Cancun

[Rocky Enfield]

Last year as I was preparing for a trip to Edinburgh, Scotland this forum was able to help me plan a fishing trip while I was there. I will be going to the Moon Palace in Cancun from April 23-29. I am hoping to get some inside information on fishing opportunities there. What is worth going after (in season), affordability, are there any shore fishing opportunities (do you need a license?). I always fish wherever we go and would like a chance to catch a billfish of some sort.

Any info that you can supply would be greatly appreciated. A guarantee of a trophy wouldn't be bad either .

Rocky Enfield

[PanamaJack]

Hi Rocky
Several of our Club's members have fished there in the April/May period for billfish. They've had great success with the Sails and White Marlin plus the odd Blue. The Blues have tended to be small - sub 200 - but still great fun on the right tackle.

Reading reports from the Pacific coast of Mexico though the Sails aren't yet there in expected numbers. Undoubtedly the effect of the El Nino phenomena that's currently building off Central and the top half of Central America. But El Ninos do appear to have spin off effects globally. So whether this is going to have any effect on the Caribbean coastline I don't know. It's normally prime time. But it might be worth viewing some of the local sites that note catch reports to see if anything's obvious. Or perhaps, nearer the time, posting an enquiry to somewhere like the forum on http://www.sportfishingmag.com/?

In terms of Mexico, it’s my understanding that yes you will need a fishing licence to fish from the shore. Normally with the offshore and flats guides this is included in the charter rate. I’m sure that there’re other links on the ‘Net but this is just one I picked up - http://www.bajabound.com/before/permits/fishing.asp. It appears that you should be able to buy one from a local tackle shop.

Have you perhaps thought about the flats fishing? The Bonefish aren’t in the main particularly large like the ‘Keys and Bahamian fish but they’re present in numbers. And especially if you wanted to arrange a trip down to Ascension Bay and Boca Paila – they run them from Cancun, although it’s a reasonable car journey south – there’re ever present opportunities for Grand and even Super Grand Slams – with the Bones, Tarpon, Permit and Snook. You can target those on light spin gear or the fly.

I suspect all the boats out of the Cancun marinas will be local and, in that most of their clients will be tourists, you may, although the rates are reasonable, be taken for a ‘boat ride’. It’s probably worth talking to other groups coming off the boats before you determine who to go out with. A small number of American boats do make the long run down for the billfish season but normally they would be based on the ‘island’ - Isla Muyeres. They’ll either be solely private or, if they do charter, much more expensive. But the very fact that they’re making the run down says something about the quality of the billfish fishery, particularly for the Sails.

Best of Luck
Dave

[ms1000]

Hi Rocky,

I stayed at the Moon Palace in June 2002 and 2004,great place.There is some great fishing around the area(although you may need a car to get to the inland waters as youre quite away out from the main Hotel strip).

The fishing from the beach, inland waterways and lagoons will keep you busy enough, i spent the whole 3 weeks fishing for Tarpon,Snook,Jacks and Barracuda in the lagoons /waterways where some excellent sport is to be had using shallow diving plugs and poppers with metallic blue colours and red headed/white bodied patterns working particularly well.

Id definately reccomend hiring a skiff and a guide for the full day(around $200) that will take you right into the mangroves which is superb,the Tarpon are plentiful in there.But do take your own tackle.

Best of luck, i hope to return myself again this year.

[Rocky Enfield]

Hi Rocky,

I stayed at the Moon Palace in June 2002 and 2004,great place.There is some great fishing around the area(although you may need a car to get to the inland waters as youre quite away out from the main Hotel strip).

The fishing from the beach, inland waterways and lagoons will keep you busy enough, i spent the whole 3 weeks fishing for Tarpon,Snook,Jacks and Barracuda in the lagoons /waterways where some excellent sport is to be had using shallow diving plugs and poppers with metallic blue colours and red headed/white bodied patterns working particularly well.

Id definately reccomend hiring a skiff and a guide for the full day(around $200) that will take you right into the mangroves which is superb,the Tarpon are plentiful in there.But do take your own tackle.

Best of luck, i hope to return myself again this year.

So just how far out is the Moon Palace? Are there any taxis or buses that would run me up to the main lagoon? Is the Moon Palace on the ocean and can you fish from the beach or a marina there?

This is a company trip (with loads of free time). I will probably charter a boat for myself and several friends to go for the billfish for a one day trip. What I would like to do then is sneak out in the early AM when the wife is still sleeping and get some shore fishing done, either in the lagoon or on the beach or preferably both. I would like to do this without hiring a guide. Do you think that is possible? I have been to the Moon Palace website and they never mentioned fishing at all.

Thanks for the info and have a great day!

Rocky

[ms1000]

Rocky,

Moon Palace is around a 5-10 minute drive to the main lagoon(Nichupte),and just a few minutes from Lagoon Ingles and the Nizuc canal which are great fun.Theres some great lure fishing on the beach at MP though.

Taxis and buses are frequent too.