Los Roques Fly Fishing Report
I have to say that I was slightly fearful of flying into Caracas, the jumping off point for Los Roques. An article in the Economist in August depicted Caracas as the most dangerous city in the world. As it turned out, nothing could be further from the truth and nothing untoward, or even a hint of it, happened to me.
I flew in on an Air France flight which was scheduled to land at 1430. It landed slightly after this and I thought that as my domestic flight out to Los Roques was scheduled for 1530 there was not much chance of making it and I would have to overnight in dreaded Caracas. But I hadn't bargained with Chavez time! Venezuela operates 30 minutes behind the international time zoned for it -- even Air France belatedly announced that we had landed at just after 1400. I caught my local connection with no problem. All the fears raised by the FCO site (accosted by bogus policeman, express kidnapped etc) were unrealised -- all very civilised really.
The flight to Los Roques is about 45 minutes and La cigala is 100 metres from the airport. The posada is comfortable and the owners and manager were hospitable and helpful. Food was good, in particular the huge breakfasts before the fishing day started at seven o'clock. Fishing ended at two o'clock because it's simply too hot, even in a boat with an awning. The boats are quite big -- there is a boatman and a guide. Because of their size and draft they can't be poled, or taken into very shallow waters. Although we did manage to fish deep water from the boat, generally it was out of the boat wading on pancake flats or close to the mangroves. Unfortunately, on still days the mangrove fly life became very excited by the proximity of warm blooded humans. More than once we were driven back to the boat by the mosquitoes and other biting flies, which bit through buffs, shirts and even the top of fishing hats.
All conventional bonefish flies worked, despite the guides being down in the mouth at my not having any gummy minnows; this is obviously THE fly for Los Roques. I caught between 30 and 35 bonefish during the four days I was there and probably lost an equal number due to coral heads, poorly tied knots and playing the fish too hard. The biggest fish was around 6lbs but generally they were between 3-4lbs. Shots at tarpon in the lagoon did not yield any results as the fish there are fished over probably six or seven times a day by different boats. But they are a decent size running I would guess to 40-50lbs but they showed scant interest in flies cast over them. I did land a Bonito and hooked a horse eye Jack which eventually rejoined the school of 200 he was originally with, without paying a visit to the boat.
Overall, the fishing was very good but really limited to bonefish at this time of year (September). There was certainly a lot of fish about, with tarpon rolling close to where the boats were moored overnight and there were bonefish sucking up baitfish between the boats first thing in the morning. With the birds going nuts it was mayhem as we launched and I wished we had hung about to fish the home beach before speeding off.
It may be that other times of year there are other target species but if you like wading pancake flats for tailing bonefish then you will love it here.
For more information on our inexpensive trips to Los Roques please call on +44 (0) 1621743711 or email us.
