# Holbox, Mexico... Wedding, honeymoon and fly fishing



## Jason21 (Aug 9, 2007)

Let me start off by saying Holbox is one the best places i have ever been. Before we decided to get married in Holbox we were kinda worried about spending 10 days with nothing planned other than a few days of fly fishing. Our worries were quickly alleviated the first night on the island. We found a nice little beach bar and restaurant that served good drinks and food. We had a few margaritas and some ceviche which was great. Then we went over to a pizza place called Roots that is rated number one on the island for pizzas. We had a lobster pizza that was best i have ever had. This place also had some really good mezcal which i gladly sampled. The mezcal was served with oranges, cucumber and crickets! At first i didnt even think about trying them but my curosity got the best of me. After trying the first one i was instantly hooked. The crickets tasted like a crunchy chili flavored chip! Delicious! I even convinced the wife to try one and she said it tasted good.

The next 9 days of our trip were filled with shopping, drinking, laying on the beach and eating our way through every restaurant on the island. Lots of fresh seafood including, octopus, shrimp, fish, conch and lobster. There was some places that served fresh homemade pasta and italian dishes that were really good! We tried a few Mexican food places but it was nothing to write home about. Their version of mexican is way different than the Tex-Mex we get here. We did find one place that served some really good empanadas but they were cooked in a wood fired pizza oven instead of being deep fried. One food that i ate almost more than anything was octopus! We had it in ceviche, pizzas, cocktails, burritos and grilled. My favorite was grilled with butter and garlic. Overall we had a great time eating all of the food the island had to offer. 

The wedding was nothing short of an adventure that we will never forget. My wife hired a wedding planner who lived in Holbox so it was easy getting all of the paperwork and things set up for the wedding. They made it super easy and stress free. On the day of wedding we met the officient and walked down to the beach to get married. Even though it was just the two of us we had quite the crowd who observed from the beach taking pictures and cheering us on. After a quick ceremony we took the limo(golf cart) over to another beach to get some sunset pictures. This meant we had to go through the town square inwhich we recieved many applauses and congratulation from everyone in town. Once we got through the town square we had to drive through flooded roads in which several times i had to jump off the golf cart so it could make it through. We got to a point where the roads where too flooded to drive so we both had to jump off and walk 200 yrds through muddy water to get to the beach. It was all worth it in the end as we watched the most beautiful sunset and got some really good pictures.

The honeymoon started off great with two days of fly fishing with Mr. Sandflea from the Tarpon Club. He is a renowned fly fishing guide who grew up on the island and has made a living by guiding fly fisherman. Mr. Sandflea and I corresponded through email leading up to the trip but we never set offical dates that we wanted to fish. The first night on the island we ran into him at the beach bar and we talked about what days would be best based on weather conditions. We scheduled our 2 day trip and were told to meet at 6:30 at the same beach bar where he kept all of his boats. The first day we started off fishing small lagunas and inlets that held snook and baby tarpon. The morning started off great with me catching my first ever fish on a fly rod. It didnt take long before i caught my first first on a fly rod. It was a small 1lb snook and we all high fiving each other! Apart from it being my first fish on a fly rod it was caught on a fly rod i had built some 5yrs ago. The morning continued with me catching a few more snook in the 1-2lb range and some small jacks. My wife managed to catch a nice perch using her spinning rod with a pink/white curl tail grub. We ended the day with 6 snook, 2 jacks and 2 perch. The snook were brought back to the resturant and grilled whole for dinner. They also made ceviche which was the best i have ever had. The second day started off very different from the first day. Mr. Sandflea said we would spend the first few hours of the morning looking for the big resident tarpon that hung out a few miles off the beach front. We trolled around for about an hour before spotting a big one surface. After seeing a few surface within a several hundred yard radius Mr. Sandflea anchored the boat in hopes that one would surface close to the boat and give me a shot at presenting a fly to it. Now as a begining fly fisherman i have yet to master the double haul so while i waited on a fish to surface i was instructed to pull out the 12wt and practice my double haul. I can't even begin to tell you what it was like trying to double haul with a 12wt and big sinking fly. Although i didn't quite master the double i was able to get it out a good 80ft. After waiting about an hour and not seeing any tarpon surface we decided to move to a shallow lagoon. Mr. Sandflea warned me that the fishing would be much tougher and a lot different than the previous day of fishing. He was right, the water was gin clear the fish were beyond tough to get to bite. I had a few chances but wasn't able to make the cast. I felt like practicing all morning with a 12wt kinda threw me off and my 8wt was feeling too lite. After several failing attempts at casting to tarpon Mr. Sandflea said it was time to move to another spot. This spot was more suited for new fly fisherman who needed to catch their tarpon...lol. We moved to an inlet that had off-color murky water that was perfect for not getting spotted. We quickly found some small tarpon and it didnt take long before i had a small tarpon on the line. Another 5min later my wife had her first tarpon on the line too. We had a great time and fishing with Mr. Sandflea was awesome. He taught me a ton and was beyond patient with guiding a first time fly fisherman. We couldn't of asked for a better 10days of getting married, honeymooning and fly fishing in Holbox. That place is an absolute paradise and we definitely be making a trip back in the near future.


----------



## Jason21 (Aug 9, 2007)

*pics*

Here is a few more pics from the trip...


