Puerto Vallarta Area Inshore and Offshore Fishing Reports

Welcome to another beautiful week down here in Puerto Vallarta, just another busy week for all the local charters... it is still going on!" at both Corbeteña and El Banco... just when everybody thought it was going to slow down, it didn't. we had an increase on the Billfish side, some 40% more than we thought ! that´s right.... The Moon brought the magic one more time making the Marlin comeback crazy this week!, Blacks and Blues!., but we´ll start trolling news from the begining ...on some local news we have the new Fishing liscence program that it´s giving everybody a headache but at the same time keeps the killing of the fish regulated in a way.. but creating controversy always like every new law...however things will start accomodating for all Fishing fanatics and local charter bussiness, now you have to get your fishing license per angler before departure. You can get these licenses daily or weekly but either way you have to pay or else they are getting reel strict about it!! and I´m telling you
...really strict. if you go out fishing without a license you will get fined and if you don´t have the money to pay the fine, they will confiscate part of your tackle such as rods and reels". yanks...Now! there will be a limit of Billfish and other species per boat..just like in Cabo San Lucas.. wich it´s good, in a way, somehow we had the idea that... somewhere in this world.. there is such a thing called...Catch & release?...mmm. yeah ..only a few Boats practice the reel deal..I´ve only seen a few with some flags upside down but the rest?..instead of flags they hang the fish like it´s ok to have that many killed....that´s terrible...one it´s ok..two maybe..sometimes they die stomache hooked since we all do live bait, but you have to trie to let them go... we´ll start considering that by the time there´s no more billfish? what are we gonna catch then...the beauty of the sport on all Billfish, it should be catch & release, unless they die! but ...hopefully with this new law we´ll just bring home what we think its necessary...

Inside the bay you can spend half a day even for all of those that don´t want to go that far and stay in closer..we are getting now a little bit more action starting down south by yelapa and up along the cost. Mahi Mahi´s are bitting yeah..troll those psichedellic color med size lures and skirts and you will have luck, you don´t have to troll that fast and if you use double hooks you´ll gettem easy.Even if you are sailling you can put some lines out slow trolled with pink and yellow skirts or even med huchies, baitcatchers..Dorado´s are definatelly a nice catch.

We have some reports of some small pargoe and still some Roosterfish up by carilleros , but what it´s really going on it´s the Sailfish..there is sailfish all over the place... you name it..if you ever wanted to catch a sailfish , I would not hessitate ! this is the time.. 2 to 3 sails you can hook in one day, starting from El Morro and all the way up to The Bank. At Corbeteña things started to get Hot!! everybody was catching fish, Steve from High Maintenance brought in a couple of nice tunas and released a couple of Marlin.. He told me he was kind of sad that he didn´t get to go to the Bisbee´s but he´s definatelly considering taking an award for sure at the Sailfish Tournament. The Black and Blue Tournament held in Cabo San Lucas started last week and it ended last week . we will post the results on next issue . We would like to wish good luck to all of our friends that did made it to the Bisbee´s and put Puerto Vallarta´s name out there with the pro´s.. We´ll keep you posted on that.. Major trafic will be seeing during the sailfish tournament that will take place November 17th thru the 20th held by the Club the pesca. we are sure looking forwared to it , specially when the fishing it´s getting hotter and hotter every day ..The good news! Giant Yellowfin Tuna still at Corbeteña , The Bank slowed down a litle but you never know!, The Bank it´s a secret spot that keeps the magic all year round.. we wouldn´t be suprised if we start looking at another Yellowfin tuna attack during the next couple of days...but for right now! Corbeteña takes the award for fishing grownd!, just about anything you want it´s running out there right now!, Big Dorado´s, Big Pargoes, Big Sailfish, Big Marlin( B&B), and Giant Yellowfin, along with the king of all tasters...Wahoo!", so get out there now, it is that time right before the tournament when we see the greatest non weighable fish that makes us go!, darn it! ...If this Fish was in the tournament..... trust me!, you already won something!

