This past May, I had a wedding to attend in Playa Del Carmen Mexico and felt it was wrong breaking my cardinal rule of boarding an airplane without a fly rod with me. To rectify things, I did some research and came to find the southern part of Mexico near the Belize border had some remote and unique permit fishing opportunities, and was within striking distance of my wedding destination. This gave me hope, and after making a few calls I decided to shoot down 4 days early to explore the area prior to the wedding. And I’m glad I did.
What I came to find down there was similar to the beach I imagine Morgan Freeman escaped to in Shawshank Redemption (you remember the name don’t you ”Zihautanejo”) and offered a genuinely rustic vibe that included comfortable and affordable lodging, a cool mix of Ex-Pat American folks mixed with locals and everything in-between, and incredible permit fishing. As it tends to go, winging it worked out and made for a hell of an adventure. And though normally I wouldn’t be public about a place like this, the reality is most will never be comfortable driving the 4 hours it takes to get there from Cancun Airport, and will almost always choose established locales like The Palmetto Club over this type of experience. Not to mention there are only a limited number of fishing guides that need to be reserved through word of mouth, so the place is protected due to limited capacity when it comes to fishing pressure and demand. So, for the few that would appreciate the authentic and real experience that is permit fishing in Chetumal Bay, I got you.
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LOGISTICS
Flight wise, the trip was simple and involved a flight into Cancun. From there, and heading into the trip, I was unsure of whether I wanted to take a bus down to my destination, or rent a car. I had heard some stories about cops shaking down people driving down in the past, but heard others say it wasn’t a big deal and that the stories were overblown. The main factor that caused me to rent a car was the lack of local transportation available in the area I was staying, which would have limited me once there. The rental car process was smooth, and the drive down was even smoother with it being mostly highway driving and a pretty scenic drive as I got closer to the destination. If the thought of renting a car and driving in Mexico doesn’t sit well with you, transport is available to and from the airport and can be accomplished for approximately $500 total.
THE LODGING/LOCAL EXPERIENCE
I stayed at a cool, wacky, and eccentric hotel that was run entirely on solar and operated by an American Ex-Pat, who was incredibly intelligent and resilient in running their operation that included homemade cocktails when you returned from fishing each day, crafty snacks off the grill, and a very “my home is your home” vibe to the place in general. The dude also had quality permit flies and gear which was a plus and something that is not the norm when chasing permit outside of the U.S. The grand total for this incredible hospitality and comfort being $120/night.
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Even better, was the fact that the lodging was situated on a stretch of beach that had a flat right there that ran parallel to the beach for over a mile, and held permit. Some of my best shots during the 4 days that I fished were on this stretch, and seeing tailing permit from my bedroom balcony mid-margarita was when it hit home this place is fucking insane.
THE FISHING
One thing that I had read, and that was confirmed by the fishing guides I spoke with in the area was that the productive window for targeting permit is longer down here than most permit destinations. Realistically, you can target permit all year, with the fishing being downright good for 7-9 months on an average year. The 4 days I fished in May were mostly sunny (good), but had some heavy winds that averaged around 15-20mph throughout the day. I fished with two guides that were both fairly experienced, and had grown up in the area. The boat and set up was simple and not what you get/expect from a top tier lodge, however they made it work for them and made up for that with their local knowledge of the tides and where the fish were. So I was fine with it.
Each day, I had shots at a minimum of 25 permit a day, with a mix of large singles/doubles, as well as some schools of fish in the 10-15lb range being spotted. It felt like I had a shot every 20 minutes throughout the day, each day, and I was impressed with the combination of numbers and size of fish we saw.
Fly wise, the locals seemed to be biased in favor of shrimp patterns here over crabs, which was something I hadn’t experienced in other permit destinations I had fished. Mantis shrimp, Avalon shrimp patterns, and other medium to large sized shrimp flies in tan/brown were clearly preferred, though perhaps due to confidence I didn’t do well throwing these flies.
The diversity in terms of the flats we fished was also impressive. Each day, we hit different water that varied from backwater lagoons, open deep water flats which had large schools of large fish, and shallower 2-4 foot deep flats that had fish tailing as well as small groups of fish that we would come across. I found the lagoons to be particularly unique and fun to fish, as you would be covering a large flat area and then identify a huge push coming at you from 100+ yards out that usually turned out to be a good sized school of permit moving towards you. These areas were areas that the guides seemed to be especially keen on using a shrimp pattern for its lighter weight and matching color to the light sandy/mud bottom that was found there.
In terms of results, despite the heavy winds I was able to land 2 permit in 4 days, both on tan crab patterns, and lost another 2 fish that were larger in size to coral snags. While landing 2 permit in 4 days is customarily good fishing, I couldn’t help but feel like I left a lot of fish out there as I saw several large fish in the 25-30lb range and had quality shots at them, but blew them due to a combination of buck fever and high winds that made casting very challenging. Regardless, it felt good to stick a couple of permit in a new destination, and left me wanting more knowing what the place offers in terms of both quantity and quality when it comes to permit. So yeah, I’ll be back.
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As an aside, there were a lot of bonefish around in addition to areas that offered reliable tarpon fishing if you wanted to switch it up. Given the fact that the permit fishing was as good as it was, I focused solely on permit realizing this was not an opportunity that comes around very often. That said, I landed around 3-4 bonefish a day that we came across without even targeting them on the same flats we were finding permit. The wade-able flat(s) outside of the lodging also had bones around and made for fun evening hours fishing before dinner where you could spot them and pick away before heading in when the light became unfishable.
So yes, I will be back and re-booked for April of next year before checking out on this trip. The place is unspoiled, offers high quality fishing for permit, and is perhaps the best value I’ve found for such a trip. As always, touch base if this trip is up your alley and we’ll get you set up.
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