My Cuba Fish Tales Cuba Trip photos and videos

[Sundancefisher]

Took so many it is taking a while to sort out. I have this one video to start.

Tarpon Release video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKTs5Y1zyts&spfreload=10)

[outdoors forever]

Post up some pics! I'm quite interested in fishing Cuba, my wife and I were there in Jan but did not get a chance to fish.


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[Wild&Free]

explosive jump.

[tight line]

Got me Craving a Tarpon...

[58thecat]

Need more information on this trip and pictures too:)

[Sundancefisher]

Need more information on this trip and pictures too:)

It is coming in full detail. I ran out of hard drive space for photos and vids so I bought a 4 T Seagate SSHD and loaded it up the other day. Then uploaded the new ones. My cuda pics were awesome.

[Sundancefisher]

Tailing Bone on a fly I tied...fun as they come! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRC3JiIeMTk)

[Sundancefisher]

http://i956.photobucket.com/albums/ae46/Sundancefisher/Cuba%202015/4117b187-c343-43a8-b34b-180a1b4e9144_zpsdttxw8yq.jpg

My biggest barracuda to date. I am working on the video.

[Sundancefisher]

Don't let the size of these tarpon fool you. Pound for pound the hardest hitting fish and the hardest pulling fish and the hardest jumping fish you will come across.

Tons of fun!

http://i956.photobucket.com/albums/ae46/Sundancefisher/Cuba%202015/2bfc2e7d-08cf-43fa-816d-2d9b2c5cafee_zpsjsubeke9.jpg

[Sundancefisher]

This face is what bonefish see in their nightmares!

http://i956.photobucket.com/albums/ae46/Sundancefisher/Cuba%202015/e4292acb-dcdd-4765-8cd2-e98f1fc75bc4_zpsg24dbsf5.jpg

[58thecat]

Wow, thanks for sharing.
So where in Cuba were you at?

[Sundancefisher]

Wow, thanks for sharing.
So where in Cuba were you at?

Me and a buddy booked a trip through David Blair at Fish Tales. Great value and lots of pre trip assistance. I had been twice before so I knew what to expect and what to bring.

We left Calgary on a direct flight to Varadero on March 7. We arrived at the airport and went through customs and got some money exchanged and then headed to Playa Larga in a car with driver Fish Tales had booked.

We arrived later in Playa Larga and had some dinner before hitting the sack. Over the next 6 days of fishing we had 2 days fishing for tarpon in the river and 4 days on the flats fishing for bonefish. I had a guide named Alfredo...awesome guy...extremely smart and can speak French and English as well as Spanish.

We did not see large schools of bonefish this trip (I have on other trips) however we saw lots of larger bonefish 18-22 inches traveling alone or in pairs or groups of three.

Often you see bonefish in 6 inches of water with tails up rooting in the mud and sand for shrimp and crabs and other yummy critters. These are the most exciting to cast to and the runs are fast and furious. Incredible speeds dominate these fish.

We often saw lots of small cudas as well as some medium sized ones and some monster flats barracuda that usually traveled in pairs.

I took a Okuma Nomad Travel rod with a Penn Battle II 8000 reel with 380 yards of 65lb braid just for casting big rapala like lures to the cudas. I found you need the lures to swim at or near the surface...I caught the big one on a 1.5 foot diving lure that was a bit much. The other lure I had worked awesome...unfortunately the cudas chewed it up and then my leader broke on a hard cast into the wind.

For flyrods I used an 8 weight for the bones and 10 or 11 weight on the tarpon. You have to try and stop the tarpon from getting to the mangrove roots. This is easier said then done. I jumped a 70+ pounder that launched itself 10 feet into the mangroves...snap. Fish gone. I also jumped some 30, 40 and 50 pounders in a side creek no wider than the upper Elbow River or Sturgeon River. Still all in all I landed over 25 tarpon in 2 days and around 40 bonefish in 4 days.

Our trip back to Calgary on March 14th was uneventful...only issue with flights was I had a woman barfing beside me on the way down...she started off painting the front of the plane. Poor girl had bad motion sickness issues. I chatted with her about motion sickness as I have been organizing group trips to the Queen Charlottes for 10 years. I have seen it all. I recommended she have no citrus or tomatoes before flying...eat a solid meal...take a 12 hour Gravol capsule and sit in a seat between the wings.

On the way back I was able to get her the Gravol...and she did not have the extra large citrus fruit smoothie and she made it home even with turbulence without barfing. However someone else painted the front washroom. Lots of fun on a 737 with one can.

