Jigging in Cancun

[shoefish]

CF- one of the guys on board was actually talking about fishing out of Playa del Carmen- he said the same thing about the nice short ride. Good luck when you get back down there, and I'll be looking forward to the report!

Fess- if you are referring to the conventional rods, those are made from Mudhole blanks. One of the guys builds them himself. The rod I was using was a Synit, and they are made in New Zealand. The guides staggered aroung the blank are called "acid" wrapped, and boy do they make a difference under heavy load.

Wasabi- I actually fished out of Puerto Adventuras through you a few years back (Off the beaten path in Mexico (pics and video)). To answer your question, a good jigging captain knows the drops, knows how to set up on a drift, knows how to keep you in the right spot on a drop/reef, lives by the sounder and is constantly updating you with the depths that you're marking, and most importantly isn't afraid to put the throttles down and cover a lot of ground to get on the right drop. It sounds simple, but it isn't. The best guys that I know anywhere are Captains Rick, Chip, and Mike in...where else...North Carolina.

CG- we sure did try working the bottom, but we didn't have any luck. We tried the deep drops and then came in to the shallower water too- part of our problem that day was that the current and wind were moving so fast that you had to put on a big jig to hold bottom and they were probably too big for the grouper down there.

Oh, one thing that I forgot to mention in the report is that one of the guys I fished with, Edwin, jumped off a sail on a jig that day- it was awesome.

Thanks again for the kind words everyone.

Shoe

[CFScheer]

Here is a video of a guy catching a sail on a jig in Playa del Carmen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZNcu...eature=related
I've heard of other boats there hooking sails on the jigs as well. The guy shooting the video says in Spanish that they were working it super slow. He also says that it is November, so maybe I can join the "billfish on a jig" club during my Thanksgiving visit!

Shoe -you're spot on with the current and depth situation there. 300+ gram jigs are often times the only way to consistently make bottom. There is some pretty sick structure where the shelf drops off, but the strong currents, swell, and often times wind make targeting bottom dwellers difficult. Despite the likely being a huge biomass of snapper and grouper in the area, the size of the jigs and other elements make it a mid-water column game. The amberjack schools November through January are huge. Sadly they get targeted pretty heavily and there is not a lot of C & R going on as the captains sell their catch to the restaurants. Hopefully the fishing stays good despite this.

- Cassidy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkXQBn2D1Wg

[edge]

HI Dan

Nice to see that you had fun, the current it is still very strong and the wind is very unstable blows from everywhere the best wind is from the east, SE,
the guys have been hitting AJs & the African pompanos are just arriving too.

Very nice of you for the kind words out there, our season is getting better by the day there is a lot of sharks hitting the schools of AJ,s & they are hitting 1 out of 3 Aj,s hooked.

For the longest time our main focus was the sailfish run during the winter season or trolling for marlin wahoo during the spring, as it was mentioned during our talks.

I Guess that as a charter Co. we have to be open to any type or style of fishing suggestion or request, that gives anybody travelling to our area flexibility and different options of fishing.
trolling is only seasonal and is not everybody's cup of tea and it limits the species to target.

That is the reason we struck a deal with OTI. Through el Sabalo Cancun we are bringing a bunch of Jigging rods as they perform better for sailfish with light tackle and are extremely light & agile for standup..

The boats are loaded with a bunch of Alutecnos 50s, we only use them for trolling heavy plastics LOL.

after all we try to get is the little stinker out of the boats & get people with a nice memorable experience..

Cheers from Cancun & good fishing to you all..

[edge]

CF- one of the guys on board was actually talking about fishing out of Playa del Carmen- he said the same thing about the nice short ride. Good luck when you get back down there, and I'll be looking forward to the report!

Fess- if you are referring to the conventional rods, those are made from Mudhole blanks. One of the guys builds them himself. The rod I was using was a Synit, and they are made in New Zealand. The guides staggered aroung the blank are called "acid" wrapped, and boy do they make a difference under heavy load.

Wasabi- I actually fished out of Puerto Adventuras through you a few years back (Off the beaten path in Mexico (pics and video)). To answer your question, a good jigging captain knows the drops, knows how to set up on a drift, knows how to keep you in the right spot on a drop/reef, lives by the sounder and is constantly updating you with the depths that you're marking, and most importantly isn't afraid to put the throttles down and cover a lot of ground to get on the right drop. It sounds simple, but it isn't. The best guys that I know anywhere are Captains Rick, Chip, and Mike in...where else...North Carolina.

CG- we sure did try working the bottom, but we didn't have any luck. We tried the deep drops and then came in to the shallower water too- part of our problem that day was that the current and wind were moving so fast that you had to put on a big jig to hold bottom and they were probably too big for the grouper down there.

Oh, one thing that I forgot to mention in the report is that one of the guys I fished with, Edwin, jumped off a sail on a jig that day- it was awesome.

Thanks again for the kind words everyone.

Shoe

We have groupers eager to take large jigs 300+grs. no problem.

[elsabalocancun]

Dan:

Thanks for your visit! nice fishing day...... I hope you enjoy it a lot like me. I'm Gustavo owner of El Sabalo Cancun, OTI distributor in Mexico.

CFScheer:
I'm the guy in the video! thanks, in winter it`s possible catch some sailfish on jigging.

The AJ's season come in winter from november to march.

GSilva
El Sabalo Cancun