FisherGrrrl
04-25-2013, 02:10 PM
I finally found time to share my Cuba Trip after being back in Alberta for three weeks now lol!
Now where to even start...
Well after a long Albertan winter of ice fishing I can't wait to get back out on open water!!! Last April I headed to the Skeena Region for Steelhead and had one of the best adventures of my life. This year I decided to go somewhere HOT and try for more new species of fish and a new style of fishing. With that in mind we headed to Cayo Coco Cuba for some ocean fishing and our first time casting on ocean flats.
We knew prior to coming that the wind was going to stay around 30-40 km all 7 days, first starting from the southwest and then turning around and charge from the northeast (right across the Atlantic) for the majority of the trip. We wanted to make sure we were ready with all the gear for the elements. Without paying any extra airplane fees, we packed in three 4 piece fly rods, one 3 piece spinning rod, one 2 piece casting rod, along with a couple trays of cranks, a few boxes of custom ocean flies made by a local here in Edmonton, and all the rest of the gear we thought we could use. Thanks to a couple of friends for lending me some heavier fly rods and travel rods, and thanks to Fly Frenzy Custom Flies for having my ocean flies ready for this trip :).
Day One we rented a kayak and scoped out the shoreline of the resort beach, tossing cranks and spoons at the dark seam that marked the edge of the white sand. I watched what I thought was a small barracuda follow my rapala up to the kayak but it didn't take and I will never know for sure. The southeast wind quickly forced the kayak down the shoreline until we were a couple resorts over so we headed back to plan the rest of the week. With fishing rods in our hands it didn't take long for locals on the beach to point us in the right direction to a local guiding service. We found a guy dressed in his Marlin Tours t-shirt and he set us up for the week fishing on a boat to drift over the flats as well as a 50 ft yacht that would take as on an over-night ocean fishing trip.
Day Two was the first day of flat fishing and the first day of the 40km northeast winds. "Awesome!!" was pure sarcasm, but it was no surprise. A small rickety old van met us at our resort and we boarded. I will admit this was one part of the trip I had wished I told someone where I was going! I was scared! The two Cubans on the bus didn't speak English nor introduce themselves, the bus creaked at every bump and was dirty with broken windows and torn seats. We drove down a narrow road picking up and dropping off hitch hikers along the way. A couple times the bus would come to an unexpected halt and the driver would hop out, crawl under the van, and start it up again. I think he had to manually change gears lol but I'm no mechanic. Finally I saw the dock!! Phew! My fear subsided and I walked to the dock and hopped into the boat with the guide. Now... at this point I started to feel guilty for judging my guides on the bus earlier at their "people" skills because the guide was amazing!!! Despite the wind he was able to place us in spots to drift across flats in order to get the best of our casts with the limited visibility we had. His knowledge of English consisted of "fly", "spin", "fish", "shark", "bone", and "wind" which was all we needed to know along with his hand gestures pointing out where to cast or where he spotted a fish. A combination of the wind making ripples over the water surface and the clouds casting a shadow made it challenging to sight out fish, and once a fish was spotted a perfect cast (with the wind) was needed within the next 5 seconds (if not less). Most of the casts that we ended up catching fish on were blind, but we got into bones :).
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b189/ambuler44/DSCF1138_zpsee6b8ec3.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b189/ambuler44/DSCF1139_zps1ec6f075.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b189/ambuler44/DSCF1145_zpsd2740d53.jpg (http://s19.photobucket.com/user/ambuler44/media/DSCF1145_zpsd2740d53.jpg.html)
Now I have heard 100 times over and over again about the fights these little bullets put out, but still it caught me off guard! The bone would take as much line as it wanted in the opposite direction then turn towards the boat and I’d start reeling in as fast as my arm would let me to keep the tension on, then the bone would turn around again and take off pulling all the line right back off the spool and the reel handle spinning back almost smashing my thumb. It felt like it should have been a 10lb fish but it would be no bigger than a stocked Alberta trout. This little guy was my only bone of the trip but it was enough to make me feel like I had just won a marathon! It’s an instant addiction and I held onto a proud smile for the rest of the trip. The low visibility and strong winds had me doubting whether I would even get the chance to feel the fight, and I did.
When fishing had really slowed down it was still fascinating watching the ocean floor for any type of surprise. We floated over a field of roughly 5 stingrays hovering the flats and two 4-6 foot sharks that we could have poked with a stick. On the way back to the marina, we trolled with crankbaits and I landed my first barracuda!! It looked like a shiny, sleek pike with massive teeth. Wouldn't want him to lock his jaw on my hand!