Until next week, don’ t forget to kiss your fish!

Stan Gabruk, Master Baiters Sportfishing

At Master Baiters Sportfishing and Tackle, we pride oursselves on being the Number 1 Sportfishing Charter Company in mainland Mexico. We have the best equipped and fastest boats in Puerto Vallarta. Our goal is to provide you the fishing experience of a lifetime at a price that won’ t be beat! Last year we boated more Marlin and Yellowfin Tuna over 300 pounds than we could keep track of. We also have a wide selection of unique high quality Hats, T-Shirts, souvenirs and novelty items. Surprise your friends and family back home with something truly unique as seen on Jay Leno, Conan, and David Letterman and recently on CNN and FOX News, Thank you Southwest Airlines! We’ re also recommended in the 2007 Fodor’ s Travel Guide for Puerto Vallarta (Pg. 156), if you’ re a travel agent this is impressive since you can’ t buy advertisement with them.

Remember, Master Baiter’ s stores are operated independently and separately, be sure you’ re talking with the correct shop or person in correspondences via email or over the phone. OR Come to our Marina Vallarta store (Tel: 322-779-7571) located at the Light House. Facing the water, we’ re located between docks F and G or Email me at stanray55@yahoo.com. Come in and say hello to Stan, Carlos, or Chema! If you’ d like to become my friend on MySpace, send me an invitation to: stanray55@yahoo.com

Baja on the Fly Reports for Baja Mexico Fly Fishing

Warmer water and less wind again brought this week brought some early rooster and jack action up toward Punta Pescadero and beyond to El Cardonal. Some better quality fish to 20 lbs. were found crashing on sardina close to shore. The bait also attracted a mixture of sierra, pargo and pompano,

Inshore the sierra and white bonito were concentrated in front of La Ribera and down to Punta Colorada.

Offshore there were rumors of a few marlin out beyond thirty miles and a few small dorado spread throughout Palmas bay.

Up at Muertos, the grande yellowtail were still continuing their early season snap. Also some pargo and jacks were around to tear up tackle.

Tip: When you get that yellow or pargo bite, set the hook and reel those first few seconds. It is critical to keep the fish from darting back into the rocks.

Magdalena Bay

Windy conditions prevailed most of the week, not allowing boats to go outside. The few that did venture outside the Boca found some breezing schools of small yellowtail just a few miles beyond the entrance.

Estero action was limited to a few halibut and the obligatory bay bass.

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The cool water is still with us, but the Terrafin Satellite Surface Temperature images show a finger of 80º water has moved up from the South. The warm water starts from about 10 miles from the beach, and extends to about 30 miles out.

A few sailfish, dorado and blue marlin are being taken, with the yellowfin tuna really getting active.

The clear water is about 10 miles, and the most action, especially with the yellowfin tuna, being at the 16 mile mark. The yellowfin are averaging about 30 pounds each.

This morning (Thursday), Cali called in to me to give me his weekly report on the Aloha. By 8:00 a.m., he already had a 25 pound dorado on the boat. He had also fished the last two days with fly fishing client, Robert Hoy, raising 5 sailfish and 1 blue marlin.

Margarito, on the Gaby, told me he had gotten into schools of large jack crevalle 5 miles off the beach. They boated several of the 20 pound jacks before continuing on to find a couple of sailfish.

Almost every boat in the fleet is getting the added spectacle of hump back whales, as they have moved into the area. Plus, lots of sea turtles are also being sighted each day by each boat.

Ed Kunze

Cabo San Lucas

WEATHER: While the week started off great, with the daytime highs to the low 90’s and nighttime lows in the mid 60’s, at the end of the week the clouds moved in and the wind picked up. As of the weekend we were having winds from the northwest to 18-20 mph with partly cloudy skies and the average temperatures had dropped by 8-10 degrees. No rain came with the front system, but it definitely cooled things off.

