The Washington Post - USA (2022-04-03)

KLMNO

Travel

SUNDAY, APRIL 3 , 2022. SECTION F EZ EE

water ... and the line went limp. Ecstasy turned to agony

in a heartbeat.

Tarpon fishing can be an exquisite form of torture.

Yet in Campeche, it’s almost certain that you’ll get a

second and third chance to make things right.

Campeche rests at the southwestern edge of the

Yucatán Peninsula. Though it’s a World Heritage city

boasting rich Mayan and Spanish colonial history, it

sees only a fraction of the American visitors that

descend upon Cancún, 300 miles to the east. Campeche

native Raul Castaneda learned there were other riches

here — large populations of juvenile tarpon.

“I studied computer science in college, but my

BY CHRIS SANTELLA

Guide Juan Chay cut the engine of our panga some 40

minutes’ ride north of the city of Campeche, in the Gulf

of Mexico. A chorus of birds greeting the dawn could be

heard from the mangroves a mile east. Not another boat

was in sight. As Chay grabbed his push pole to propel

the boat forward, a silvery back broke the surface about

90 feet ahead. Then another to the right and a few more

to the left. Tarpon!

Sunlight glinted off the fish’s trademark scales, which

reflected like a disco ball mirror in the morning sun. My

angling partner, Ken Matsumoto, stepped to the bow of

the panga and peeled fly line from his reel. “Eleven

o’clock!” Chay called, and Ken made several false casts

before landing his fly 50 feet out, just to the left of the

bow (which is 12 o’clock). “Slow strips,” Chay instructed.

On the third strip, Matsumoto’s line went tight. A

second later, three feet of tarpon launched clear of the

mother always told me I’d one day make a living around

the outdoors,” Castaneda said. “ ‘Why do you say that?’ I

asked her. ‘Because your school materials are a mess,

but your hunting and fishing gear is always very

organized!’ ” Castaneda launched Tarpon Town in 2004

to lead light-tackle anglers — mostly fly-fishers — to the

fish that use the region’s vast swaths of mangroves as a

nursery ground.

“The Campeche area has such a prolific juvenile

tarpon population because the habitat is intact,” said

Aaron Adams, director of science and conservation for

Bonefish & Tarpon Trust, a conservation nonprofit

based in Miami. “The mangroves are healthy, and the

fresh water that flows from creeks that feed the Bay of

Campeche is unaltered. This makes for good water

quality for tarpon, and plentiful prey.”

Tarpon have held a fascination for anglers since the

first specimens were caught by rod and reel in

SEE YUCATÁN ON F6

Campeche’s quite a catch

In Mexico, anglers find ample

opportunities to hook

the prized tarpon

The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted travel domestically and around the world. You will find the latest developments at washingtonpost.com/coronavirus/

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ISTOCK ARTUR WIDAK/NURPHOTO/SHUTTERSTOCK

CHRIS SANTELLA FOR THE WASHINGTON POST ARTUR WIDAK/NURPHOTO/SHUTTERSTOCK

C LOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Tarpon can grow to more than 300 pounds, so juvenile ones, bountiful in the mangrove habitats off Campeche, Mexico, are easier to catch; colorful houses
in Campeche, named a World Heritage city for its Mayan and colonial Spanish history; l ocal fishing vessels along the Bay of Campeche; ruins of a temple at Edzná.

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