The preparation for this trip started months before with tying flies and building rods. I’ve never fished for permit or tarpon before so a lot of research and watching of videos was done. I also started my rod building journey a few months before this trip which came in handy.
Before the trip myself and my dad decided it would be good to have an 11wt in case we ended up doing a lot of casting for migratory tarpon. I chose Bloke rods blanks from the UK for the rod.
The rod turned out really well. Components are top notch:
- Grips from Bloke rod blanks
- Reel seat from REC
- stripping guides are Fuji Torzite
- Snake guides and tip are REC recoil guides
- Blank is Bloke XGNP 9′ 11wt
Its also worth mentioning that I managed to snap a section of the rod during the trip and the service from Bloke rods was exceptional. I would highly recommend their blanks to anyone.
Mention Hurricane
Our first flight was from Heathrow to Cancun, after the airline managed to ‘mix up’ the loading of the plane (how do they do stuff like that so often when they’ve been flying for about 100 years). Once they got our baggage sorted – after only an hour!! We managed to take-off, the flight itself was uneventful and it was only a few hours before I was able to catch my first glimpses of Mexico.
After arriving in Cancun the first mission was to check into the Marriott attached to the hotel. The staff in Cancun airport were super helpful and guided us to the right bus terminal to get picked up. We had a lovely first meal after we arrived at the hotel and our first much needed holiday beers and after that it was to bed.
The next morning saw us up early for a hotel breakfast that mostly consisted of refried beans and small hot-dog like turkey sausages, which was a stark change from the full English breakfast back home! After that we met 3 fisherman from the US that were waiting for the shuttle with us who were super friendly. We took the shuttle to the private terminal in Cancun, a short walk through security and we were on our way to the single engine plane to take us down to Punta Pajaros.
A ride in a single engine plane is not something I do everyday so I enjoyed every minute of it. A bumpy landing on a sand and grass airstrip in the jungle saw us into Punta Pajaros, then when we got off the plane we were greeted by heavily armed solider which I believe we were told to expect but still not something I’m used to.
After landing, it was onto a little boat and then onto the back of a truck for the drive down. At this point the other fishermen we met thought they were going down to Casa Blanca lodge while we were on our way to Playa Blanca. On the drive down we passed a pretty big group of buildings and everyone was like: “oh I wonder what that was”. Anyway, about 40 minutes later we arrived at Playa Blanca, much to the rest of the groups surprise. We were greeted with margaritas which was a nice way to start, then it was onto a briefing in the main communal area and we were shown to our rooms.
Although we weren’t scheduled in for any guided fishing I wasn’t going to let that stop me from getting out on the beach and having a bash. I initially tried with some spinning gear and then moved on to fly gear. I had some success with fly gear and some bites from small jacks, but they managed to slip the hook before I landed them. I’d fish in the evenings every day after we came back from fishing which was a great way to expend the fishing day. This worked out pretty well for me and I’ll talk about my best catch later on. My dad also joined me on the beach some afternoons and he had some great success too. Our search for barracuda was especially enjoyable. I’ve included some of the other good catches I caught from the beach in the gallery below.
I managed to get a mix of species, I also got some small jacks and yellow-tail snapper but didn’t get pictures of them. The Spanish mackerel was a real surprise as I was fishing a beach that had a big reef about a kilometre out that had breakers and separated the beach from the ocean so I wouldn’t have expected oceanic species to have come in. The bonefish on the top left was also a shock as it took a 6/0 tan brushy GT fly! My dad also got a few on a chartreuse and silver lip less crankbait from Walmart which is pretty surprising as we would normally fish for them with small shrimp patterns. There were a lot of baitfish holding just behind the breaking waves, in the stirred up sand and that’s why the Mackerel and the bonefish were behaving like that.
Day 1
On day 1 I had no idea what to expect, I’d never flats fished off of a skiff before. I was on a boat with my dad and we asked our guide to put us on the easiest fish around. We were taken to this mangrove covered coastline with a fairly shallow sandy bottom and we were told to take out our heavy tarpon rod. We poled along this stretch of awesome looking coastline for half an hour or so and it was great to see the rays and other marine life under the boat. However, we didn’t see any big tarpon. After this we then went into this inlet in the mangroves – some of the others had been out on a boat yesterday and had told us about a spot like this and said they’d been successful with the juvenile tarpon. As soon as we arrived we were greeted by rolling tarpon on the far side of the inlet.
We progressed along the inlet towards where the majority of the tarpon were rolling. Then, a tarpon rolled about 50 feet in front of us and I put in a perfect cast right in front of it. It took the purple EP baitfish I was using without hesitation and I was into my first tarpon. It fought well and wouldn’t give up. It wasn’t beating any world records but it was an acrobat and a joy to fight.
