Viva Cozumel
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Honestly, is there any better way for me to have started this blog about my trip to Cozumel, Mexico, than with the picture above? I can’t think of one.
Well, it’s a little belated seeing as our trip was at the end of June (I took a little while to get the pictures), but I still wanted to recap the fishing my dad, brother and I did on our vacation south of the border. Actually, to fully recap I have to go back to 2008. That marked our first trip down to the island; one of the most memorable trips my family and I have ever been on. Unfortunately, the memories are of the hurricane, delayed flights, awful rental cars, me living in the bathroom for a couple of days thanks to a stomach bug and a complete lack of fish. It was so much fun …
After all that, one would figure we would stay as far away from Cozumel as possible. Instead, we all decided we wanted another crack at the island. I’m glad we did. In total, we made it out on the water twice during our trip and scored both days. While we didn’t get anything huge, we still caught fish and had a lot of action. That’s one for the win column.
While we did a lot of trolling, the fun part about fishing in Cozumel is catching and using live bait. The southern end of the island is teeming with fish – predator and prey. The trick is to try and catch a couple of prey while still targeting the predators. So while we had out the big baits for marlin, sailfish, wahoo and barracuda, we also trolled tiny lures targeting skipjack and small yellowfin tuna. I have to say, I was rooting for either type of rod to go off. Catching a small tuna and immediately dropping him down as live bait can get intense. Not only the previously mentioned big fish take down a tuna, but shark and giant grouper also love them. It’s the ultimate box of chocolates.
Like I said, our efforts never produced a 400-pound grouper or marlin, but we sure came close to something around that size. The first tuna we put down was swallowed – and by swallowed, I mean swallowed whole – not two minutes after we dropped him. Anything that can do that to a 2-foot tuna and only leave us the hooks is a big fish. We did, however, have fun with Cozumel‘s barracuda population, along with one nice wahoo. Here are a few pictures from the trip:
I played the role of designated bait catcher this trip. Hey, someone had to do it.
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My dad with a 4-foot barracuda he caught on Day 1.
He also managed a nice wahoo on Day 2.
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If you couldn’t have guessed by the lead picture, my brother also got in on the action. Here my dad and brother pose with their catches. Designated bait catchers stay behind the camera.
Slam the hook!