Your Professional Outfitter for Angling in the Yucatan

Yucatan Fly Fishing Adventures' Tarpon Cay Lodge is a relatively new operation to the traveling angler, however they offer a team of highly skilled guides with more than 27 years of experience fishing in the Yucatán Penninsula of Mexico. You will be fishing the fertile waters of the Rio Lagartos Biosphere in the Yucatan Penninsula, an area that is only starting to be known to the international angling community.

Rio Lagartos is located along the Gulf of Mexico in the northern coast of the Mexican State of Yucatan. It is at this location that the turquoise blue and green waters of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico merge and eventually work their way inland to form the estuaries and lagoons of Rio Lagartos. In addition to possessing the world's largest pink flamingo nesting grounds, harboring a healthy population of salt water crocodiles and offering sanctuary to 350 of bird species, these fertile waters play home to one of the most undisturbed tarpon fisheries in the world.

At San Felipe Lodge, a quaint and comfortable fishing lodge located at Rio Lagartos, you can expect to catch tarpon, snook, barracuda, snapper, grouper, sheepshead, jacks, ladyfish and seatrout. It is the fantastic tarpon fishery, harboring vast schools of tarpon that have not yet grown wary of flies. You do not need to be a skilled angler to catch these fish. Keep in mind that if you are seeking to catch trophy tarpon, this is not the place. However, if you desire vicious surface strikes, drag screeching runs on light fly tackle, the juvenile tarpon at San Felipe will prove challenging adversaries.

Yucatan Fly Fishing Package Pricing 2006 Season*

2 fishing days, 3 nights, $1365
3 fishing days, 4 nights, $1575
4 fishing days, 5 nights, $1,895
5 fishing days, 6 nights, $2,395
6 fishing days, 7 nights, $2,395
7 fishing days, 8 nights, $2,700

*Per person double occupancy per boat and room.

Yucatan Fly Fishing Package Includes

• Transfer from airport in Cancun to San Felipe Lodge in the Yucatan
• Guided fishing (two anglers to flats skiff)
• All meals, drinks and alcoholic beverages (national brands)
• Use of tackle (fly and spinning gear)
• Appropriate nights of lodging at Tarpon Cay Lodge in the Yucatan

Not included in the Yucatan Fly Fishing Package

Airfare to Cancun, Mexico; gratuities to guides;tackle: alcohol: items purchased of a personal nature; telephone calls from the lodge, laundry service; airport departure taxes.

Required Deposit for Yucatan Fly Fishing

Yucatan Fly Fishing requires a $750 deposit to initiate a reservation. Final payments are due 60 days prior to departure. A reservation is not confirmed until deposits are received.

Yucatan Fly Fishing Travel Logistics

Anglers fly from their gateway city to Cancun, Mexico. From the airport in Cancun, it's a 3 hour drive to the San Felipe Lodge in an air-conditioned van.

Yucatan Fly Fishing Fishing Season

Year round.

Yucatan Fly Fishing Capacity

Tarpon Cay Lodge can accommodate 8 anglers.

Yucatan Fly Fishing Weather

Temperatures vary between 82 and 92 degrees. It is always wise to protect yourself from the intense sun by wearing lightweight long sleeve shirt and pants. In addition, a lightweight rainsuit might be needed for intermittent showers.

The Fishing at Yucatan Fly Fishing Adventures

Within the Rio Lagartos reserve boundaries is an area covering approximately 120,000 acres of protected land, comprised of mangrove forest, coastal dunes, low deciduous forest, savannas and hummocks. It is located on the Yucatan Peninsula's northern coast, hundreds of miles away from the well known resorts at Ascension Bay, and offers a seldom-fished and untapped coastline that very few anglers have seen. Our facility at San Felipe offers a very comfortable exclusive fishing lodge in the protected biosphere. In the Rio Lagartos Preserve at San Felipe are incredible concentrations of schooling tarpon in the 10-30 lb range. This fishery is still in its infancy, as word is only now just starting to leak out to the traveling angling community about the potential of this fishery.

Veteran agent and tarpon angler Brad Wolfe described this fishery as: "A destination for baby tarpon and snook that just simply destroys the standards by which most destinations for these species are measured. I could only mutter to myself that in thirty years of tarpon fishing, I have never seen so many fish or so many fish that were so naïve. For baby tarpon, this is simply the best. period! And we haven't even scratched the surface on the area's potential for snook. I hope this will happen on our next trip.which needs to be very soon!

