Cayo Santa Maria Tarpon Hunting Trip 2009

In spring 2009 I presented the new LOOP destination in Cuba. In July 2009 Bruno and Christoph from Germany joined me and my wife to fish the destination. There are only four fly fishing skiffs in the harbour in Cayo Las Brujas, so there was one boat left as the three of us used single skiffs. The use of a single skiff makes it possible that you fish on all fish you spot on your own. So you do not have to rotate with your partner on the boat which is of course a great advantage because you never know how many fish you will spot during a day. 

As a consequence the pressure on the area was really low especially if you compare it with other Cuban destinations like Cayo Largo. Remember that the territory on Cayo Santa Maria is four times larger. In Florida there are many times more boats than tarpon around and the traffic on and around the tarpon grounds can be really terrible. In CSM we were fishing more or less in paradise and if not intended we did not see any of the other two skiffs the whole day. We were guided by Samuel, Marco and Nelson. All of them are excellent guides who know exactly how to approach fish and how to handle the skiffs in the best possible way to not disturb the fish. They are good fly casters, too and they speak proper English. So communication was never a problem. The guides are really good there.

The tarpon is the fish you are looking for if you fish Cayo Santa Maria. Other fish species are abundant but more or less in low numbers because the area protection is quite young and there are still a few locals that occassionally try to net bone fish. Tarpon fishing on Cayo Santa Maria is better than anywhere else in Cuba at least there has been no better spot explored yet. A little comparison: According to my guide last year six boats on Cayo Largo landed a total of 300 tarpons whereas only four boats fishing on Cayo Santa Maria caught 1200 tarpon in the same period. So the chance to catch a tarpon is 6 times higher than on Cayo Largo and as the area is much larger the chance to fish for unspooked fish is better. Fishing for bonefish on the other side is better in the South. So the chance was good that all of us would catch our first Cuban tarpons. The area has many resident tarpons but is also used for migrating ones before they spawn in the open sea. The avarage size of the tarpons is about 50-70 lbs. with the possibility to catch a 100 lb+ fish. Larger fish are around and you will probably even see them but as there are so many tarpon usually the smaller ones are faster if it comes to take the fly in a channel where the really big ones are hiding. This is the reason why not more big ones are caught. One big tarpon was lost after more then 4 hours of fight being never closer to the boat than 50 m. Then he broke the leader. There are still many things unknown what the life circle of these fish are concerned. If you are interested, I suggest you to read the book "Biology and Management of the World Tarpon and Bonefish Fisheries". Tarpons get very old and fish around 100 lbs can be 50 years and older. The oldest reported tarpon was even 85 years old.

During our fishing week we could take advantage of free use of Loop fly fishing equipment. The equipment consisted mainly of the new series of #12 Loop OPTi Salt 1290-3A rods with the strong cross-weave blank and the new x-grip, #10Loop OPTi Salt 1090-3A rods for permit and #8 Loop OPTi Salt 890-3A for bonefish. The reels were equipped with the LOOP Opti Big and the Opti Megaloop as well as the LOOP Multi 9/12 for bonefish/permit. Our boats left the harbour every day around seven in the morning because usually at about 2-3 p.m. wind comes up which makes fishing on the flats very difficult. Anyway, tarpon fishing is mainly taking place in the morning if you are on the boat for 8 hours.  

As we were looking for tarpon we used tarpon leaders with 80-120lbs shock tippets as large tarpon could be expected, too. Anyway un CSM the tarpon are usually not leader shy. The flies were attached to the leader with a very simple but also very effective loop knot which Samuel showed me. I was very astonished that I had never met that knot before. You just make a simple knot in the shock tippet about 8-10 cm from the end, go with the end of the tippet through the eye of your hook and back through the loop of the knot you tied before(which you open a bit to make it easier to go on). With the short end of the tippet you just make a half stitch around the main leader. Then you fix your hook around an iron bar or equivalent and pull from the end of the shock tippet and at the same time grab the other short end of the tippet with the pliers and pull it in the same direction (never down in direction of the hook as the loop closes if you do it this way). This loop knot is very easy and is very strong as it tightens when a tarpon pulls at the end of the line. This loop was maybe the most valuable thing I learned during the whole trip. I am sure I will use that loop knot very often not only for tarpon but for all strong fish. It is much easier as the Rappala knot!

