Paradise lodge is located on the East coast of the Yucatan Peninsula on a thin strip of beach directly between Espirto De Santo Bay and Chutemaul Bay. After flying into Mexico, it takes five hours of driving south from Cancun in a cool air conditioned van for us tospend six days of fishing the two bays and inland brackish lakes.
Upon arrivial, Eric the lodge manager, asked us what we wanted to fish for. In unison, my dad and I both said, “PERMIT!”.
It takes about an hour and a half to drive 30 miles to Espirto De Santo Bay from the lodge, so we spent only two of the six days fishing there.
After launching the boat and arriving on the other side of the bay, we were lucky enough to spot a pod of Permit feeding in a long shallow flat. After my dad took numerous shots he handed me the rod. On my second attempt I hooked into this big guy and was lucky enough to land this fish-of-a-lifetime. As soon as I released him, Dad was back up on the casting platform. He hooked right into a nice permit as well. It was not as big as mine, but he made up for it on the last day by catching the best fish of the trip, and his life.
On the second day, we fished one of the inland lakes in search for some rolling Tarpon. Due to the confined nature of the mangrove lakes, you are actually spot fishing. So anglers must hunt for the fish before ever making a cast. But once you find a pod of rolling Tarpon, the fun begins.
We both landed a few nice baby Tarpon and jumped a dozen more. John actually caught a Bugle Boy native to the area. It is kinda like a Bass.
Below is a glimpse of the 40 lbs + Permit we landed on the last day.
John Hogg landed this Permit on our last day, in the last hour. Amazing!