailfish. Then again inside the bay the water temperatures are still dropping as expected. La Nina threw a monkey wrench into this year’s fishing schedule. As a result you can find your favorite summer species and winter species at the same time. It’s the one time of the year you can do that but only for a short time, now would be that time!
