Palometa Club 2023
On The Fly Saltwater
March 2024
By Claude Preston
In early December, I had the opportunity to host a group of friends down at the Palometa Club in Punta Allen on the famed Ascension Bay to chase tarpon, snook, bonefish and permit. The Palometa Club was purchased by some friends of mine in early 2022 and I had been looking for the opportunity to get a group down there to see the lodge and the updates they have made. The new owners have made significant improvements to all the rooms, bathrooms, and the outdoor bar that overlooks the beach.
The club is perfectly set up to host up to 12 anglers in the nicely appointed six rooms. Palometa Club is well known for one of the best guide programs out there. The guides rotate anglers each day and the guide-to-angler ratio is two to one. That is right, there are two guides in each boat. That gives the angler an extra advantage with another set of trained eyes and someone to help you manage your line. It is like having your personal coach right by your side.
As a host, I try to control everything I can to give my guests the best experience they can have. The only thing I cannot control is the weather. Going in December, we knew there was a chance that the weather could play a role and it did. I can confidently say that the hospitality the staff and guides showed us more than made up for the poor attitude that Mother Nature had. We still caught tarpon, snook, bonefish, barracuda, but even though we had shots at permit, the black tailed devil evaded us.
One thing I like doing is journaling my fishing trips. It is therapeutic for me and I enjoy going back and reading through them on quiet days. I highly recommend you try it. In a change of format, I am sharing an edited version of my daily notes.
Arrival and the “Prostate Check”
Not the start we were hoping for. A couple of the guy’s early flight was delayed getting out of Birmingham and that caused them to miss their connection to Atlanta, which in turn caused them to miss the transfer from Cancun down to Punta Allen. This delay resulted in them having to spend the night in Tulum. Meanwhile, the rest of the group made it down Punta Allen later that evening, which consisted of a full day of travel consistent with the movie Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.
Once you enter the Sian Ka’an biosphere, the hour drive from Tulum to the Boca Paila bridge, where you meet the boats that will take you the rest of the way down to Punta Allen, is torture in its purest form. It is a dirt road through the jungle that is always in need of repair. It beats you up and we had to stop about half way down to take a break and make sure our bladders were still working, because the beers provided certainly were.
As bad as the road is, it provides protection for the fishery. It is a fact that if the road was easy to drive down, too many people would have access to the bay and the pressure would take away what makes it so great.
The lodge sent up three pangas to the Boca Paila bridge to bring us the rest of the way down to the village of Punta Allen. Our group was greeted by spicy margaritas and the smiling faces I had heard so much about.
After dinner with anticipation almost at a peak, we all gathered around the tackle table, fired up the music and began preparing our kits and setting up our rods. Everyone was at a high and even though we wanted to keep the party going we used better judgment after a long day of travel and retired to our rooms for the early wake up as Ascension Bay was waiting.
Off and Running – Day 1
Morning was full of hope, but we awoke to fresh winds out of the east southeast at about 12 to 15 miles per hour and the threat of storms. We ran south to hopefully find some permit. I am solo for the day and my guides were Rodo and Caesar. Rodo is an experienced guide that really knows the bay well.
After a lengthy run across the bay, we arrived at our first spot, as dark clouds were building. Once we got to our stop, a storm found us and Rodo pushed us to some mangroves and we spent 45 minutes laying in the bottom of the boat as lightning popped around us. Rodo is really afraid of lightning.
After that we regrouped and went to a flat that was partially lit up by the high clouds. We spotted two bonefish, I made a perfect cast and he followed and ate. The storms were still around so we decided to run north to get away from them. Rest of the day was spot-hopping and seeing snook that were set up in what I call “mangrove jail,” amid the roots of those plants, but nothing else.
Breaking Bad – Day 2
The weather this morning is perfect with winds 5 to 10 out of the southeast. We made the hour ride across the bay with the flats lit up like a painting. Bill and I are fishing today with Luis and Heisler. I know I will screw up and call him Heisenberg at some point in a nod to Breaking Bad.
Bill caught a bonefish early this morning as we were permit fishing. Then when he had just finished up his time on the bow and was almost all the way reeled up, two permit presented themselves perfectly at about 35 to 40 feet, sliding kind of quartering to us. It was a missed.
Prior to lunch with the winds steadily dropping, we got out and waded. Bill and I probably caught 20 bones. I wanted to be permit fishing, but since it was early in the week I did not see the need to leave fish, so we wound up staying on the bones till lunch time.
We waded back to the boat and had some lunch, which always comes with fresh habenero “plums” and jalapenos. Today I ate 1 1/2 jalepenos, while Bill ate half a habenero pepper. He immediately got a runny nose, which was pretty funny. I swear Mexicans have different digestive tracts.
After lunch we made a 45-minute run back across the bay toward the club. We were looking for permit again. We just need to see some permit. The day ended out front of the lodge fishing the sandbar for permit with no luck, bu saw some really big turtles.
Dinner was great – coconut shrimp, slaw and fries with lime pie. Highlight was the grouper ceviche. Then a low key night, knowing tomorrow will be a tough weather day.
Gringo With No Hat – Day 3
We had hard rain around dinnertime last night, letting us know that the front had arrived. Today I am solo with Correano and Noel. Correano can be tough I am told. The wind is out of the north, probably 10 to 15 miles per hour,, I expect it to strengthen and get darker throughout the day.
