I had an awesome opportunity this past week while on vacation with my family
in Cozumel, Mexico. I hired a local boatman and fly fishing guide through
Cozumel Flats Fishing to take me
out to the Cozumel flats, a remote northern portion of the island only
accessible by boat. My singular objective was to catch bonefish on a fly rod.
Having only experienced fly fishing for trout in fresh water streams and rivers, albeit some often fat pigs in
the Rocky Mountain rivers, the concept of fly fishing in salt water for silvery bonefish has always blown my mind.
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| Cozumel Flats on northern end of island is only accessible by boat. |
I met the guide, Enrique, at the marina north of town before daybreak and we
were loaded up and on open water by 6am. We boated around the northwest point
of the island, then continued east toward Cozumel flats over 10 miles of
shallow reef (7-8 feet of water), heading directly into the
rising sun. The 60HP outboard motor rang listlessly, as though intending to match the early hour pre-coffee haze where I found myself that morning, reclined in a seat looking forward behind the bow, as we cut through 2-3 foot
wind swell coming in off the Caribbean Sea. The guide tells me that bull sharks
and black tip reef sharks are common on the reef on this side of the island, as
they tend to avoid the heavy boat traffic on the west side where the tourists
are generally confined. The color and clarity of the water on this portion of
the island is simply captivating.
We reached the far east side of the flats and pulled the boat up on the
soft, white sand beach. Enrique and I grabbed our gear and pushed the boat back out into the water,
taking the boatman, Juan, along with it. While Juan boated 6 km west to the inlet to the lagoon to eventually meet up with us in the flats, we walked south over the
narrow band of dunes and salt cedar separating the flats from open water. The calm surface of the lagoon water reflected the pale blue morning sky and high wispy gray
clouds. We waded into less than 2 feet of warm lagoon water and within minutes, Enrique had us watching our first bonefish feeding in the
shallow waters.
In shallow water with good light, bonefish are easy to spot. Their white glistening tail and
dorsal fins stick up above the water and shimmer in the sunlight. In deeper
water with overcast skies, it can apparently be a frustrating endeavor.
Luckily, the conditions were perfect. "Mas temprano es mejor", Enrique says, meaning "Earlier is best" when for fishing for bonefish. I landed 4 bonefish in 4 hours while stalking the flats with Enrique, learning lessons by fire about effectively presenting your fly. Bonefish are notoriuos for being easily spooked and I spooked my share of them before landing one of these awesome fish. Each one stripped between 40 and 60 feet of line as they took off, often several times, before finally bringing the fish to hand. Impressive fish.
