Huatulco, Mexico

[reevesr1]

My wife and I just returned from a one week all inclusive in Huatulco, Mexico. It was a fabulous trip. We stayed at the Barcelo resort. The place thrives on Canadians, and will tolerate the odd American or two. Also, they are getting very near the end of the "Canadian" season, so the resort was around 60%+ Mexican families, which was really cool as well. Friendly staff, very clean older resort. Can't recommend it more. Here are some random shots, including the one day of fishing we did.

 

One thing I did learn is that they have to pay LOTS of money for fishing gear. A Rapala lure that would be $10 here in Canada will be $20 there. Same thing with gear. When my wife and I were fishing, we were mostly trolling because the casting was very difficult in the pretty rough seas. So we did mostly troll with 2 rapalas and with my fly rod. The streamers I used (given to me by Darcy over at Faceless Fly fishing. Thanks guys, they worked great!!) performed really well. After I had landed a couple of fish, the guide (we fished off a panga owned by a guy who was soliciting on the beach) asked "how much is the fly rod?" It's an old 8 wt TFO and I estimated it at $250. He asked about the reel which was probably $80 (and I explained it was not a saltwater reel). He says "trade one more fishing day for rod and reel?" I say, what the hell! So we went a second day, and created a new fly fisherman! Next time I go I'll be armed with an extra fly rod I'll pick up on eBay or FFC, and a bunch of flies and rapalas to give to the guys and trade for trips! Not sure if this strategy will work in high season, but worst case is I have stuff to give to guys who could certainly use the gear. I might even try to get donations. The guides there seem to be pretty hand to mouth. But the one's I met sure seemed to be great guys.

 

Anyway, here are some shots and some fishing stories......

 

View from our hotel room:

 

Some random vacation stuff:

 

More to follow later this evening......

[reevesr1]

More random shots:

 

Our tour guide:

 

Some small Bonita (I think) on a feeding frenzy, seen from our party boat on a snorkeling (but mostly drinking) trip:

 

Tortuga!

 

My wife, on the right, leading "YMCA" off the bow of the party boat. After many drinks!

 

Now for some fishing:

My wife and I spent about 5 hours on the water one morning. Our guide, as mentioned before was one of the fishing vendors on the beach outside of our resort. Like most of the guys around the area, they were subsistence fisherman before the resorts showed up. He seemed like a personable guy, so we signed up. We were supposed to fish on Sunday morning, but I had some stomach issues Saturday night, Sunday morning that made fishing is 6 foot swells sound like a bad idea, so we rescheduled for Monday. Monday morning we head out to try some casing around rocks. Unfortunately, it was even rougher Monday than it had been on Sunday making casting pretty damn tricky, and basically impossible with the fly rod. So we started trolling while keeping a lookout for surface feeding fish to cast to. We did get a couple on rod and reel via the casting method, but nothing with the fly rod. I couldn't seem to strip fast enough. When the fish were in the feeding frenzy mode, you really had to rip your offering through the water, and I just couldn't seem to get it going with the fly rod. Part of the problem was definitely the size of the swells. Tough to get a good long cast, and tough to strip fast when you are fighting your balance and the waves themselves.

 

So mostly we trolled with two rapalas and my fly rod. My wife was handling one of the regular rods, and I was on the other and the fly rod. And while the fly rod held it's own in numbers, I must say my wife kicked my ass in species and size as the following pictures will show:

 

Jackie's first ever saltwater fish fully on her own, a small jack;

 

 

And hooked up on fish number two:

 

 

Right after she hooked this fish, it makes a blistering run, then starts jumping and jumping. The guide yells "MAHI MAHI, MAHI MAHI!!!" Pretty unusual to get one of these so close to shore. Super cool!

 

 

Not quite satisfied, she closes with a really nice Mackerel:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[reevesr1]

During all this, I was getting a little action as well. Here I'm casing to some bonita on surface with some spin gear. Anyone who doesn't think this is fun either hasn't done it before or does it wrong. Total blast. Run up on a bunch of fish going nuts on surface, cast into them while trying not to get tossed in the water, and then reel like mad and if they hit, hang on!

 

But as fun as that was, it wasn't what I was looking forward to. And while what I really wanted to do was land a fish while casting, the conditions just were not favorable. But I was determined to at least fight some fish on the fly rod, so tied a big streamer on and trolled. I don't think Elias thought it was the best idea, but he went with it. Didn't take long for this to happen:

 

We trolled by letting out all of the fly line. And we were trolling pretty fast, so when the fish hit you loose a bunch of line pretty quick. Takes me a few minutes to get the fish back by the boat, and when I do, he decides he didn't like it there and did a big run straight down:

 

Elias reaction:

(wasn't long after this he asked "how much is fly rod??"

 

After quite the tug of war, Elias is wondering when, or if, the battle will ever end:

 

But finally, it does!

 

My biggest fish to date in salt with a fly rod. A bonita. If you've ever caught them, you know that pound for pound not much out there fights harder. Essentially a little tuna. I also got a few smaller jacks and lost a couple other nice fish (will not pinch the barbs next time. Elias's wife would kill him if he didn't bring the fish home!)

 

We did go the next day, but with the big waves and with a second bout of stomach issues (thankfully nowhere near as bad as the first), we cut the day short after a couple of hours. Good deal for Elias as he got the fly rod and reel as payment, and the "tip" was a fly box full of the flies from Faceles and some assorted saltwater flies I had. I did hook another pretty big fish, felt similar to the bonita, but with a bigger first run. I had to tighten the drag when I was down to less than half my backing. Got the fish back to the boat, and it does what they always do, make a panic run once they see the boat. But I had neglected to loosen the drag back off, and the results were pretty predictable. As was the long string of swear words that followed.

 

I also tried some beach casting when I was there one morning. Again, the waves made things pretty difficult. I did manage to hook 4 fish. One bit me off (think it was a mackerel), and I just flat lost the other three. One was for sure a needle fish and I'm not sure of the other two. I hope to make it back down there next Feb with my family when the ocean is supposed to be like a lake as opposed to April when it isn't like a lake at all!

 

If anyone is looking for a place to go, I can't recommend Huatulco enough. I also have Elias's contact info. I have absolutely no idea how he compares to other guides, but he has a panga with a big casting bow and does have a cover with 4 seats under the cover. Like most of the Panga's, he had a 60 horse yammy. Really, the boats are pretty slow, they use smaller engines to conserve the gas. He supplied breakfast taco's, water, beer, etc. Super nice and funny guy. I know for sure I was supporting a local guy, which was important to me. Next time I meet him, he will be a fly fishing expert!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[zed]

did you go to zipolite? it's not far away and i accidentally spent two months there a while back. it was pretty fun.

[darrinhurst]

Awesome story and pictures Rick!

 

Sounds like you had a blast! Stomach issues and all!

[reevesr1]

did you go to zipolite? it's not far away and i accidentally spent two months there a while back. it was pretty fun.

 

WE didn't. But we are hopefully going back in Feb with the kids, so will put it on the list!

 

[birchy]

Thanks for sharing Rick! Looked like a blast!

[stein]

I've stayed at Las Brisas in Huatulco, super good vaction, landed a nice 80lb mahi mahi while I was down there, man was that thing tasty!

[Jayhad]

mahi mahi..... I hope to catch one some day. they are a beautiful fish.

[loeber]

One of my families favorite places to be. Glad you had a good time. The surf is always unpredictable there but the people more than make up for it. If you are still hungry, I have a few crickets left I will share.

[FlyFishingEMT]

Awesome pictures and awesome fish. I've only saltwater fished once and I caught half a barracuda.