Cayo Largo, Cuba - Client Trip report

Each April we send a group of anglers to Cayo Largo in Cuba. Here is a report from one of our clients, Mr Robert Thong from the UK, who returned with Marie for the second trip to Cayo Largo. This report was first published on Marie's blog  "The Larder 36" which is a great read.

Just after Easter, Marie and I returned to fish Cayo Largo in Cuba after having had such an exciting time two years ago. We enjoyed another great angling trip, albeit somewhat different compared to two years ago, which just shows the immense variety of the fishing here. So I thought I’d post another blog article on Cayo Largo to inform readers who are considering fishing there.

The Place and Getting There

Cayo Largo is a narrow 25-km long island in Western Cuba, half an hour flying time directly south from Havana via a local air shuttle service. It is a planned vacation resort island, with several mega resort hotels and many self-catering cabanas and villas for vacationers looking for sun, beach and diving. It is situated in a protected Marine Park throughout which commercial fishing is banned and only one designated group, the Avalon fly fishing operation, have exclusive rights for sport fishing. Catch-and-release fly fishing is the only allowed method. Avalon run six guided flats boats for a total of up to 12 anglers at any time, fishing six days a week.

As part of the Avalon package, we stayed in the all-inclusive Sol Melia resort hotel, a 10-minute daily transfer by a dedicated mini-bus every morning to the marina where the flats boats are kept. The hotel is filled with holiday makers from all over Europe and the Americas – there was a pre-dominance of Italians and Canadians the week we were there. We took breakfast and dinner at a range of restaurants situated on-site at the resort, plus a packed lunch on the water with our fishing guide on fishng days. All meals are included and the hotel also has a 24-hour bar offering unlimited beverages including alcoholic drinks – once at the resort, there is no need to carry any cash around as everything is already paid for, making this an excellent option for non-fishing partners and friends of the anglers as there is a full-range of water- and land-based activties on offer at the hotel every day, all included in the price. Of course for the anglers, there is no opportunity to sample any of these non-fishing activities except on the arrival and departure days as the fishing takes up the whole day – I’m sure none of the anglers minded!

The package also includes one night’s stay at a top hotel in central Havana on the in-bound journey and again on the way home, with an easy option to add extra nights in Havana at either end, so the fishing trip can be combined with a visit to a very quaint and interesting city.

The Fishing

The sheer size of the marine park is astonishing, split up by Avalon into 6 distinct fishing areas ranging from two areas within just 5 minutes boat ride from the marina, to the furthest two areas which are an hour’s boat ride away. On any particular day, only two of the areas are fished (by up to three boats each), so that each area is rested for at least two days in the weekly cycle – hence the fish are not at all pressurized. In any case, each area is very large, so you are rarely fishing near any of the other boats, and it’s not possible in a day for any one boat to fish all the available water even in its allocated area. We never fished the same water more than once in the whole week.

  

  

In all the areas, you can find the standard flats species of bonefish, permit and tarpon, as well as snook, various type of jacks and snappers, and barracuda. Bonefish are everywhere, sometimes in huge schools of 100+ fish, and it wasn’t unusual most days to land over a dozen bonefish between the two of us in the boat. Most of the bonefish we caught were in the 3 to 4 lb range, which is on the high side for the Caribbean, many of them aggressive very hard-fighting specimens, with a fair sprinkling of 5 and 6 lb fish, plus one 7-lb and another 8-lb trophy. There are permit around too – we got a few shots at them most days without managing to land one (unlike our last trip), although some of the other boats did manage to do so. And tarpon can be found both in the deeper channels and off the beaches – I had good shots at a few and managed to land a nice 25-lb one after a half-hour battle. A very pleasant surprise were the hard-fighting jacks and the large-ish snappers, many of them 2-lb and up – on one memorable day I landed five bigger jacks ranging from 6-lb to 10-lb, each putting up a tremendous fight. And if you’re so inclined, you can also fly fish for the very aggressive barracuda – see the picture below of a huge 30-lb cuda that Marie landed.

We fished with 8-, 9- and 10-weight single-handed fast action rods, with floating lines on the flats and off the beaches, and intermediate and sinking lines in the deeper channels and dropoffs.

