FISHING AT THE ATLANTIC COAST MEXICAN TOWN OF TECOLUTLA

Sept. 9, 2006, David Burns, Restaurant El Manglar, Tecolutla, Veracruz, Mexico:

Fishing at Tecolutla this past week offshore was kind of slow with some success for peto or king mackerel, and very limited success for the deep down dwellers, i.e., red snapper or huachinango, and rubia, in the same family as red snapper but not as big.

Although our Veracruz fishing area water was beautiful, three solid days of beach fishing yielded only a handful of ronco or croakers, and some very little baby jurel, a type of jack.

Unseasonably high temperatures and a storm on Wednesday causing rough seas resulted in poor fishing this week. Many of the panga captains didn't even bother venturing out. The exception was the boat Esmeralda who chose to stay out overnight and brought in a catch totaling 60 kilos of huachinango and 40 kilos of basugo. There was some tremendous shrimping just 100 meters off the beach and in front of the river. Many pangas rigged up shrimp nets and several guys went out on boats with their throw nets. The pescadores are anxiously awaiting the first norte which will cool the waters and bring the fish in closer to shore and further result in heating up the bite. Surf casting was dismal. I did manage to read a book and decimate the majority of a case of beer. The ronco were caught in calm ocean with dried shrimp on an up and down rig with a 5 ounce pyramid weight, my lazy man's method, and the little jurel was caught in the same water conditions but waist deep casting a chrome Luhr Jensen Krocodile, not a lot but that's what I got.

Where the river meets the ocean was the best fishing action of the week with the guys scoring a significant number of barracuda and reports of five bonito. Fishing here will really pick up after the first seasonal norte. These are north winds that blow down into the Gulf of Mexico, bringing rain and cooler temperatures. Normally the bite is on just before and after a norte.

Anyone looking to charter a boat for sportfishing in the Tecolutla area of Mexico's Atlantic coast may contact me, especially if they only speak English. There are no formal charter boats here but rather a few guys who are open to the idea. The prices will vary depending on where to fish, ocean, river, or lagoon, how far out, how much time, and which boat. We have mostly pangas but one chap has a nice cruiser and another a couple of larger vessels to choose from. The majority of the charters would be with a commercial fisherman as captain and guide. We only get around 60 northern North American and European tourists a year but every little bit helps. It is strange that Tecolutla is really a little gem and well over 100,000 Mexicans visit a year but so few gringos have discovered it.

Email senorburnsy@hotmail.com, phone 011-52-766-846-0515.

(See "Mexico Fishing News" online for current fishing reports, photos, weather, and water temperatures from major Mexican sportfishing areas. Vacation travel articles, fishing maps and seasonal calendars, and fishing related information for Mexico coastal areas may be found at Mexfish.com's main Mexico page.