Artificial Lure here with your Mauritius fishing rundown.
We’ve got classic winter trade‑wind conditions across the island right now: steady southeast breeze around 12–18 knots along the east and south coasts, a bit lighter and variable on the leeward west and northwest sides. Skies have been partly cloudy with passing showers over higher ground, but the coast has stayed mostly dry and very fishable. Air temps have sat in the low‑ to mid‑20s Celsius, and the sea is a comfortable 24–25°C, just cool enough to wake the pelagics up.
Tides have been running on a moderate cycle, with a decent morning high pushing into late morning and an afternoon drop that’s been firing up both the reef edges and the lagoon channels. That falling water has been the money window for a lot of the action, especially around passes and river mouths where bait is flushing out.
Sunrise has been just after 6 a.m., with first usable light a good 20 minutes before that—perfect for getting a trolling spread out on grey light. Sunset has been just before 6 p.m., and that last hour before dark has produced some of the better inshore bites, especially for trevally and snapper along the reefs and rocky points.
Offshore, the bluewater boats working the drop‑offs off the west and northwest—think off Le Morne, Black River Trench, and up toward Coin de Mire—have found a mixed bag. Several charters reported yellowfin tuna in the 10–25 kg range, scattered dorado (mahi‑mahi) around floating debris, and the odd wahoo on the deeper edges. Most of the action has come trolling small to mid‑sized skirted lures in lumo green, pink‑white, and blue‑silver, plus cedar plugs and diving minnows when the tuna are up and pushing bait. A couple of boats raised marlin but hookups were short, so consider them a bonus rather than a target right now.
Closer in, the reef and lagoon fishing has been very steady. On the flats and inner reefs, anglers have been finding bluefin trevally, smaller GTs, queenfish, and plenty of jobfish and emperor snapper. Soft plastics on 3/8 to 1/2 oz jigheads in natural baitfish colours, small metal jigs around 20–40 g, and topwater stickbaits have all been producing when worked along current lines and drop‑offs. Livebait—small fusiliers or sardines—has outfished artificials at times, especially during the slower parts of the tide.
Inside the lagoons and around the passes, local crews have been filling eskies with species like grouper, red snapper, and capitaine using fresh squid, octopus strips, and small cut baits on simple bottom rigs. At night, a few nice jobfish and larger groupers have come from the deeper holes just inside the reef, again on squid and octopus. If you’re fishing light gear, prawn and small crab baits are still deadly on the smaller reef dwellers.
If you’re a lure die‑hard, bring:
- Medium‑size poppers and stickbaits in blue, bone, and mackerel patterns for trevally along the reef edges.
- 20–40 g casting metals for the surf line and passes when the bait is showering.
- 4–6 inch soft plastics in white, pearl, and olive for jigging the channels and drop‑offs.
- A spread of skirted trolling lures, 6–9 inch, in lumo, pink, and blue‑silver for tuna and wahoo.
A couple of hotspots to keep on your radar:
- The Le Morne area on the southwest: work the outer reef edge on the falling tide for GT, bluefin trevally, and jobfish, then push a bit wider to tap into tuna and wahoo along the drop‑off. Early morning poppers tight to the whitewater can be explosive, so hang on.
- The North Coast triangle between Grand Baie, Coin de Mire, and Flat Island: very good for mixed pelagics right now, with tuna and dorado around birds and debris. Inshore of that, the reefs near the Coin de Mire drop‑off have given up solid trevally and snapper on soft plastics and jigs.
Wherever you launch, watch your tides, fish the current, and match your lure size to the bait. Keep a sharp eye on the bird life offshore and the colour changes over the reefs—both have been reliable telltales of feeding activity.
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