Season and Contact Details

The fishing season in Cayo Largo runs from November through to July, with April to June being the most popular times although there is good fishing to be had throughout the rest of the season subject to higher risk of rain and winds.

We’d like to thank Mat McHugh of Fly Odyssey for organizing our trip and Mauro Ginevri and his team for their expertise and hospitality. Special mention also to Sean Clarke and his group from Farlows who were great fishing companions.

Cuban grand slam: Cayo Largo

Our first client Grand Slam for 2012 was achieved by Robert Thong fishing Cayo Largo in Cuba. Congratulations Robert. Robert's wife Marie also narrowly missed out on a slam while other anglers in the lodge recorded 2 more slams and a super slam. Sounds like the flats of Cayo Largo are starting to warm up....

Hi Mat,

Cayo Largo was excellent! I got a Grand Slam (lost a 15lb snook at 4:45pm, so missed out on a Super Slam).

I also landed another nice tarpon (25lb) and landed lots of bonefish. Also managed to land a big jack (10-15 lb) and a huge Cubera Snapper of 30+ lb. There were two other Grand Slams and a Super Slam that week too from 12 fisher-people. Marie missed out on a Grand Slam as she couldn't manage to land a Permit (although she did hook one) but she landed a nice 20+ lb tarpon too. She caught lots of bones too, including several in the 6lb or 7lb size. Bonefish by the way were typically 4 lb in size, smallest we caught was 3 lb or so – much larger than in Mexico or Belize, more like Bahamas.

The Sol Melia hotel very nice with unlimited alcohol for people who are into that sort of thing (which we weren't). Our fishing guide was excellent, the fishing was very professionally managed, and they leave large areas of the available fishing untouched for a day or two to recover, so the fish are not at all pressurised. Each fisher-person gets a free box of flies (6 bonefish, 2 permit, 2 snook/tarpon) which is a nice touch.

If someone really wants a Grand Slam, they should go to Cayo Largo as they keep a few baby tarpon spots untouched and reserved for people desperately needing to catch a tarpon at day end, so the main challenge is catching that elusive permit first!

Cheers and thanks
Robert

For more information on fly fishing in the Cuba please email us or call on +44 (0)1621 743711.

Jonathan Tomlinson's Ascension Bay fly fishing report

Jonathan Tomlinson from Sportfish Reading has just sent through his fly fishing report from Ascension Bay, Mexico. Jonathan has now done over 10 weeks down in Ascension Bay so for expert advice on saltwater fly fishing tackle and the 'must' flies to have drop into Sportfish Reading....

Well it was that time of year again for our regular trip back to casa viejo Chac and ascension bay and what a trip we had. It has become the norm for us to take at least a 2 week trip as the lodge offers such good value for money and great service. The food is excellent and the portions are big, a great bar on hand and one of the best opportunities in the world to not only grand slam but super slam. In my opinion previous trips have highlighted that this part of Mexico offers the best Permit fishing in the world and this latest visit didn't fail to produce. The first of our 2 weeks saw 10 anglers hit the flats, the first 2 days gave us excellent conditions with cloud rolling in and out throughout the rest of the week making things tough at times. With such a variety of species to chase it was at times difficult to decide which rod to reach for but many opted for the 10 weights and permit flies. Tarpon, snook, bonefish and jacks to name a few all made big appearances.

Final figures on permit for the first weeks saw 7 permit landed with bones to 61/2lb with a sprinkling of tarpon and snook along with the obligatory barracuda!

The second weeks saw 4 go and 4 join the group keeping us at 10 and what a week we were set for. Excellent conditions with bright sunshine and little wind meant that even more time being spent chasing permit which turned out to be the the best decision. Permit we're seen all over the bay and shots were had almost at will at times. Several days anglers returned with more than one fish to the boat including a 3, 4 on 2 occasions and a gob smacking 7! The last day of the trip and a staggering 13 permit were landed with a grand slam for Geoff and a double grand slam for Mark.

Shark, triggerfish, ladyfish and Spanish makeral with a whole variety of jacks and snapper added to the list.

A massive total of 30 permit (to 28lb with 2 over 20lb), 12 tarpon, 15 snook (to 18lb) and some great bones of much bigger than average size than we would normally expect topping out at close to 8lbs.

If all the permit hooked or that ate had been landed god only knows how many we would have had, perhaps even as many as 50!

