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Casa Blanca Fishing ReportNovember 2007
Every year after Thanksgiving, the weather here in Montana becomes a bit brutal for fly fishing. Ice begins to build up in your guides, your wading boot laces are still frozen from the last time you went fishing, and your hands are so cold you couldn't tie a blood knot to save your life. This is the perfect time to think about a saltwater fishing trip. One of our favorites is Casa Blanca Lodge in Mexico's Yucatan - perhaps the best place in the world to catch a Grand Slam...
As it turns out, our group only caught one Grand Slam this year, but came within inches of 4 other slams. The week before we arrived a gentleman from Japan caught a grand slam which included not one but three Permit! Aside from the main three (Permit, Tarpon, and Bonefish) Ascension Bay offers one of your best shots at at a Super Grand Slam (which includes a Snook). Our group landed a total of 9 Snook this trip, with many others that got away. The ones that escaped either slammed our flies but didn't get hooked or broke us off with their sandpaper like lips when we neglected to use 30-40 lb bite tippets! A lot of us trout fisherman had to break the old habits and adapt to the strip strike. As for Bonefish, our group absolutely crushed them, sometimes catching as many as 20 bones a day, the largest looking to be in the 5-6 lb. range. Aside from the normal targeted flats fishing specimens, the group also caught Barracuda, Jacks, Needle Fish, Trunk Fish (Box fish), Perch, Blue Runners, Snapper, Triple Tail, and Grunts. Casa Blanca Lodge has perhaps the best staff of guides in all the Caribbean. All of their guides are all really good, and several have more than twenty years of experience guiding the flats. Pedro, one of their best has been guiding fly fisherman for 37 years! For seventeen years Pedro guided at Boca Paila and has been at Casa Blanca for the past twenty years, just after they opened. Often at other lodges you may sometimes get stuck with a less experienced guide, but here they were all top notch. They were great at driving the boats, poling, knowing the tides, seeing fish, describing where the fish are (10:00, 50 feet going right), and explaining what you need to do to catch them. They were also surprisingly laid back when it came to telling you about a fish they spotted. Instead of yelling, "PERMIT! PERMIT right there," they would smoothly mention to you that a couple permit were at 10:00 o'clock, about 60 feet away, swimming left to right. Wow - what a calming difference that can make on your first cast, (the only one that really counts). These guys were truly professional fish assassins who knew just the right thing to say to get your attention, but not get your knees knocking. The lodge itself sits on a windward point at the Southeastern edge of Ascension Bay. The rooms were large, but quiet, with AC and nice bathrooms tiled floors and spacious walk in showers. The dining room was comfortable and not crowded, with a few stools located at the walk up bar and a couple soft couches for lounging in before dinner. There were nice cement paths and walkways around the lodge, as well as fine sand - perfect for walking around in bare feet. If you've ever been to Turneffe Flats, the set up is very similar with the dock, bungalows, and main dining room. The guides have their own living quarters at the lodge, and you'll often find them playing a game of volley ball before dinner.
After fishing the flats of Ascension Bay for a week, I can see why Lefty Kreh feels that area is one of the best in the world to catch a Grand Slam. The topography of Ascension Bay really does support a Permit heaven. There are thousands of acres of 3-5 feet deep flats, a mixture of hard coral bottom, turtle grass, and white sand flats. The hard coral bottom is important because it provides the bottom vegetation like sponges and sea fans that give crabs and other smaller fish lots of places to hide. The Turtle grass seemed to collect floating seaweed and other vegetation which the crabs feed on. The white sand is nice because it gives the guides (and anglers) a better chance to spot permit before they see the skiff (or the anglers).
Perhaps the main reason there are so many Permit in Ascension Bay is because the flats are teeming with small crabs. A quick swim at lunch with snorkel or an evening walk along the bonefish flats will reveal just how many crabs inhabit the bay and its many flats. Crabs ranged in color from brown, to olive, sand, and even the even vivid shades of blue on the claws of some of the blue crabs. Although there are many species of crabs present, most seemed to be varieties of blue crabs, similar to the ones found in Florida and our East Coast as well as throughout the Caribbean. These blue crabs scurry away quickly when spooked, often with their back claw out to pinch at their attacker. If pursued for any distance, they would usually square up and face their attacker with both claws out and ready. Of course for a Permit, pinchers are of no concern and are immediately disposed of once the crab gets sucked deep into a permit's crushers.
Still, even on some of the best flats in the world, Permit fishing is no slam dunk. It is a sport that you really have to pay your dues. You have to spend a lot time on the water specifically looking for Permit; your crab in hand, line carefully laid out and ready to cast, eyes scanning the horizon for the slightest push, wake, or shadow. Mid-incoming to high tide generally produces the best permit fishing, but at Casa Blanca fish can be caught at other tide levels depending on the flats or lagoons you are fishing. A lot depends on the wind and weather. Visibility is paramount and cloudy days make for tough permit fishing. You also need a certain amount of wind to disguise your approach and casting, especially with heavy crab patterns. Calm conditions for the permit angler is the kiss of death. If you really want to catch a Permit, you have to be willing to come back to the dock with a goose egg. I actually got skunked 2 or 3 days during the week, (unless you count needle fish and box fish). The trade off is that you could be slamming 2-5 pound bonefish on the inside or trying to catch a big barracuda in one of the deep channels. At times when the light was bad, the waves were rough, and the wind was blowing, I wondered if we were just kidding ourselves. But then just as you are starting to loose concentration your guide with amazing calmness speaks up, "OK Jeemy, There is a Permit coming at us. 11:00 about 60 feet..."
