Fishing Playa Del Carmen

[Curmudgeon]

My family is going to Playa Del Carmen next month for our first real vacation in 15 years. I'd love to get in a fishing trip while I'm there, but most of the ones I've seen are offshore and I'd rather fish in skinny water. Any of y'all have recommendations?

[plugger]

That's fantastic news , Bruce ! I'm happy for you but I don't know about inshore fishing there . Have you googled it yet ?

[Xpress89]

I went with Capt ricks, but that was offshore. ( actually only about a mile out bc of water depth drop ) but I was googling it and found two or three guides that do flats fishing in tulum area, but it ain't cheap and it's a good haul from playa, 2-3 hours

[Xpress89]

Don't waste your money trying to go offshore if you can't find a flats guide bc it's a bad time of the year, I went in October and they told me I was a couple months late for the good fishing. Good luck Bruce!!! Just stay on the beach and drink em up and look at beautiful women !!

[Curmudgeon]

I did a little research and it looked like most of the guides were offshore. There were a few pangas that looked like they'd be good for reef fishing, but I wasn't sure what they were like.

[FishinAddiction]

Sounds like a great trip Bruce. Enjoy the time on the beach!

[Robalo]

Bruce:
I fish out of Tankah Bay-an ex-pat-Gary Phillips originally from Corpus owns Casa Cenote-I recommend you check it out-it is between Xel Ha and Tulum, so a good hour south of Playa plus by car-bring a mask, snorkel and water shoes-watch for slippery rocks-enter from south of the cenote at Casa Cenote-less slippery-a panga at dive shop next to Gary's restaurant (good food at Casa Cenote) is about $150 for 4 hours-a 20' panga-bring your own beer and cooler-they'll have water/cokes(?) -maybe-you can reef fish or go snorkeling if ya don't wanna go the 1/2 mile thru the reef into 300-600' of water. If you do go there to Gary's, you need to check out the cenote in front of the restaurant. Xpu Ha is also neat-about 30 minutes south of Playa-used to be a good restaurant there. Tulum-it's mighty big now-all tourista-south along the beach road towards Punta Allen is Ascension Bay and that is where permit, bone and tarpon fishing is at Boca Paila-long slow car drive full of potholes-I think the lodge is Pescado Maya???-basically the closet place to Playa for Bonefishing I think. Go look at Google Earth and look around. I know a guy that fished north of Cancun and caught trout-I believe he was towards Holbox or San Felipe-quite a looonggg ways away from Playa-around and north of the peninsula-about 150 miles??


Be careful leaving anything on the beach in Playa-scumbag thieves are around. IMO, you couldn't pay me to visit Xel Ha-too tourista for me-same goes for most 'swim with dolphins' stuff-but to each their own.

SUMMARY:

most towns, especially Playa have pangas for rent-around $150 for 1/2 day-bring beer and food-and extra beer for the guys taking you out-they won't get drunk but they'll appreciate a gringo giving them a few beers. No lifevests usually and no fishing license. Big boats usually run about $450-800/day - about 1/2 of US prices. I prefer the pangas myself. For $150 and a case of beer for 2 folks , it sure is a good entertaining 1/2 day-you will see turtles, catch barracuda, some other reef species-two years ago Mona caught a 60 inch Dorado and earlier this year, a boat near us hooked a sail. Usually they troll-and if tired of fishing and ya bring a mask and snorkel, you can see some nice reefs mainly untouched by others. I believe it will be lobster season-make sure you eat some lobster-fairly cheap and do not order it if out of season cause it's frozen and suxs. Shrimp isn't really indigenous to the carribean, so stay away from shrimp in general-it would be like ordering shrimp in Oklahoma. Drogas is a major crackdown (checkpoints on both sides of 307 at Playa and another one at Tulum), so no spleef (but ya may find some by a beach vendor if ya ask but MX jail aint Purdy)-don't speed on hwy either-they have radar! I always rent a car in Cancun, but you can take the bus/vans-white colored ones and they stop and pick ya up along 307 for cheap-like a few dollars- BUT ya may have long walks to the beach! Bring a soft-sided cooler-you will not regret it-pack it in your suitcase. Playa is huge now-back in the 80's there was one main dirt road off 307 and 307 was a dangerous small 2 lane hwy with no shoulder-there was 2 banks, a bus station, a few dumpy restaurants about 3 bars and a couple of roach motels-was darn great fun back then-and darn cheap-case of Dos XX was $4-now it costs about the same as here. Now it is huge-big as Galveston and just as bad of traffic.

Have fun-be careful-ya may want to check out locogringos.com for info.

[Robalo]

If ya speak Spanish, you'll do fine-watch out for any sales people (they are every where and will try to fool you, especially any Democrats)-they never shut up and hard sell ya until ya say GTF away from me azzwipe.

