----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2003 7:45
AM
Subject: Pesca Maya report
Got back last night from the
Cancun->LA->Seattle flight finishing up a 7-day trip. We
stayed at Pesca Maya just north of Punta Allen and about 4 hours south of
Cancun. I'll spare you the travel details but let's just say that they
can have Cancun, we spent a LOT of time waiting around for ground
transportation, and the road beyond the Boca Pailla bridge sucks. The
once scary bridge has been replaced, I was looking forward to seeing the
semi-falling apart bridge myself.
Pesca Maya is right on the beach one point north
of the village of Punta Allen. The owner, Brian, is Yorkie who has
been in Mexico for 25 years and part-owner of Pesca Maya for 8, he's a good
host and always ready with a joke or good story. The rest of the crew
are local Mayans, the food is great, the cerveza free, and all in all it was
a good place to stay. We spent the week with 5 Brits who were
very proper, like Jay said it was like being in Gosford Park or
something. Part of the week we also had a few Belgians there and two
Swedes from a magazine showed up for one day. Very international crowd
but a fun group overall.
Fishing Summary
The bonefish were turned off when we got there,
it had been cold. Things improved as the week went on though, should
have had the last day been the middle of the trip but that's the way it
always goes. Lots of alternatives though, you can find small jacks on
deeper flats, go for tarpon, cruise all day for permit, or go to the reef
(or out of the reef) and catch really big fish. We got 10 different
species in 5 days fishing, got decent bones, and got a few big cuda and one
big jack. We saw tarpon but never got one, we saw permit but never
even got a decent cast off to them.
Fishing Details
Day 1 - The
first task was to get me my first bonefish. We set out across the
laguna to a shore flat where we saw a few permit that never came close
enough to get a good cast too but no bones. We then headed across
Ascension Bay which is a haul, to the Tres Marias area. We dropped Jay
off and headed into the end of the flat where I went with the guide.
Within a half-hour I got my first bonefish fishing the edges of a school
that was running up and down the channel. He gave me a few good runs,
we had no camera to photograph the moment, and I let him go. Mission
accomplished. I got one more fish out of a small group and cast to
several tailers that all spooked apparently for any and no reason at
all.
We then went to a small flat close by where we
cast from the boat a while, again the fish were very spooky. Jay got
one to take and missed him. At the edges of the flat we found mudding
fish and did fish the easy way for a while, landing about 8 fish in a short
time, having doubles at times. All these were on olive flies I
think.
We took off since that was like catching fish in
a stock pond and went looking for tarpon. We hit some mangroves first
where Jay got a nice bone on a 1/0 white tarpon fly. We then
found a school of big ones but we just couldn't ever get ahead of them, they
seemed to always be 100 yards away from us.
Day 2 - We
went back to the tarpon spot only to find 3 boats working it already, the
word had gotten out. We went back to Tres Marias and fished for bones
but found the fishing very difficult. There was a ton of wind and
clouds so spotting fish was hard and the fish were spooking when clouds went
over. We managed to each get one bonefish that morning and then gave
up on them.
We went in search of barracuda for a while and,
of course, ran into more permit right by the boat and no permit rod rigged
up. We got a few small cuda and then went to the reef where I got a
few other small ones and a small jack. I finally hooked into a big one
that jumped once then everything went dead, my fly line had broke or been
slashed right in the middle of the belly.
Day 3
- We were tired of crossing the bay since our butts were sore so we
decided to stay closer to home. We went around Punta Allen and fished
for tarpon along the mangroves north of the village. We found a few
baby tarpon but couldn't get a hit from them. Then we started catching
small jacks and cuda an the tarpon fly in a deep flat. We headed back
to the reef and cast poppers for big jacks and had one big one come up
but not take and a few strikes from smaller fish. Jay finally got a
small grouper in on a streamer. By then it was lunch time so we went
in to an island for lunch, set anchor to watch sea turtles and found a
school of jacks running about.
The next hour was a riot, I felt like a kid in a
bluegill pond. We were catching Amberjacks, Yellow Tail jacks, Spanish
Mackerel, and bonefish in this spot. Jay got a bone right under the
boat with a fly just sitting one the bottom. I was casting a
chartruese/white Clousers and just kept catching fish after fish while Jay
got them on gurglers.