This trip once again has shown that if you want to catch a permit on the fly and are prepared to put the time in then there is NO place better in the world to go than Mexico's ascension bay. Grab your 10 weights and a box of creole crabs, Bubba Gump shimp's and Homer Shrimpson's and get your self on a plane!

Already Looking forward to our annually trip next year - get it booked Mat!!

All the best
Tomo

FOR INFORMATION ON OUR UPCOMING TRIPS TO MEXICO PLEASE CALL US ON +44 (0) 1621 743711, VISIT OUR WEBSITE or email us.

Ascension Bay fly fishing update

Week 2 our our clients visit to Ascension Bay finishes with 7 permit and some memorable captures including a 60lb lemon shark on fly.

NOVEMBER PERMIT TALLY =11

UK photographer George Kavanagh was kind enough to share some of his images from their trip earlier in the month. Please visit his website as it is filled with stunning images.











Images copyright of George Kavanagh.

For more information about fly fishing in Ascension Bay Mexico please email us or call on +44 (0)1621 743711.

TRIP REPORT: CASA BLANCA LODGE, MEXICO

We sent a group of intrepid UK anglers down to Casa Blanca Lodge, Ascension Bay, Mexico in early April on a quest for bonefish, permit and tarpon. Despite some fierce weather they managed all three and had a great time doing so. Here is a few images kindly shared by Ian and Kevin.

"Our week was troubled by high winds ,but when the guides managed to find spots that weren't too badly effected we pick up some nice bones and tarpon, with a couple of real monsters looking at my fly as well .

I was also delighted to get a snook slam, my first ever. The group had several shots at permit in difficult conditions, with Ian Bailey finally catching. A big highlight was the fantastic company of the group." KEVIN, UK



These images are courtesy of Ian Bailey of BOOK BINDERS of LONDON. We will be displaying a series of books produced by the Book Binders at the CLA gamefair.









FOR INFORMATION ON OUR UPCOMING TRIPS TO CASA BLANCA PLEASE CALL US ON +44 (0) 1621 743711, VISIT OUR WEBSITE OUR WEBSITE or email us.

Ascension Bay, Mexico Trip Report March 2011

Ascension Bay fly fishing report by Jonathan Tomlinson (Sportfish Reading)

Well another trip to Ascension bay’s Punta Allen has been and gone; with the weather playing its usual mixed hand. The first couple of days saw the normal steady trade winds and a mixture of bright sunshine and cloud which is always a tough way to try and tune your eyes back into fish spotting mode. Bonefish and barracuda were interspersed with shots at Permit and Tarpon some of which were up and over the very magical 100lb mark but none that size fell to our offerings.





Two days of much heavier winds and cloud made fish spotting increasingly difficult but none the less bonefish were tracked down and caught with some of the group hitting up to a dozen fish in a day. A day of heavy storm clouds building and the onset of a brief visit of low pressure saw us all arrive back into the lodge just in time to see the heaven’s open and thunder and lightning fill the air. A tentative night followed as we waited to see what the next day held and if the storms had passed, thankfully they did only leaving a slight higher than average cloud level. A couple of very good days chasing tarpon saw close to 30 tarpon landed up to around 25lb+.





A couple of very good days chasing tarpon saw close to 30 tarpon landed up to around 25lb+. 3 of the group left including one of my regular travel partners Paul Procter leaving 5 of us to head out on the last day. All bar 1 of the group had Bonefish on the mind but for me a single boat meant that my usual past time that occasionally results in a Permit could resume; standing on the bow of a boat staring out over flat after flat! As ever when you place a Permit rod in your hand it results in every other species of fish appearing, Bonefish, Barracuda, rays, boxfish, puffers all came by to say hello but only a couple of permit. Some really good shots that my guides and I couldn’t believe ended in a “no eat” took us up to Lunch with a couple of stray Bonefish to the boat. The afternoon resumed in the same vein of form as the morning but this time a rather obliging permit started tailing in front of the panga, not content with eating the fly once it came back and had a second bight of the cherry and this time it stuck.



A trip to find a tarpon to complete a grand slam saw a snook get in there first; a little more hunting for Tarpon a couple of flashes at the fly and there were no Tarpon to show, it was time to make the long run back home for a beer. Just missing out on a super grand slam on the last day is just another reason that I will have to head back again in November with Paul for a couple more weeks!



