Mexico has two fishing coasts, and they are not on speaking terms. One runs billfish through a hot Pacific summer. The other stays warm and fishable while the first one naps. Book the wrong side in the wrong month and you have paid for a very scenic boat ride.
The short answer
Mexico has two very different fishing coasts. The Pacific side is billfish country – Los Cabos, La Paz, Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlán. Marlin and sailfish run strongest from June through November. The Caribbean side covers Cancun, Isla Mujeres, Cozumel and Playa del Carmen. It runs sailfish, mahi and wahoo, and stays fishable all year.
We book charters on both coasts, which means we spend the year watching two seasons run in opposite directions. That is most of the trick to fishing Mexico well – knowing which side of the country is currently awake.
What runs where, and when
The single most useful thing to know before booking is which fish is actually in the water that week. Here is the shape of it, coast by coast.
| Destination | Headline catch | Also running | Also happening offshore |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Cabos | Blue, black and striped marlin | Sailfish, dorado, yellowfin tuna | Whale watching, mid-Dec to mid-Apr |
| La Paz | Dorado, roosterfish | Tuna, sierra | Sea lion colony, year round |
| Puerto Vallarta | Marlin, sailfish | Tuna, mahi-mahi | Humpback whales, from 8 Dec |
| Cancun and Isla Mujeres | Sailfish | Mahi, wahoo, kingfish, barracuda | Whale sharks, mid-May to mid-Sep |
| Cozumel | Marlin, sailfish | Mahi, wahoo, bottom fishing | Reef diving, year round |
| Playa del Carmen | Sailfish, mahi | Wahoo, barracuda | Cozumel crossing, year round |
Read that last column twice. It is the difference between a good trip and a great one. The fish are only half of what is out there in any given month.
Where is the best fishing in Mexico?
Los Cabos, if you want the honest answer and you want billfish. The drop-off sits close to shore, so you are in blue water in under an hour instead of burning half your charter getting there.
But “best” depends entirely on what you want the day to be. Four people want four different things when they say fishing.
- Los Cabos – marlin country. Boats leave from IGY Marina in Cabo San Lucas, or Puerto Los Cabos over in San José. The Gordo Banks is the name you will hear over and over.
- La Paz – the quiet one. Protected water, a biosphere reserve offshore, and the only coast on this list where a multi-day trip genuinely makes sense.
- Puerto Vallarta – the year-rounder. Marlin, sailfish, tuna and mahi all rotate through Banderas Bay, so there is no truly dead month.
- Cancun and Isla Mujeres – the easy one. Marinas sit minutes from the channel, so a half day is an actual half day rather than a commute.
- Cozumel – the reef island. Shorter runs, clearer water, and a fleet that knows exactly where to be.
What you will actually catch
Different oceans, different fish. That sounds obvious until you watch someone book Cancun in July expecting the marlin photos they saw from Cabo.
Pacific side: blue, black and striped marlin, sailfish, dorado, yellowfin tuna and roosterfish. The billfish are the headline and they know it.
Caribbean side: sailfish, white marlin, mahi, wahoo, kingfish, barracuda and tuna. Smaller headline, longer season, and wahoo will ruin a line before you have finished sitting down.
Marlin fishing in Mexico
Marlin is why most people fly here, and Los Cabos is where most of them go. Cabo has been running sportfishing charters since the 1980s. That fleet has had roughly forty years to work out where the fish are.
The warmer half of the year does the heavy lifting – broadly June through November for the Pacific billfish run. Come in February and you will still fish, you will just be sharing the water with several thousand grey whales, which is a fair trade.
Worth knowing before you book: most Mexican charters run catch and release on billfish as standard. If you were picturing a marlin on the wall, have that conversation with the captain first, not at the dock at 6am.
When to go
There is no bad month in Mexico, only mismatched ones. The Pacific peaks in the summer and autumn. The Caribbean holds steady, with its calmest, driest weather from December through April. Which is exactly when the Pacific slows down and fills up with whales instead.
Two dates are worth writing down, because they are fixed and they sell out. Whale shark season off Cancun and Isla Mujeres runs mid-May to mid-September. Whale watching in Los Cabos runs mid-December to mid-April, opening 8 December in Puerto Vallarta.
Which means if you plan it properly, you can fish in the morning and be alongside something enormous by the afternoon. The country is showing off and it does not particularly care that you only booked one day.
What we see when people book
Three things come up constantly, and all three are avoidable.
People book the wrong departure point. Playa del Carmen has no working harbour of its own – the deep sea boats run from Puerto Aventuras down the coast. Same for Tulum, where the boats are further north than the hotel is. Neither is a problem when someone arranges the transfer. It is only a problem at 5:30am when nobody mentioned it.
People book four hours for an eight-hour ambition. A half day is a genuinely good trip inshore. It is not the trip where you cross to blue water, find a school, and fight something that fights back. Match the hours to the fish you are picturing.
People compare a shared seat to a whole boat and conclude one operator is robbing them. They are two different products. One buys you a seat alongside strangers, the other buys you the boat, the schedule and the target species.
Common questions
Do I need a fishing licence in Mexico?
Yes. Mexican law requires a fishing licence for every person aboard a vessel that is fishing, regardless of age or whether they personally fish. Most charter operators include it or arrange it for you – confirm which before the day.
What is the best month for marlin in Mexico?
On the Pacific coast, the warmer half of the year is strongest, broadly June through November. Los Cabos and Puerto Vallarta both fish well across that window, with Puerto Vallarta holding a longer year-round season.
Can you keep the fish you catch?
Usually yes for edible species such as dorado, tuna and wahoo, and many operators will arrange for a local restaurant to cook your catch. Billfish are typically catch and release. Confirm the boat’s policy when you book.
Is a shared or private charter better?
Shared works well for one or two anglers who mostly want to be out there. Private makes more sense from about four people up. It is also the only way to control the hours, the target species and the departure time.
How far offshore do you go?
It depends on the coast. Los Cabos reaches blue water quickly because the drop-off sits close to shore. On the Caribbean side you are generally fishing the shelf edge, which is also close, but the runs to productive ground can be longer.
Planning a fishing day in Mexico?
Tell us the coast, the dates and how many people are coming. We send back the boats that actually match – right hours, right departure point, and a captain who fishes that water every week.
You bring the ambition. We will make sure you booked enough hours for it.