Changing Tides
Capt. Wink Doerzbacher's introduction to Isla occurred in the late 1970s while working as a mate for Capt. Ron Hamlin, who at the time was pioneering the sailfish bite in Cozumel. "One time we ran out of fuel right off Isla," Doerzbacher says. "That was the first time I think we stopped there. We got fuel from a shrimper. There was just nothing there, maybe enough dock to tie up a few boats." 
 
In the early 1980s, more crews began to shift away from Cozumel and fish the waters off the north point of Isla Mujeres. Around this time, Lima added more space to the dock and installed shore power.
 
"Fishing in Cozumel was good but it was different. You fished along an edge, single file, with the reef on one side and dark blue on the other," says Stuve. "Isla was more like the fishing off Stuart and Fort Pierce, Florida. The boats spread out east and west — it was a different game. You'd hardly see fish ball bait and bunch up in Cozumel, but it was not uncommon to see that 10 or 12 miles off Isla."
 
Making the 330-mile crossing from Key West to Isla in the 1980s represented quite a journey. Most boats couldn't hold enough fuel in their tanks, and picking a weather window meant calling the national hurricane center in Miami. You couldn't go online and look at satellite images — even The Weather Channel was a far-off dream. 
 
"The crossing in years past was a 24-hour trip and most all the boats needed to carry extra fuel," says Capt. Anthony Mendillo, who first made the trip as a teenager, working as a third mate. "That crossing was like going to the end of the world. The boats now are bigger and faster. With a 30-knot cruise they can be here in 12 or 13 hours." 
 
As more boats began to show, the island scrambled to meet the demand. Captains got to know and befriend Lima, and they'd call down before leaving Florida to get a list of things needed for the dock or hotel. 
 
"You had to bring everything with you," Doerzbacher says. "It was just a little dock enough for 10 to 12 boats, but Enrique kept adding space. Lots of times I'd talk to him to see what he needed. We'd bring electrical parts and plugs. We'd give them all the parts when we got there, and right before our eyes they'd connect all the electrical we brought down so we could plug in." 
 
Those days are a distant memory now, as the dock offers full electrical, fuel, ice and bait. Ballyhoo, the bar at the end of the dock, even serves up great fish tacos and cold beers. Farther down the lagoon, Puerto Isla Mujeres Resort and Yacht Club offers room for megayachts and provides yard services and a travel lift.

Fishing for Sails
In the earlier days, boats started arriving on the island in March and usually departed in May. "It's different now," Stuve says. "Some of the boats go down right after Christmas. We used to fish April and May, and for the guys who stayed past May, that's when the whites started showing up. The weather was always better for coming home in late May or early June, rather than fighting the easterlies you'd get in winter."
 
Capt. Arch Bracher came to Isla for the first time in 1988 as a mate for Capt. Scott Stanczyk on Catch 22. "Only a few boats show up in April and May now — it used to be a parade. We'd start fishing later in the day, running just 10 miles offshore," Bracher says. "Now we run anywhere from 8 to 40 miles."
 
The trigger that began attracting boats for the winter fishery occurred in the mid-1990s. Orlando Duran, a Cancún captain, happened upon a large body of sailfish some 20 miles north of Contoy Island while fishing for king mackerel in the winter. Anthony Mendillo also played a big role in discovering this fishery. Mendillo, by then a resident of Isla, having married Kin Lima and operator of his own charter business, helped to spread the word of this "new" fishery. Word got back to the crews in North Carolina and Florida. It didn't take long for the news to spread, and more boats showed up earlier and earlier.
 
"The winter fish seem to concentrate in a smaller area," Mendillo says. "They spread out more in the spring. The average day in the winter consists of a little more running around and focusing on the birds. The fish ball bait in the winter, and the birds mark the sails. In the spring the birds are not always such a dead giveaway."
 
Many of the anglers who fished the spring months certainly didn't complain about the catches they tallied. "I'm sure we would have gone farther north if we were aware of the fish up there, but then again, we weren't even there in February," Stuve says. "We didn't know to head 40 miles north. If you caught 15 sails at 8 miles, you thought you had a good day, and you did!"
 
The winter fishery fit those boats that wanted to move on to the Bahamas and St. Thomas for the spring and summer seasons. While boats used to choose between Mexico or the Caribbean, now they could squeeze in both. However, with this newfound fishery came a host of other issues.