OFFSHORE GAME FISH FEEDING ON RED CRABS, PUFFERFISH, AND MACKEREL

Oct. 1, 2004, Josh Temple, Prime Time Adventures, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico Fishing:

Red crabs, oceanic puffers and some mackerel have been predominant baits offshore this week on the Puerto Vallarta fishing grounds. Stomach samples show crabs, puffers, squid and the occasional larger bait like skippies and hardtails.

A push of wahoo has moved in and we have scored some real nice wahoo over the last few days but the bite at Puerto Vallarta has been early so leaving the dock with a fast boat well before daylight has been the key to scoring on the wahoo...shortly after grey light the wahoo bite shuts down... The wahoo have bit on red/orange/blk jet heads and Braid Marauders in purple/black and the baby yellowfin colored Braidrunner. Average speeds have been above 10 knts and yesterday we caught a nice 40 pound wahoo at 13.5 knts so there's no point in being shy in the speed department...it definitely pays to push the throttles and cover more ground before it gets too light.

Blue water continues to push from the NW steadily with a 1.3 knt current. Water temperatures fluctuate between 85.6 - 87.4 daily although a warmer band of 88 degree greener water is hovering near-shore. Winds have been steady at 6 - 10 knts from the NW which means the summer rainy season is beginning to show signs of dissipating.

The Puerto Vallarta dorado bite has been good and some nice dorado in the 35 - 45 pound class are showing. Lures and bait have produced fish in the last few days and almost all single hooked fish have a partner or two with them so make sure to have a 30 pound rod ready to pitch a live bait when the first fish comes to the boat.

Sailfish and marlin have made a good showing this week unfortunately because that just means more dead billfish on the docks. I would say that right now 85% of the billfish caught down here are killed so if you book a charter please ensure that you make it CLEAR to the crew that you want to use CIRCLE HOOKS and RELEASE all billfish. Better yet bring your own circle hooks because about 1% of the Puerto Vallarta fleet uses them.

The giant yellowfin tuna fishing has been consistent as long as you know how to make the fish want to eat during this phase of the waning moon. There's Puerto Vallarta fishing boats out there scratching their heads while tuna boil all around them so discovering the key to tricking these yellowfin is absolutely necessary in being consistent. Heavy leaders, big J-hooks, and big baits is definitely not the recipe for success right now...so be adaptable and you'll score with consistently nice fish in the 150 - 200 pound range.

Good luck and please practice responsible retention and please release all billfish so that we may ensure the viability of our resource. I want my grandchildren to enjoy all the amazing things we see and catch out there every day!

(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.