FISHING FOR MIXED SPECIES AT TECOLUTLA NEAR VERACRUZ

Sept. 30, 2006, David Burns, Restaurant El Manglar, Tecolutla, Mexico:

The restaurant is really hopping this weekend. For some reason, there a lot of tourists in Tecolutla.

Last Sunday one local fishing boat crossed paths with one of the big shrimp trawlers out in the deep blue and traded red snapper for fresh squid to be used as bait. Then they lucked out and latched onto a school of Amberjack, or medregal, and came home with 150 kilos in total.

The beginning of the fishing week was the proverbial pits as the first norte of year blew down the coast bringing strong winds, apocalyptic rains and rough seas.

However the aftermath brought fish.

Thursday was a postcard fishing day on the beach and all the guys were tossing their atarrallas, or cast nets, with great results. Many a bucket was filled with mojarra, chocomite or baby snook, and lebrancha, lisa or mullet. Local fisherman Don Pablo Manzano was hard at "work" and reaped the rewards.

My neighbor Don Beto, whom I call Don Peto, or mackerel, as he is very proficient in tracking down these great fish, had a decent day out. In addition to snappers he landed a large, close to two kilos, Burriquete or donkey fish. Don Beto captains the lancha Abuelito and is famous for being able to pick the days when the fishing is best for Peto.

Nothing spectacular was caught from the beach by me but I still had fun and managed to kill a few cans of cerveza.

Six hours of lazy man surf casting resulted in ten rhonco or croaker, of which only one was respectable enough to keep, and a small arrastrador or whiting, or as some joker officially named it Gulf Kingfish which interestingly enough translates into "rat faced." I tend to enjoy the Mexican name best.

The fisherman's wives are the ones who control the catch. Otherwise all the proceeds would go towards beer. They have been by the restaurant with large numbers of Cojinuda, part of the jack family, Jurel or jack crevalle, and baby Medregal or amberjacks, which were all caught in long nets laid out in front on the river's mouth.

(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.