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 Host Brad Staples
6-nts 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 - SOLD-OUT
• June 2-8, 2024 - SOLD-OUT
2025 Hosted Weeks
with Host Brad Staples
6-nts and 5-days guided fishing
Five anglers plus host
• 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 Tarpon Fishing
Joe Riter with Tarpon
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. It’s best to use 8-weight fly rods with floating lines.
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. You'll fish 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. Raul, the owner and head guide, is bilingual and helps with the communication between the guides and anglers.
Brad Staples with Tarpon
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 2024 and on, we'll stay at the Tarpon Town Colonial Lodge, air-conditioned with a swimming pool, free Wi-Fi, and more." - Brad Staples
Click here for Brad's 2023 Trip Report.
Typical Fishing Day:
5:30 am - You'll have an early hot breakfast at the Lodge.
After breakfast - The group walks across the road and get into the boats. The fishing day starts with the sunrise.
You’ll usually be on the water for about 9-hours per day.
The travel time to the fishing grounds ranges from 15 to 90 minutes. Once there, the guide cuts the engine, and then he’ll start poling the boat, looking for tarpon.
Midday - You’ll have a packed lunch on the boat.
2:00 to 3:00 pm - You’ll return to the Lodge.
Dinner is on your own. Numerous restaurants are within walking distance of the Lodge.
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 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. Air-conditioning, high-speed Wi-Fi, Alexa Echo devices, and a Fire TV Stick 4K. Click here for YouTube Video of the Lodge.
Meals: Hot breakfasts, packed lunches on the boat, and snacks are included throughout the day. Dinners are not included, except for a welcome seafood dinner on the night you arrive. Anglers often dine together in town.
Alcohol: Beer, wine, and hard liquor are included in the package.
Living Room at the Lodge
Two Outdoor Patios and a small Swimming Pool
Getting to the 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
Information Packet
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.