Mexico fishing this winter

[Fish Head]

I'll be in Playa Del Carmen in mid-February. It's just 30-40 minutes south of Cancun. I would LOVE to do some fishing while I'm there. Does anyone have any experience down there? Any info would be appreciated!!

[onemagnum]

Fished out of Cancun three years ago and had a blast, caught baracuda,amberjack,grouper and yellow tail. Amberjack and grouper were in the 50# + range in 300 - 400 foot depth range. It's a workout.

[traveler]

Wrong side of Mexico for me, but theres a world class sailfish bite that goes on in that area feb thru april. Isla Marjeres (sp?) is ground zero for it from what I hear, do a search and I'm sure you can find some good info. A lot of American boats from Florida go down every year for it, they would be expensive charters, but I'm sure there are mexican charter boats to be had as well. Lots of double digit sailfish days; if you want to go big time it would wicked fun:) It all depends on how much $$ you're willing to fork out. Otherwise, the barracuda and bottom fishing are the norm for that area, and if you haven't done much saltwater fishing (or even if you have!)I'm sure you'd enjoy that as well.

[Ufatz]

When you see Playa del Carmen you are going to find it hard to believe that the first time I fished there it was a tiny fishing village, all dirt streets and the only real communication system was the radio at the jail!! But, here are a couple thoughts. Drive on south-or call I guess-Boca Paila fishing lodge. Sometimes they will take a person for a single day. There is another smaller operation just down the road and they might also take you. I don't know how proficient you are with fly, spin or casting tackle but be sure to tell them. They might get you into a bonefish or two, maybe a 'cuda etc. If you want to fish on your own there are several places where the backwater flats flow into the saltwater; boca's they're called, and you can wade a bit and cast to 'cudas and sometimes a snook or two. Be careful and be ovservant. And you might just ask around at some of the small business places and perhaps somebody has a neighbor whos best pal knows a guy who is related to another hombre who has a boat.....you know what I mean. And IF you can find a larger boat the billfishing can be very good, but usually later than you will be there. I think you'll enjoy the area. We can't go back because we can't BELIEVE what has happend to the place. You will drive to Boca Paila on a nice road. We drove up to the little village of del Carmen on a sand PATH from Boca Paila!!

Have fun amigo.

[End of the Line]

I am heading there this winter too and plan on fishing, I think I am going in late March though.

[doubleUcubed]

Ufatz, I hear ya, the first time I went to Cancun there were maybe 6-10 hotels total on the beach! I was just to Play del Carmen last year and what a world of change, especially after the Hurrican that went through that area last year. Did rent Harley's for a day and drove down to the Tulume area. That was cool. Off to St. Lucia in 2 weeks!

[Ufatz]

Hey Double...you got there too late. There WAS no Cancun when we hung out down that way. Cozumel had the old hotel Mary Carmen, just off the plaza. There was the El Presidente on the beach, where we spent many weeks in later trips,and they were starting to build a new one out rhe road. Cancun was swamp! HA!

Tossed a tube lure at a 'Cuda near the end of the "road" and when I he turned, and I saw how big he ACTUALLY was I was happy when he just swirled and swam away. Whew...that was a close one.

Ah...those were the days. Eating broiled mullet with the Governor, slipping around in the home made glass flats boats..having one of the guys go up and get a coconut and then cracking it for us....

I ain't goin' back. I want to remember it just the way it was.

Carry on.

[doubleUcubed]

Geez, I would have loved to have seen it then!

[Fish Head]

Thanks for the info guys. World class sailfishing sounds perfect. Even the cuda, grouper and yellowfin sound great. I can't wait.

[Johnnie15]

Fish Head,

Could you could post where you went and how you did when you get back? I'm going to be in the same area in 3 weeks, and I would love to hear about your experience.

[tgff009]

x2

I'm there in 4 weeks. Any thoughts on the billfish bite towards the end of March?

[swampbuck]

It is wide open!!

I am headin to Isla Mujeres March 15th, i have fished here several times in the past, lots of numbers and they seem pretty big to me. I fish with a boat called the Lilly M they are pretty reasonable on price $550 for a half day which works great, i fish from 7:00-1;00 then meet my wife on the beach for cervasas [image]http://[/image] If any one will be in Cancun the week of the 15th-24th and wants to share a boat i will book anoother trip! let me know ASAP!!

[tgff009]

swampbuck -

Is that $550 for the boat, etc... or $550 a head. I might be interested in working something out. I'll be in Playa Del Carmen 3/18-2/25...not sure if that is logistically too difficult or not.