If you are interested in joining our trips to Ascension Bay we have a number of options in May and November. For more information please email us or call on +44 (0)1621743711.

Mexico Fly Fishing Report by Mike Bilson

Mike Bilson kindly shared his thoughts on his second trip to Mexico with us on one of the Paul Procter hosted weeks. It makes for an interesting read and sums up the experience nicely....

Fishing Report – Punta Allen, Mexico: 22nd Nov to 27th Nov 2010

David and I met John Honour, Steve Grimes, and David Hoskins at Gatwick on Sunday 21st November for the ten hour flight to Cancun arriving at 14.30 local time. The Thomson flight was only half full so we had plenty of room. The AGI Tours minibus was waiting for us and we set off for Punta Allen, stopping briefly on the way at Tulum for a very pleasant meal at a road-side restaurant. The next part of the journey was a real test of perseverance with the main road running out and turning into a very hard and long 40 km drive. The road has clearly been badly damaged over the last year with constant pot holes and craters meaning that we averaged about 10 kph until Punta Allen. This was very unpleasant and will undoubtedly put some people off from returning, but the positive side is that Punta Allen will never become over fished with excessive anglers.

We were warmly greeted at Casa Veijo Chac by our host Paul Proctor who had organized the rooms. Since last year three new rooms have been built with good air conditioning and new showers, but the electricity did fail briefly on occasions in the evening. Not a major problem as it was quickly fixed but showering in the dark could be a challenge.

The first morning we were allocated guides over breakfast. Pepe and Marbella produced excellent authentic Mexican food all week which was wholesome and tasty with good measures of spice, onions and chilies. Breakfast was served at 07:00 before setting off for the boats at 08:15. A packed lunch was provided each day with plenty of drinks. Dinner was served at 19:00 and consisted of a three course meal. Beer was freely available and we settled up at the end of the week which was very reasonable at $110 each including staff tips and laundry.

The weather started mostly cloudy with a stiff East wind which was the aftermath of a heavy storm at the end of the previous week. The wind and cloud gradually calmed down each day until a magnificent last day of flat calm and few clouds. Temperatures were around 25 to 30 degrees centigrade.

Monday 22nd
Guides were Edwin and Osca who are new this year to Veijo Chac but very experienced. David’s first day started with an excellent 12 Snook on fly. I lost one Snook of similar size due to a straightened hook, and lost a tarpon of around 14lb on one of its airborne leaps. We also had several bonefish averaging about 2lb mainly on Cuban Shrimps, as well as a small Jack and Barracuda on a Deceiver. Fishing off the Punta Allen pier in the evening was not productive due to cloudy water from a strong onshore wind.

Tuesday 23rd
Heavy rain overnight cleared by the morning but still a stiff Easterly wind and 40% cloud cover. Philip was our very experienced guide. We chased permit in the morning and saw about half a dozen. I got one reasonable shot. After lunch we changed tactics and went for Snook, Barracuda, and Tarpon. David landed his first ever Barracuda on popper weighing in at 16lb. Soon after I landed a 15lb Barracuda on fly with wire trace. We saw a Permit cruising through so a quick change to crab fly was presented beautifully only to be stolen from the Permits nose by a greedy 2lb Snook. David then had a great shot at the Permit which followed the fly but turned away. We finished that day by wading for Bonefish at “Lagoon Duos” where we came across a massive shoal of tailing Bonefish, landing a few between us.



Wed 24th
Weather improved again with the wind calming and 30% cloud cover. Guides were William of 24 years guiding experience at Punta Allen and his boatman Edwardo. We waded for Bonefish in the morning and while doing so David got an excellent shot at a Permit which took the tan crab fly but after a very brief encounter, spat the fly out before he could set the hook. I later hooked a large Barracuda which bit through the 25lb wire trace and made its escape. Then we saw two Shark cruising and after casting a fly and getting a couple of follows with no takes the guide suggested we used a bait fish. So I rigged up a large wire trace and hook on the end of my AFTM 10 fly rod and line. We threaded half a Needle Fish on the hook and waded into the flat to stalk the Shark. After a brief sniff the Shark took the bait and there followed a massive fight on the fly rod taking about 150 yards on the first run. Many more long runs followed but after about 25 minutes the 30lb Lemon Shark was beached and duly dispatched presumably to feed the guide’s family for a week. The using of bait earned the esteemed prize of the “Pink Bow Tie” in the evening. Later David was smashed up by an estimated 40lb Barracuda on popper which ripped off line on its way to the mangrove snags 120 yards away. It took the hook, trace, braid and backing. During the day we also caught a few Bones.