We headed back into the mangroves for tarpon
after lunch and instead hooked some Mangrove Snappers there. Coming
back in we hit a mud looking for bones but instead hooked more jacks, some
of them yet another species of jack. We ended up with 8
different species for the day.
Day 4 - We
finally found the close by bonefish flats today and spent the whole day
wading them for still skittish bones but they were getting more
willing. We found a lot of singles and doubles tailing about or just
milling about. I saw three permit but they never got close enough to drop a
fly to. This was great fishing, challenging but fun. I hooked
three that day, all big and in 4-5" of water and Jay hooked about 4.
We each landed one of the fish we hooked, mine was the biggest I'd caught to
date, about 16-17". We got a few cuda in the mix too, small ones
that you could land on a bonefish fly. Light numbers but very
satisfying.
Day 5 -
This was our last day so we split between wading the flats for bones and
looking for that elusive big fish. In the morning we hit the flats and
the bones were showing more interest, more follows, a bit less spooky.
I finally hooked a big one coming out of a channel between the big lagoon
and a small flat surrounded by mangroves. This was a good fish, he ran
out the channel to the mangrove side of course and gave me 5 pretty scary
runs, some stopping inches from the mangrove clumps. Finally I landed
a 18-19" bone, the best of the trip for me. Jay got one also though he
hooked many more.
We put away the 7-weights and rigged up the big
rods for the reef after lunch. We cast poppers a bit to no avail then
I stuck on a chartreuse/white Popovich and we trolled a bit. For the
next few hours I couldn't keep fish off the fly. I got a few small
cuda, a few 1m sized cuda, a 12lbs. jack and a 5 lbs. jack all on the
same fly. My arm was sore. The big jack put up the best fight, I
was difinately watching the backing go away and waiting to see spool on the
reel but he stopped just in time. We headed out of the inner reef into
blue water and to the outer/lower area of reef where Jay announced he would
soon catch the biggest fish which he then proceeded to do, getting a cuda
that was over 1m in length on the same streamer I'd been using.
That was it, then we had to run back to the dock,
pack, and head out by ponga to the Boca Pailla bridge where we were to meet
our driver for a ride back ot Cancun. Instead we got dropped off at
dusk by the bridge in a mangrove swamp and no driver was to be found, we
were greated by swarms of no-see-ums and mosquitos. Luckily there were
two guys from Utah camping there with pontoon boats so we waited with them
about an hour before the driver finally showed up. We really weren't
sure if we were going to have to camp on the beach that night or what.
Overall a good trip, I got my first bones, a
decent bone the right way, and my first big saltwater fish that wasn't a
salmon. I will definitely be heading back to the tropics.
Flys that Worked
Bonefish -
got a lot of them the first 2 days on olive flies. My favorite was an
olive Charlie that I made using the olive crystal flash for tail, a body of
olive thread covered with Swanandaze, and a wind of olive craft fur and
crystal flash. I also got them on an Olive Mini-Shrimp with plastic
eyes that first few days if the fish were shallow. After that lighter
flies began working, got them on Gotchas, a Hot Tail Bunny Gotcha, a white
Charlie with grizzly wings and a Chico Fernandez flie. I got one nice
one to take a big orange shrimp that the guide had tied. Most my flies
were #6-#8. Jay got one bone on a 1/0 white tarpon fly, go
figure.
Jacks -
small jacks we got on the 1/0 white tarpon fly, gurglers, small poppers, and
the best fly for me was my chartruese/white Clouser that I use for cutts
here. I also got Spanish Mackerel on the Clousers. Big jacks
were taken on a chartruese/white Popovich streamer.
Cuda - I
got them on everything, the called by Cuda Tim. Big ones on the
Popovich and Jay's big green needlefish fly that was very simple. I
landed several on Charlies fishing for bones, on a Black Death, on the white
tarpon fly, etc� If there was a cuda around I caught it.
Equipment
7-weight was perfect for bonefish, we both had
790 RPLXi's. I had a 9-weight and a 10-weight too usually rigged for
permit/tarpon or for cuda/jacks. Jay was using a 8 and 10
instead. Three rods per person is about ideal, you could get by with
two. Take extra everything, I had a line break and so did one of the
Belgians who also broke a rod.
