Mexico fishing trip

[DLJeffs]

Spent last week in southern Mexico, on the Caribbean coast, doing a lot of fishing but not much catching. They had a north wind start the week before we got there and it was still there for our entire week. Not hard, I think 10mph was the highest, but it was enough to push enough water out of the bay to spook the tarpon and bonefish. They're notorious finicky when it comes to changes in their environment. On the plus side, the low water prevented the snook from hiding in the mangroves so we caught a few more of them than usual. The bird life was pretty good so that gave me something to do when it wasn't my turn on the casting deck.

 

[Gdurfey]

Congrats. Looks like a great trip.

 

[SENC]

Great pictures, sorry the fishing wasn't better. Though maybe that's a blessing with tarpon. I've found tarpon fishing is a blast, right up until you have one on the hook. Much more fun watching a buddy do all the hard work.

 

[DLJeffs]

Great pictures, sorry the fishing wasn't better. Though maybe that's a blessing with tarpon. I've found tarpon fishing is a blast, right up until you have one on the hook. Much more fun watching a buddy do all the hard work.

Agree, I like catching tarpon up to about 70 lbs. Bigger than that becomes way too much work. They can be so bitchy when it comes to weather tho.

 

[Nature Man]

Looks like a heck of a lot of fun! Tremendous photos! Chuck

 

[Mike Hill]

Looks like a great trip though! Noticed the title and was hoping for some roostertail pics. Way back when - used to have a lot of fun catching puppy tarpon in backwaters before all the tarpon left Texas waters (they are back now though)

 

[Mike1950]

Cliff loved Tarpon fishing- He loved watching his son in a Kayak get ripped around bay when catching a big one in his Kayak.
Do you go down to the columbia for Sturgeon?

 

[DLJeffs]

Looks like a great trip though! Noticed the title and was hoping for some roostertail pics. Way back when - used to have a lot of fun catching puppy tarpon in backwaters before all the tarpon left Texas waters (they are back now though)

Pez gallo live on the other coast.

 

[DLJeffs]

Cliff loved Tarpon fishing- He loved watching his son in a Kayak get ripped around bay when catching a big one in his Kayak.
Do you go down to the columbia for Sturgeon?

Letting a big tarpon or any large fish tow you around in your kayak would be one of the best ways to tire them out - unless of course the fish decided to go to Cuba or Hawaii or somewhere. I have not been sturgeon fishing. There's supposed to be a 5 footer living in a lake on one of the golf courses nearby. Tempting. But I nearly 100% fly fish and don't think sturgeon would be easy fly rod targets.

 

[DLJeffs]

Great pictures, sorry the fishing wasn't better. Though maybe that's a blessing with tarpon. I've found tarpon fishing is a blast, right up until you have one on the hook. Much more fun watching a buddy do all the hard work.

I might have told this story already. But we were trolling for mahi mahi in the Bay of Panama and we had a new guy, a Col Hupp joined us. We hooked up with what turned out to be a bonita which was quickly eaten by a large shark. Col Hupp seemed excited by the whole thing so I asked him if he'd never caught a shark. He said no. I said well, since it would be his first, I'd be happy to hand him the rod and let him catch this one. My friends Dad started to say something, and knowing what he was about to say, I quickly handed the rod to Col Hupp. 45 minutes later, drenched in sweat, with over 200 yards of line still out there with that big shark on the end, Col Hupp suddenly caught on and said "You little @%$##$". I only smiled and said boat rule was you had to get almost all the line back before you were allowed to cut off the shark. If I remember right when we finally cut the shark loose, Col Hupp drink a couple bottles of water, sat down and didn't move the rest of the trip. Catching sharks like that is like trying to haul a Volkswagen up from 500 feet down.

 

[Mike1950]

Letting a big tarpon or any large fish tow you around in your kayak would be one of the best ways to tire them out - unless of course the fish decided to go to Cuba or Hawaii or somewhere. I have not been sturgeon fishing. There's supposed to be a 5 footer living in a lake on one of the golf courses nearby. Tempting. But I nearly 100% fly fish and don't think sturgeon would be easy fly rod targets.

