12-06-2006, 10:07 PM
Just got home, will post a report soon for those who are interested. Lots o' fish.
O.K., here is the report for those of you who are interested.
Day one: Not the best day, but still fun. 3 hour trip trolling about 1 mile from shore in front of Half-Moon bay, Akumal Bay, Jade Bay, and South Akumal Bay. Pretty rough seas, my wife and sister-in-law were trying hard not to throw up. We had lots of bites--mostly small barracuda or mackerel. We were using whole ballyhoo. Barracuda are very adept at eating pretty well every part of the ballyhoo other than the part with the hook. I was using my own gear with a Rapala Magnum CD-18 Sardine and landed the only fish, a 2 1/2 lb yellow tail snapper.
Day two: Shore fishing in Jade Bay. Fished at night in shallow water using chunks of octopus. Caught 1 1lb. Blue striped grunt. (no pic)
Day three: Guided flats fishing in Ascension Bay. Went out with Pescamaya Fishing lodge. Next year will be much, much better now that I have a little better idea of what to bring. This was an embarrassing trip in that my wife out-fished me--big time. As a side-note, I need to point out that I was using 10 and 15 lb. Cabela's Salt Striker monofilament line. I was not impressed and had lots of problems with it. Next year I am going to use 14lb fireline with a florocarbon leader or just straight clear mono from a more reputable brand. Anyway, we were using 1/4 oz. jigheads in various colors with 2 and 3" curly tail grubs, the hook tipped with fresh hermit crab (at least this is what actually caught the fish). Ashley got the first fish, a small mutton snapper on her very first cast. Then, as I was fumbling around with the big twisted mess that was my fishing line, I heard the drag zipping out from Ashley's reel. It just kept going, and going, and going. It blew me away. Seriously, in maybe 8-10 seconds the fish had pulled off about half of the line from the reel. Amazing. She reeled it in a bit, then it took off again. After maybe 5 minutes she got it in, and I was still messing with my line. It was a four lb. bonefish. These fish are amazing. It is also amazing that this smallish looking fish was as heavy as it was. Bone fish are just plain thick! Later, Ashley caught a small horse-eye jack. Then I caught a very small horse-eye jack--embarrassingly small--smaller than the bait I was using a couple of days before. They guides enjoyed laughing at me. A little while later I got a little more respectable jack. Later, I heard the same drag-burning "zing!!" that I heard earlier, this time Ashley was hooked up with a 5lb bonefish. We headed back after 4 hours and my brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and niece headed out. The domination by the ladies continued as my 10 year old niece caught 3 bone fish, my sister in law caught a small permit, and my brother in law caught some kind of unidentified rough fish.
Day 4: Bottom fishing 1 mile out from Half moon bay: This was the day of the "one that got away." First hook-up was something pretty good sized. Ashley's rod was bent in half and she was having trouble reeling the heavy spinning tackle. I took over and was pumping the fish up from about 200 ft when the line went suddenly slack. I couldn't really tell if there was anything on or not in that we were using very heavy sinkers to get the bait down. Anyway, I keep reeling and on the end of the line was the left-overs of a 8-10 lb-ish amberjack that had been bitten clean in half by some unidentified toothy critter. This blew me away and made me much more leery about snorkeling. As for landed fish, we caught a red snapper, 2 yellow tail snappers, an 2 ocean trigger fish (this was a really cool looking fish) and a whole amberjack running about 7 lbs. I say that this was the day of the ones that got away in that when we caught the whole amberjack, we probably had a second one on--it was pulling like crazy, then got suddenly light. The first AJ came up, but the second hook and the sinkers were gone. The other one that got away was something very big, and very strong. It just about took Ashley overboard (seriously, I'm not kidding here). I took over and was instantly AMAZED at the power of whatever was on the other line. Unfortunately, the fish was getting close to spooling me on the heavy spinning outfit we were using (we brought this along to try some casting from the boat, but ended up dropping it down with the other tackle, of course the biggest fish of the day decided to take the bait on the lighter tackle) so I started to button down the drag a little more and tried to pump it up to gain some line, but then the 30lb Salt Striker line snapped. I was pretty upset and vowed to never use that line again (it is always convenient to be able to blame your equipment). Anyway, next year I'm going with braid for bottom fishing--no doubt about it. The guide seemed pretty confident that this was either a big grouper or a cubrera snapper, likely in the 30-60lb. class. We lost a lot of fish and seriously had steady action for 4 hours--we would have landed more, but seriously, it takes a really long time to crank those fish up from 300 feet. Also, the guides were using what seemed like pretty small hooks to me. Probably about a 2/0 O'Shaughnessy. I decided that next time I would bring my own hooks.
