Campeche / Holbox Split Trip

THE FISHING

We’ve designed this trip specifically to give our anglers a better understanding of what it takes to successfully fish for tarpon. The waters surrounding Campeche are absolutely teaming with juvenile tarpon in the 5-25 pound range and we know of no other place that consistently holds so many young tarpon throughout the year. This makes Campeche an ideal location for anglers to learn how tarpon eat the fly, how they fight, how to play them and what to do and not do in order to get a tarpon to the boat for a photograph. The Campeche fishing grounds are comprised of thousands and thousands of square acres of lush grass flats that hold untold numbers of shrimp, crabs and minnows. It is this bait that draws the juvenile tarpon to the area and keeps them there until the fish reach a certain size, where they will then head out to deeper water. Just north of the city North of Campeche, is the Reserve “Los Petenes”, which is an enormous mangrove estuary and wetland, given protective status by the Mexican Government. This untouched wilderness is a shining example of how to manage an area and its wildlife. Casting to rolling and fining fish on the grass beds, site casting along the mangrove shoreline to cruising tarpon and fishing the narrow creeks and channels that ribbon “Los Petenes” are the three areas where anglers will be fishing for tarpon in. A better tarpon nursery would be hard to find and the resulting number of hookups each day make this location an excellent destination for those who want to learn about and focus on exclusively on juvenile tarpon.

Holbox is a low key island off the northern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula. The island itself somewhat resembles an inverted boomerang and its shoreline is made up largely of wide sand beaches and mangrove. What makes Holbox so exceptional from an angling point of view are the large numbers of big tarpon that can be found throughout the year migrating through the island’s surrounding waters. These fish are big and will average between 60-140 pounds. These fish demand 12 weight rods and sinking lines and while the species is the same, big tarpon are a whole different kettle of fish. The Holbox tarpon fishery covers a wide area of water off the north shore of the island and how far the runs out are each day will depend entirely on where the guides have been finding fish. The guides will search for schools of rolling and fining tarpon, and once they found a school, they will skillfully maneuver the skiff into a favorable position for a cast. It’s incredibly exciting to see these huge fish rolling on the surface and when you hook into one, it is just a very special feeling. While the large tarpon are generally found in 8-20 feet of water, there is a large mangrove lagoon on the east side of the island where snook and juvenile tarpon can be targeted and this makes for a good option if the winds are blowing hard off shore. The turquoise water and beautiful sand beaches enhance the distinctly Caribbean feel to the island, even though it is technically located in the Gulf of Mexico. The skiffs are a 1 minute walk from the hotel.

This combination trip is so good because Holbox allows anglers to apply the lessons they’ve learned on the juvenile fish in Campeche to the much bigger and more challenging tarpon found in this part of Mexico. This trip is all about tarpon and becoming a better tarpon angler.

BOATS AND EQUIPMENT

Campeche – The boats used in Campeche are the traditional 23 foot Mexican high bowed pangas powered by 2 and 4 stroke 60 to 90 horse powered engines. These boats are clean and offer large forward casting platforms. The Casa Blanca skiffs are 16 foot Dolphin Flats skiffs, powered by Yamaha 40 horse powered engines. There is room for 1 guide and two guests, who sit in tandem bucket seats, which are very comfortable. Rod racks and poling platforms are standard in each skiff.

Holbox – The boats used in Holbox are the traditional 23 foot Mexican high bowed pangas, powered by 50-60 2 and 4 stroke engines. These skiffs are about 2 feet narrower than those in Campeche which makes them highly maneuverable when chasing schools of biog tarpon. The casting platforms are a good size and covered with a non slip astro-turf.

GETTING THERE

Because this trip starts in one Mexican state (Campeche) and ends up in another (Quintana Roo), the logistics have the potential to be very complicated and expensive. We like to keep it simple and cost effective, and the best way of doing this is to use Mexico City as the main hub to fly into and out of Mexico. From Mexico City, guests can fly to Campeche at the beginning of their trip. When the trip is over, guests can travel from Holbox to the Cancun Airport where they can catch a flight back to Mexico City and then fly internationally back to their point of origin. Aero Mexico flies these routes and this is the most time and cost effective route. That said, we recognize that Cancun is a major hub and that there are often many inexpensive flight to and from Cancun from most international centers. If you want to do this trip from Cancun as your gateway to and from Mexico, you need to know what that entails. Upon arrival in Cancun, it’s a 6 hour drive to Campeche, which makes for an extremely long arrival day. The cost of this trip is not included in the price and will run between $400 and $600 US depending on how many guests are doing the trip. If you’d like help with the logistics of flying in and out of Cancun, just call our office and we’ll be glad to assist in any way that we can.

Slipstream is a full service travel company that can handle a variety of services relating to your trip. For assistance, please contact us directly at 1 866 644-7703.

RATES FOR 2024

$4,350 USD DBL