It is moments like those that you remember forever. You've been pounding the water for 3 hours for these 3 seconds. What happens next has a lot to do with luck, although an accurate cast does increase your odds of hooking a Permit. It is essential that the Permit hasn't seen the boat. With any luck, your line shoots smoothly without tangling, your leader turns over and the fly lands without spooking the permit. You take a couple of quick strips to get tight and listen to your guide's instructions. He can see the fish and knows when and when not to strip, how fast to strip, and when the fish has the crab in it's mouth. You feel the line tighten ever so slightly and make a good strip strip strike. The permit is hooked and running hard. You are trying to clear your line that is piled on the deck of the skiff. You may hear your guide yell, "No mas finger! No mas finger!" like I did. You'll want to clear the line with your stripping hand rather than letting it slip through the cork handle and your index finger - this reduces the chance of the line wrapping around the butt of your rod and busting off your fish.
Once you have the Permit on the reel, you still can't count your chickens yet. A Permit 10 pounds or bigger will often take you into your backing twice or more. They can also run back at you quickly so be ready to reel as fast as possible. This trip I also learned a valuable lesson - that you never want to strip line once you are into the backing - even if that means the fish will have total slack in the water. The reason is that there is a 90% chance the backing will tangle into a nice bird's nest once your fish finally sees the boat and takes off again, and that bird's nest of backing will most likely end up getting stuck in your stripping guide with predictable results! You can try to turn the rod up-side-down, or shake it violently trying to get the line or backing to clear, but in that instant, your permit is gone.
Once you've landed your Permit and got some good photos, your boat partner will get a few more shots, (nothing sweeter than a double grand slam). If things aren't panning out after a while, you'll fire up the motor and head towards the mangroves - specifically where fresh water creeks meet the Bay. Here you won't find big tarpon, but you will find babies - ranging anywhere from 5 - 25 pounds. They definitely aren't huge, but they can jump high and are still a blast to catch. The key here is to be completely ready when you roll in. You don't want to have to switch leaders or flies once you arrive. Make sure to get all this done before you get close, because once the baby tarpon see you, you're done. If they don't see you, they should shred into your fly like cuda - but don't forget to strip strike!
Once you've caught a Permit and a Tarpon, the Bonefish should be a slam dunk. If you are lucky enough to catch that Grand Slam, you can get greedy and go for a Super Grand Slam by catching a Snook. I've found your fishing partner will most likely let you get away with all of this as long as you let them fish to snook as well. Hopefully the next day you can return the favor! The only bad news about your 1st Permit or Grand Slam at Casa Blanca is your reward: a scorpion shot. This is a shot of top shelf tequila garnished with a strawberry and a real pickled scorpion (they are kind enough to remove the stinger at the end of the tail). Those who really want to catch a Permit can consider eating one ahead of time as a down payment....
A few other things that made our trip incredible was the lodge, the food, and the flawless organization provided by the staff. From the moment we got off our plane in Cancun to to checking our bags on the way home the Casa Blanca they were taking good care of us. The transfers were as smooth as can be, our short flight from Cancun to Casa Blanca was enjoyable and when we arrived at the dock, a platter of margaritas welcomed us. Our luggage made it to our rooms without us even asking for it, the AC was on in our rooms, and when we went to the main lodge a delicious array of appetizers and drinks were ready for us to enjoy. Our lunches were truly the best we've ever had at a fishing lodge! Each day the anglers were able to make up their own lunches with ingredients that were different each day. Our choices were freshly caught lobster, grouper, snapper, and barracuda, a whole baked turkey, pork chops, smoked gouda, blue cheese, chicken, conk fritters, delicious salads, fresh fruit, lean meat cuts and cheese as well as a variety of bread for sandwiches, and even cookies. Dinner was even better: home made Chile rellenos, fajitas, steak, lobster, kabobs, snapper, barracuda, plus wonderful deserts - all incredibly displayed like a 5 star restaurant. After dinner the outside smoking lounge was a great place to light up a cigar and tell stories from previous trips or the day's experiences. Plus, it' s never too late to see what is swimming down by the dock. Crocks, Tarpon, bonefish, and even Permit show up to see what's there to eat.
Aside from the fishing, part of our group checked out a private Mayan ruin called Chocmol. The only people who have access to this ruin are Casa Blanca, and their sister lodge, Playa Blanca. A 20-30 minute drive down the island brought us to the remarkably spiritual dwellings. You could climb on top of one of the ruins and get a great view of the rain forest on one side and the white sand beaches and beautiful blue/green lagoons on the other. The Mayans built the structures with concrete, rocks, and shells. Many of the entrances to the structures were only 4 feet tall, indicating that the Mayans were short people. One of the most interesting things to see at Chocmol was the sacrificing stone. Due to a 50 year drought, the Mayans wanted to please the Gods and would sacrifice a tribe member (usually a female virgin). The priest would break the sacrifice individual's back by dropping it on the sharp stone, paralyzing the person so that they could not move while they cut the heart out. They would then take the warm pumping heart and place it in a hole built into the statue (where the statue's heart would be). It was really was amazing to see all this and wonder what it would be like to live in the Mayan civilization more than a thousand years ago.
All and all we had a wonderful trip and look forward to coming back next year. The nice thing about going in November is getting almost 25% off of the normal rates. We had a few hours of rain, but for the most part the weather was great, with plenty of bright sun to look for Permit. Special thanks to everyone who joined us this year - you guys really made the trip fun. Also a wholehearted thank you to everyone at Casa Blanca for working so hard to show us a great time. -James Anderson |
Related Links: Archived Fishing Reports
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