Day 5: More night fishing in Jade bay. Using a chunks of octopus, I landed another 1lb ish blue striped grunt. Using a whole sardine, I got something that took out some line, shook its head and cut the 30lb floro leader I was using. Probably a 5 or 6 lb. cuda.
Day 6: Wading in South Soliman Bay, lots and lots of bites and nibbles, one landed 1 1/2 lb mutton snapper.
Day 7: More bottom fishing. Decided to make my own rigs using two 4/0 circle hooks and a second rig with 2 5/0 octopus hooks. Dropped down the first rig 300 ft to the bottom, tap tap tap, hauled up 2 2lbish red snappers, hooked right through the top corners of their mouths. I am sold on the circle hooks for bottom fishing. We did not miss ANY fish on the circle hook rig. Dropped it down again, tap tap tap, hauled up a 3 pound red snapper. Dropped a second rig, was down for a few minutes and BOOM, the rod bent and the drag was screaming for a few seconds. Started hauling up something, lots of movement on the line, the line got lighter and we pulled up a 13lb Amberjack. There was definitely a second one one as was evidenced by the leader being broken and the second hook and all the leader being gone. I was using my octopus hook rig. We managed a couple of trigger fish after that and 1 really pretty and odd looking orange spotted grouper-like fish. We looked it up, but I have forgotten what it was. After that, the anchor line broke so we then spent the rest of the time trolling with no success.
I have to say, the bottom fishing was awesome and now that I know better what to use, I will bring some more reliable equipment next year. Trolling was a pretty big disappointment--I was hoping for a king or a wahoo and November is a good time for them, but no luck. Maybe it was the bright moon, maybe it was the unsettled weather, I don't know. The flats fish was also very fun--for my wife especially. Anyway, if anyone wants info about fishing down in that area, I would be happy to give you some of the info that I gathered. I am certainly no expert, but could maybe point you in the right direction.
Here are some selected pictures. I don't have pictures of everything, but here you go:
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O.K., here is the report for those of you who are interested.
Day one: Not the best day, but still fun. 3 hour trip trolling about 1 mile from shore in front of Half-Moon bay, Akumal Bay, Jade Bay, and South Akumal Bay. Pretty rough seas, my wife and sister-in-law were trying hard not to throw up. We had lots of bites--mostly small barracuda or mackerel. We were using whole ballyhoo. Barracuda are very adept at eating pretty well every part of the ballyhoo other than the part with the hook. I was using my own gear with a Rapala Magnum CD-18 Sardine and landed the only fish, a 2 1/2 lb yellow tail snapper.
Day two: Shore fishing in Jade Bay. Fished at night in shallow water using chunks of octopus. Caught 1 1lb. Blue striped grunt. (no pic)
Day three: Guided flats fishing in Ascension Bay. Went out with Pescamaya Fishing lodge. Next year will be much, much better now that I have a little better idea of what to bring. This was an embarrassing trip in that my wife out-fished me--big time. As a side-note, I need to point out that I was using 10 and 15 lb. Cabela's Salt Striker monofilament line. I was not impressed and had lots of problems with it. Next year I am going to use 14lb fireline with a florocarbon leader or just straight clear mono from a more reputable brand. Anyway, we were using 1/4 oz. jigheads in various colors with 2 and 3" curly tail grubs, the hook tipped with fresh hermit crab (at least this is what actually caught the fish). Ashley got the first fish, a small mutton snapper on her very first cast. Then, as I was fumbling around with the big twisted mess that was my fishing line, I heard the drag zipping out from Ashley's reel. It just kept going, and going, and going. It blew me away. Seriously, in maybe 8-10 seconds the fish had pulled off about half of the line from the reel. Amazing. She reeled it in a bit, then it took off again. After maybe 5 minutes she got it in, and I was still messing with my line. It was a four lb. bonefish. These fish are amazing. It is also amazing that this smallish looking fish was as heavy as it was. Bone fish are just plain thick! Later, Ashley caught a small horse-eye jack. Then I caught a very small horse-eye jack--embarrassingly small--smaller than the bait I was using a couple of days before. They guides enjoyed laughing at me. A little while later I got a little more respectable jack. Later, I heard the same drag-burning "zing!!" that I heard earlier, this time Ashley was hooked up with a 5lb bonefish. We headed back after 4 hours and my brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and niece headed out. The domination by the ladies continued as my 10 year old niece caught 3 bone fish, my sister in law caught a small permit, and my brother in law caught some kind of unidentified rough fish.
