After a few weeks of less than exciting fishing, things are starting to look up. Now I’m not going to tell you things have improved to the point you’re going to catch Moby Dick, but you can have a fun day on the water using light tackle. We call it action fishing and that’s the best you can expect for the time being. Now if you want to roll the dice, then take a twelve hour fishing excursion, targeting Yellowfin Tuna, Striped Marlin and possible Dorado and Sailfish
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!
This week, finally we have an interesting report from Corbetena. The water at the rock is that brown dirty, sediment cocktail fish just detest. But if you go eight miles or so north of the rock, you’ll find 100 lb Yellowfin Tuna. No joke, but the rub is getting them to take bait. With massive amounts of 2 inch Squids with shells, Green Runners, Sardines, Skip Jack Tuna and more, the biggest challenge can be competing with the “bait”. You could say it’s a race for which bait the “fish gets” first! In this area the water is the clean green I’ve been telling you about for what seems like months now. Striped Marlin have been making appearances, but again, fickle and picky. Dorado are also in the area at 15 lbs, but they’re mostly full of the tiny Sardines and the remaining Krill. Not to mention the small squids. Get my point? Also, with spring in the air, you need to hit the “bite” just right. Those who are “Tuna Starved” will find this an irresistible opportunity, but don’t be deceived, nothing is easy out there. Feeling lucky?
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.
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!
Well it’s been a hell of a week. It seems we’re in a Hurricane pattern and for the last couple to three weeks we’ve been looking at the weather maps. Finally as we see Black Marlin move into the area, perfect Tournament Season timing, we’ve been focused on weather issues. The good news is for Puerto Vallarta, is Hurricane Rosyln was basically a “non-event”. We got some rain, some wind and frankly it’s the only Hurricane I’ve ever slept through. We don’t really know what we’re going to have since the Hurricane Roslyn has just passed us. But we’re in “High Season” for fishing and you can’t stop PV when it comes to world class fishing.
For the last three weeks my articles look similar because we’re in a great fishing loop. Last week it was all about Dorado, this week it’s still all about Dorado, but now we’re seeing Striped Marlin in the bay along with Sailfish! Up until the first week of October, it’s summer fishing. It’s good fishing, but when October hits, our world class fishing gets super charged. From this point forward the deep water fishing grounds of Corbetena and El Banco will turn into Marlin-Landia. With perfect blue water, perfect water temperatures, plenty of bait and plenty of fish to target. You can’t go wrong fishing right now until late December. With this being a La Nina year, the fishing could continue into late February. Excited yet?
What a way to start an article, Trash Lines, Hurricanes and Too Much Bait. The picture that paints is negative and not very inspiring, but in fact it’s perfect and exactly what we expect at this time of the year. A few years back we had 26 different and active Hurricanes pass Puerto Vallarta fishing areas with no impact. Keeping that in perspective, the important thing to know about Hurricanes is: Which direction is it heading, How far out is it and how does it affect the conditions regarding swell size and frequency. Or you can rely on a person like myself to get you the correct information, in a non-panic way. And yes, we had another Hurricane pass us as this article is being written. But if Hurricanes don’t get landed, they have a tendency to head north with few sea lane interruptions. Hurricanes bring rain and that produces trash lines, thank the fish gods. More importantly, depending on the direction and distance of a Hurricane, it can and does push fish away from the Hurricane. Lately we’ve been lucky with plenty of fish, but you need the correct information if you want to catch fish. Right now the amount of bait in the bay and surrounding Puerto Vallarta fishing grounds is massive. There lies the biggest challenge!
We’ve been riding a Rollercoaster of storm currents when it comes to fishing in Puerto Vallarta. Right now to find fish, you have to follow the bait. And they’re riding the currents. With changing storm currents this means fish right now are spread out from Yelapa to El Banco. We had a Hurricane pass us last week and for a few days Sailfish and Marlin were pushed into the area. Then we got hit with some heavy rains, which of course means plenty of dirty water washing down the rivers which dumped into the bay. Dirty water pretty much, at the moment this article was written, was in most of the bay, and any fishing grounds that would be normally associated with an eight hour trip. Sounds kinda negative now doesn’t it. This is when you have to turn your head and look in a different direction. Open you mind and think like a fish. What would you do if you were a fish in our local waters?
