Top Tips: Tarpon Party - New Mexico
December 2020 Team Fluff Chuckers travelled to Mahahaul in Mexico for a bit of assisted DIY fly fishing on the open coast and cenota fed inland lakes.
Our mission was to fish the coast for permit and jack cravalle and if the weather gave us some unkind days we would fall back on to the lakes and target the tarpon.
After 6 days of great weather and plenty of action on the beaches the day came when the cloud was thick and the sun didn’t shine, so it was time to team up with Nick Denbow the main man down in Mahahaul, Nicks knowledge of the area and salt water fly fishing is second to none having lived in the area for nineteen years.
So it was load his boat on the truck and off to a lake that he had not fished for over 12 months, this was going to be a real challenge. The entrance to the lake was going to be over grown and it would be a matter of cutting our way through the mangrove and being bitten to death by hungry bugs.
Just when we had nearly cleared our pathway through the machete we where using got dropped over board, even though we where safe in the boat, no one was going volunteer to jump over board and take a swim with the crocodiles to retrieve the machete, so it was a very difficult final few yards into the lake.
Finally we had broken though to the most stunning hidden lake, the lake was an average of five to eight foot deep and a bit of tinge to the water from recent rainwater run off.
We set out to find one of the two deep hole entrances of the cenotas that feed the lake from the open coast, a cenota being a net work of under ground caves that connect these inland lakes to the sea.
Well we where in for a surprise, in the distance we could see lots of disturbed water and fish breaking the surface all around the entrance of the first cenota, we manoeuvred into casting distance and started to throw our tarpon flies at the broken water and visual fish breaking the surface.
The next hour was going to be crazy, we had just joined the tarpon party, with cast after cast, missed takes, fish on and jumping for freedom, double hook ups and fish from 12lb to 20lb to the boat, I really can not explain the excitement, these fish are just incredible fun on a fly rod, we where 10# rods and they gave us a merry dance, hard pulling, fast runs and insane leaps that just left you laughing and shaking.
After an hour or so the fish finally disappeared into the deep hole and we just sat on the boat and opened a few beers before moving onto the second cenota on this lake,
We arrived to find the same as the previous cenota, we where greeted by another large shoal of fish rolling on the surface, we anchored the boat and started to cast once more, and again all hell broke loose with fish hitting the fly so hard, instantly jumping high into the air and sometimes throwing the hook on the first leap, it was cast after cast with hook ups, fish on and off, the tarpon party wasn’t yet over.
We had a further hour of madness and more fish to the boat with the Blue Macleod tarpon fly doing the most damage.
Our preferred set ups where Cortland compact floating lines with five to six foot of 50lb fluorocarbon leader, these fish have incredible hard mouths and can rub through your leader very easily so 40lb is the minimum and check the leader after every hook up to look for any damage.
Once again the fish disappeared into the deep, so we fished around the lakes mangrove margins and hunted out a couple more hard fighting fish before heading back home.
We had taken a chance fishing this lake, but when Nick Denbow has a hunch, you would be a fool not to take up the challenge and no amount of bug bites could get in the way of the fun we had at this tarpon party.