Thursday 25th
We had the most experienced guides today being Manuel and Choo Choo. Some cloud and threatening rain at first but this cleared nicely by the time we reached the fishing grounds. David landed his first ever Tarpon on a fly weighing in at around 10lb. Several others were seen cruising. Then we moved around the Island were Manuel put me on a massive Bonefish. I cast my Cuban Shrimp four feet in front of his slow feeding path. He moved to the fly and made a confident take, followed by my two strip strikes setting the hook. After a long fight it came to the boat at 7lb. Manuel believed it should have been a 9lb fish due to its length but was a little under-weight for its length. Still, a magnificent specimen. After lunch we went for Permit and found a large shoal of tailing Permit in the bay with an average size of around 15lb and some going much larger. I cast a tan crab fly, the lined tightened and after setting the hook the large Permit made a brief strong run before parting the leader on what turned out to be a wind knot. A quick change of fly and increase in leader strength from 16lb to 20lb gave me another clean shot at a large oncoming shoal. The fly was perfectly presented and the line tightened at which point Manuel clarified that a 10lb Jack Crevalle had intercepted the fly in front of the Permit. There followed a 20 minute tug-of-war resulting in the AFTM 8 Helios rod exploding into six pieces leaving me with just the cork handle and reel left in my hand. With no other option I had to hand line the rest of the fight. By the time the fish was returned and a new rod tackled up the clouds had come over and the Permit shoal moved on. This episode also earned me the “Pink Bow Tie” for the second time. Thankfully Robin had lent me his Orvis Zero Gravity AFTM 8 rod just in case of a breakage which proved to be very valuable.



Friday 26th
Guides were William and Edwardo for the second time. David waded on the flats for Bonefish while I went for Permit with William. We found a tailing shoal of about 20 Permit and got out the boat to wade gently from 50 yards away. At 10:30 I landed a 6lb Permit on Manuel’s china man crab fly, being smaller than most of the shoal but still a good fish. I then got a Bonefish at 10:45 so we decided to go for the Grand Slam and picked up David who had caught a few Bones. We went to the brackish mangrove swamps and found a school of three Tarpon. The second one took the fly aggressively and weighed in at 10lb’s and completed the Grand Slam before 11.00. We spent the rest of the day trying to get a Snook to make it a Super Slam but none were found.



Saturday 27th
Guides for the day were Pablo and Marcus. Weather was magnificent with a mirror calm trip to the Bonefish flats where we found many large shoals of tailing Bones on the low tide. Everyone had endless fun taking Bone after Bone some up to 3lb. After lunch we decided to split up with David continuing to wade the flats for Bones while I chased Permit. Unfortunately the clouds came over putting an end to the splendid Bonefish sport and making it hard to spot Permit although we did see half a dozen and get a good shot at one which ignored my crab fly. During the afternoon I saw a large Barracuda and cast a Popper at the fish using Martin’s Greys spinning rod. It took the popper with a massive attack and a long fight ensued culminating with me landing the beast at 30lb. That evening I won the “Pink Bow Tie” for a third time for casting at a Bonefish which in fact turned out to be a crab moving sideways towards me from 30 yards.



Summary
Over the week the group managed three Grand Slams (Pete, Paul, and me) with a fourth closely missed by Steve whose 40lb Tarpon just held off taking. Individual fish of the week was Steve’s first ever Permit at 25lb. Several good Snook were taken by most anglers. Six Permit were landed in total (Pete 3, Steve 1, Paul 1 and me 1).
Endless species of various sizes were seen, many of which are not mentioned here as they were not landed. The trip back was much easier with the difficult road tackled at the start of the day and in the light. The journey was made fun by the admission that John had inadvertently been wearing his room-mates trousers all week, and commando style at that! David had wondered where his second pair went but all was revealed at Cancun Airport.

Overall a great week.

Mike Bilson