They used to let people collect the fish once they applied Rotenone to kill all the scrap fish before planting with trout. A friend was on the lake collecting fish and a guy near him dragged a 7' sturgeon on the boat. Turns out years before a couple guys caught a small sturgeon on Columbia river, put in live well and drove up to fish at night on the lake. Rumor has it there was a lot of drinking and they got in argument over keeping undersized fish. So they put it in lake. Expecting bass, trout and perch and getting a 7' fish, what are the odds.

 

[Mike Hill]

Lake Sturgeon are native to parts of TN, but had been overfished (and the building of dams) to almost the point of being non-existent. However, the wildlife commission decided it would be a good thing to bring them back. Back in 1992, 3,000 were released for a test trial. They noted that it seemed successful, so in 2000, they started stocking. I think they are up to almost 450,000 now. The first ones should be reaching sexual maturity and reproducing by now. Not sure if that has been confirmed yet. They don't get as big as the monsters in the NE, but I've heard of reports of them being up to 5' long now. Some of the more adventurous fly fishers I know have caught them on the fly. I think at the right time of the year, they will come up out of the deep water and are lots easier to catch. Sorta like lake trout.

 

[SENC]

I might have told this story already. But we were trolling for mahi mahi in the Bay of Panama and we had a new guy, a Col Hupp joined us. We hooked up with what turned out to be a bonita which was quickly eaten by a large shark. Col Hupp seemed excited by the whole thing so I asked him if he'd never caught a shark. He said no. I said well, since it would be his first, I'd be happy to hand him the rod and let him catch this one. My friends Dad started to say something, and knowing what he was about to say, I quickly handed the rod to Col Hupp. 45 minutes later, drenched in sweat, with over 200 yards of line still out there with that big shark on the end, Col Hupp suddenly caught on and said "You little @%$##$". I only smiled and said boat rule was you had to get almost all the line back before you were allowed to cut off the shark. If I remember right when we finally cut the shark loose, Col Hupp drink a couple bottles of water, sat down and didn't move the rest of the trip. Catching sharks like that is like trying to haul a Volkswagen up from 500 feet down.

Great story, and great decision (by you).

 

[DLJeffs]

I'd fought my share of big sharks out there and knew I really didn't want to do it again. Plus, it wastes so much fishing time. We debated the boat rule about retrieving most of the line before being allowed to cut the shark loose but being frugally stingy poor kids we kept the rule in place and tried our best not to hook sharks.

That particular shark changed my attitude about sharks. It was about a 9 ft dusky shark, just suddenly appeared from beneath the boat, almost right below where I was standing. The bonita was off to my right about 30 feet and made a surge when the shark appeared. The shark went hard right, the bonita made a quick 180 and came back left. That shark turned so fast it came half out of the water and had that bonita before we could react. I've never seen a shark move like that and decided that if a shark wants something, there's nothing you can do to prevent it from getting it.

 

[Mike Hill]

There was a time (for years) when we would stand in water up over our waist fishing in the bays and off of the various channels. At that time we'd be fishing live bait (shrimp). The live shrimp were kept in wooden boxes that we kept tied to our waist with a cord. When we caught something, it would be put on a stringer and also tied off from our belts There we were standing in water trailing off prime shark bait. We didn't think about that until one of my uncles saw a shark swimming near him. That put an end to that! Man, I miss those times of wading!

 

[SENC]

There was a time (for years) when we would stand in water up over our waist fishing in the bays and off of the various channels. At that time we'd be fishing live bait (shrimp). The live shrimp were kept in wooden boxes that we kept tied to our waist with a cord. When we caught something, it would be put on a stringer and also tied off from our belts There we were standing in water trailing off prime shark bait. We didn't think about that until one of my uncles saw a shark swimming near him. That put an end to that! Man, I miss those times of wading!

