ok, here are some more photos from Casa Blanca…of note are David Escobedo’s first bonefish (2nd salt water trip ever!!!!) congrats! he put in the time to learn to fly fish, taking casting lessons, etc. also, my 10 pound snook caught with Pedro. then here’s a picture on the dock with JT and our masseuse, Eufro. next, are photos from the tarpon lagoon with Ed and Bill (and of Bill’s finger). photos by: JT, Bret, Bill and Ed.
ok, so here’s the deal. we are a group of 20. some guys are content to fish whatever, but a lot of guys want permit. with permit fishing, you have to commit to lots of poling and seeing nothing, at least that’s how it is in Ascension Bay. we had good sunlight for most mornings til early afternoon, but would cloud up later. and the wind kept the back part of the bay mucked up…and with all the rain from last week, all the areas like Esperanza were with too much freshwater, so snook and tarpon fishing weren’t consistent.
i made a move to send some boats down to Espiritu Santo Bay to the south, where Playa Blanca Lodge fishes, but it had been closed for 3 weeks, so i figured we had nothing to lose. we didn’t see much, but i got a 10 pound snook (photo later), and Jeff and Freddy fishing with Carlos got into a bunch of permit on fly (crab patterns). they hooked four and got 2 to the boat, one of them being over 30 pounds. congrats, Jeff!! JT got a huge barracuda on fly that bottomed out his 30 pound boga grip!
cheers, (more later),
joey
hey, everyone! it’s day 3 here at Casa Blanca. the wind is blowing, but for the most part, our weather is good.
weird things happened today. first of all, i got to fish with my good friend JT Van Zandt here in Ascension Bay. JT and i started fly fishing some time back in the early 90’s, and ended up guiding and working together at the Austin Angler, so this was a special time.
today, we went out with Don Pedro, who took us way the hell back past Xhobon, to the furthest we could go north into Ascension Bay. the tide was slack and the water was murky. we didn’t see too many fish, but the one that counted, we caught. we spotted a nice permit, around 20 pounds, tailing by himself. Pedro did a great job poling upwind to get JT a good cast. JT made 2 casts, the crab landed, and the permit charged and tailed on the fly. here is a photo.
the other photo is Mark Blackburn with a 20+ pound tarpon from the tarpon lagoon, with guide Pato. they hooked 8 fish and landed 3. overall, a good day, everyone is having fun. talk to you soon.
joey
hey, guys…i’m here at Casa Blanca Lodge with 19 other guys, mostly from Austin. we are in day 2. yesterday was a pretty tough day, windy as hell, cloudy. but everyone is happy. the lodge staff is doing a great job, the food is great, can’t ask for more.
today was a tough day, very little tide movement. we went all the way back in the furthest part of ascension bay, 1 hour and 10 minutes from the lodge, looking for snook and tarpon, but didn’t see much. did cast to (and break off) a big barracuda. also, i had my first real shot at a permit this week. was classic, the permit was cruising and finning in shallow water. i think this fish is around 15 pounds or so. i laid 1 perfect cast with a crab, that landed about 2 feet to the side of the fish, and he swam over, tilted, and sucked in the crab…
here are the photos, taken by Bret Benjamin. more posts hopefully as the week progresses…cheers.
sorry for the delay in posting, but i’m still in buenos aires, and there’s not much fishing going on right now. but i promise, soon. in less than 2 weeks, i go with 19 guys, mostly from austin, to Casa Blanca Lodge in Mexico! i can’t wait!
so, i’m going to post some photos here of 2 of the guys going on this trip. one of them is my good friend Michael Hsu from austin. he’s an architect. the other is my good buddy Freddy Lynch, who i think is the best guide on the texas coast.
Michael went fishing with Freddy as a warm-up trip to prepare for mexico. they went down to 9-mile hole and had a good time, boated several redfish to near 30 inches. one of them is so fat, it almost looks like a black drum! if you want to know how to get in touch with Freddy, shoot me an email.