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b189/ambuler44/DSCF1165_zps0fda03da.jpg (http://s19.photobucket.com/user/ambuler44/media/DSCF1165_zps0fda03da.jpg.html)
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b189/ambuler44/DSCF1169-1_zpsc2830e18.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b189/ambuler44/DSCF1170_zps4d559fe9.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b189/ambuler44/DSCF1148_zps58d3627d.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b189/ambuler44/DSCF1142-1_zps76b97dda.jpg (http://s19.photobucket.com/user/ambuler44/media/DSCF1142-1_zps76b97dda.jpg.html)
The next trip was deep sea fishing. The same van picked us up and dropped as off at a different marina. I hopped out of the van and the driver pointed at the biggest boat tied to the dock. I stood there and stared at what was going to be our residency for the next 2 days… the “Coral Blanco” a 50 foot ocean boat with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchenette, and dining area. "This is mine for two days!!!" I hopped in the yacht and sat right in the fighting chair and the boat took off into the sea. This was my second time ocean fishing so I was well aware of how easy it is to get sea sick. For an hour I sat in my chair focusing on the farthest cloud on the horizon. As the boat rocked left, right, up, and down I was starting to wonder when something was going to happen other than my motion sickness getting worse. Then, I heard the captain yell out to the deckhand in Spanish and the deckhand jumped down from the ladder. I looked up and saw 3 birds circling the sky when one of the Penn baitcasters started screaming! The deckhand grabbed the rod and handed it to Geoff right when another baitcaster began squealing! The deck hand ran over, set the hook, and handed me the arched rod. Off in the distance we watch two flashes of blue and yellow jump out of the water then skim the surface trying to get away from the tension of our rods. We had a double header for two dorodos! I landed a female dorodo (I learnt female dorodos have a more prominent forehead and are often larger) and Geoff landed a male. What a rush!!!
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b189/ambuler44/DSCF1238_zps9c054c83.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b189/ambuler44/DSCF1249_zpsc717ca91.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b189/ambuler44/DSCF1266_zpsfc2f0188.jpg (http://s19.photobucket.com/user/ambuler44/media/DSCF1266_zpsfc2f0188.jpg.html)
Now where to even start...
Well after a long Albertan winter of ice fishing I can't wait to get back out on open water!!! Last April I headed to the Skeena Region for Steelhead and had one of the best adventures of my life. This year I decided to go somewhere HOT and try for more new species of fish and a new style of fishing. With that in mind we headed to Cayo Coco Cuba for some ocean fishing and our first time casting on ocean flats.
We knew prior to coming that the wind was going to stay around 30-40 km all 7 days, first starting from the southwest and then turning around and charge from the northeast (right across the Atlantic) for the majority of the trip. We wanted to make sure we were ready with all the gear for the elements. Without paying any extra airplane fees, we packed in three 4 piece fly rods, one 3 piece spinning rod, one 2 piece casting rod, along with a couple trays of cranks, a few boxes of custom ocean flies made by a local here in Edmonton, and all the rest of the gear we thought we could use. Thanks to a couple of friends for lending me some heavier fly rods and travel rods, and thanks to Fly Frenzy Custom Flies for having my ocean flies ready for this trip :).
Day One we rented a kayak and scoped out the shoreline of the resort beach, tossing cranks and spoons at the dark seam that marked the edge of the white sand. I watched what I thought was a small barracuda follow my rapala up to the kayak but it didn't take and I will never know for sure. The southeast wind quickly forced the kayak down the shoreline until we were a couple resorts over so we headed back to plan the rest of the week. With fishing rods in our hands it didn't take long for locals on the beach to point us in the right direction to a local guiding service. We found a guy dressed in his Marlin Tours t-shirt and he set us up for the week fishing on a boat to drift over the flats as well as a 50 ft yacht that would take as on an over-night ocean fishing trip.
