Puerto Vallarta spearfishing forecast — wind, swell, visibility, tides & live cameras

• dog snapper / pargo
  3–15 m · tide change — moving water · dusk/night
  Hard-fighting reef snapper around rocky points & pinnacles; ambush on the tide change, best at dusk/night. Peaks in the warm months. Mexican rule sets no minimum size.
• leopard grouper
  5–25 m · tide change — moving water · daytime
  Leopard grouper on rocky reef, by day. Forms spawning aggregations in spring (Apr–Jun) — very vulnerable then, take sparingly. No minimum size in the rule.
• white seabass
  3–20 m · tide change — moving water · dawn/dusk
  White seabass over reef & kelp edges; spring peak, best at dusk on moving water. No minimum size in the rule.
• California sheephead
  3–20 m · tide change — moving water · daytime
  California sheephead on rocky reef, by day; resident, best in the warm months. Roots the bottom — approach slowly. No minimum size in the rule.
• yellow snapper
  3–15 m · tide change — moving water · dusk/night
  Yellow snapper by rocks & estuary edges; warm months, best at dusk/night on the tide change. No minimum size in the rule.

• ✓A CONAPESCA/SADER recreational-sport fishing permit is required (online via E5CINCO; day/week/month/year). Apnea only — spearing on scuba is banned.
• ✓One speargun (band or pneumatic), no hooks/tridents; 5 fish/day; barred within 250 m of swimmers or commercial gear.
• ✓Reserved to rod-and-reel sport fishing (do NOT spear, conservative rule): marlin, sailfish, swordfish, tarpon, roosterfish and dorado. Lobster, conch and octopus are outside sport fishing.
• ✓Grouper (mero) closed season to 31 Mar (Gulf/Yucatán focus). Marine ANPs (APFF Islas del Golfo — Espíritu Santo, Balandra) are no-take cores: do not shoot.

• ⛔ 🚫 Sport spearfishing is fish-only: lobster, conch (caracol) and octopus may NOT be speared (squid is the sole exception). NOM-017 §4.2.
• ⛔ 🚫 Totoaba, sea turtles, marine mammals and corals — no-take (NOM-059). Inside the national parks (Cabo Pulmo, Cozumel, Puerto Morelos, Revillagigedo) all hunting is banned.

Rules change. Before heading out, check with CONAPESCA/SADER (E5CINCO permit), CONANP (no-take marine ANPs) and NOM-059; apnea only.

• Sets: watch the wave trains ≥15 min before entering; Hmax ≈ 2×Hs, the wash can run 50 m past the foam line. A lull >10 min with period >12 s = a big set «overdue», do NOT enter; enter right after a full set passes and re-check at minute 30.
• Exit FIRST: find your exit AND a backup before entering. On a rocky/boulder shore a 0.5 m rise in swell can make the exit impossible — getting pinned/unable to climb out is the main killer.
• Headland rip: prominent points often have a permanent topographic rip regardless of the model — locate it, enter/exit on the windward side, never swim against it.
• Cold: wetsuit per the SST chip; the first shiver = a metabolic surge and a drop in breath-hold → get out at the first steady shiver. Cap the session at 45–60 min below 15 °C.
• Solo discipline: buoy up; tell someone the spot and exit time; conservative breath-hold (never push it in cold/murky/surfy water); visibility <3 m — don't enter.
• Afternoon wind: on many coasts the wind builds from midday — plan to be out of the water by midday; the chop builds — get out.
• UV 11:00–15:00 (UVI ≥6): sunscreen and cover up on the surface interval.
• Solo is a fundamental risk (hypoxic blackout with no buddy). Any doubt = No-go.