THE DRAKE: FOR THOSE WHO FISH | TOM BIE Xcalak’s Costa de Cocos Why don’t more people fish Chetumal Bay? A BREWERY IS BEING BUILT IN XCALAK. IT’S A SMALL BREWERY, MIND you—no chairs yet except the folding kind and couple upside-down buckets. But is serves up a tasty Tarpon Tale Pale Ale and has the added benefit of sitting fifty feet from some of the finest and least pressured permit water in the world. David Randall moved to Xcalak in the early ’90s, after selling his catfish hatchery south of Kansas City. He and his wife Illana own Costa de Cocos resort, which sits on 350 feet of beachfront property looking over the water, 1/2 mile north of town (population 400). It’s a typical Mexican flats lodge in many ways—pangas docked out front, friendly, open dining room with a well-stocked bar, 16 smallish but functional guest cabanas scattered across…READ MORE

ANGLING ESCAPES TRAVEL | T&G STAFF REPORT Great Bonefish & Permit Angling at Costa de Cocos Tyler Hawthorne fishes Mexico’s Yucatan and enjoys great bonefish and permit angling. Being a fisherman who has spent most of my life fishing locally around the Midwest and Montana, I tasked our own Angling Escapes Travel with one proposition: List five fishing lodges that offer a unique experience for a person who has not previously traveled the globe fishing exotic locations, no price restrictions. This trip was a gift for my father’s 60th birthday, a very special occasion. I knew he wanted to cross some fish off his “Bucket List,” which included bonefish, snook, and permit. After careful deliberation Paul strongly recommended Costa de Cocos in Xcalak, Mexico as the best place for novice saltwater fisherman to get their feet wet. Though I have fly fished since I was eight, it has been exclusively…READ MORE

ANGLING DESTINATIONS | SCOTT HEYWOOD Expert Angler Visits Cocos Again I just wanted to let you how impressed we were with Cocos a couple weeks ago. It’s hard to believe that there was much room for improvement from our trip last March, but Ilana has assembled a staff at the lodge that is second to none… The level of individual attention and hospitality is as good as I have ever experienced in any of my fly fishing travels. I can highly recommend the venue, guides, fishing, food, drink and hospitality. Scott Heywood at Angling Destinations. Visit Scott’s website for some great fly fishing spots he has been to, great photos too!

FLY FISH AMERICA | BILL BATTLES Costa de Cocos – Mexico WAY DOWN AT THE SOUTHERN TIP of the Yucatan Peninsula, in the Mexican province of Quintana Roo just a couple of miles from the Belize border, lies a quaint little fishing village named Xcalak (pronounced Eshecahelahk). The main attraction in Xcalak is the nearby Mexican Navy base (twelve young studs armed with two go-fast patrol boats), strategically placed to protect the local populace from the warmongering Belizeans across Chetumal Bay. When the navy guys aren’t busy sleeping in the shade, playing soccer, or fishing for dinner, they run one of the boats up to Xcalak, zoom around the harbor a few times at warp speed to attract a crowd, then tie up to the big pier and do their “muy mas macho” thing for the local senoritas. It’s a great show, but it can be a little distracting when…READ MORE

ROD & REEL ONLINE | WILL RICE Searching for a Slam in Xcalak We knew that the bar had been set high when the guys from Idaho hit three grand slams in three days. Oh sure, they were all guides, they had great weather, and they didn’t get any bragging rights trophies, but still consecutive slams on consecutive days. That is a little over the top. Catching a permit, a bonefish, and a tarpon in a single day would be a lifetime achievement for most people. In fact, there are few places in the world where it is even possible. We had obviously come to one of the best. Fishing-deprived by a long Alaskan winter, my buddy, Rich Chiappone, and I had been hoping to find some new fly rod friendly waters. I called Scott Heywood at Angling Destinations (the guru of undiscovered fishing spots) who suggested going to Xcalak…READ MORE

