Xcalak Fishing Report.

Just returned from a fun trip to the very southern end of Mexico's Carrib coast at a small fishing village called Xcalak. To get their from Houston, you take a direct flight to Cancun and then make the long drive of 5 to 6 hours to the end of the road(seems like the end of the World) at the tiny, quaint village of Xcalak (pronounced Ish-Ka- lak). From this village, it is a short boat run to Chetumal Bay and its extensive flats.

This trip, which was put together by Mark Cowan, was for the primary purpose of catching the elusive, beautiful Permit on the fly. Our group included three very experienced fly fishermen with several Permit to their credit, Mark, who has fished just about every water in the World, and myself, who was intently looking for that first Permit after many unsuccessful attempts.

Chetumal Bay offers some really good habitat which is preferred by the Permit, but it is a somewhat small system that can't support much fishing pressure...and fortunately it doesn't get much pressure. We got into Permit immediately the first day with everyone in camp getting several shots except me and I didn't get a single shot. Three Permit were caught that first day. We all got multiple shots the second day, but the great fish just wasn't fooled. Finally, on the third day, I scored my very first permit shown below. Words can't possibly express my personal joy and exerburance at finally hooking one of these great fish. I consider it one of the very best moments of my fishing career.

With the pressure to catch a Permit "off my back", the local guide and I decided to go ahead and attempt the Grand Slam( Permit, Bonefish, and Tarpon caught on the fly on the same day by the same angler) and possibly the super slam with snook having been sighted in the area. We went in search of the bonefish shortly after getting the Permit and after a long wade into some back remote flats, we found them tailing and hungry. Now with 2/3 of the slam complete and about 2:00 in the afternoon we next had to find a Tarpon. This proved to be very difficult. We made a boat portage back through saltwater creek which opened up into Xcalak lagoon, which is home to baby Tarpon and some small snook. With the sunlight fading, we found one particular fishing looking spot and I pounded it with cast after cast trying to get that Tarpon. One finally took it, but after three jumps was gone. It looked hopeless, but I continued to pound that one small area with black death fly and at last angered another small Tarpon which I sucessfully landed. We then took some shots at small snook as the sun faded and the bugs took over, but the snook did not cooperate. A Grand Slam and my first Permit in the same day....doesn't get much better.

The rest of the week produced one additional small permit, two nice Tarpon, and several bonefish for me. Xcalak is a hard place to get to, doesn't offer any of the glitz, comforts, or even basic services we sometimes come to expect, but for remote fly fishing with a shot at a Grand Slam and super slam, it is in a class with very few places in the World.