Cancun Trip

[Okie]

I am heading to Cancun the second week of July. I have talked to a couple of guys down there about booking trips. I would like to hear any good reviews or bad reviews of boats/agents that you have booked with. I appreciate any help that you guys can give me.

For a little more info: There will be about 8 of us going fishing. We would like to catch big fish, but I have been told that the odds of getting billfish that time of year in good numbers is slim. I am open to pretty much any kind of fishing. Let me know if you need more info.

[Sam Salmon]

Too late for the famed Sailfish run and truth be told the Cancun area has little else, too shallow for most pelagics.

Most charters just take tourists for a ride-literally-if they do catch something they kill it no matter what.

Some good Inshore action in the park north of town though http://www.cancunbonefish.com

[wasabiloco]

Hello Okie, I'm from Texas myself...

But, I forgive you!

I saw your post and had to respond. I am surprised by Sam Salmon's response and felt like I had to jump in here.

First of all...the sailfish run hasn't even started yet. Saltwater Fishing Magazine calls the area south of Cancun one of the top ten sailfish areas in the world. In fact they rate it in the top three or four if I remember correctly.
Every year dozens of boats make the run from Florida to Yucatan for just this purpose.

I supposed Salmon must have had some bad experiences...or he's got other fish to fry but in any case July should be great.

We are bringing our 32' Blackfin FB down later this month and will be available for charter if you are interested. If you want some other referrals give me a shout. The local captains know the area quite well and can be counted on to put you on the fish.

As far as catch and release vs killing the fish...Well, again, Salmon is wrong, wrong, wrong. It used to be this way, years ago. All of Mexico had the same issues. The Mexican crews make enough money now that it's not a problem. Sure we keep tuna, grouper, dorado and such eatin' fish but we sure as heck don't bring billfish back to the dock. Maybe they do somewhere but they sure don't at our ************************. We are American owners with Mexican partners to make everything legal. We've pretty much put a stop to killing billfish, believe me!

I would invite you to take a look at our site. It is still under construction but there is enough info to get you started. While you are there, check out the info on seasons. It will give you a good idea on what you can catch and when.

With eight fishermen, your best bet would be to charter two boats. We can put you on a Blackfin and a Pursuit or two Bertrams or whatever you like. If you'd rather be on one boat, we can fix you up as well. With two boats you'll catch more fish though. Give me a shout if you want some more info.

[Sam Salmon]

Rico-if the Sail run is still going strong in July it's even stronger than last I was in the 'hood-also Okie mentioned Good Sized Fish not the miniature squibs found in the Caribbean.:disappoint:

As to my reference to killing everything in sight I specifically meant Charters servicing the casual tourist market.

Okie posted "We would like to catch big fish, but I have been told that the odds of getting billfish that time of year in good numbers is slim."
and the info is still accurate-Cancun is a backwater for Big Game but Inshore is half decent in summer.

[wasabiloco]

Sorry Salmon, I stand by my post. Size is certainly in the eye of the beholder. Everything you said is pretty much wrong except the part about size. The guy asks for hamburger and you tell him he can't have it and he needs to have a hotdog@$#

Lots of sails, larger as the season progresses. One of the top four sailfih spots in the world and your problem is you don't think they're big enough.

Well, partner, go to Africa if the sails aren't big enough for ya. That's where the biggest sails are. But if you are going to be in Cancun in July go catch some sails!

That's fine if you like the inshore fishing. That's what I meant about "other fish to fry". It's not, however, what he asked about.

[wasabiloco]

I came across this on another forum and am taking the liberty of quoting it here.

Isla Mujeres 1/27 - 'Qualifier' Goes OFF!

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I just returned from the best day of fishing in my life! The sail bite out of Cancun and Isla has been fair this season....until Saturday when it absolutely went OFF!!

Teams NIMROD and BUSINE$$ flew down to Mexico to fish with Capt. Fin Gaddy on the Qualifier out of Oregon Inlet and practice with circle hooks. We figured we were a little early in the season but still hoped to have a shot at a dozen or so sails in order to get some circle hook time. What we ended up with was the trip of a lifetime. When it was all said and done we had gone through 10 packs of ballyhoo, successfully released thirty-four (34) sailfish and probably missed almost double that number as the learning curve with circles proved to be steep for us.

