More Specifics-Trolling, Flats Fishing and Boca Paila Bridge

Here is an email exchange between me and a gentleman named Don:

Don wrote: Going to Akumal 2/24- 3/1. Is this a decent time to fish for bones and permit? Staying at Playa Caribe and while there in Sept , one of the condo owners said he and another guy went and used crab pcs on a jig and caught like 25 and missed a helluva lot more before they caught on as to when to strike. Said they had a ball. I'm not too proficient with the fly so probably will use spin tackle also. Bought some Berkley Gulp crabs and shrimp to take down. Have amassed quite a few Crazy Charlies and other bonefish flies to give away there. Also got some 30,40 and 50lb test line in lg amts to give out as well and a lg bag of trolling lures and 200 or so 6/0 circle hooks. (most all off E-bay). Have fished around the Boca Paila bridge with minimal luck but it's something to do. Another guy I talked to uses lg Rapalas in the smaller bays for> a "little of everything." Any hints (other than secret places) would be appreciated. And how far from the bridge is Pesca Maya camp? Went all the way down once but don't recall seeing the place. Thanks for your time. Don

I responded: Hey Don,
Don't really have any "secret" places in that I only go down once a year, so any places I have found are freely shared. Let's see, where to start:

Bones and Permit:
The beauty of Ascencion Bay and Boca Paila lagoons are that there are ALWAYS bonefish and permit. Tarpon and snook are the ones that are a little more seasonal, but you will always find bonefish and permit. A method that we used with quite a lot of success was using a jig with a 3-4 inch grub (the gulp shrimp would also work really well for this [I would strongly suggest getting the smallest ones, 2 inch I believe, in that they tend to run a little bigger than a equal sized grub]0 then tie a 12-18 inch dropper line from the jig and tie on a crazy charlie or some other shrimp or crab pattern fly. I was amazed that the fish seemed to grap the dropper fly about 75% of the time. Could have just been the day or some other factor, but it really seemed to work. Also, if you are fishing in a little deeper water, we would also use a clear casting bubble with about a 2' leader with a #4 octopus or 1/0 circle hook with a hunk of fresh hermit crab. This worked very, very well for permit, but, of course, you have to find some first.

Boca Paila Bridge:
On my last day there last year, we went down to fish around the bridge. We fished all day. I saw so many freakin' fish. Tons of bonefish. Some great big barracudas, more bonefish, a permit, more bonefish, did I mention bonefish? Anyway, the operative word here is "saw" not "caught." I don't know what I was doing wrong, but I could not get anything to bite. I tried just about everything (other than live bait which probably would have worked). One problem could have been the moon phase, we were at full or close to it the whole time we were there, or it could have been the kite boarders who were out stirring things up and scaring away the fish--although they were very nice and courteous. I still had fun, just checking the place out thoroughly and learing a bit more about the structure, depths, current, etc. As we were headed out, however, I hooked into a decent sized Jack Crevalle that literally took me 45 minutes to get using my 10lb tackle. It was awesome and easily made the whole day of waiting well worth it. I was using a 3/8 oz. white SPRO bucktail jig with a 3 inch white curly tail grub. Probably the most fun I have ever had catching a fish. I was fishing out on the beach and caught the jack right at the mouth of the inlet/outlet. You can often see big (4'+) barracuda lurking around the bridge, but it is difficult to get a lure to them. I also noticed a few places right before you get to the bridge where you could access the Boco Paila lagoons on foot and then wade. Check out Google Earth and look at some satellite images, you will see a few places where the road gets really close to the lagoon and there are some trails that would take you there. You could park down by the bridge, then backtrack (that is on my list of things to do this year when we go down).

Pesca Maya
Is about 20-30 minutes from the bridge depending on the road conditions. Since there tends to be less traffic on that side of the bride, the road is usually in pretty good shape. It is on the left side of the road (heading south). They don't have really big signs, so you need to be on the lookout anytime after about 15 minutes past the bridge. They are very helpful there and will make you feel very "at home."

Rapalas and Trolling
For the flats, an f11 Magnum Rapala in sardine, blue mackerel, or mullet is a good choice and a little less likley to get hung up than the same sized CD Magnum as it floats, but the CDs will also work. I would also suggest you bring down a couple of skitter walks or Heddon Zara spooks or super spooks for topwater--especially for tarpon or barracuda. If you go out of Akumal or any other place trolling blue water, go bigger. I had very good success with an F18 Magnum in blue mackerel. One trick that worked pretty well for me was to take my main line down to a three way swivel, then a 4' leader off the bottom to a big honkin' XRap Magnum 30 and a 5' leader off the top to an f18 Magnum. The Xrap takes the whole rig down around 20' (it is supposed to take it to 30, but I don't think it goes that deep--at least not when trolled in tandem like this) then the smaller and more suble f18 is just out there a few feet about the other. We did well for kingfish and barracuda, but could also have gotten wahoo, spanish mackerel, etc. We got bites and hookups on both the x rap and the f18, and had much more success than just trolling them one at a time. It's kind of a pain to set up--but for me that is half the fun.
Hopefully I answered your questions and gave you something useful. Feel free to ask me more specifics, I love to talk about fishing. Also, if you don't mind, I would like to put your email and my response on my crappy blog: www.mayanrivierafishing.blogspot.com. Feel free to check it out and share it with others.
Regards,
Jim RiddleOrem, UT