Ascension Bay's Finest Fly Fishing Lodge
It is a long established fact that Ascension Bay, Mexico, is the number one destination in the world for catching Permit on the fly; moot point, done deal. Did you also know that we have the most bonefish per square water acre, of anywhere else in the world? Going further, did you know that we have an incredible, unmolested, nursery of juvinile tarpon? And a huge migratory push of mature Tarpon each Summer? Let's talk about a protected population of Snook that are among the largest specimens in the world! All of the Super Slam species, all catch and release, and all protected from netters and poachers for over thirty years. A destination where the fish are getting bigger and the fishery is getting better with every passing season!
Ascension Bay is the permit angler´s mecca where world record specimens of over fifty pounds and big schools of fifteen pounders roam the endless sea grass flats ready to test your metal. Ascension Bay proper and the surrounding ocean side flats are a true year round permit fishery.
With hundreds of square miles of flats and little fishing pressure, Ascension Bay has become the finest destination in the world for permit fishing. In the back of the Bay schools of 30 to 50 permit are the norm with the school fish averaging 8 - 15 pounds. On the Bay front and Ocean side flats, solo permit of 20 - 45 pounds prowl the pristine turtle grass flats.
With the creation of the Sian Ka'an Biosphere in 1986,and which encompasses Ascension Bay, Punta Allen, Mexico, and the surrounding lagoons came a netting ban. Ascension Bay is now one of the few places in the world that can claim that the fishing is getting better and the fish bigger with each passing year. Heart pounding excitement is putting it mildly!
We fish for permit with two professional guides in each panga. This allows us to quickly slide over the side of the boat and quietly stalk big singles and schools of permit in areas of the Bay. One guide will wade with the angler and help get them into a superior casting position while the other guide keeps the boat at a safe viewing distance as to not spook the school yet still able to help keep eyes on the permit’s movements. This technique is incredibly effective and makes for truly catchable permit. Permit angling in the last thirty years has evolved from chucking and hoping to a dedicated, scientific approach. If you want to catch a permit on fly, there is no doubt that this is the place.
Huge schools of bonefish call Ascension Bay home and are getting bigger by the year. Bonefish that averaged a few pounds in years past are now averaging 3 to 5 pounds, with specimens to ten pounders.
Ascension Bay bonefish are plentiful and eager to oblige anglers. Endless flats make for exciting sight casting to individual specimens to ten pounds or huge schools of four pounders. An average caster concentrating solely on bonefish should have no trouble landing up to twenty bonefish per day. The fishing is excellent year round with November to late September being the best months.
A mix of lightly weighted and un-weighted gottchas, squimps, crazy charlies in size 4, 6, 8. Pearl and light colors with long sili legs will keep you in the action.
Ascension Bay is a top nursery for tarpon between five to fifty pounds, with the odd fish over one-hundred pounds. The mangrove creeks and lagoons that ring Ascension Bay are home to a healthy year-round population of resident tarpon.
Your guides have spent decades exploring the deepest and farthest reaches of the mangrove back country of Ascension Bay, and have discovered countless, “Green Rooms,” teeming with tarpon ready to give heart stopping acrobatics when hooked.
During the late Spring and Summer months of May, June, July, and August, huge migrating tarpon pass the front Bay flats.
Fish with seven or eight foot leaders and 60lb shock tippets. It is all about casting accuracy not distance. The hotter the weather, the hotter the fishing.
Ascension Bay boasts some the finest sight casting for big snook to be had anywhere. Snook to 40 pounds prowl the mangrove edges and run the flats edges in as little as two feet of water.
Most of the fishing is done deep in the secret backcountry, Green Rooms, where casting accuracy to a plus. Baitfish patterns and topwater poppers elicit aggresive strikes. Matched with a nine or ten weight fly rod, floating line, sixty pound strike tippit and a strong constitution.
During the late Fall and early Winter months, Ascension Bay is witness to an incredible migration and pre-spawn ritual of mature snook. The Bay's biggest fish show themselves for only a few months and the sight casting in shallow water is the best in the world!
