Puerto Vallarta Early Summer: Dorado, Sails, and Roosterfish Action in the Bay

Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your Puerto Vallarta fishing report. We’ve got a classic early-summer pattern setting up in the bay. Weather this morning is warm and humid with light breeze, building to moderate afternoon wind and a small chop outside the bay. Skies are mostly clear with some coastal haze. Sunrise hit right around 6:15 a.m., with sunset near 7:45 p.m., giving us a long feeding window on both ends of the day. Tides are running moderate: an early morning incoming tide, a high mid‑day, then falling through the afternoon into evening. That incoming morning water has been key, especially along structure and river mouths where cooler, slightly greener water pushes in. Offshore, out around El Banco and Corbetena, the blue water is starting to wake up. Captains have been reporting solid dorado action with schoolies in the 10–20 lb range and a few bigger bulls mixed in. Sailfish are showing more consistently, with a handful of releases per boat on the better days, and a few early striped and small blue marlin starting to sniff around the high spots. Yellowfin tuna have been hit‑or‑miss but when they’re found, footballs to 40–60 lb fish are coming on the troll and with live bait. Inside the bay, around Los Arcos, La Cruz, and the river plumes, there’s been good variety: skipjack, small tuna, bonita, jack crevalle, sierra early, and some solid snapper and grouper tight to the rocks. Roosterfish are cruising the beaches near Sayulita, Punta de Mita, and south toward Boca de Tomatlán, especially on that morning high and the first of the outgoing. For lures, this is prime artificials season. Offshore, run medium‑sized skirted lures in blue‑white, green‑yellow, and pink over ballyhoo or alone; cedar plugs and small bullet heads are still raising tuna. In the bay, toss 4–6 inch soft plastics in sardine and anchovy colors, metal jigs in 30–60 grams, and mid‑size diving plugs in mackerel or blue‑back patterns. Topwater stickbaits and poppers are drawing explosive strikes from roosterfish and jacks along the beaches at first light. Best bait right now: live green jacks, goggle‑eyes, and sardinas when you can find them. Slow‑trolled baits around the high spots and color changes are getting the bigger bites. Nearshore, a simple knocker rig with fresh cut bonito or squid around rocky points is producing snapper and grouper, especially on that moving tide. Couple of hot spots to circle on your chart: – Corbetena “the Rock” for dorado, sails, and the chance at tuna and marlin if you can handle a longer run. – The Punta de Mita–Sayulita stretch for roosterfish, jacks, and sierra, working close to the surf line with topwaters and live bait. If you’re limited on time, stay inside the bay, fish sunrise and the first part of the incoming tide around Los Arcos and the river mouths, and you’ll still bend rods all morning. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe for more fishing reports and on‑the‑water updates. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn