Campeche Cornucopia

Jan S. Maizler Photography By Art Blank

The Yucatan Peninsula - Where angling victories unfold in the shadow of Mayan cities.

As soon as I heard about the discovery of a prolific juvenile tarpon fishery along the west coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, I was anxious to experience what the buzz was all about. I made arrangements to visit the epicenter of this fishery in Campeche, Mexico.

Since tarpon behave consistently – be it in Florida, the Caribbean or Central America – I booked my trip in June, a month that would assure me water temperatures over 75-degrees and relatively calm weather. My pre-trip research revealed that most of this fishery is based around grass flats and mangrove canals. Because of this, I planned my visit around the quarter moon neap tides – this would ensure that the low tides would not be so extreme as to drive the fish completely out of the mangroves and into the expansive Gulf of Mexico. Conversely, it would also ensure that the high tides would not flood the mangroves, offering an overabundance of water for these gamesters to seek shelter.

Amongst the guides in Campeche, I chose Raul Castaneda of Tarpon Town Anglers. I got a distinct impression from his website that his fully licensed charter service had a multi-species and multi-tackle orientation. This was comforting for two reasons. First off, it would offer the opportunity to search out and experience the broadest possible facets of a relatively virgin fishery and secondly, it might also predict how open-minded the operating philosophy of his charter service would be, welcoming light-tackle and fly-anglers alike.

Florida Sport Fishing

When I spoke with Raul, his friendly demeanor and response to my inquiries indicated his broadminded approach. I was convinced that I made the right choice. He made it clear that while he and his five guides generally targeted tarpon, they were also open to catching snook, jack, snapper, grouper, barracuda and seatrout (locally called corvina). In fact, Raul’s willingness to experiment with photographer Art Blank and I, would result not only in confirming the excellent light-tackle tarpon fishing, but it aided in my discovery of the finest spotted seatrout fishing I have ever experienced!

Given that the primary target species was tarpon, it was no surprise that this was going to be a boat-based experience. With this in mind, I asked Raul about the vessels that comprised Tarpon Town’s fleet. His charter service offers four pangas with either center-console or tiller layouts. Two of the pangas are equipped with modern Honda four-stroke engines and the other two skiffs have dependable Yamaha two-stroke motors. All of his boats are outfitted with VHF radios, cell phones, GPS units, plenty of drinking water, ice-chests full of sandwiches, cookies and fruit, and notably, extra fuel tanks which give the vessels the additional running range needed for searching out juvenile silver kings in this huge expanse. In addition, for larger groups and/or offshore operation, Raul has a well-equipped 28-foot center-console.

The research I did on the City of Campeche indicated that it was a delightful destination for anglers and non-anglers alike. It is the capital of the Mexican state of Campeche and it lies on the beautiful shores of the southeast Gulf of Mexico. The city was founded in 1540 by Spanish conquistadors atop the pre-existing Mayan city of Canpech. Campeche City is graced with a beautiful historic district that is replete with excellent restaurants, arts and crafts galleries and entertainment complexes. Retaining many of thea colonial Spanish walls and fortifications, Campeche City was awarded a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. Along with your angling pursuits, if you enjoy history, culture, architecture, gorgeous weather and access to wonderful places like Mayan cities, nearly untouched rivers and beaches, you’ll love Campeche City.

Platformed on top of all these exciting prospects was Raul’s plan to have us stay at the beautiful Ocean View Hotel. As the name implies, it sits right along the Gulf of Mexico shoreline. I was informed that we would enjoy an early yet sumptuous breakfast at the hotel before leaving for the marina where his pangas were moored. When we returned to the Ocean View, a dip in the pool would be a welcome prospect, as would a massage at the hotel’s modern state-of-the-art spa.

Florida Sport Fishing

Colliding with Campeche’s many piscatorial pursuits…

The first day of fishing began with my guide Juan, whose facial features and eyes gave him the nickname, ‘Chino.’ Fernando and Art followed us in a second panga for use as a camera boat. Though we were pleased to see a clear sky, the brisk northeasterly winds were sure to be a challenge in terms of sight-fishing tarpon. Nevertheless, with two great guides, two pangas and Juan’s ever-present hand-held GPS, we were able to find a large school of rolling fish. We were able to get off about 20-casts, but managed only a few subtle strikes on our ¼ oz. white SPRO bucktails and 3/8 oz. red/white Backbone Lures. Art employed an eight lb. spinning outfit and I used 10lb. plugging tackle. We decided to move into the mangrove canals for a break from the stiff breeze, where I scaled down my fluorocarbon leader from 40 to 30lb. test. We spotted a few fish deep in the mangroves, but they, too, seemed reluctant to strike. After six-hours of fishing, we decided to pack it in and head back to port. On our way in, I insisted that Juan stop the skiff so we could cast to a school of large jacks and some huge houndfish that were ravaging a massive school of sardines. The jacks are locally referred to as ‘corel’ and were great fighters. The houndfish ran to an incredible seven-pounds and fought remarkably similar to juvenile sailfish. Juan found these fish amusing, but his expression turned to careful-caution when he had to unhook the toothy denizens.

Success on the water comes both early and late

Raul joined us this day in the second skiff and we were pleased to see that the conditions were overcast with flat calm seas. We ran north for over an hour and as soon as the two skiffs came off plane, both guides pointed to a huge area that was loaded with rolling tarpon. The fish were so thick I was in a temporary state of trance! My first cast was about 10-feet in front of a slow moving school. After the second sweep of my rod, I had a solid strike. Seconds later, a 15-pound specimen went airborne. I made short work of this fish and it felt great that my first Campeche tarpon release came on my initial cast. We spent this magical morning jumping lots of fish and releasing a few more. By mid-day we were ready for a change. Juan and Raul discussed our next move and decided to run southwest to a reef that lies in six-feet of water. After an hour run to the spot, we had a few hours left before sunset. Juan instructed me to cast my white SPRO bucktail to the light areas on the bottom. As long as we kept our casts accurate and started our jigging on the bottom, we were rewarded with a mix of juvenile grouper, cubera snapper and barracuda. As the sun began to set, we headed back to the city after a memorable day of light-tackle fishing filled with variety and excitement.

Florida Sport Fishing

Sensational Seatrout Extravaganza

With conditions replicating the previous day, we decided to devote the morning to Campeche’s amazing seatrout fishery. Raul agreed to an even earlier start so we could maximize the low-light hours that seatrout often relish. Today, Raul, Juan and Fernando would be joining Art and I as fellow anglers. It was clear that they were looking forward to enjoying some red-hot angling as well. We all hopped into Raul’s center-console and were underway. It took approximately five-minutes to reach the grass flats and while the other anglers started casting bucktails, Juan gave me a wink and rigged my plug rod with a ¼ oz. jighead and yellow/orange soft-plastic grub. Almost immediately, everyone hooked up yet I observed that the largest fish – which ran to approximately five-pounds – were caught on my colorful grub. In three-hours, we released over 65 trout and kept another half-dozen for the table.

After we’d caught our fill of trout with a frequency and size I’d never experienced in my home waters of Florida, we called it quits even though we were in the middle of an incredible bite. My afternoon was to be taken up with Raul’s driver, Nacho, taking my wife and I inland to visit the spectacular Mayan ruins at Edzna.

More fishing before a temporary farewell

The last morning was arranged for Art and I to sample the tarpon fishing south of Campeche along the rocky coastline. As Juan slowed down and cut the engine we could see a flock of gulls working a school of helpless sardines. As he poled closer, we could see tarpon rolling in the midst of the bait school. I hooked up a small fish on my second cast and had it to the boat within minutes. Art and I jumped a few more juvenile silver kings in the next hour and since we had an afternoon flight to catch, we reluctantly headed back to port. During our farewell with Raul at the airport, I was quick to make it clear this was not a permanent goodbye, rather a temporary farewell.

Getting There

We utilized Aeromexico and flew from Miami to Mexico City where we caught a connecting flight directly to Campeche. Another option is to fly to Merida, Mexico, and have Raul arrange for you to be driven by air-conditioned van to Campeche, which entails a three to four-hour travel time. The new opening of Alma Airlines’ Cancun to Campeche connection creates a third travel option. You can take one of the numerous flights to Cancun and then board Alma’s mid-afternoon flight to Campeche, leaving you plenty of time to chase tarpon before dark.