COMMERCIAL FISHING BOATS SCATTER THE CATCH FOR SPORTFISHING BOATS

Jan. 16, 2005, Kurt Hjort, Esperanza Sportfishing, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico Fishing Report:

This week of fishing in Puerto Vallarta has seen some inconsistency, but overall things have been pretty good. Lots of yellowfin tuna at both Corbetena and the bank, only we have to compete with the commercial fleet of tuna boats out of Mazatlan and our gear vs. purse sieners is NOT fair. These boats will arrive 5 to 10 at a time and completely shut down our Puerto Vallarta fishing for a while.

On the brighter side, sailfish and dorado (mahi-mahi) are being found 1 to 10 miles out past Punta Mita and are hitting trolled baits and lures, and live bait cast to tailing fish is always quite a show! Small school tunas are starting to show inside the bay around the Yelapa area and will readily rise for a spread of tuna clone lures or the old standby, cedar plugs. Puerto Vallarta fishing for roosterfish and jack crevalle along with all the inshore species really picks up in January and continues all through the spring so you can target any number of species and go after what you want.

Puerto Vallarta's weather and water are almost the same this time of year, blue and warm. We have nice clean water with a temperature of 79-81 degrees and the weather can't be beat, nice sunny days in the low-80s with almost no humidity to speak of!

(See "Mexico Fishing News" online for current fishing reports, photos, weather, and water temperatures from Puerto Vallarta and other major Mexican sportfishing areas. Vacation travel articles, fishing maps and seasonal calendars, and fishing related information for Puerto Vallarta may be found at Mexfish.com's main Puerto Vallarta page.