ATLANTIC COAST FISHING AND DIVING AT TECOLUTLA

Nov. 17, 2006, David Burns, Restaurant El Manglar, Tecolutla, Veracruz, Mexico:

Despite ideal weather conditions at the beginning of this week, fishing was just okay.

We headed offshore for a spear fishing and handline trip only to come up short of our expectations. Tecolutla area waters were a little murky on top and okay below the surface, yet there weren't any fish.

Erik Geerts dove 120 feet to a cargo ship that went down several years ago where normally many fish, including the resident 80 kilo Jewfish and his neighbor the 60 kilo Grouper live, but he saw nothing worth cocking the gun for.

Freddy and I followed his dive up with a run at the Pierdras Altos reef. I missed a couple of fish but Freddy carried the day by filling his bag with two clown fish, two pork fish, a decent grouper, and the hog fish I missed with my rushed shot.

Top water fishing action has been hot for Cojinuda and some Bonito.

Many Mexican commercial fishing lanchas turned in respectable catches earlier in the week. One lancha lucked out with a nice sized Lingcod.

Captain Ciro's motor gave him some problems this week so he signed on with a buddy and traded his throttle for the business end of a long net and went shrimping. Wednesday was very good for those that decided to go after the big shrimp the Gulf of Mexico often offers up.

The Mexican fishermen who make the river their area of operations did okay, coming back with Tilapia, Croaker, and some really nice baby Spanish Mackerel or Sierra.

Hope springs eternal that the King Mackerel will arrive soon and put pesos for Christmas in everyone's pocket.

This is a long weekend to celebrate the anniversary of the Mexican revolution and I anticipate mucho negocio y poca tiempo libre at Restaurant El Manglar. Vaya con Caña.

(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.