The Mexican Yucatan Peninsula has been a destination for fisherman for a long time, but until recently fly fisherman have been relatively unaware of just how bountiful their sport fish are. Mexico is probably the location where you the angler have the best chance, right now, to go out and hit the grand slam. That is, go out in one single day and catch a bonefish, a permit, and a tarpon in an outing. That doesn't happen often but in Ascension Bay it can. You aren't going to jump the 150 pound mega tarpon like you would in the Atlantic Ocean during migration, but a 70 pound tarpon is still a hell of a good fight (a 10 pound tarpon would be a welcome challenge for me!)!
There is a lodge right in Punta Allen that has been getting great reviews from anglers as well as non fishing guests and that's not that easy to find right now in Mexico.. The name of the lodge is fitting, "Grand Slam," a title that many anglers search their whole life to obtain. Grand Slam hoists the title several times a year with all kinds of anglers.
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Photo by Brian Grossenbacher
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The area is best known for its permit population (shown in the picture to the right) and it is said to have schools of permit numbering in the 20's and solo permit similar in size to this 35 lb beast pictured here.
All this talk about destination angling has gotten me excited... I'm thinking about putting a trip together to head down there late this Spring (mid-late May) ideally with about 6-8 other fisherman so let me know if you are interested!
If you want to get more info on your own check out their site here!
You have yourself confused. The lodge getting great reviews is called Club Grand Slam www.clubgrandslam.com . It is guide owned and operated. Their site is where the pictures came from. The lodge you have listed is a bogus rip-off and neither owns boats or has guides and charges several thousand dollars more.
ReplyDeleteGreg,
ReplyDeleteOf course I apologize if you were offended by this write up. It was my intention to write about the Grand Slam Lodge. I was unaware of "club grand slam" when I wrote this blog. However, I can understand how you, as the owner of club grand slam, would be upset. The pictures I found were from a google images search and I included the link on the blog. At no point did I assume they were from another operation let alone an operation with virtually the same name.
In order to be fair to the readers they should know that there is a huge distinction between "club grand slam" and "the grand slam lodge." That is the number of people they will take at the lodge. "Club grand slam" is more of a smaller operation they boast of having two guides on each boat and certainly have the experience and the pictures to provide a great adventure in Punta Allen, Mexico. "The Grand Slam Lodge" is a newer structure with a larger capacity which caters more to a vacationer than to a die hard fisherman. They do contrary to Greg's earlier comment own their own boats, and their prices are not thousands of dollars difference they are in fact very similar in price range. Both of the lodge/club are around $3,000- $4,000 depending on the season and the deal they are offering.
I think any angler would be happy fishing in either place, the location is the important thing. Ascension Bay is where I would want to go, the lodge or club would have to be decided later.
I hope that helps alleviate some of the confusion Greg. It was certainly never meant to include two rival operations in the same write-up and I wish you and your operation the best of luck. I was a part of a small operation in Alaska for 5 years and I understand what it takes to make things work. I am going to take down the pictures from your lodge and if you have any other issues please contact us at flyfishingfiles1@gmail.com. I apologize for the inconvenience.
Brian Michelotti
Actually, you are wrong again. The name poaching lodge which you tout, (while obviously looking for a free trip), DOES NOT OWN ANY OUTFITTER LICENSES. They do not own any skiffs and do not employ any guides. They merely run to town and sub-contract through the local COOP, after receiving their overpriced deposit. There are only 50 skiffs with the right to fish in Ascension Bay, and your so-called lodge has nothing. Except overpriced scenery. Maybe you should take the time to visit our website at clubgrandslam.com and read our reviews on TripAdvisor before posting.
ReplyDeleteClub Grand Slam on the other hand has the top rated guide family in all of Ascension Bay. Our guides are the original guides, hand trained by Capt. Jan Isley, some 25 years ago. And we proudly pass on the tradition to our junior guides on a daily basis.
Yes, we are small. We only take eight anglers per week. We also are the number one rated fishing lodge in Punta Allen, the number hotel in the Riviera Maya, and the number eight hotel of 874 hotels in the entire Yucatan Pennisula.
Greg,
ReplyDeleteI continue to understand your frustration with the "Grand Slam Lodge" however, I have never once said anything negative about your lodge. I wrote a blog article about your competitor so I understand why you would be upset especially since there is clearly some bad blood there with the whole "name poaching."
What I want you to understand is that this write up was more to express my interest in fishing the Ascension Bay area versus fishing one lodge. If you look back through our posts we are continuing to try and push our readers to explore areas outside of their comfort zone. It was in no way meant to step the middle of a feud.
I also want to make it clear that I in no way intended to get a free trip out of this. I haven't spoken to Grand Slam Lodge once, I simply found an operation that I read some good stuff about and wrote about them. It could have just as easily been your lodge that I wrote about instead.
I have always liked small lodges better than bigger ones, when I commented on the size of your lodge it was a positive thing. The operation I worked for for several years hosted 6 people at a time and that was perfect. In fact Greg I haven't found a negative thing about your lodge at all. I want to welcome the opportunity to you, to send us a write up about your lodge. Explaining the details that you have commented on here about how it's the best rated guide family, the importance of owning your own fleet, etc... I think that would be an awesome way to show to our readers your lodge and the experience you offer at Club Grand Slam. If you don't want to put that together I understand, I just didn't want you to think I preferred one lodge over the other in that area it was simply choosing one out of many.
Again I think my message here was misconstrued and for that I apologize. I look forward to hearing back from you and should you choose to have submit us a write up we would be more than happy to post it. Our email address is flyfishingfiles1@gmail.com
Thanks for your time,
Brian Michelotti
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