Don Arthur and Host Brad Staples
Campeche Tarpon Fishing - Mexico
Tarpon Town Anglers
The Biosphere Reserve of Los Petenes is a vast system of mangroves and wetlands. This environment brings constant freshwater streams into the Gulf of Mexico, making it the perfect brackish water (saltwater and freshwater mixed) for baby and juvenile tarpon and barracuda. Campeche, a quaint town with Mayan and Spanish history, is on the Western Yucatan, looking toward the Gulf of Mexico, and receives as many tourists in one year as Cancun gets in a day.
2024 Hosted Weeks with Brad Staples
6-nights and 5-days guided fishing
Five anglers plus host
$3,800.00 per person
• May 12-18, 2024 - SOLD-OUT
• May 19-25, 2024 - SOLD-OUT
• May 26 - June 1, 2024 - SOLD-OUT
• June 2-8, 2024 - SOLD-OUT
2025 Hosted Weeks with Brad Staples
• May 4-10, 2025
• May 11-17 - SOLD-OUT
• May 18-24, 2025
• May 25-31, 2025
You're not restricted to our hosted weeks. Book anytime.
Campeche Baby Tarpon Fishing:
The brackish waters of the Mayan Peninsula are perfect for baby and juvenile tarpon, ranging from 5 to 30 pounds, plus snappers, jacks, barracuda, and some snook. The tarpon are in depths ranging from one to ten feet. Even though it is a good place for light tackle fishing, fly fishing is widely practiced, and baby tarpon are the main target. Tarpon Town Anglers have five 23' Mexican panga-style boats, fully equipped with casting decks, newer 60-90 HP Suzuki motors, and stocked coolers. It’s best to use 8-weight fly rods with floating lines. Native guides read the water and pole the boats. Two anglers per guide and boat.
You'll cast to the mangrove edges of the coastline and in the small creeks and rivers that drain the area. On a typical day, you’ll spot 30 to 75 tarpon. You should hook many tarpon during the day that are between 5 to 20 pounds. During Brad Staples's hosted weeks, a good day was over 12 per boat, and a bad day was two per boat. On the days that they didn’t land many tarpon, there was still a lot of action.
Fishing Season: Tarpon are year-round residents here. The best fishing months are from mid-February to mid-December. (From December 15 to mid-February, there is a potential for wind and cold fronts to come down from the North.)
Boats: Tarpon Town Anglers has four 21 to 23-foot pangas with 60-90 HP Suzuki motors. All the pangas have a casting deck, two chairs, push poles, and more. Two anglers per guide and boat.
Guides: The guide team includes four native fishermen with an outstanding ability to read the water and pole the boats. Some of them have fished the area for more than twenty years. They don’t speak much English but have worked hard to learn the basic fishing terms.
Brad's Hosted Week Recap:
"I've hosted numerous baby tarpon fishing trips at Campeche, a wonderful historic city in Mexico. Campeche is located on the Gulf of Mexico, about six hours SW of Cancun. The people are very friendly. The city is clean. And the baby tarpon fishing is amazing. I had never been to a city in Mexico before where people were out jogging and exercising at 9:00 and 10 p.m. Campeche is recognized as a World Heritage Site with about 400,000 people.
Once our group reaches Campeche, everything is included except for dinners and gratuities. Our group goes out each night for fantastic local cuisine.
Dinners are priced comparable to the states. If you don’t want to walk to the restaurants, the hotel shuttle van or a taxi can drive us. For 2023 and on, we'll stay at the Tarpon Town Colonial Lodge, air-conditioned with a swimming pool, free Wi-Fi, and a hot breakfast for anglers each day at 5:30 a.m. Following breakfast, we walk across the road and get into the boats." - Brad Staples
Click here for Brad's 2023 Trip Report.
Campeche - Scorpion Atoll Combo
Baby Tarpon Fishing & Liveaboard Bonefishing"I first visited the Yucatan Peninsula in December of 2016, and I also hosted trips here in May of 2017, 2018, and 2022. Scorpion Reef (Spanish: Arrecife Alacranes) is a Marine Reserve Park. Sea turtles and exotic birds nest on the five islands in this area. There are only a couple of buildings on the main island, and the few people who live here oversee the lighthouse. This trip involves a lot of walking, but the size and numbers of the bonefish are worth it." - Brad Staples
Click here for our Scorpion Atoll page.
Campeche Tarpon Flies:
Each guide carries an assortment of flies to use in case you do not bring enough.
"Baby tarpon can be caught on a variety of flies. They should not be tied on a hook larger than 2/0, need to be tied on quality hooks, and kept very sharp. Both synthetic and natural materials will work. Most synthetic flies will not hold water and will make for easier casting. Rabbit strip flies have good movement, but they will retain water. Marabou is very good; it casts and moves well in the water. Most of the tarpon flies are streamers and will sink below the surface.