Myself and my dad alternated on the casting platform and between us managed to get a fair few tarpon to the boat. The takes from the tarpon were super aggressive, they are such dogged fighters and wouldn’t give up even when they were at the boat. I put the aggressive takes down to the mangrove stained water
Going into this trip, I’d read multiple books, watched countless YouTube videos and even listened to podcasts about tarpon! So to see one on the end of my line was a special experience
After the tussles with tarpon we poled back out to the entrance of the inlet where we spooked two massive permit, these things were huge! I’m not even sure I’ve seen any pictures of fly caught permit this big. Once we reached the inlet it was back on the motor and we went flying across the flats. Feeling confident, our next quarry was permit. We arrived at a shallow sandy flat in a bay and started poling around, hunting for permit. Our guide was keyed in on the permit and despite numerous shots I couldn’t seem to make it happen, until after casting to a school of permit and starting my retrieve, I felt my line go tight! I was exhilarated – until I realised it was a sneaky bonefish that had shot out from under the school of permit to snaffle my beautifully tied rag-head crab. I love bonefish, but when you’ve spent your whole afternoon targeting picky permit they become more like unwanted by catch. Although, after my realisation that this put me in the running for a grand slam if I could just connect with a permit.
After I landed that bonefish it was dad’s turn. At that moment a shoal of permit turned up, he put in a good cast and was on! He held the line slightly too tightly and some weakness in the leader gave in and the line snapped. We were both understandably upset as our only bite from a permit didn’t result in a catch! After that it was time to head in.
In the evening when we were sitting in this palm front bar area, drinking local beers with a spinning rod leaning against the table, or as we called it: “beer fishing”. We spent our time watching the ocean and we saw a pair of really big tarpon cruise from the dark reef area onto the sandy bottomed shallows near the shore which was incredible to see.
Day 2
On day 2, I was on a boat with my uncle and a different guide to the first day. We used a very similar approach to what we did on day 1, by starting off poling along this mangrove covered coastline looking for migratory tarpon and then when unsuccessful we moved to the inlet. My uncle started off and managed to get into a couple really nice tarpon in the mangroves which was brilliant.
After the success with the tarpon in the morning, we moved on to the Permit and they were tricky as normal. We tried for permit most of the day, I managed to wrangle in a stray bonefish and towards the end of the day my uncle hooked a nice permit. After that the race was on for the grand slam and we rocketed over to some super shallow flats. So shallow at points that I had to get out and help push the boat. It was looking dire and at the last possible minute we managed to run into a school of bonefish. First grand slam for anyone on the trip! After we got back to the lodge, I thought I would try and finish my grand slam as I’d seen some permit off the beach. I took out my Bloke #11 and a 6/0 tan brushy and a sportfish saltwater #8 with a tan raghead crab. The beach in front of the lodge had to be the fishiest place I fished the entire trip and this evening did not disappoint, early on I saw some really nice sized permit cruising about 2m off the shore. I led them nicely but with how the waves were breaking – there was this vertical drop-off where the waves were crashing right on the shore – and I think this meant the crab didn’t sink properly and didn’t look good to the fish. Either way the permit weren’t biting. I worked my way along the shore, blind casting with the #11 when I wasn’t spotting fish. I got quite far away from the lodge and was getting bitten to death by sand flies so I started to work my back, doing long casts straight out. I send an especially long cast straight out, I give the fly a tug, and this huge head rolls on the top of the water and inhales my fly. Before I can even think, the tarpon takes off for the reef out to sea and tears off my fly line straight to my backing. I crank up the drag and set the hook as hard as I could about 5 times, in response the fish lunges out of the water, shaking its head in anger. As this is happening I ditch my #8 on the beach and start running up the beach as fast as I could while trying to pull in this fish, screaming “Help me!!!”. I didn’t have my camera on me so I was desperate for someone to see this fish, I didn’t want it to be put down to a ‘fisherman’s tale’. After what seemed like an age I made it in range of the lodge and everyone who was sitting outside drinking beers ran down to help me. The fish took off a couple more time and did a few jumps and one of the guys got the leader and tried to help land the fish. It was at this point that heartbreak occurred and the hook pulled… Luckily after the trip I managed to get hold of a couple pictures of the fight, which is a whole lot better than nothing but not the picture of me holding the fish in the water I dream of. All in all, an absolutely incredible experience, seeing that fish take the fly from a blind cast on the shore was unbelievable.
These are the pictures I’ve got of the tarpon off the beach.
Day 3
Day 3 I was on my own on the boat and I wanted to target permit. In the morning I was taken to a very peaceful and shallow flats area with islands of mangroves. Despite my guides desperate poling and putting me on multiple shoals of permit, I wasn’t able to connect with any. The rest of the day was fairly quiet and I managed to get one bonefish. This was a shared experience throughout the group, probably down to tides and conditions.
When we returned to the lodge, I decided to go stalking down the beach with my dad to try and turn my luck around. We managed to spot two large dark shapes about 35 metres away from shore and realized they were tarpon!! Dad managed to tease them in a bit with a lure and I made a cast about 6 feet in front of the leading fish, it seemed to look at it but didn’t go for it
Day 6
On day 6 I was on a boat with my dad. We set out with the intention of simply catching some fish and making the most of our last day. We tried for some snook but they were pushed up really far into the mangroves and were very tricky – no success on that front. I did manage to blind cast a few bonefish in a likely looking spot then after that we poled along this calm mangrove section and just fished for whatever was there. It can be really fun fishing for things like mangrove snapper. Whilst poling along the mangroves I spotted a very large barracuda, I cast at it with a green ka-cuda fly to no avail. However when I switched to a tan brushy the barracuda was all over it
A look back on the trip
My trip to Mexico was incredible, although it has unfortunately set me up for a lifetime of bad financial decisions involving fishing and exotic locations.
The company was second to none, being with my dad and uncle is a memory I’ll treasure forever.
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