Leave the illegal immigrants there-DO NOT BRING THEM BACK WITH YOU EVEN THOUGH OBAMA INVITED THEM ALL!!

[Curmudgeon]

Bruce:
I fish out of Tankah Bay-an ex-pat-Gary Phillips originally from Corpus owns Casa Cenote-I recommend you check it out-it is between Xel Ha and Tulum, so a good hour south of Playa plus by car-bring a mask, snorkel and water shoes-watch for slippery rocks-enter from south of the cenote at Casa Cenote-less slippery-a panga at dive shop next to Gary's restaurant (good food at Casa Cenote) is about $150 for 4 hours-a 20' panga-bring your own beer and cooler-they'll have water/cokes(?) -maybe-you can reef fish or go snorkeling if ya don't wanna go the 1/2 mile thru the reef into 300-600' of water. If you do go there to Gary's, you need to check out the cenote in front of the restaurant. Xpu Ha is also neat-about 30 minutes south of Playa-used to be a good restaurant there. Tulum-it's mighty big now-all tourista-south along the beach road towards Punta Allen is Ascension Bay and that is where permit, bone and tarpon fishing is at Boca Paila-long slow car drive full of potholes-I think the lodge is Pescado Maya???-basically the closet place to Playa for Bonefishing I think. Go look at Google Earth and look around. I know a guy that fished north of Cancun and caught trout-I believe he was towards Holbox or San Felipe-quite a looonggg ways away from Playa-around and north of the peninsula-about 150 miles??


Be careful leaving anything on the beach in Playa-scumbag thieves are around. IMO, you couldn't pay me to visit Xel Ha-too tourista for me-same goes for most 'swim with dolphins' stuff-but to each their own.

SUMMARY:

most towns, especially Playa have pangas for rent-around $150 for 1/2 day-bring beer and food-and extra beer for the guys taking you out-they won't get drunk but they'll appreciate a gringo giving them a few beers. No lifevests usually and no fishing license. Big boats usually run about $450-800/day - about 1/2 of US prices. I prefer the pangas myself. For $150 and a case of beer for 2 folks , it sure is a good entertaining 1/2 day-you will see turtles, catch barracuda, some other reef species-two years ago Mona caught a 60 inch Dorado and earlier this year, a boat near us hooked a sail. Usually they troll-and if tired of fishing and ya bring a mask and snorkel, you can see some nice reefs mainly untouched by others. I believe it will be lobster season-make sure you eat some lobster-fairly cheap and do not order it if out of season cause it's frozen and suxs. Shrimp isn't really indigenous to the carribean, so stay away from shrimp in general-it would be like ordering shrimp in Oklahoma. Drogas is a major crackdown (checkpoints on both sides of 307 at Playa and another one at Tulum), so no spleef (but ya may find some by a beach vendor if ya ask but MX jail aint Purdy)-don't speed on hwy either-they have radar! I always rent a car in Cancun, but you can take the bus/vans-white colored ones and they stop and pick ya up along 307 for cheap-like a few dollars- BUT ya may have long walks to the beach! Bring a soft-sided cooler-you will not regret it-pack it in your suitcase. Playa is huge now-back in the 80's there was one main dirt road off 307 and 307 was a dangerous small 2 lane hwy with no shoulder-there was 2 banks, a bus station, a few dumpy restaurants about 3 bars and a couple of roach motels-was darn great fun back then-and darn cheap-case of Dos XX was $4-now it costs about the same as here. Now it is huge-big as Galveston and just as bad of traffic.

Have fun-be careful-ya may want to check out locogringos.com for info.

Thanks for all the info! I haven't been to Mexico or Akumal in 16 years or more so I'm really looking forward to it!

[Robalo]

You won't believe how it has changed. Playa is almost like Cancun now. Akumal is almost completely developed. You can catch a panga in Akumal-see the folks at La Cueva De Pescadores restaurant-Edgar is who I used but he's retired.

[JT]

Is the guy who owns Cafe Cenote the same one that has been there since the 80's? He took Wilson trout fishing near Cancun when we went down.

[Robalo]

Yes, Gary Phillips-old hippy dude. Opened a restaurant in Florida also. He now has a dive shop/fish charter next to restaurant-and the entire shoreline of Tankah bay is pretty much all villas.

[Curmudgeon]

I'm amazed to hear how much it has been developed. I'm going into this with a mild trepidation I won't like what I find. 40 years ago it was quite rural and unspoiled; even 15 years back not much had been developed in Quintanaroo. Now we're staying in an all inclusive resort on a beach that is lined with resorts. I hope it's as fun as it used to be!