Playa del Carmen, Mexico fishing opportunity

[wetaline]

I decided to move a copy of this over to the Salty Side of things -thought you folks may have some more info. Much appreciated!

I'm lucky enough to have some good friends getting married this May and they've decided to do it in Playa del Carmen, Mexico which is 45 minutes south of Cancun. And after some arm twisting i've decided to go.

Its suppose to be an old fishing village - And from what i've gathered May is a great time for several species. Has anyone fished out of Playa del Carmen? if so I welcome some advice and recomendations.

-wet

[whalerpaul]

I have gone to the Quintanna Roo area several times but stayed a little south of Playa del Carmen in Akumal (best family beach and close in reef).
Playa del Carmen IMHO is pretty 'touristy'lots of little shops with T shirts, etc. It does has a ferry connection to Cozumel - the diving mecca island offshore and I remember the beaches being very big and sandy.

I did not check out fishing there, but about 50-60 miles south is some world class bone fishing in some inland estuaries right off the gulf (Boca Paila I think).Commercial facilities for bone fishing are pretty minimal I recall, so it is best to arrange things ahead of time.

Cancun is just north of Play del Carmen and being much more commercialized probably has more Internet savvy fishing enterprises.

I did see this site covering fishing out of Playa del Carmen that looked interesting:
http://playadelcarmeninfo.com/playa-...o-fishing.html

I think you also need a special fishing lisence, and you may be able to get one ahead of time from a Mexican Consulate in the USA.

Good luck and let us know what yu find.

paul

[Jimmy Carl Black]

Like Whalerpaul, I've been there a couple times but did not fish. Plenty of close-reefs, beautiful beaches, good beer. Snorkeled/free dove reefs off Play del Carmen and Cozumel. Saw some baracuda in Cozumel. Heard those are fun to fish for. You should definitely check out the ruins at Chichen-Itza while your there.

[spinifera]

We went to Cancun on our honeymoon in ‘96. I talked my wife into going fishing and had a blast. We went down to the docks and asked around and hired a panga to take the two of us out. We went into the mangrove and flyfished for snook and baby tarpon (~10 pounds). I didn’t ever hook any snook (they strike too fast and my reflexes were used to trout). We went back into the open water a bit and did catch some tarpon. Their fight rivals tuna with some outstanding aerial displays. We have a picture of one that is entering the water about 15 feet from where if left the water (with about 3 summersaults in between). We then had BBQ barracuda for lunch. I’d highly recommend it! Chichén Itzá was amazing too. I’ve been to the Egyptian pyramids and CI blows them away! We hired a Mayan guide for a group of four. If you go, spend a little more than the bus tours and hire a personal guide. I guarantee you will not regret it. I’ve traveled the world (in the military) and Mexico is our destination of choice. You can’t beat the price, food, culture, sun, sand, or FISH and you can avoid the tourists if you want to. Have fun down south - Russell

[Steelerdan]

Wetaline, My wife and I went there last December. We found a guide through a waiter we had there. The guides name was Victor Castro. We had a great time. We fished for small yellow fin snapper for about an hour (caught about 15) then used them for live bait. Caught 2 barracuda about 15 and 25 pounds very fun. Then my wife caught a grooper that was about 40 pounds. He fed us lunch and beer and let us snorkle for about 30 minutes on a nice reef. Very good time,he spoke pretty good english. If you would like send me an email and I can give you his phone number.

[Puffin]

DONT MISS THE SIAN KAAN BIOSPHERE (BAD SPELLING) SOUTH OF TULUM BEAUTIFUL AND NO ONE AROUND ROAD IS VERY ROUGH BUT THE RENTAL CAR DID NOT SEEM TO MIND I PLAYED BAJA 1000 AND HAD QUITE A BIT OF FUN YOU WILL LOVE THE BRIDGE HAVE FUN ITS BEAUTIFUL

[wetaline]

Wanted to bump this back to the top... I'm putting away the kwik fish and back bouncing rods for a couple weekends and trading them in for some big blue water gear :smile: Headed down on May 9th... any and all recomendations are welcome.

muchas Gracias,
wet