Day Two was the first day of flat fishing and the first day of the 40km northeast winds. "Awesome!!" was pure sarcasm, but it was no surprise. A small rickety old van met us at our resort and we boarded. I will admit this was one part of the trip I had wished I told someone where I was going! I was scared! The two Cubans on the bus didn't speak English nor introduce themselves, the bus creaked at every bump and was dirty with broken windows and torn seats. We drove down a narrow road picking up and dropping off hitch hikers along the way. A couple times the bus would come to an unexpected halt and the driver would hop out, crawl under the van, and start it up again. I think he had to manually change gears lol but I'm no mechanic. Finally I saw the dock!! Phew! My fear subsided and I walked to the dock and hopped into the boat with the guide. Now... at this point I started to feel guilty for judging my guides on the bus earlier at their "people" skills because the guide was amazing!!! Despite the wind he was able to place us in spots to drift across flats in order to get the best of our casts with the limited visibility we had. His knowledge of English consisted of "fly", "spin", "fish", "shark", "bone", and "wind" which was all we needed to know along with his hand gestures pointing out where to cast or where he spotted a fish. A combination of the wind making ripples over the water surface and the clouds casting a shadow made it challenging to sight out fish, and once a fish was spotted a perfect cast (with the wind) was needed within the next 5 seconds (if not less). Most of the casts that we ended up catching fish on were blind, but we got into bones :).
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b189/ambuler44/DSCF1138_zpsee6b8ec3.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b189/ambuler44/DSCF1139_zps1ec6f075.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b189/ambuler44/DSCF1145_zpsd2740d53.jpg (http://s19.photobucket.com/user/ambuler44/media/DSCF1145_zpsd2740d53.jpg.html)
Now I have heard 100 times over and over again about the fights these little bullets put out, but still it caught me off guard! The bone would take as much line as it wanted in the opposite direction then turn towards the boat and I’d start reeling in as fast as my arm would let me to keep the tension on, then the bone would turn around again and take off pulling all the line right back off the spool and the reel handle spinning back almost smashing my thumb. It felt like it should have been a 10lb fish but it would be no bigger than a stocked Alberta trout. This little guy was my only bone of the trip but it was enough to make me feel like I had just won a marathon! It’s an instant addiction and I held onto a proud smile for the rest of the trip. The low visibility and strong winds had me doubting whether I would even get the chance to feel the fight, and I did.
When fishing had really slowed down it was still fascinating watching the ocean floor for any type of surprise. We floated over a field of roughly 5 stingrays hovering the flats and two 4-6 foot sharks that we could have poked with a stick. On the way back to the marina, we trolled with crankbaits and I landed my first barracuda!! It looked like a shiny, sleek pike with massive teeth. Wouldn't want him to lock his jaw on my hand!
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b189/ambuler44/DSCF1165_zps0fda03da.jpg (http://s19.photobucket.com/user/ambuler44/media/DSCF1165_zps0fda03da.jpg.html)
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b189/ambuler44/DSCF1169-1_zpsc2830e18.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b189/ambuler44/DSCF1170_zps4d559fe9.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b189/ambuler44/DSCF1148_zps58d3627d.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b189/ambuler44/DSCF1142-1_zps76b97dda.jpg (http://s19.photobucket.com/user/ambuler44/media/DSCF1142-1_zps76b97dda.jpg.html)
The next trip was deep sea fishing. The same van picked us up and dropped as off at a different marina. I hopped out of the van and the driver pointed at the biggest boat tied to the dock. I stood there and stared at what was going to be our residency for the next 2 days… the “Coral Blanco” a 50 foot ocean boat with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchenette, and dining area. "This is mine for two days!!!" I hopped in the yacht and sat right in the fighting chair and the boat took off into the sea. This was my second time ocean fishing so I was well aware of how easy it is to get sea sick. For an hour I sat in my chair focusing on the farthest cloud on the horizon. As the boat rocked left, right, up, and down I was starting to wonder when something was going to happen other than my motion sickness getting worse. Then, I heard the captain yell out to the deckhand in Spanish and the deckhand jumped down from the ladder. I looked up and saw 3 birds circling the sky when one of the Penn baitcasters started screaming! The deckhand grabbed the rod and handed it to Geoff right when another baitcaster began squealing! The deck hand ran over, set the hook, and handed me the arched rod. Off in the distance we watch two flashes of blue and yellow jump out of the water then skim the surface trying to get away from the tension of our rods. We had a double header for two dorodos! I landed a female dorodo (I learnt female dorodos have a more prominent forehead and are often larger) and Geoff landed a male. What a rush!!!
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b189/ambuler44/DSCF1238_zps9c054c83.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b189/ambuler44/DSCF1249_zpsc717ca91.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b189/ambuler44/DSCF1266_zpsfc2f0188.jpg (http://s19.photobucket.com/user/ambuler44/media/DSCF1266_zpsfc2f0188.jpg.html)