La Pescadora Fly Fishing Lodge Trip Report – 11/5-11/12:
“On Nov. 5th a group of anglers traveled to La Pescadora Fly Fishing Lodge in Punta Allen, Mexico to experience their first time fishing salt water flats for multiple days. All the anglers had fished fresh water a bunch, but this was to be most of their first foray into the world of sight casting the flats for the big salt water four; Bonefish, Tarpon, Snook, and Permit. All the anglers understood that although they all had many positive experiences fishing for trout in the Rocky Mountain west, that this was a whole new type of fly angling that requires throwing heavier rods/lines quickly and accurately, to larger fish that you are hopefully able to see. Each client came into the experience with a great mindset and they had proper expectations of how different this type of angling would be to the fresh/cold water fishing they were more accustomed to. The adaptation to the salt certainly exceeded my expectations, and it was a true treat to be involved in their first entrance to the world of salt water angling.
Our group was comprised of a total of seven anglers (including myself) so that each angler would be able to experience a “solo” day once during the six fishing day trip. Overall, we had pretty decent weather over the whole trip, but there were factors that caused each day to have some challenging conditions via wind, clouds, or a wind directional change. But, all in all, these conditions helped the group get a decent overview and understanding of the salt water fishing game by having moments of great weather and then moments of challenging weather. Each angler of our group caught a Snook, Tarpon, and a lot of Bonefish (including some larger sized bones (5 – 7 lbs in an area accessed within the mangroves – called Santa Rosa). One of the challenges an angler faces during his entrance to salt water fishing, is deciding what species to target on each day. A lot of times this is dictated by the weather (it’s harder to see permit at a distance if it is cloudy). At this time of year, there are opportunities to target all of the big four salt water flats species, so it is really up to each boat to decide what species they want to chase each day. When conditions change during the day, the need to adjust is extremely important. I have been lucky enough to spend over 30 days with these guides and lodge, and know that the guides are incredible at making adjustments each day based the conditions and will to put their anglers in the best possible situations at that given time. Over the week, we were able to catch three permit in addition to the other species that they all had landed. One angler, Brian Nickel, recorded a super slam by landing all four species in one day.
As usual, the hospitality, food, and comforts provided by the staff and guides at La Pescadora Fly Fishing Lodge, was excellent. When asked, Pepe was always available to create a cocktail for the guests, and Lily provided detailed answers to all of the guests questions regarding the area, food, real world updates (an election occurred during this trip), etc. All the anglers learned a great deal throughout the trip about salt water angling techniques, understanding what to look for when a guide sees a specific fish to cast to, and new stripping techniques to try fool the fish into eating their fly. As a whole, the trip (from my perspective) was a great entrance into the world of salt water fly fishing. It is not often that first time salt water anglers get to experience landing a Tarpon, Snook, and Bonefish (as well as a few permit) on their first trip, but this group really took advantage of the opportunites that were presented to them, and it was an incredible experience to be a part of. Thank you to Lily, Jose, Nester, Rodo, Danny, the junior guides (Miguel, Peter “the eel”, Christobol, and Willy),Pepe, the cooks and other staff at the lodge for helping deliver a great trip to the Mexican salt water flats of Ascension Bay.
For more information on this trip in 2017, please email WorldCast Anglers or call us at 800-654-0676. You are also welcome to sign up for our e-newsletters. Trip information can always be found on our WCA Hosted Trips webpages.”
WorldCast Anglers COO/Head of Outfitting
C.G. Sipe
