1

Are you planning to carry backpacking/lightweight camping equipment with you on your back? That can be an enjoyable pursuit in Mexico, but in my opinion would not not be worth dealing with to use for only one trail night.

One alternative would be for you to instead "camp" in cheap hotels in attractive mountain villages and take day hikes out from there. Or, you could take guided walks between mountain towns located just two to three hours (by bus) away from Oaxaca City, staying at special hostels that local indigenous people have built. Some visitors spend two to four days doing that. Google "Pueblos Mancomunados". It's an attractive area but I doubt that you'll find any fishing opportunities there.

In my experience fishing,like other religious activities, can be time consuming. And, doing it can require hauling around miscellaneous paraphernalia. I do some back woods fishing here in the USA, but when in highland Mexico I instead devote my energy to hiking, admiring the scenery, and interacting with local people.

The Oaxacan and Chiapas highlands have many "homey towns". But, if in the past there were ever any sport fish in streams near those communities, they tend to be gone now, having been fished out by local people. In contrast to Canada and the USA, in Mexico there still are many people living/subsistence farming amid steep, forested, attractive terrain. So, the highland fishing opportunities that exist there are not necessarily easily accessible to "drop in" travelers. Also, many mountains are karstic, so their streams flow underground rather than up on the land surface.

If your query had started, "I want to spend a week or month trekking in Mexico, or fishing and doing rustic living/camping there...", I could have given you several leads about places potentially appropriate for such endeavors . Also, if you ever decide to embark on that type of venture, I strongly recommend that you first read Carl Franz's entertaining and inspirational 1981 "People's Guide to "Backpacking, Boating, and Camping". That's a different book from his "People's Guide to Mexico".

2

Here is a quote from Alvin Starkman's site, "Sports in Oaxaca: Ex-pat Retirement Activities in Mexico":

"For fishing, while there are trout ponds mainly in the mountains (the Sierra Norte) a short drive from the state capital, and dams where one can spend a couple of hours, quality angling experiences are found mainly on the coast. One can usually gather up a couple of acquaintances and arrange for a few days of fishing on the Pacific at Huatulco, Puerto Escondido, or the villages in between. Both deep sea and fly fishing are offered, the latter to a much lesser extent."

"Pueblos Mancomnados" is in the Sierra Norte, so people at their reservations office in Oaxaca may know where some of the aforementioned "trout ponds" are located. But, how important would extracting a few hatchery fish from a small pay lake be to the success of this particular trip of yours?

3

Fishing in freshwater streams in Chiapas is unheard of. O have been looking for it for 5 years without success. The few streams I gave found with fish are all bate fish. Unless someone knows of some stream that I don't I would forget fishing.

4

Agreed, if you find any freshwater trout, they will be non-native introduced species in fish farms, probably not what you had in mind. Go fishing on the coast, where there are lots of opportunities, and big fish.

There are hiking trails, but a guide is needed, at Shiaa-Rua-Via, the eco-cabanas near "homey" Ixtlan de Juarez, north of Oaxaca city on highway 175. There are some rivers nearby, they had lots of water when I saw them this summer. Their website wasn't working just now, but here it is: http://www.ecoturixtlan.com/

5

How about trophy largemouth bass? http://www.wheretofish.com/mexico.htm
There's Peacock Bass there too: http://monsterpeacockbasslures.com/images/david%20fields%2019lbr.gif

6

#5 those places arent in Chiapas or Oaxaca.

7

of course, but there are fish there :)