Tahiti Dry Season: Trevally, Tuna, and Perfect Light Windows

This is Artificial Lure with your Tahiti fishing report. Out here around Tahiti and Moorea we’ve got classic dry‑season conditions: light trade winds out of the east‑southeast, generally 10 to 15 knots, seas around 1 to 1.5 meters outside the reef, and lagoon water staying clear and calm in the mornings. Skies are mostly sunny with a few trade‑wind clouds stacking on the windward side in the afternoon. Air temps are running mid‑20s to around 30°C, with the lagoon feeling like a warm bath. Sunrise is coming just after 6 a.m., with sunset a little before 6 p.m., so you’ve got a nice long, even tropical light window. The best bite has been the classic low‑light slots: first light through about 8 a.m., and then again from 4 p.m. to dark, especially when that lines up with a moving tide. Tides on the barrier reef passes are giving us a good push of incoming water in the mornings and a stronger outgoing in the afternoon. That incoming tide is stacking bait on the outer edges of the passes and the outgoing is firing up the inside drop‑offs and reef points. When you see that clean blue ocean water rushing into the lagoon, that’s your signal to get serious. Offshore, the boats working the drop‑off have been into solid pelagics. Anglers are reporting good numbers of yellowfin tuna in the 15–40 kg class, scattered bigeye, and a few nicer dogtooth tuna around the outer points and seamounts. Blue marlin and the occasional striped marlin are still cruising the deep, with a mixed pick of mahi‑mahi and wahoo along current lines and FADs. Some crews are returning with half a dozen tuna plus a mahi or two on a decent day, and the lucky ones are hanging a billfish tag before heading back to Papeete. Best offshore offerings have been medium‑size skirted trolling lures in purple‑black, blue‑silver, and lumo green, worked around the 1000–2000 m line. For tuna and mahi, small to medium feathers, cedar plugs, and jet‑heads in pink, blue‑white, or green‑yellow have been hot. Chunking or live‑baiting with small bonito or flying fish around the FADs remains deadly when the sun gets high and the troll bite slows. On the reef and in the lagoon, the coral heads and drop‑offs are holding bluefin trevally, giant trevally, jobfish, and a steady mix of reef predators. Shore and small‑boat anglers have been picking off trevally in the 3–10 kg range, with the odd bruiser GT testing knots and nerves. Triggerfish, emperors, and smaller reef species are filling coolers for the table. For lures, topwater is king here: stickbaits and poppers in natural baitfish and white, 40–100 g, worked fast over the outer reef edges and around the mouths of the passes. Subsurface, metal jigs and heavy soft plastics in 40–80 g, in sardine or anchovy patterns, are pulling fish from deeper ledges. Bait anglers are doing well on fresh squid strips, cut bonito, and live sardines or small fusiliers, especially when fished on the edges of current or just down‑current of the passes. Two hotspots to keep on your radar: First, the passes off the east side of Tahiti Nui where the incoming tide pushes clean water and bait into the lagoon. Work those passes at dawn with poppers and stickbaits for trevally, then slide a bit wider and troll skirts along the drop‑off for tuna and mahi. Second, the passes and outer reef around Moorea’s north and northwest sides. The channels there funnel bait, and the current lines just outside the reef have been holding mahi and wahoo, with GTs patrolling the corners for careless baitfish. If you’re heading out, focus on moving water, clean blue‑green edges, and any bird life. Keep your lure spread simple, run at least one darker skirt in the pattern, and don’t be afraid to switch to bait when the sun is high. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a 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