All,
I recently spent a week in Mexico's Ascension Bay at the Pesca Maya lodge. The trip was amazing and I would highly recommend it for anyone looking for a slightly more affordable salt water locale. The drive from the airport is a bit rough (3 hours) but well worth it for those who like to get off the beaten path and enjoy solitude. The operation itself was hit pretty bad from the recent hurricanes and lost almost all of its beach property except for the main lodge and two houses. The main lodge is rustic but for the general fisherman is more than adequate. Internet was done while we were visiting and with no cell service at all you can definitely expect to be cutoff from the outside world (which I prefer).

I spent four days fishing with a guide, Dawrin, from the lodge. Dawrin was featured on the cover of Fish & Fly Saltwater about a year ago and it was pure luck that I was paired with him and he was an outstanding guide! The first day I landed about ten bones and was able to wade to rolling Tarpon and landed a nice juvenile (~10lbs) on my 8wt! That was fantastic. This was all before 1pm so we spent some time looking for Permits for the slam but did not get any good shots.

The bonefishing in general was fantastic. Plenty of sight casting to nice bones that actually want to eat! We found large schools every day which also gave good opportunities to catch a ton of fish. The average is probably 1-2lbs so not huge but they do have big ones as the record is somewhere 9-12lbs range. I think the biggest I caught all week was around 3lbs.

The conditions were tough the week I visited. We had 10-15mph winds on and off and my last day probably had 20+mph winds in the bay. The guides can take you into the protected areas but when looking for Permit it is mostly open areas. Speaking of Permit, I spent the last day trying just for Permit and we saw 5-6 nice fish and I probably had 2-3 good opps and put at least one good cast on the fish but they did not take. The diversity of the fishery is amazing. Oh well, more reason to go back again next year!

The people working the lodge were incredibly friendly and outgoing and helped make the stay one to remember for me and my wife. I am posting a few pics for anyone interested and feel free to contact me if you are thinking of going and have any questions.

Attached Thumbnails

Guide Dawrin with Tarpon caught with Whisper Crab on 8wt.

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"Fly-fishing is a sport in which fish are caught properly only in a certain way, often against all odds, and using rods made from a weird kind of grass that grows in China." (Trout Bum, by John Gierach)