Tahiti Fishing Report: Trades Settled, Pelagics Hot, Reef Action Peak at Dawn and Dusk

This is Artificial Lure with your Tahiti fishing report. Out here around Tahiti and Moorea the trades are settled in: light to moderate east–southeast wind, seas a gentle chop on the reef tops, a bit more roll outside the passes. Skies are partly cloudy with the usual squalls riding the breeze. Air is warm and sticky, water hovering around the low 80s, perfect for keeping the fish active most of the day. Sun came up not long after six and it’ll slip behind Moorea late in the afternoon, so your real bite windows are the first couple hours after dawn and the last two before dark. The lagoon is clear on the leeward side, a little milky on the windward reefs where the swell is wrapping around. Tides are running a modest range today, with a decent incoming through the morning and a softer outgoing this afternoon. Around the passes that incoming pushes clean ocean water over the reef edge and fires up the predators; the outgoing concentrates bait outside the drop-off. Pelagic action has been solid the last few days. Local skippers working the FADs off the northwest of Tahiti and between Tahiti and Moorea have been picking up good numbers of mahi-mahi, smaller yellowfin, skipjack, and the odd wahoo. A few nice billfish have shown but not wide open. Best producers have been small to mid‑size skirted lures in blue–silver, green–yellow, and pink, trolled a bit faster when the wind picks up. If you’re live‑baiting, small bonito or frigate mackerel slow‑trolled along the current lines are still king for big tuna and marlin. On the reef and lagoon side, the dogtooth and GTs have been chewing when the current hits the points. Poppers in white or bone, and stickbaits in natural flying‑fish or mullet patterns, are drawing violent strikes early and late. Mid‑day, tone it down with subsurface stickbaits or jigs worked along the drop-offs and bommies. Fresh squid or cut bonito pinned to a strong circle hook and dropped in the wash will tempt big jobfish, snapper, and the occasional reef‑side tuna. Inside the lagoon, the goatfish, smaller trevally, and reef snapper are keeping the light‑tackle crowd happy around coral heads and channel edges. Soft plastics in shrimp or small baitfish colors, and little metal jigs hopped near the bottom, have outfished hardbaits when the sun gets high. For bait, you can’t beat fresh shrimp, bits of squid, or small hermit crabs gathered on the flats. A couple of hot spots to mark on your chart: • The passes and outer reef edges off Papeete and Faa’a, especially where the incoming tide pours over the drop. Work poppers and stickbaits along the foam lines, or troll skirted lures just outside the color change for tuna and wahoo. • The north and northwest reef corners of Moorea, around the Tiahura and Opunohu areas, where the trade wind piles bait against the reef. Early morning you’ll find GTs, bluefin trevally, and dogtooth on the breaks, and mahi cruising just beyond the edge when the sun climbs. Keep an eye on the birds, the color changes, and the bait showers; that’s your real report out here. Match the size of your lure or bait to the size of the flying fish and saury you see, and you’ll do fine. That’s it from Artificial Lure in Tahiti. 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