We took self-tied standard tarpon flies with us like Cockroach, Black Death, Bunnies, Deceivers and several other own creations that somehow could imitate prey or at least were well visible for tarpon. Usually the fish there take most flies as long as they do not sink too fast. For the channels I recognized big baitfish flies to be very effective as they are more visible there. I tied my flies on Tiemco 600 SP 2/0 and 4/0 hooks and Gamakatsu 5/0 circle hooks. My guide had no good opinion on the TMC. He said that the tip of that hook was too long and weak. The first tarpon I caught proofed his opinion. The guides on CSM are all fond of Owner hooks. 

The first day of fishing Cuban waters for tarpon was very exciting for me and also the others of our group. My guide Samuel wanted to start with a good day so he brought me to a special spot in a deep channel with big tarpon. On the way there we passed several islands and mangrove channels and I was very optimistic for that week because the weather and wind forecast was pretty good for fishing. After about 20 minutes of drive, Samuel stopped the boat about five hundred meters from the anchor place and paddled the skiff all the way to the correct place. We saw many tarpon rolling in easy fishing distance but they did not take any of the flies I offered them. Just two little pulls, that was all I felt that day. However, some days later I cracked their feeding code but the first day I was only looking at them. Bruno did much better the first day. When we met again in the harbor he showed us the picture of his first tarpon ever. It was a nice fish of about 50-60 lbs. He also caught his first bone fish that day so he was the one to offer the group some drinks in the bar in the Marina. Also Christoph caught a nice fish of about 80 lbs. that day.

The next days we moved to the flats. Fishing the flats for tarpon is the most interesting and demanding way to fish them. You stand on the tip of the boat always ready for the cast and wait. Sounds easy but to find the fish and approaching them is more or less like hunting. For me it was always like a game who of us would spot the fish first. My guide of course had the much better sight from his platform. A guide has to have very good eyes(and polarizers!) to see the fish in distance to bring the boat in a good casting position. If you are too close or the angle to the fish does not fit, the tarpon cannot be hooked because you want him to close the mouth and turn with the fly to set the hook in the corner of his mouth. More or less all other parts are hard as stone. If you stand in the heat of the sun(and it is more or less always hot where you fish for tarpon) for hours and suddenly a fish shows up you have to be very fast and concentrated to not make a mistake and spook the fish. This is the difficult thing because if you are waiting for a long time you might loose your tension and concentration. But if you see the fish coming closer, opening his big mouth to take your fly, this is the moment you were dreaming of and all the heat is forgotten. Adrenalin is is spreading through your body. You want him to be hooked well and hear the reel screeming. The screeming of a good reel during the first run of a tarpon is an unforgettable sound. For me it should last one more day to hear that sound.

The sight on the second day was not really good. We saw quite some rolling tarpon but despite of the fact that we  approached them slowly we were always too close, when we saw them. So at least I saw my first shoal of tarpons passing fast under the boat in only hip deep water. This day was very hot and did not allow us to fish the flats correctly anyway so I asked my guide to bring us(my wife accompanied me that day for filming) to a snorkling spot at a reef. It was good to refresh - although 30°C water temperature is not really refreshing - and to see all these beautiful Caribbean saltwater fish(even lion fish) and corals. We even saw turtles from time to time coming to the surface for breathing. Later we tried for barracudas but it was just not my day. The first big cuda broke the hook(!) and the next two fish I hooked were snappers which were both cut into halves by huge barracudas. My guide was not very happy at all as they usually take the snappers back home for eating. "Well", he said, "two halves makes at least one fish...". The others did better. Bruno caught another tarpon and a nice barracuda and Christoph jumped two fish. Besides that he got two bonefish and saw a 30 lbs permit. The permit was a smart one.