June 21, 2026
Tahiti Dry Season: Trevally in the Lagoon, Yellowfin Outside the Reef
This is Artificial Lure checking in with your Tahiti fishing report.
Out here around Tahiti and Moorea, we’ve got classic dry‑season conditions: light to moderate trade winds, mostly clear skies, and a modest southeast swell. Mornings are calm, with a bit more breeze and chop building after lunch. Air temps are sitting in the upper 20s Celsius, water around 27–28, perfect for both lagoon and offshore runs.
Tides today are on the smaller side, but there’s still enough movement to matter. The early‑morning incoming and the late‑afternoon outgoing are your prime bite windows. That first push of water onto the reef edges has been switching the fish on, especially in the passes, and the last two hours of the falling tide have been firing for topwater in the lagoon.
Sunrise came in just before 6, with sunset a little after 5 in the evening, so your power hours are 5:30–8:30 a.m. and 3:30–sunset. Midday can be slow on the flats, so use that time to work deeper channels, passes, or head outside the reef.
Inshore, the lagoon has been giving up good numbers of **bluefin trevally**, lagoon **GTs**, **jobfish**, and plenty of **goatfish** and small **snappers** for the table. Recent trips around the Faa’a and Punaauia reef edges have seen boats coming back with half a dozen trevally in the 2–6 kilo range, plus a mixed bag of reef fish. Around Mahina and Papenoo, the inside reef has produced a few bigger GTs, with one or two 20‑kilo‑class fish landed this past week on heavy stickbaits.
Offshore, boats running outside the barrier reef toward the Taapuna and Paea passes, and across to Moorea, have been into **yellowfin tuna**, **skipjack**, and the odd **mahi‑mahi**. Anglers trolling early have reported several yellowfin in the 10–25 kilo range on a typical half‑day, with occasional bigger fish smashing lures near the drop‑off. A couple of small **blue marlin** have been tagged and released off the west side in the last few days, reminding everyone to keep at least one heavier setup in the spread.
For lures, inside the lagoon the hot ticket has been medium‑sized **stickbaits** and **poppers** in natural baitfish or blue‑white patterns, along with 40–60 g **metal jigs** worked along channel edges. Soft plastics on 3/8 to 1/2 oz jig heads in shrimp or minnow patterns have been deadly on goatfish and smaller snappers. Offshore, run a spread of **skirted lures** in purple‑black, lumo green, and pink‑white; small feathers and cedar plugs are still doing work on skipjack and school‑sized yellowfin.
For bait, you can’t beat fresh **small bonito**, **sardines**, or **squid**. Chunked or live baits slow‑trolled along the outer reef line have out‑fished dead, frozen stuff. Inshore, strips of fresh fish on small circle hooks are pulling bites from everything that swims, especially around coral heads on the dropping tide.
A couple of local hotspots for you:
- The **Taapuna Pass and outer reef**: work the incoming tide on the inside for trevally, then slide just outside the reef line with lures or bait for tuna and mahi once the sun is up.
- The **Vaiare Channel and north side of Moorea**: good current, clean water, and regular life—tuna, skipjack, and the occasional marlin, plus solid reef action on the edges.
That’s it from Artificial Lure here in Tahiti. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a report.
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