Day 4: Bottom fishing 1 mile out from Half moon bay: This was the day of the "one that got away." First hook-up was something pretty good sized. Ashley's rod was bent in half and she was having trouble reeling the heavy spinning tackle. I took over and was pumping the fish up from about 200 ft when the line went suddenly slack. I couldn't really tell if there was anything on or not in that we were using very heavy sinkers to get the bait down. Anyway, I keep reeling and on the end of the line was the left-overs of a 8-10 lb-ish amberjack that had been bitten clean in half by some unidentified toothy critter. This blew me away and made me much more leery about snorkeling. As for landed fish, we caught a red snapper, 2 yellow tail snappers, an 2 ocean trigger fish (this was a really cool looking fish) and a whole amberjack running about 7 lbs. I say that this was the day of the ones that got away in that when we caught the whole amberjack, we probably had a second one on--it was pulling like crazy, then got suddenly light. The first AJ came up, but the second hook and the sinkers were gone. The other one that got away was something very big, and very strong. It just about took Ashley overboard (seriously, I'm not kidding here). I took over and was instantly AMAZED at the power of whatever was on the other line. Unfortunately, the fish was getting close to spooling me on the heavy spinning outfit we were using (we brought this along to try some casting from the boat, but ended up dropping it down with the other tackle, of course the biggest fish of the day decided to take the bait on the lighter tackle) so I started to button down the drag a little more and tried to pump it up to gain some line, but then the 30lb Salt Striker line snapped. I was pretty upset and vowed to never use that line again (it is always convenient to be able to blame your equipment). Anyway, next year I'm going with braid for bottom fishing--no doubt about it. The guide seemed pretty confident that this was either a big grouper or a cubrera snapper, likely in the 30-60lb. class. We lost a lot of fish and seriously had steady action for 4 hours--we would have landed more, but seriously, it takes a really long time to crank those fish up from 300 feet. Also, the guides were using what seemed like pretty small hooks to me. Probably about a 2/0 O'Shaughnessy. I decided that next time I would bring my own hooks.
Day 5: More night fishing in Jade bay. Using a chunks of octopus, I landed another 1lb ish blue striped grunt. Using a whole sardine, I got something that took out some line, shook its head and cut the 30lb floro leader I was using. Probably a 5 or 6 lb. cuda.
Day 6: Wading in South Soliman Bay, lots and lots of bites and nibbles, one landed 1 1/2 lb mutton snapper.
Day 7: More bottom fishing. Decided to make my own rigs using two 4/0 circle hooks and a second rig with 2 5/0 octopus hooks. Dropped down the first rig 300 ft to the bottom, tap tap tap, hauled up 2 2lbish red snappers, hooked right through the top corners of their mouths. I am sold on the circle hooks for bottom fishing. We did not miss ANY fish on the circle hook rig. Dropped it down again, tap tap tap, hauled up a 3 pound red snapper. Dropped a second rig, was down for a few minutes and BOOM, the rod bent and the drag was screaming for a few seconds. Started hauling up something, lots of movement on the line, the line got lighter and we pulled up a 13lb Amberjack. There was definitely a second one one as was evidenced by the leader being broken and the second hook and all the leader being gone. I was using my octopus hook rig. We managed a couple of trigger fish after that and 1 really pretty and odd looking orange spotted grouper-like fish. We looked it up, but I have forgotten what it was. After that, the anchor line broke so we then spent the rest of the time trolling with no success.
I have to say, the bottom fishing was awesome and now that I know better what to use, I will bring some more reliable equipment next year. Trolling was a pretty big disappointment--I was hoping for a king or a wahoo and November is a good time for them, but no luck. Maybe it was the bright moon, maybe it was the unsettled weather, I don't know. The flats fish was also very fun--for my wife especially. Anyway, if anyone wants info about fishing down in that area, I would be happy to give you some of the info that I gathered. I am certainly no expert, but could maybe point you in the right direction.
Here are some selected pictures. I don't have pictures of everything, but here you go:
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] I expect to see some wahoo,dorado,tuna, any kind of billfish from ofshore. From inshore i expect to see some Ajs,groupers,big snappers like cuberas and muttons!! [