mexico 2007

[millser]

Can anyone give me any details about the best times to go to Mexico next year for a bit of billfishing/general sea fishing and any good resorts

Thanks in advance

[PanamaJack]

Hi Millser
Any thoughts on what part of Mexico you're looking at - Caribbean or Pacific? And whether you're looking to book it as part of a package holiday or independently? Also any preference, restrictions on times of year. Or is the fishing the key part of the holiday? And any view on what you want to spend on the fishing. Obviously the larger cruisers will be much more expensive than the open pangas.

Any rate here some initial thoughts.

Certainly Caribbean side the best run of billfish - mainly all Sailfish, plus White and occasionally small Blue Marlin - happens in the Spring. That's resorts like Cancun and Cozummel where you should be able to get packaged holidays to. There're also the other 'bits and pieces' that come from general trolling. But, if it's of interest, there would certainly be guides on that coast that specialize in fish shallow water and the mangroves for Bonefish. That though is with light spin or even fly fishing tackle.

On the Pacific side you've got resorts like Cabo San Lucas and East Cape on the Baja Penninsular and Loreto, going round into the Sea of Cortez. And, further down the Pacific coast, Puerto Vallata and Mazatlan or even Acapulco. The run of Striped Marlin, the mainstay of these fisheries is probably better from November through to March.........but they can show up just about any time. The larger Blues and Black Marlin and big Sailfish normally show during the Summer months.

Those Pacific venues as well probably offer you a better range of back-up species including big Yellowfin Tuna and Dorado and, inshore, Snapper and Roosterfish.

There’re certainly some interesting recent posts on the Central/South American forum. And the Trip Reporter section of www.marlinnut.com can also give you some excellent guidelines.

But first step I guess is to start tying down some of those parameters I started by identifying.
Dave

[sleepy1]

Beach Paradise cancun. 4 star very clean and well kept. you can book fishing charter from the hotel.
unfortunatly i didnt go fishing. kept putting of to the next day. i missed out. not far from Senor Frogs. top club

[Kingfish81]

Millser, I spent a pretty awesome two weeks in Loreto (www.bajabigfish.com) on the Baja Peninsula this July (http://www.sexyloops.co.uk/cgi-bin/theboard/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=6;t=3607). Had loads of dorado, plus saw a few sails and had one. We didn't see many billies simply because the dorado were so thick in numbers! A couple of weeks before we got there though the sails were so thick on the ground that anglers were struggling to get a bait past them to the dorado! Get it right and Loreto can be awesome, however it can be a bit hit and miss... Best time of year is June-August, but beware, it is HOT (40+C)!

As Dave says, the East Cape and Cabo San Lucas areas can be pretty awesome and fire seriously hot for stripies at the right time of year (although Cabo is meant to be VERY touristy...). Have a look at www.mexfish.com for local reports throughout the year. May/June in East Cape is meant to be pretty s**t-hot - plenty of stripies, yellowfin, dorado, roosters plus a few sails. The Van Wormer group of hotels cover the East Cape area and you can get pretty good deals through them (www.vanwormerresorts.com) and is probably the company I am going to use if I go back to Baja next year. The other advantage with Baja is that it is cheap with boat hire being around US$200-250 a day...

I would definitely agree with Dave that the Pacific areas (particularly East Cape from what I've read) offers a good range of 'back-up' species should the billfish not show.

[taff2]

spent two weeks in puerto vallarta the pacific side had loads of fish fished the beach out side the hotel a bite evrey cast went out on a 20 foot skip the skipper had me 2 sail fish lots of tuna and banito the hotel was top class all inclusive the wife had a brill time did not mourn once got me some coffie wile i was fishing at 7 oclock in the morning thats a first will go back one day if you have any kids they waill have a ball

[duncantaylor]

Hi Millser,
I have just returned from Xcaret near Playa Del Carmen. Stayed at the Hotel Grand Flemenco next door to the park. The fishing from the shore was superb. Every night about 1 hour before dark I was casting about 75 yards off the shore with various plugs and spinners. It took me a while to understand the area and species. The best method was with surface poppers and large 5 inch plugs orange and silver. I caught Blue Fin Tuna to 8lb lots of king Fish to about 5lb-these are long and grey and look like a spanish mackeral and the highlight was a 10lb Jack Travelle. The shore was very rocky and you had to cast out as far as possible and entice the predators in. I lost far more fish than I caught and the sport was frantic at times. I also saw Wahoo comming right into shore. The reason the large predators come in so close is that there are very steep drop offs about 100 yards from the shore. THe best fishing was when the sea was calm and unfortunately the sea was quite rough on many occaisions. However I caught or lost fish on every session. I caught many smaller snapper and grouper close in on small spoons and jigs but after catching the bigger predators I left these alone.

In order to tackle these fish you will need some decent tackle. I took 3 telescopic rods and managed to break 2 on fish. I have since purchased a 2 piece pike rod for when I return as even these fish put up an incredible fight. I have caught Pike and Carp up to 20lb but these fish are in a different league. I also used a large Shimano reel with 25lb braid line and a 40lb trace. I have heard that the whole of the coast around Cancun and Playa del Carmen are good fishing spots.
I also did a half day charter with Captain Ricks going from Porto Adverturas which was a 15 minute taxi ride south from the hotel. We had 4 on our boat and paid about £40 each for 4 hours. My son caught a 15lb Wahoo and an American guy caught a 40LB Sailfish. Not too bad but the best months for the boat fishing is from Jan-June. The charter was good and I would reccomend Captain Ricks-the gear and tackle is good and they know the fishing grounds.
Hope you enjoy-I am booking to go back next year with better tackle.

[Patfin]

I went to Zihuatanejo on the pacific last July for a half day and raised 6 sailfish and caught and released 4 - estimated range was 50 to 120 pound . The place was teeming with Sailfish and the crews and boats were excellent. Most boats were averaging 3/4 sails and their was Good inshore Action for Roosters, Jacks and Skipjack Tuna.....

http://www.sportfishing-ixtapa.com/reports.php

Good shout if you fancy fishing away from the crowds - I only saw one other boat the whole day.

I fished on La Bamba - And Santiago on the Gitana panga is definitely worth looking up.