The $130 Snook
What the hell am I doing three long casts downwind of the palacial Marriot Cancun in Laguna Nichupte casting for snook? Especially after just returning from Christmas Island a month ago? And why do I have three times more fishing equipment with me than I took to Christmas Island?
Well, it began with my oldest son taking a year off before starting college to teach windsurfing in Cancun. We had talked about my visiting him, but after the Christmas Island trip, I decided I needed another trip to the tropics like I needed a gaping hole in my wallet, the two being roughly equivalent. But
when I told him that in a telephone call, I got buckets of homesick tears. And, as he reminded me, his Christmas package never made it through the mexican postal system. So it seemed a trip to Cancun was the only way to redeem myself, paternally. It's a tough job, but someone's.....
Since I had fished with Cliff Adams 100 miles south of Cancun at Boca Paila six years ago for bonefish, tarpon, permit, and barracuda, and since Eddy reported there were lots of fish out on the reef in front of his hotel, I thought I might, just by poking around, actually find some interesting fishing. But what exactly was quite uncertain.
Therefore the five rods; the 7 and 9 wts. being givens, a four piece 8 wt. as a flight insurance rod, then the 10 and 11 as I remembered the wind and tarpon. For a seven day vacation I packed exactly three pairs of T-shirts, shorts, and socks, but once I had put all reels, multiple floating and sinking lines, poppers, flies, wire leaders, etc. in the large suitcase, there was hardly room for the clothes. Uncertainty does that.
The second day of the week, as I nursed 9 windsurfing blisters on my right hand and a few less on the left I began asking fishing questions, and, after the inevitable story about the restaurant on the water where they feed tarpon by hand, someone mentioned a friend who knew a friend who knew a local guide for bonefish and tarpon. Eventually I got the basic details. Half day trips from 6 AM to 10 AM, two fisherman minimum, $130 per person. WHAT! That included a free coke (!!!). Very professional. Really
knows his fishing. Fishes the Laguna directly behind the hotel strip. Meet Carlos at Carlos and Charlie's, everyone knows Carlos and Charlie's restaurant/marina. Right next door to Senor Frog's. That was as specific as it got. After all, this is Mexico.
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