We did the same in the surf and in backwaters. Just goes to prove the problem is more our fear than a real issue - how many times have you heard of a surf fisher getting anything more than bumped. They just arent that interested in us... though they will take a fish off your stringer (and the stringer).

 

[Mike Hill]

Only times me and a buddy would surf fish - we really had no idea what we were doing - had no idea of how to read the water, etc..... We just parked and waded out to our chest and cast our surf rods into the Gulf of America, baited with chicken parts as far out as we could - then waded back. We had the idea that we were after those big Texas Hammerheads. No, we did not catch any, but did catch a couple of small other types. But it sure gave us good stories to tell! We would back up the pick up and stick the rod ends into the stake pockets. More often than not, it was at night we were there and we'd fall asleep. One time a loud noise woke us up. My rod had snapped off below the reel and was gone. The reel was in click mode and guess the line had run out to the end. Guess we might have hooked a big one. If I were to do it now, I'd get me a drone to fly the bait out - and not stick the rod in a stake pocket - and put some sort of loud alarm on the rig! We set up on a jetty one time where we had heard that some hammerheads had been seen. About halfway through the night we realized what might happen if one of those 15' hammerheads had taken our bait. Guess, high-school aged, Lil Mike would have been barefoot skiing on the gulf waters! We packed it in and did not do that again.

 

[Mike1950]

Lake Sturgeon are native to parts of TN, but had been overfished (and the building of dams) to almost the point of being non-existent. However, the wildlife commission decided it would be a good thing to bring them back. Back in 1992, 3,000 were released for a test trial. They noted that it seemed successful, so in 2000, they started stocking. I think they are up to almost 450,000 now. The first ones should be reaching sexual maturity and reproducing by now. Not sure if that has been confirmed yet. They don't get as big as the monsters in the NE, but I've heard of reports of them being up to 5' long now. Some of the more adventurous fly fishers I know have caught them on the fly. I think at the right time of the year, they will come up out of the deep water and are lots easier to catch. Sorta like lake trout.

Son landed a 7.5 footer in hells canyon last year. Kicked his butt.
I see pics every year of 10 ft wide jet boats with sturgeon almost as wide. Catch and release in idaho. On Columbia they have a strict slot size limit. I think 36-50 inches. Smaller and bigger go back.

 

[DLJeffs]

Only times me and a buddy would surf fish - we really had no idea what we were doing - had no idea of how to read the water, etc..... We just parked and waded out to our chest and cast our surf rods into the Gulf of America, baited with chicken parts as far out as we could - then waded back. We had the idea that we were after those big Texas Hammerheads. No, we did not catch any, but did catch a couple of small other types. But it sure gave us good stories to tell! We would back up the pick up and stick the rod ends into the stake pockets. More often than not, it was at night we were there and we'd fall asleep. One time a loud noise woke us up. My rod had snapped off below the reel and was gone. The reel was in click mode and guess the line had run out to the end. Guess we might have hooked a big one. If I were to do it now, I'd get me a drone to fly the bait out - and not stick the rod in a stake pocket - and put some sort of loud alarm on the rig! We set up on a jetty one time where we had heard that some hammerheads had been seen. About halfway through the night we realized what might happen if one of those 15' hammerheads had taken our bait. Guess, high-school aged, Lil Mike would have been barefoot skiing on the gulf waters! We packed it in and did not do that again.

We used to do the same thing when I was a kid in Panama. We'd cast net mullet or seine shrimp, cast out from the sea wall and stick our rods in the fence, turn the drags very light but in click mode so we could hear them, and wait. Caught a couple nice snapper and grouper that way. Lost a lot of tackle to green moray eels (they'd eat and go into a hole and you'd never get them out). The best shark bait was stingray if you could get one, very oily and bloody meat. A few old timers told me that dog was really good shark bait too - although that's one I don't think I could ever bring myself to try, even a roadkill dog.