----------



## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

Very nice report. The guide sounds like he really knew what he was doing and worked with you to put you in the right spots for your experience level. 

Snook is absolutely a great eating fresh fish and ceviche is a great way to eat it. 

Congrats!


----------



## mccain (Oct 20, 2006)

totally awesome x 3! congrats on gettin hitched and the trip.
my wife and i got engaged in cozumel and i got to catch a marlin.
went back a few years later for 10th anniversary and got my 1st bonefish on the fly.
your report reminds me of those days.
i'm going to have to give holbox a shot


----------



## Outearly (Nov 17, 2009)

Great post- all the best to you and your wife


----------



## scwine (Sep 7, 2006)

Congrat's. Great post. I'm glad you posted your experience in Holbox. I have been wanting to visit, but lately it seemed all I heard was negative news about the overcrowding of the very basic infastructure there...i.e. sewage, trash, etc.


----------



## caddis (Jan 22, 2012)

Congrats and thanks for the great write up.


----------



## Animal Chris (May 21, 2004)

Congratulations! I'm glad to hear you had a great trip. The Black Hole is one of my favorite places and, I'm hoping to go back this summer. Sandflea is a great guy and a super guide. Tight lines!


----------



## TXyakker (Aug 18, 2005)

Glad to hear he's doing well! Watching one of the Fly fishing film tours a while back, I heard he was in the hospital for some major heart surgery so its good to see that he seems to have pulled through and is back doing what he loves!


----------



## Jason21 (Aug 9, 2007)

Meadowlark said:


> Very nice report. The guide sounds like he really knew what he was doing and worked with you to put you in the right spots for your experience level.
> 
> Snook is absolutely a great eating fresh fish and ceviche is a great way to eat it.
> 
> Congrats!


Mr. Sandflea knew he had a greenhorn on the bow so he changed it up to fit my skill level. We were the only boat to catch snook that day!


----------



## Jason21 (Aug 9, 2007)

mccain said:


> totally awesome x 3! congrats on gettin hitched and the trip.
> my wife and i got engaged in cozumel and i got to catch a marlin.
> went back a few years later for 10th anniversary and got my 1st bonefish on the fly.
> your report reminds me of those days.
> i'm going to have to give holbox a shot


Thank you! We had a blast and i would definitely reccomend visiting Holbox!


----------



## Jason21 (Aug 9, 2007)

scwine said:


> Congrat's. Great post. I'm glad you posted your experience in Holbox. I have been wanting to visit, but lately it seemed all I heard was negative news about the overcrowding of the very basic infastructure there...i.e. sewage, trash, etc.


After talking with Mr. Sandflea Holbox has become more of tourist place but it still has that small island feel. The island has some really nice hotels but you have to throw your toilet paper in the trash..haha There was a lot of European tourist there. The whole 10days were there we didnt meet one american couple. I didnt think it was overcrowded but there was a lot of people. I would definitely go back again!


----------



## Jason21 (Aug 9, 2007)

TXyakker said:


> Glad to hear he's doing well! Watching one of the Fly fishing film tours a while back, I heard he was in the hospital for some major heart surgery so its good to see that he seems to have pulled through and is back doing what he loves!


Mr. Sandflea is doing well and has had 2 heart surgeries so far. He will soon be going to the Clevland clinic to get a checkup. He is great guy and i had a blast fishing with him!


----------



## Fishsurfer (Dec 14, 2014)

Mexico is a special place with unique people, food and drink. Mostly very good people away from the tourist spots. Looks like you got a lot of great memories.


----------



## Jason21 (Aug 9, 2007)

Fishsurfer said:


> Mexico is a special place with unique people, food and drink. Mostly very good people away from the tourist spots. Looks like you got a lot of great memories.


We made a lot of great memores and the people and food of Mexico were great! I wish i had some of those crickets! haha...


----------



## southpaw (Feb 25, 2009)

Looks like a great trip. Thanks for the write up and congrats on getting married.



Jason21 said:


> i was instructed to pull out the 12wt and practice my double haul. I can't even begin to tell you what it was like trying to double haul with a 12wt and big sinking fly. Although i didn't quite master the double i was able to get it out a good 80ft. After waiting about an hour and not seeing any tarpon surface we decided to move to a shallow lagoon.


I wonder if dumping a bunch of line and a big fly repeatedly over an area that you're waiting on tarpon to surface had something to do with not seeing any tarpon surface. If you fish with that guy are you required to call him Mr. Sandflea? I feel like a guy who goes by the name Sandflea isn't one for formalities.


----------



## Permit Rat (May 13, 2014)

Love Holbox....and I have probably eaten at the same beachfront restaurant! Great report and congratulations. Unfortunately, when I was there, circumstances would not allow for me to fish. I was still learning the "seasons" in Mexico for various species. Snook and tarpon especially are caught (sought) at different times than in the States. I don't know as I believe this......but rather that these are the times when the guides target snook and tarpon because bonefish and permit are too difficult (due to windy conditions) for their clients. Backwaters and creeks where the baby tarpon and snook are found, are more protected than most of the bonefish/permit flats. Alas, I have not been able to spend enough time on the Yucatan to prove or disprove that theory.


----------



## gbollom (Apr 16, 2012)

Felt like I just read an excerpt from a Jimmy Buffett novel. Sounds awesome and congrats


----------

