Puerto Vallarta Early Summer: Tuna, Sailfish, and Prime Roosterfish Conditions

This is Artificial Lure, checking in with your Puerto Vallarta fishing report. Out on the bay today we’ve got typical early-summer conditions. Morning starts off warm and sticky with light breeze, building to a moderate onshore wind by early afternoon. Skies run partly cloudy, chance of a brief shower over the mountains but mostly dry on the water. Humidity is high, so it’s going to feel hotter than the thermometer says. Sunrise is just after 6:00 a.m., sunset right around 8:30 p.m., giving you a long window to work those tide changes. Tides around the Banderas Bay area are running on a moderate cycle – not huge swings, but enough movement to matter. The most productive windows have been that first couple of hours after first light and the late-afternoon push into dusk. Slack water in the middle of the day has been slow inshore, with better action if you push a little farther out where there’s more current. Offshore, the talk on the docks is yellowfin tuna, sailfish, and a few early-season marlin. Boats working El Banco and Corbeteña have been seeing steady tuna in the 40–80 pound class, with some bigger fish mixed in. Sailfish are showing on the temperature breaks, especially where cleaner blue water meets the greener stuff. A couple of blues have been released this week for crews willing to burn the fuel and cover ground. Best offshore offerings right now are small to medium skirted trolling lures in dark-purple/black, petrolero, and pink/white, run way back with a fluorocarbon leader. Live bait – goggle-eyes or small bonito – slow-trolled around structure and current edges is producing the larger tuna and billfish. Chunking with cut bait once you mark a school has been doing damage when they’re shy on the surface. Inshore around Los Arcos, Punta Mita, and the rocks north toward Sayulita, roosterfish and jack crevalle are the main show, with some decent snapper and an occasional snook near river mouths. Roosters have been cruising the beaches on the morning high; slow-roll big live mullet or sardina right along the wash. If you’re throwing artificials, poppers in bone or blue, and 5–6 inch swimbaits in natural baitfish colors are getting crushed. For bottom fishing on the local reefs and structure – spots like the Marietas and the deeper ledges off Punta de Mita – fresh squid and cut bonito on a simple dropper rig are putting red snapper, pargo, and triggerfish in the box. Keep your leader abrasion-resistant; there’s plenty of rock and teeth down there. Two hot spots to circle on your chart right now: - Corbeteña: consistent yellowfin, sailfish, and a shot at marlin when the current is right. - The inshore stretch from Punta Mita to Litibu: prime roosterfish territory at first light, plus jacks for steady action. If you’re fishing from shore, work the early morning high along the beaches north of town with small metal jigs, bucktail-style lures, and topwater walkers. Keep moving until you find bait; where there’s bait, there’s action. That’s the word from the bay. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss the next report. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn