The Trip
The tarpon fly fishing adventure starts with your arrival at Cancun International Airport. It is about a 2 hour flight from Miami or Houston. Many carriers service Cancun directly from many cities in the US and some good fares can be found. You will be met after you clear customs by the driver for the lodge. From there it is a 2 hour drive to Chiquila, a fishing village on the northern Yucatan coast.The drive passes through a few interesting Mayan Villages along the way. Once in Chiquila you will board a boat for the trip to Holbox (pronounced "Holbosch") It is a 20 minute boat ride to the village. You will be staying at the only fly fishign lodge on Holbox. You will be shown to your room which is roomy and comfortable. (see Lodge for more room details) The lodge is right on the beach just a few blocks from the center of town.
The beach is shallow and easy to swim and it extends miles and miles to the east. Holbox is also famous for its conch population and big shells are a fairly common sight if you walk out of town a mile or so. The meals are included in your package as we have by far the finest restaurant on the island. With Luciano as your host you get some wonderful food and excellent service. Breakfast and lunch is included with e package as well as an open bar. Dinners are on your own in one of the several restaurants in town.
For those on a fishing package you will be leaving early in the morning and a continental breakfast with coffee and juice will be waiting. Lunches are packed and ready to go for the day out on the water. If you are not fishing while here you will get breakfast a little later!.
The guides usually start tarpon fishing at 6: 00 am and it is about a 20 minute ride to most of the better flats. It is possible to go a hour away to some of the more distant areas. The fishing is mostly sight fishing to cruising or rolling tarpon. The water depth is between 3 and 15 feet. the normal fishing day is 8 hours. The guides work hard poling the boat incessantly to intercept schools of tarpon. The other reason the day is declared to end at 8 hours is that if you hook a big tarpon at 7 hours and 30 minutes into the day the guide will coach you for the next several hours while he chases your fish down without a second thought. So the 8 hour days end up averaging 10 hours. If no one is hooked up by 1:30 or so you will usually head in.
The guides have been trained in the art of fly fishing and everyone of them can throw a fly line with impressive results, they can coax a tarpon to follow, they know how to strip to make it eat the fly, they know the flies, they know the water, in short they are so good that we have to keep them with us by paying them top wages and limiting their hours to keep them fresh. That said however they will be happy to fish longer if we pay them a little overtime. Back at the lodge you will have some time to tie some flies and tell some stories at the bar before dinner. Good meals and good people will be the bonus to the great tarpon fishing. This is fly fishing heaven, tarpon style!
Isla Holbox
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