I can't say enough about the trip David and gang put together from Fish Tales. If you can get on one this year...jump on it as the price is likely going up as the Cuban Peso is priced to the US dollar.

We fished the flats for bonefish and cuda out of Zapata National Park...small outpost of Las Salinas. About a 45 minute drive from Playa Larga directly south of Varadero on the Bay of Pigs. I missed a nice permit but they are far and few. Also missed some flats snook.

We fished the river Rio Hatiguanico for tarpon. The day trip from Playa Larga is about 1 hour 15 minutes travel time. Just before the turn into the park there is a small village with a school. We stopped on the first day to hand out some baseball gloves, bats and balls to kids and it was tremendously uplifting. Those kids were shocked as these small towns don't receive the same tourist benefits as the resort towns. Next time however I need to take some girls stuff like dolls and hair products.

If you are staying in Varadero...call Alfredo for guiding on the River...he handles transportation as needed. Definitely worth the day away from the beach.
Alfredo's guided fishing (http://www.iwanttofish.com/app/dkfish/ViewBusiness.php?id=3308&showReview=149).

I left him a bunch of flies...however I can get you all the patterns you need for bonefish and tarpon. Also recommendations for lures for the river as needed.

I also wrote this article for planning for the trip.

Part 1 - Preparation (http://www.iwanttofish.com/app/dkfish/NewsArticlesLanding.php?cid=1&show=50)

Part 2 - Bonefish and the flats (http://www.iwanttofish.com/app/dkfish/NewsArticlesLanding.php?cid=1&show=51)

Part 3 - Tarpon and the river (http://www.iwanttofish.com/app/dkfish/NewsArticlesLanding.php?cid=1&show=38)

Hope this helps.

[Sundancefisher]

http://i956.photobucket.com/albums/ae46/Sundancefisher/Cuba%202015/IMG_4453_zpscriocakd.jpg

Nice little bonefish... Tons of fun!

[tight line]

Beauty!!

[Sundancefisher]

http://i956.photobucket.com/albums/ae46/Sundancefisher/FlatsBonesIMG_0001_zpsud0spjjj.jpg

This dance should be called the bonefish bend. When the fish takes off...make sure all line is not wrapped around your fingers. The line burn is a pain.

[Sundancefisher]

Yahoo...

Caught my first ever catfish and it was on a fly rod. Pretty special.

http://i956.photobucket.com/albums/ae46/Sundancefisher/CatfishIMG_0001_zpstelbqclq.jpg

[Sundancefisher]

If anyone is going to go fishing to Cuba...the flies I tie have been proven time and time again.

This fly was a killer this trip.

http://i956.photobucket.com/albums/ae46/Sundancefisher/BoneandFlyIMG_002_zpsvcckkybi.jpg


Just let me know if you want to know which flies to tie.

[Sundancefisher]

Hard to get a photo of all the tarpon jumping.

Alfredo Tarpon Fishing Guide seemed to know where to find the tarpon.

http://i956.photobucket.com/albums/ae46/Sundancefisher/IMG2_0001_2_zpsh91gebqj.jpg

[58thecat]

Simply amazing, thank you for sharing your adventure and information.

[Sundancefisher]

Simply amazing, thank you for sharing your adventure and information.

No problem. I would be more than happy to share my knowledge on fishing down there with anyone interested.

I would also not hesitate to recommend booking a trip with Fish Tales Fly Shop. Only problem with them is I tended to visit their store to often and bought way to much fly tying material.

I would recommend taking 10 black death and 10 other assorted tarpon flies.

I would take 30 bonefish flies...patterns I can share.

I had overkill...over 100 tarpon flies and 200 bonefish flies.

[Hydro1]

Thanks for sharing the pictures/video with us! Looks like a great time. :sHa_shakeshout:

[Sundancefisher]

Thanks for sharing the pictures/video with us! Looks like a great time. :sHa_shakeshout:

Still working on a few vids.

[Sundancefisher]

catching a large barracuda on the flats video (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=X8A1fC0J12o)
Such powerful fish.

[Spidey]

Truly awesome!! I was in Cayo Coco last year and regret not taking advantage of a little bonefishing excursion.

[Sundancefisher]

Yahoo...

Caught my first ever catfish and it was on a fly rod. Pretty special.

http://i956.photobucket.com/albums/ae46/Sundancefisher/CatfishIMG_0001_zpstelbqclq.jpg

This is an African catfish (Clarias gariepinus). There is fear that they will wipe out the tarpon population in this river over time due to their ferocious appetite.