We tried to get out of the wind today, and found a couple of south facing banks where we looked for snook to no avail, Met up with Banks and T.J., to join boats in a makeshift flotilla for lunch. We listened to music and had some great camarone ceviche.
After that we went to a couple other spots protected by the wind and found some spooky bones. Got one follow and no takes, making for a very tough day
I think we have really one more bad weather day and Wednesday things should stabilize. I have not given up hope yet. The guides are all great here All of them have their own unique style and how they attack situations. The guides banter back and forth in Spanish all day long, I would love to understand what they are saying.
I put together a little tournament for the guys this week and different fish were worth different points just to make it fun. Zero points for me today. Tomorrow I am evoking a code red day and up the point value on the rules.
Dinner was good again. Tonight should be fun, if the rain stays away. The Palometa Club soccer team is in the 3rd place match of their league and we are going to go cheer them on This is such a beautiful place that really is just untouched by modernization.
Wind, Wind And Corn Hole !!! – Day 4
Woke up to serious winds and dark clouds out of the northeast, blowing 20 to 25, gusting to 30. The beach in front of the camp is milky. No one went out fishing today and due to an emergency back home, one of the guys had to leave.
Instead of fishing today we had an epic corn hole tournament verse the guides. The competition is fierce and many beers, margaritas, laughs, and smiles are shared. David and Toluco, one of the guide teams won. Such a great way to spend a nasty weather day.
Shrimp tacos for appetizers are pretty good and we added habenero salsa to our margaritas. That proved to be the ticket! Tonight for dinner we had some fresh-caught lobsters caught, Later we had one of the highlights of the week, as we gathered around and had some Q & A with Jerry, who is one of the best guides and anglers on Ascension Bay. He knows all of the history of the Bay and Punta Allen.
Although not on the water, still a great day!
Let there be Light Day – 5
It is bonus point day in the tourney, all species, minus bonefish, are triple points. The wind is about 12 to 16 mph out of the northeast, and we are blessed with partly cloudy skies, with some light. We should get shots today at permit.
I am fishing with John M. today and he also is of the permit mind. We are fishing with Correano and Noel again. If we can find good water, the next two days should be good.
I had three good shots today. From the bow, I saw a flash at about 11 o’clock at 50 feet. I was a little unsure and just as I questioned myself, Correano said, “Yes, permit, cast.” I made a good cast, but the fish moved. We relocated the fish at 25 feet and I put the fly on him. He followed for 15 feet, until he saw the boat then turned away.
We met up with Jonathan and Bill for lunch. It was cool to meet up for lunch, if we were close, because we could see how the other guys were doing and break up the long day, After lunch we had a rain shower and only saw a few bones after that.
Back to the lodge at 4 o’clock, it looked like the forecast had changed and the wind could be a touch worse tomorrow. But, as long as there is light, we will have opportunities.
A word about the guides, they are great and I really like the rotation system. All of them just want to have a good time, and they want nothing but to see you succeed. I cannot wait to fish the Bay on normal summer southeast winds on the next trip in August. Already looking forward to it.
Finished the night with a great poker game, I lost about $40 but it was still fun I was in bed by 11 o’clock.
Osh-It Day – 6
After a good night of sleep, I woke up a little late this morning to sunlight and northeast winds blowing easily at 15 to 20, and probably gusting to 25 or more. Going to be another tough day, but at least we have light.
Quick breakfast and got ready to head down the docks. I am solo today. The boat parked beside us is named the “Osh-it,” which maybe a sign. We went about 20 minutes north on the inside of the lagoon for the first stop. Letting the wind do the work, we drifted down a flat and saw a single permit at 9 o’clock and 50 feet, moving left to right fast. It never slowed down.
After that we ran way north up past Boca Pailla bridge and poled in some back lagoons. We came around a point to a slick calm little bay and immediately saw a slow-moving push from two fish of 25 and 15 to 20 pounds respectively, with 10 feet between them. I still can’t figure out how their backs were not out of the water. The permit were coming our way, quartering to our right.
I had my snook rod in hand and Johnny quickly passed my permit rod to me. I quickly stripped out 50 feet of line and put the fly in front of the lead fish at 35 feet. He passed, but the second fish broke off and came toward the fly. He followed the white Strong Arm with orange tip claw pattern that a good friend tied for me in advance of this trip. The permit followed till about 10 feet from the boat, then peeled off when the lead fish spooked
After that we polled probably 3 to 4 miles back into mangroves looking for baby tarpons the locals call sabalitos. The channels that went through the mangroves were no more than 9 to 10 feet wide.
We found some and I put four in the air, boating two and leadering another They ate a Shrimp Gurgler, a black and red EP Minnow and a chartreuse and white EP Minnow. We had over an hour ride back to Punta Allen, so fishing ended at 3:20.
Talked to some guys that night, they said that this week was the worst weather Punta Allen has seen all year. It is not normally like this in December. In 2022 the worst weather week was in June, so it is a roll of the dice.
The Road Back Home – Day 7
Early start to the morning, The boat ride to the bridge was great as the sun came up. We loaded up in two vans to head back to Cancun, so we have a little more room. I was able to get on an earlier flight and was able to get home to Birmingham that evening by 7:30. What a special week this was, even though the fishing/weather was poor. The extra-curriculars more than made up for it. This place is very unique. The people, the accommodations, the amenities, the lure of permit and the ease of access to the famed Ascension Bay will keep me coming back here.
