Bonefish In Xcalak Mexico

[Justin Spencer]

Just returned from a trip to Xcalak, Mexico. Flew in to Cancun, rented a car and drove about 5 hours south to a little town near the Belize border. Amy and I had a guide lined up for one day ($275 for a full day), then I tried some fishing on my own several other days. We had a good day with the guide although Amy struggled a little in the wind. We managed 8 bones between us with 5 of them being what I would consider nice sized. Quite a bit of time was spent trying to get Amy into a comfortable casting distance in the wind so that number could have been higher with a little more casting practice. Every fish was caught on flies that I tied which was fun for me. Much like when I tie for trout I can't stick to tying the same thing time after time, so I added a lot of flash and rubberlegs to the common patterns such as the crazy Charlie and gotcha. I tied on a gotcha with bright orange rubberlegs before the guide arrived and fully expected him to switch the fly. He didn't and I caught 3 bones on it before it got torn up and we changed flies. The day following our guide trip was very windy so we didn't fish, but enjoyed some great snorkeling via kayak just a quarter mile from the beach. The next evening the wind switched and although cloudy, me and a fellow fisherman I had met drove up the beach to a place that had some good wade fishing. Since it was cloudy, spotting fish was difficult so we hoped to find some fish tailing in the turtle grass. No fish were tailing, but as we slowly made our way up the beach we spotted a nice school of bones nearly running over us. Standing perfectly still with dozens of fish just feet away I attempted a roll cast out in front of the school, no luck but the school did not spook. A few fish swam passed us I laid another cast out in front of them to no avail. The rest of the school then circled around and I laid a cast in front of them. This time as I began to strip one fish began to follow, as I sped up my strip this fish pounced on the fly and I was hooked up to a beautiful bonefish that quickly took me into my backing. Like most bones after that first big run he came right at me and once at my feet he took off again. I finally was able to bring this fish to hand, my biggest fish of the trip and the first bonefish I have caught on my own. We had a great trip, caught some great fish, and are ready to go back again.

[Lancer09]

Sounds like a great trip.

Really jealous!

[Plastic_worm]

That sounds too cool!!! Envious...I'd be jealous if there were pics!!??