WATER: As a result of the winds later in the week, what had been smooth 2-4 foot swells with light breezes on the Pacific side turned into sheep farming by Friday. Everywhere you looked there were whitecaps and swells that had kicked up to 4-6 feet with a few larger ones. Boats that fished south of the Cape early in the week started reporting the wind and swell increase on Tuesday and by Thursday the effects were right off the Cape. On the Cortez side, things were a bit nicer, especially in the morning before the wind really got to cranking it up. Outside of 10 miles though the effects came into play and you had to deal with the choppy conditions. As a result of the wind and the strong California current there was a band of very cool water, down as low as 59 degrees right at the lighthouse. Almost made me expect Albacore Tuna! On the Pacific side the water remained cool, between 59 and 65 degrees outside the 1,000-fathom line. This cool water extended south a distance of 30 miles while on the eastern side of the Cape it only went north as far as a line east of Cabo out to the 1150 area. Farther north it warmed a bit to the 68-degree range and out to the south of the Seamount there was a warm spot that had been drifting around all week that had water as warm as 71 degrees.

BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price.

FISHING:

BILLFISH: Striped Marlin this week were found either close to shore, within 10 miles on the Pacific side or far out, past 30 miles to the south. While there were fish spotted, there were not many of them that were hungry. Looking at the flags flying as boats returned for the day and talking to the guys who were out there this week, the fish were either going to eat right away or disappear before you could get a bait to them. My guess is that only 10% of the boats had a decent shot at a Striped Marlin this week and about half of them hooked up, with some of these fish lost. From that I guess you can tell that the percentages were pretty low. I did hear rumors of a large Marlin, either Blue or Black, being landed early in the week. This fish was reported to be in the #400 range but I never heard anything more on it. With water this cold it would be surprising to me to have one out there, but you never know. There were a few more Swordfish hooked this past week in the cool, green water to the southwest with the largest reported at #250. These fish were reported to have eaten live Mackerel.

YELLOWFIN TUNA: Once again it was mostly football Yellowfin this week. The majority of the fish were found south at 30+ miles early in the week before the wind picked up. Later in the week the fish may have been there still, but it was too rough for most of the boats to get there. As a result of the wind more boats fished on the Cortez side of the Cape and around the warm water sot south of the Seamount there were reports of fish averaging 25 pounds with a few to 50 pounds mixed in with the white bellied dolphin. There were massive pods of these dolphin reported off of the Pacific side in the area of the San Jaime Banks, but with the pods reported to be 3 or 4 miles wide and long, it was difficult to find any fish with them.

DORADO: I did see several Dorado flags early in the week but nothing over this weekend.

WAHOO: Wahoo are in the same category this week as Dorado, with the red flags seen flying but I believe they were all for Sierra!

INSHORE: There was a giant school of small Yellowtail found on the Pacific side up at Los Arcos early in the week. Thank goodness the wind kicked up, as there may be some of them that escaped to reproduce. A lot of the Pangas were going out and loading up on them, and these were small fish in the 5-pound range. I hated to see this as for many of the guys there was no reasoning with them, it was a “load up while you can, the hell with the stock’ mentality. There were a lot of the Captains however that limited their clients to only a couple of these for dinner, then took off to look for larger fish. My hat is off to these guys; they care about the future of the fishery here. Also inshore there were scattered Pargo up in the rocks as well as a few larger Yellowtail to 40 pounds just off the bottom in 120 feet of water.

NOTES: I hope the winds die down, but it looks as if it may continue to blow for the next four of five days. Normally this type of wind only lasts three days then we get three days of good weather. It remains to be seen if we will have the same pattern this season. There are still whales around but they are getting ready to return to the north. No music this week, I wrote this report to the sounds of the wind blowing, my dog snoring and one of the cats crying for treats. Until next week, tight lines!

George & Mary Landrum

Bahia Asunción

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