[swampbuck]

that is $550 for the boat playa is stretch to get to isla, probably at least an hour? I am not really sure.

Isla is about 5 miles off cancun.

Look into it to see ifyu can make it, i will check back to see I would love to find someone to share a boat to go an extra day!

I have one trip booked already for wens 21st

[Fish Head]

We went out of Puerto Aventuras, which is about 20 minutes south of Playa del Carmen. We went out in a very nice 30ft boat for 8 hours. The charge was $500 and included drinks and sandwiches and chips for lunch. The $500 was total, not per person.

According to the 2 guides who took us out, mid February was not a good time to fish for sailfish. They said May and June are the best times for that. Between the 3 of us that charted the boat, we caught about 20-25 Red Snappers, 1 Amberjack, 1Ttrigger fish, 1 Barracuda and a Bonita fish. We had a great time, but I would love to try again sometime in May or June to try Sailfish and Marlin.

[traveler]

Fishhead; glad you had a good trip! I think there is a quite a lot of varience with regards to location down there. I'm not really familar with how far Playa Del Carmen is from Isla Mujeres, but Isla M. is all over the saltwater forums and magazines as a red hot sail spot mid-feb thru the end of April, and from what I've read this year has been very good to date. I don't think they ever see the # of sails in PDC that they get off isla M. Lots of high buck florida boats go down for it as well. A 500/day boat over there is pretty cheap, the 550/half day (really more like 2/3 day) Swampbuck mentioned is more in line with what I've heard of pricewise, with some of the nicer american boats charging more than that. It will be interesting to see how swampbuck fares off Isla Mujeres...

[swampbuck]

I will let you guys know if anyone decides they want to go to mex in march let me know.

[traveler]

Hey SB, I'd love to get down there and hit that fishery! Unfortunatly, I have a Cabo trip planned for late May for a C&R tournament and no way could I swing another. How have you done for #'s of sails? I've read some pretty impressive stats if you time it right..Are they doing the bait and switch, or are they hitting on the troll? What line class tackle are they running on the boat (or do you bring tackle)? I got caught up with striped marlin on the other coast, and just haven't been able to tear myself away to do a sail trip (yet!).

[swampbuck]

The best day I have had is 27 hookups, we got into a pod of 100's of sails! they were free jumping around the boat several almost landed in the boat. We had a lot of times with 4 fish on! It was pretty impressive.

It is kind of hard to get a boat lined up and I am usually solo, 'I found someone else from MN that is going to shre a boat so I get to go for a few more days this year.

[traveler]

Man, that an epic day! If you want to get the anticipation going, go to sportfishermen.com and click on the offshore forum...thers a report from Isla 2-19 thru 2-21 with a guy doing pretty good on sails...nothing fantastic, but it's a start! So how did you find a MN guy to go? I keep trying to find somebody to come to Cabo with me for marlin and just can't get anyone to "bite". I did get my brother to tag along last Oct., and it was the slowest trip I've had down there. We did manage to get him his first striped marlin tho', and I caught my first (small) blue after many stripers. Those atlantic sails are running like 70-80 lbs. I'm guessing? I haven't caught one on the pacific side yet, but they do occasionally get some big ones over there. One of these years. Have a great trip and report back on how you do, eh?

[FishingwithJake]

Swampbuck - I will be in Cozumel March 22nd - 29th! Maybe we could split a charter? Send me an email. [email protected]

[tgff009]

Fish Head - do you recall the name of the charter you used? Did it happen to be Cozumel Charters?

[Fish Head]

I'm sorry I don't remember the name. We were a little skeptical about this place because most of the prices we were quoted for 8 hours were in the range of $650-$750, and they only wanted $500. But we were pleasantly surprised by everything. We got the connection through some place on the beach in Playa Del Carmen, but it wasn't one of their boats. The place we used owns 3 boats and went out of Puerto Aventuras which is about 20 minutes or so south of Playa Del Carmen. There are a LOT of big beautiful boats in the Puerto Aventuras marina!

Good Luck!

[traveler]

Yeah, the boats in some of those mexican ports really get the drool factor going...theres a front row of boats in the Cabo marina where not one is under 16 ft beat or 75 feet (both guesses). Of course theres a locked gate between the boats and us mere mortals:) Fishhead, sounds like it was a good deal...the higher range you quoted is more the norm from what I read. Or more, if you find an American boat hiring out.

[traveler]

Theres a fresh post on thehulltruth in the sportfishing forum about a recent sail trip off Isla M.