Fishing the tropical flats never gets old with me. Even though I’m spoiled from chasing bonefish, permit and tarpon since 1989, I still get too excited to sleep well the night before my first day. This morning I was tossing and turning by 4 AM and as soon as I heard the Casa Blanca Fishing Lodge staff up and moving around at 5 I hit them up for a pot of coffee.
Just a reminder of my location, I’m in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico on Punta Pájeros Island which is located between Ascension and Espiritu Santo Bays in the Yucatan State of Quintana Roo. It’s a tropical paradise in the center of one of the world’s largest protected areas, the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve.
By the time I finished my pressed coffee I had my gear 100% rigged and my Yeti and Simms packs ready to go. The sun was just rising over the Atlantic Ocean and its first rays lifted the temperature to a comfortable 80°. I scarfed down my huevo rancheros and soon my buddy Jerry Arnold and were headed down to the dock to meet our guide Pato.
Pato is one of the longest working guides for Casa Blanca and Jerry is one of Pato’s and the lodges longtime customers. Last year at this time Jerry generously brought me down here with him. We had such a blast that about a month ago when we were in Arkansas he asked if I’d join him again. In case you haven’t figured it out by now, I wasn’t born yesterday!
I can’t explain what a nice day it was. The sun was bright for spotting fish and the wind blew lightly. In fact it was almost too calm. We looked for permit to start the day and it didn’t take long to find one. However, when I dropped my crab near the permit he spooked just from the splash.
Messing up a permit is a pretty normal thing to do, especially when you haven’t cast too one in a while. But before we knew it the wind died completely and this is when you hardly have a chance. The problem is the already-weary permit can detect you and the boat before you even get to cast. Pato wisely recommended we find some snook and tarpon in the mangroves.
The mangroves had plenty of tarpon and snook – that is when Jerry was up front. The way Jerry divides out time fishing is in half hour intervals. I kid you not, I’d go 30 minutes without a fish to cast too then Jerry would hop up and there would be tarpon within minutes. If it wasn’t tarpon then there would be a snook. There was one problem though, the fish wouldn’t eat.
Eventually we stumbled into schools of bonefish. Once the bones arrive you can expect to see plenty in your half hour on the bow. Jerry struck first nailing at least a couple. Mexico bones aren’t huge but pound for pound any bonefish will pull harder than most freshwater fish. They spend their entire lives running from things like sharks and barracudas so they are built for speed with their handsomely forked tails.
When the bonefish arrived I finally got to cast. But man was I a mess. I had a laugher of a few turns where everything that could go wrong went wrong. I made bad casts. I had bones eat but missed them. I hooked and lost three in a row. Then I had the easiest chance on earth only to have my fly intercepted by a miniscule barracuda that trashed my fly and tippet with his teeth. Jerry and Pato definitely got a chuckle.
As the sun lowered and late afternoon set in I got my act together and joined Jerry in slaying the bonefish. We had an absolute ball while Pato polled us along. Bonefishing is a great way to kick off a flats trip because it gets your skills back in order.
While the bonefish are beautiful and fun to catch, I’m never disappointed to stick a fly in another type of fish. We ended the day near the lodge and out near the coral reef. Sure enough I spotted a pair of gorgeous little bar jacks tormenting some bait. I fired my bonefish fly at them and reminded myself how pretty these little guys really are.
We rapped up our day around 4:15 PM. Other than the bar jack we only caught bonefish however we saw the super slam today of bonefish, permit, tarpon and snook. Sometimes you catch them usually you don’t. Jerry and I walked out around the rocks near the lodge before dinner hoping to catch something cool. There were a few ocean triggerfish mulling around. I made the mistake of bringing only a popper and my 10-weight so I ran back to my room for my crab rig. By the time I got back the triggers were gone. Perhaps tomorrow night.
We had a scrumptious dinner followed by a trip back to the night light on the dock. The horse-eyes were on the prowl like last night but once again they displayed their patience enough for only one mistake. I caught another – a twin to the one I caught last night.
It’s time for bed. Excitement, waking at 4 AM, fishing, eating too much for dinner and a few beers is formula for a 7 hour coma. Asta la taco!