Holbox Photo Essay

Two years in the making.

It's funny how a late night at a dive bar in downtown Spokane can be correlated to a recent trip chasing the silver king in Holbox Mexico. Nearly 2 plus years ago my brother Mike and I were hanging out with our good friend Taylor McCroskey, chatting tarpon over a few beers. Taylor was telling us that when he graduated with his masters his dream was to go on a tarpon fly fishing trip, a bucket list trip that was well deserved after almost a decade of putting himself through college. Of course, Mike and I couldn't let that dream go to waste so we all started setting a few bucks aside to head to warmer climates.

There are many destinations for tarpon which could lead to the typical "paralysis by analysis" syndrome which many fly fishers suffer from. Being bound by schedule constraints, shop obligations, and the obvious lack of "funding" (graduate students and fly shop owners make about the same wages... not much! lol) we were looking for our most bang for the buck. It didn't take too long though to discover that Holbox Mexico offered the tarpon adventure we were looking for, while not breaking the bank.

Holbox Mexico is a small, quiet island getaway on the the Northern coast of the Yucatan, just far enough away from the mega resort madness of Cancun. The town is home to a little over a thousand residents and while not extremely well known, does see visitors from all around the world, especially from the European countries. This sleepy Mexican village is also headquarters for the world renowned Holbox Tarpon Club, founded in 1997 by Alejandro Vega Cruz aka "Mr. Sandflea". You may recognize "Sandflea" from the 2014 Fly Fishing Film Tour and the Simms Fishing short film. You could say he is pretty much a living legend in the world of tarpon angling. While this fishery is known for its abundance of juvenile (5-40lb) tarpon, the large migratory adult tarpon can found in greater numbers here during the spring and early summer months.

As always, Michael's excellent photography documented the trip better than words can describe so I will let the photos do the rest of the story telling.

• Taxi service.
• Morning commute.

• Margarita Happy Hour.
• Perch.

• Holbox Sunrise over the Yalahau Lagoon.
• Darwin aka Dawito - Isla Holbox Tarpon Club Guide.

• Over There.
• Galvan + Sage.

• Pelican.
• Octopus & Shrimp Tacos

• Release
• Taylor's first ever Tarpon.

• Building Art.
• Silhouette

• Tacos al Pastor
• The look..

• Dock.
• Tarpon Jump.

• Rising Sun.