You will target schools of tarpon that have not grown wary of fly or plug. These fish are not spooked as they are in most shallow water locations. You will encounter numerous schools rolling very close to the boat, so 60 foot casts are not necessary to tempt these tarpon. Fly anglers need not be skilled casters to catch the tarpon at this destination. These fish are so aggressive, that they often readily attack miscasted flies or lures. You will fish mangrove lined shorelines, canals, small lagoons and holes. There are some sand flats as well for occasional permit and bonefish, but these fish are typically in deeper water. At San Felipe, you will fish out of brand new 18' fiberglass skiffs with Yamaha 40hp with a very experienced local guide. For the most part an 8 wt outfit will be perfect on all but the windiest days. However, if you're brave enough to tempt these small, albeit spunky, tarpon in a 6 or 7 wt., you will certainly have your hands full.

Special Note: For those that desire to fish while in Cancun on vacation, we can arrange professionally guided trips to the Nichupte Lagoon. We can arrange pick up at your hotel, full days of guided fly or spin fishing, lunch and beverages and the services of a quality guide. Call for details.

Yucatan Fly Fishing Accommodations

Tarpon Cay Lodge is a quaint lodge catering to anglers. Two anglers will share an air conditioned rooms. Each room has a private bathroom and offers hot water. The lodge is located just 10 minutes from the launching area in the Rio Lagartos Preserve. An English speaking host will always be present. The lodge features two cooks on premise at all times.

Meals at Tarpon Cay Lodge

Anglers will have breakfast at the lodge. A traditional American-style breakfast will be served, including eggs, bacon, ham, fruit and coffee. Lunch will be taken on the water so as to not cut into valuable fishing time. A dinner will be served at the lodge each evening. Dinner will be a more elaborate affair and will offer freshly caught fish, poultry and meats. An open bar is available for your enjoyment serving national beverages.

Yucatan Travel Requirements and Documentation

U.S. passport are the preferred method of documentation to enter Mexico. When only one parent accompanies a child to Mexico, it is advisable to secure a notarized document from the other parent stating that he or she is giving permission for the traveling parent to take their child (name the child) to Mexico for a fishing vacation. It should also state that the traveling parent can make any decision regarding the health and welfare of the child while in Mexico. Applications for passports are available at any full-service post office branch. You should carry your passport with you at all times. Keep a photocopy of the picture page of your passport in a separate place. This will aid in replacing a lost passport. No visa required for stay up to three months. Tourist cards are issued on board the international flight en route to Mexico.

Yucatan Fly Fishing Medical Precautions

No special inoculation or medications are required to enter Mexico. Please consult your doctor or local health clinic for current recommendations. With respect to health considerations, however, we recommend packing sunscreen, lip balm, Aloe vera gel for sunburn, Imodium AD or similar for stomach upsets and diarrhea and Trans-Derm-Scop patches (available by prescription) or Dramamine if you are prone to sea-sickness.

Yucatan Fly Fishing Suggested Itinerary

Day 1: Early morning flight to Cancun, Mexico. Transfer to San Felipe Lodge.

Day 2 (and other fishing days): Full day of fishing at the Rio Lagartos Preserve.

Departure Day: Transfer to airport. Flight to USA.

Trip Cancellation and Travel Insurance Recommendation

Travel, especially foreign travel, unfortunately has some unusual aspects that need to be addressed. Issues such as lost baggage, missed flights and medical concerns are often over looked until an untimely event happens. You or your traveling partner may need protection from trip cancellation due to events at home such as illness of you or your travel companion, illness while away from home, as well as a host of other travel nightmares. Worldwide Angling strongly recommends all parties obtain trip insurance right after booking a trip abroad. We obtain our own travel insurance with Travelex, a well established, highly recommended, travel insurance company and we recommend it to all of our clients. Travelex specializes in insuring the foreign traveler to far away and remote places. Once a trip is booked with Worldwide Angling, you will receive from us an application for Travelex travel insurance. The cost is quite reasonable, less than $60 per $1000 in most cases. Please review your insurance needs to see if Travelex is for you.