Baby tarpon can also be caught on floating flies that are stripped slowly, making small wakes, either long strips or short strips, but slow is important for the babies. Foam-body flies work well and will continue to float without getting waterlogged. The color of baby tarpon fly patterns are endless, white, tans, yellows, black-and-red, black-and-purple, and chartreuse." - Brad Staples.
Bedroom at the Lodge
Tarpon Town Colonial Lodge opened in 2023. Raul has remodeled his family home into a fantastic lodge located in the Historical Colonial part of Campeche. The original home was built in the 1800s and has been in Raul's family for over 75 years. There are three guest bedrooms with two full-size beds and ensuite bathrooms with tile showers. Each room has air-conditioning, high-speed Wi-Fi, Alexa Echo devices, and a Fire TV Stick 4K. There is a lovely high-ceilinged living room, two outdoor patios, and a small swimming pool.
Meals: Breakfasts are included and lunches on the boat, and snacks throughout the day. Dinners are not included, except for a welcome seafood dinner on the night of your arrival. Anglers will often dine together in town.
Alcohol: Beer, wine, and hard liquor are included in the package. Snacks are available during your stay.
Living Room at the Lodge
Outdoor Dining Area and Swimming Pool
Getting to the Tarpon Town Colonial Lodge:
There are several options to get to Merida outlined in our information packet. We feel it’s best to fly from Dallas, Houston, or Miami to Merida, MX (MID). From Merida, it’s only about a 90-minute drive to the Ocean View Hotel in Campeche. If you fly into Cancun, there is an extra charge for a private shuttle, and the driving time is five to six hours.
2024 USD Rates:
7-nights and 6-days guided fishing
Two anglers per room, boat, and airport rides
$4,350.00 per person
One angler per room, boat, and airport rides
$5,800.00 per person
6-nights and 5-days guided fishing
Two anglers per room, boat, and airport rides
$3,800.00 per person
One angler per room, boat, and airport rides
$5,200.00 per person
5-nights and 4-days guided fishing
Two anglers per room, boat, and airport rides
$3,250.00 per person
One angler per room, boat, and airport rides
$4,400.00 per person
4-nights and 3-days guided fishing
Two anglers per room, boat, and airport rides
$2,650.00 per person
One angler per room, boat, and airport rides
$3,800.00 per person
The Packages Include:
• Ground transfers between the airport and the Lodge (selected airports CME-MID-CPE; an approximate $500.00 surcharge will apply to the Cancun CUN airport)
• Lodging in Campeche
• Wi-Fi at the Lodge
• A Welcome seafood dinner
• Breakfast at the Lodge
• Lunch on the boat
• Alcohol at the Lodge
• Guided fishing
• Onboard lunch, drinks, snacks, and ice
• Fishing license
• Flies and lures, if needed
• Satellite phone, if needed
• Reservoir Los Petenes entrance and usage fee
• Service and sales tax.
The Packages Do Not Include:
• Airfare• Gratuities for guides and Lodge staff
• Lunches for non-anglers
• Dinners are not included (except for the welcome dinner)
• Eco-tours or other non-angling activities
• Departure tax, $65.00
• Global Rescue
• Travel insurance
• Anything not mentioned under inclusions.
• If traveling as a single angler, there is a $350.00 charge for the roundtrip ground transfer between Merida and Campeche.
Non-Angler Companion:
There is an additional charge of $150.00 per night when a non-angler accompanies an angler because the angler rate needs to match the fishing occupancy. For example, if two anglers fish together for 4-days and 5-nights, and one brings a non-angler companion, one angler pays double occupancy, and the other pays double occupancy + $500.00. This will allow a separate room for the couple, and the other angler will have his own room. For a single-occupancy angler with a companion, add $80.00 per night for the non-angler.
Non-Angler Companion package includes: Lodging, breakfast, transportation to/from the airport with matched angler companion, and taxes.
Optional Activities: City tour, visit Mayan Ruins, jungle horseback riding, beach and snorkel boating tour, handcraft excursion...
Don Arthur's Recap of His Trip
"You could not ask for a better host than Raul. He is very attentive to all your needs. He always kept us up to date on what was happening and what was planned. He met us on our late arrival and explained what we would be doing in the morning. He met us every morning for breakfast and explained what the day would be like. His restaurant recommendations (within walking distance) were excellent, and we enjoyed all our meals. The hotel in Campeche was very good, and the breakfast buffet was very good.
The hotel in Merida was something out of the Colonial days of Mexico. It was a pleasure to have stayed there. The town of Campeche was a delight. Very clean, very lively, very pretty and the “old walled city” is not to be missed. The guides were very friendly and very knowledgeable. Their knowledge of the area and techniques to catch tarpon is excellent. There are a lot of juvenile tarpon in the area. We had some weather problems, but overall, the fishing was good.
When the weather cooperated, the fishing was excellent.
As you can see, I really enjoyed myself. My thanks to Raul for such an enjoyable experience."
- Don Arthur
