The beautiful Pacific waters around Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa have spectacular year round fishing for Marlin, Sailfish, Dorado, Tuna, Shark, Wahoo and more. Many travelers return here every year just for the fishing and quite a few have bought boats and stayed on. From open pangas, to luxury cabin cruisers, there’s a fishing charter for everyone’s budget. An equally wide array of tackle, techniques and resources exist to catch the big one. The area is known for its Marlin and Sailfish and the big Tuna and Dorado are always a spectacular catch.

Most fishermen here use artificial as well as live baits. Depending on the size of your prey, your bait may be 5 inch Ojoton (Goggle eye) or a long as your arm Black Tuna or Skip Jack or every other possible size of fish. All the boat captains have their own secret spots, secret weapons and techniques and all are very knowledgeable of the area. Remember,Zihuatanejo was a sleepy fishing village once upon a time. A fishing trip can start as close to shore as 5 miles and range as far out as 25 miles. For someone whose never been deep sea fishing in the Mexican Pacific hitting the blue line can be a wondrous sight. The color of the water at 20 miles offshore is a blue that defies description. In addition to the excellent fishing, this time of year is also incredible for wild life sightings. From dolphins to sea turtles and even migrating whales, you just might see some fabulous marine life. In December and early January many of the fishing and sailing boats have already spotted great packs of dolphins, pods of whales with calves and quite a few sea turtles just floating along all to themselves.

There are many ways to book fishing trips here in Zihuatanejo. Everything from hiring a boat straight off the beach, to contacting the fishing collectives down on the waterfront near the pier or along Playa Municipal, Casa Lobato Pineda on Juan Alvarez right in front of Plaza Municipal is always a good source of information, or wander down the fisherman’s walk on Playa Municipal towards the pier, there are several fishing charter offices there.  And out of the Ixtapa marina are several fabulous fishing boats. Don’t wait another minute to get out on the water for the catch of a lifetime.

-January 2000