We arrived in Cancun Thursday and spent the day living it up in party central. The wind was kickin’ and continued to do so well into Friday. The wife and I headed to downtown Cancun to have a late lunch at our favorite local Mexican grille (Las Parrillas) then off to Puerto Juarez to catch the high speed ferry to Isla for some recon. Arrived on the island to find that the wind settled and the boats were coming in. Qualifier was docked at the local ************************ near the ferry docks with many other OI boats including Pelican, Obsession, and Swordfish. Phat Mann was also there along with many other first class rigs. Word on the dock was that the bite was fair with shots of 4-10 sails a day.

Capt Fin showed us around the recently re-done Qualifier and introduced us to his mate Chris. He informed us that departure time was 0630 and we would try to capitalize on the early bite. The ************************ was buzzing and it was good to be around a fishing crowd again as the winter has already become too long. Fin recommended we hit some of the local island establishments before heading back to party central. We heeded his advice and thoroughly enjoyed a few local restaurants and pubs. Had a chance to sit and chat with a few crew members from all over the east and gulf coasts. Very cool. I never made it to the other ************************ on the island but know that a few OCMD boats are there including Billfisher, Size Matters, and Par Five. One of my crew also thinks that he spotted Jim Motsko getting aboard the Keen M the morning we fished but I missed him.

I rounded the boys up at 0500 and headed back to the island Sat morning. Lost 2 of the crew to the demons of party central so that left the 4 stooges. The wind had laid out and the forecast was for a beautiful warm sunny Caribbean day. We arrived a bit early and left the dock as soon as our local amigo mate showed. Ran about 40 minutes and shut down after seeing some birds and free jumpers. First fish was on the left rigger within 3 minutes and was the first of many misses. Things were steady for the first couple of hours and with some one-on-one tutoring from Chris and Capt Fin we were getting better at the drop back and hook up but still had a ways to go. Capt Fin asked Chris to rig him an ‘eraser’ rod for up on the bridge. I later found out that it’s called an eraser because it ‘erases all of the f*ck ups down in the cockpit’. Of which we had plenty that morning.

It was probably around 1000 or so when all hell broke loose. We got onto a ball of bait along with 1 other boat and total chaos ensued. 20-30 sails all darting around along side and behind the boat. It was crazy. All of us had a rod in our hand and were hooking up and missing fish left and right. Multiple double headers, a handful of triples and 2 or three quads. It was so hard to stay focused on your one bait with all of this action beside you. We weren’t able to get photos or video during this time because of the mayhem. We stayed on ‘em for over an hour before the rest of the fleet showed up and we were forced to troll off. It still stayed steady on the troll until it was quitin’ time. Or so we thought.

Somewhere around 1600 we were at 28 fish. I figured we would be packing up soon but thought wouldn’t it be great to reach 30. More hoos were thawed and we keep at it soon getting numbers 29 & 30. The sun was starting to set and there were still a few other boats out with us. Most of my crew was getting anxious for a rum drink but mate Chris explained that the Pelican was fishing alongside us and he wouldn’t leave until we did. We certainly didn’t want to be quitters, so we kept at it and released 4 more sails before we saw the pale greened-hull Paul Mann boat pick up and head for the barn. With that we called it a day. Nearly a dozen hours & 10 packs of ballyhoo later we ended the fishing trip of a lifetime.

Personally, I (Rod Hog Hannum) ended up with 11 sails for the day and lost/broke off at least another 4. I got to wire one towards the end of the day but had missed shots at another 12+ fish personally overall. E-nuts (aka Stiffler as dubbed by Capt Fin) ended up with 8, Billy Backlash (aka Bonito Bill – again – Capt Fin’s nomenclature) also had 8 along plus 3-4 bonito, and Mike (aka I wanna Rum Drink) ended up with 7 for the day. I have to believe we had over 80 legitimate shots at fish and had our skills been up to par we would have had 45-50 releases. Did I mention that we went through 120 baits!! World class bite in my book.

[Okie]

All that I know is that everyone that I have talked to said that the sail fishing was slow this time of year. They recommend going for Snapper and Grouper. Last guy I talked to said to go on the Stuff-It for a day trip or take Querida Del Mar for a night trip. Just wondering if anyone knew about them.

[croaker1]

I don't know if this will help since they are based in Cozemal, but you should check with Albatros Charters. They took me, my two brothers, and our wives on an 8 hr. trip last June. We ran for about an hour to the area south of Cancun. I believe it was just off the beach of Playa del Carmen. We caught 2 sails, 2 white marlin, 9 bull dolphin, 2 yellowfin tuna, and a 600# lemon shark. We had an awesome time. If you do go with them, make sure you ask for Capt. Pedro on the main Albatros boat and let them know you are after billfish.