Guide/Lodge Recommendation

[johnsquires]

My stepson is getting married in Oct. They're going on a honeymoon south of Cancun, probably around Tulum. He wants to go fly fishing at least once while down there. I fished there once before, but I can't remember (I'm old) the name of the lodge. Any favorites in that area?

[TheAnglingReport]

John,

Pesca Maya lodge is just over an hour from Tulum, by car or 48km. There is also a place called http://bocapaila.com/ which is about 30 minutes or so.



From our website:

Angler Reports Walk-Up Bonefish Booking At Boca Paila Lodge

"Subscriber David Swezey says he made the one-and-a-half-hour drive from Playa Carmen on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico to Boca Paila Lodge (www.bocapaila.com) this past November and simply knocked on the door of the lodge to arrange a half-day of fishing. I had 12 hook-ups, he writes, ?seven of which resulted in boated fish. You couldn?t have asked for better weather. Light wind in the four- to six-mile-per-hour range, temperature in the mid-70s, scattered clouds. My guide, Pedro, was able to see through the still-stirred-up bottom from a hurricane that had passed through the week before. I hooked a few fish on his words alone. Swezey gives the cost of his half-day of fishing as $325. All in all, this was a super half-day fishing, he writes. This was my first time fishing this time of the year in the Yucatan but it won?t be my last."

An Angling Report subscriber had this to say about Pesca Maya lodge:

"Subscriber Ted A. Schmidt has good things to say about a four-day trip he and three friends took to Pesca Maya south of Cancun, Mexico, this past January. He writes:
Pesca Maya is located in the village of Punta Allen 90 miles south of Cancun. It is literally just feet from the beach and surf. A typical day here starts with breakfast at 7 a.m., after which you make your own box lunch. Guides and assistant guides arrive at 8 a.m., and you fish eight hours. Then it?s back to the lodge for a shower, cocktails, hors d?oeuvres and dinner at 7 p.m. Arturo and his wife, Jennifer, are fantastic chefs, preparing tantalizing breakfasts (eggs, pancakes, huevos rancheros, potatoes, bacon, chorizo) mouth-watering appetizers (fresh shrimp ceviche, fish soup, fresh chips with home-made fresh guacamole) and delicious dinners of fresh grouper, steak, chicken mole and pasta.

Bonefish, snook, permit and baby tarpon are the targets. Typically, two fishermen fish in a panga with one guide. Most the guides have an assistant who is younger and learning but eager. This gives you a set of eagle eyes on the rear platform and another set on the front deck to help spot fish. The person in the front also helps manage the line when a bigger fish is on.

?The guides all speak English, some better than others. All of them will focus on the fishing you prefer. I suggest you ask for Darwinio, Luis or Willburto as guides. Avoid Felipe if you want to wade or are thin-skinned. Two of us fished with him for three days and found him excellent at finding fish but with a rather sour disposition and very little interest in getting out of the boat.

Bonefishing is the go-to option here, especially for those new to salt water. Those in our group who concentrated on bonefish averaged a dozen or more fish landed and three times as many missed each day. Some in our group preferred snook, and they had many casts to active fish. Pesca Maya accesses many miles of mangrove islands, points and passageways. Both snook and tarpon like to cruise under, and at the edge of, these mangroves.

Pesca Maya is easy to access: I flew Tucson to Houston to Cancun on Continental ($682 first class). My friends flew from Phoenix direct. The Pesca Maya van driver met us at the airport and 3½ hours later, including a stop at a liquor store, we were sitting on the porch listening to the crashing surf and eating the best guacamole in all Latin America.

I paid $1,750 for four days and four nights, everything included except airfare and tips ($20 a night for the staff and $30 to $50 a day for the guides). I have fished at Turneffe Flats and priced other trips of this nature. Pesca Maya is the most reasonably-priced, high-quality destination I have found.?"