MIAMI HERALD | SUSAN COCKING Permit ‘the most challenging fish in the world’ XCALAK, Mexico — After flying from Fort Lauderdale to Cancun, Mexico, driving five hours south, passing through three military checkpoints and parking in the jungle eight miles north of the Belize border, I have learned my lesson: Permit are the same everywhere. Living tranquil lives in remote Caribbean waters do not make them dumber than their harried, northern relatives in Biscayne Bay and the Keys. I spent two days stalking permit in Chetumal Bay with my 9-weight fly rod, guided by an able and enthusiastic Guillermo ”Willy” Castro, and all I scored were goose eggs. And I was not the only one. Two other groups — 10 people in all — fished every day for a week and came up with two permit, the largest about 12 pounds. Both anglers — Vince Tobia of Buffalo, N.Y., and…READ MORE

FISHERMAN MAGAZINE | C. BOYD PFEIFFER X Marks the Spot – Xcalak Looking for a fly-fishing treasure? Head south on the Yucatan to the village of Xcalak, where you will find big bonefish without the big crowds.   Her line was in the air, fighting the wind to deliver a small Crazy Charlie several feet from shoreline and into a turmoil of feeding bonefish. The bones scurried along th bottom in slightly muddied water, busy with their own hunt, tails out and waving. My wife Brenda, gave her line a strip, then a pause. A second strip produced a quick follow and a fast U-turn as the hooked bonefish ran for the far shore of this wide-open cove near the Mexico Belize border. Brenda was into her first bonefish and having fun.   I, of course, was certain she’d lose it. My wife had muscled a few small Chesapeake stripers…READ MORE

SOUTHWEST FLY FISHING MAGAZINE | JACK SAMSON The Search for Big Bonefish Bonefish weighing in the double digits are hard to find and hard to catch but that’s what makes the fish so special. We were several miles west of the small southern Yucatan fishing village of Xcalak, and on the bonefish and permit flats it was hotter than the hinges of Hades. A broiling May sun beat down on the four of us: me, West Coast fly fisher Will Bauer, and our two guides, Nato and Jorge. We had been fishing all morning and had caught more than a dozen small bonefish and two permit of about four or five pounds each. It was fun, even though the mangrove islands cut off any breeze from the sea to our east, which left us feeling distinctly parboiled. “Ever see any big bonefish here, Nato?” Will asked the head guide. Nato…READ MORE

FISHERMAN MAGAZINE | C. BOYD PFEIFFER Costa de Cocos Variety Pack My wife Brenda cast the spoon, the lure making a long low-trajectory arc through the Mexico sky, landing in the open water far from shore. She started to retrieve. I was concentrating on catching, or trying to catch, one of the large snook cruising the mangroves along the shore where we drifted. I shouldn’t have bothered. Minutes later, Brenda “whooped.” The light-spinning rod bent into an arc and the line started to sing. Barracuda! Running circles and half circles around the boat, the cuda swam, jumped, danced and raced along the surface, typical cuda action, but bringing new meaning to the word fun while fishing .. Brenda grinned, and played the fish.   It was her first barracuda during her first trip to Mexico, and our first experience at Costa de Cocos, the southernmost camp you can find on…READ MORE

MOUNTAIN MURMUR ONLINE | JEFF WOGOMAN Xcalak Hurricane Fishing As a rocky mountain trout guy, born and bred, my first foray into fly fishing in salt waters came through Cloudveil’s Angling product manager Ned Hutchinson. He’d set up a trip through Brian Hodges, local friend and destination fishing maestro. There are a lot of cliques in fishing, probably worse than the snowboarder/skier/telemarker rift that I think has finally been resolved, one love. But in fishing, that rift is still solid, it’s a war of latitude. In fly fishing, if you’re a trout only angler, the saltwater crowd looks at you like, well, like you’re still riding with the training wheels on. In salt water it’s all about throwing big lines big distances, battling big fish who will take you into your backing big time. Us trout guys horse 16” cuts into the boat all day and if it starts to…READ MORE