Cuba

[Jeffrey Silvan]

I just got back from a six days of fly fishing the flats in Cuba (legally). This was the first time I've ever gone for bonefish and permit and it did not disappoint. We had some tough weather with a couple cold fronts coming through, colder than average weather, and only two or three days of good light, but even still it was amazing. This fishing was all new to me, but for the others on the trip that were used to this kind of fishing, they were just blown away and told me I've been spoiled to start my tropical flats career here.

We fished the Cayo Cruz area, which can be exclusively fished by the Avalon operation and has only been fished for three years now. They won't run more than 12 people at a time, so it gets very low pressure. The guides are definitely still learning the area, but are probably the best guides I've ever fished with, both from a boat handling standpoint and from how good they are at spotting fish. Their English is generally good enough, but they're definitely still learning the whole give a direction then distance and sometimes forget to drop one of those pieces of info. 

As far as the area goes, the expansiveness of the flats were mind boggling. Again, I don't have much to compare to, but the others said the flats were absolutely enormous. A comparison I was given is that any individual fishing area was typically bigger than all of Ascension Bay. There was one lagoon we waded for 6 hours and only covered half of it. Another thing I'm told is very rare is that we saw permit on nearly every flat, even ones where you're specifically targeting bonefish. Because of that, we typically threw our permit rods the entire time. The other thing I'm told was very unique was that the bonefish were big, but not only that, they were fat. The average fish was 4-5 lbs and we collectively landed quite a few over 10 lbs for the week. Apparently these bonefish are also very dumb. You can miss your casts and throw five feet behind the fish and they'll run back and eat. You can even sting the fish on a hook set, have the fly fall out, and have him come back and pick it up again.

I'm proud to say I caught the first bonefish I ever saw, which made me happy. I even got an eat from the first permit I saw (at least while I was on the bow), although I missed the hook set. I also missed the hookset on two tarpon, and had a third shake the hook after about 10 seconds - so probably also not a great hookset since he ran right at me. Over the course of the week, I got around 30 bonefish to the hand even though we spent a long time looking for permit, rather than focusing on bones. This part of Cuba is rumored to be the best grand slam destination in the world, and although no one in the group got one this week, we had a ton of shots. I probably had 15 shots at permit on my own, but I only got two to eat (which was two more than anyone else got) and missed both, despite having great casts on all but one or two. 

The thing I found most surprising, however, was my favorite fish of the trip. I caught two barracuda and lost a third. HOLY CRAP those things can run like I've never seen before. They run faster, pull harder, and are more acrobatic than anything I've ever seen besides a sailfish - and even that was close. I did also hook a shark about 10 feet away from me (while wading... made me a little nervous), and he ran like crazy too, but he broke off the whole steel part of the leader pretty quick. There were also the other random stuff on the flats like cowfish and triggers that were fun to throw at, but not much of a fight.

Here are a few pictures. I have quite a lot more, and still have to get some pictures from other people, but this at least gives you a good idea of some of the trip.

[namfos]

Excellent report, very nice pix, Jeff. Good to see you're not wearing that hat with the B on it; much better that you're showing the flag on behalf of TPFR in Cuba. 

So, they don't have any carp down there? ;-)

Mark

[Misha Gill]

Your cuda looks like he just missed the game-winning free-throw.

Sounds like an awesome trip! I sense you have discovered a subset lifelong addiction to the general lifelong addiction haha.

[tperkins]

Well done! Sounds like an amazing trip

[Trent Jones]

Great report Jeff and great pics! That Cuda is a beast!

-Trent

On Sunday, February 28, 2016 at 7:04:22 PM UTC-5, Jeff Silvan wrote:

[Ernie]

Did you notice if any Cubans were allowed to fish that area with those guides or was it just tourists from other countries?

Ernie

[Nedak]

Awesome report.  Thanks. 

On Sunday, February 28, 2016 at 7:04:22 PM UTC-5, Jeff Silvan wrote:

[Jeffrey Silvan]

Ernie, as far as I could tell, no Cubans fished there - at least for bonefish. You would see some fishing with spinning gear off the causeways for dinner, but none on the flats. Plus, based on what I saw, I highly doubt there are many, if any, Cubans that could afford to hire a guide for a day of fishing. And that's especially if they're fishing for fish that they can't keep.

On Mon, Feb 29, 2016 at 8:12 PM, Ernie <ernie...@verizon.net> wrote:

Did you notice if any Cubans were allowed to fish that area with those guides or was it just tourists from other countries?

Ernie

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[Jeffrey Silvan]

Thanks Trent. I will admit I got that cuda, I did get this stuck in my head for basically the rest of the trip... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpkitLUbeEg&t=1m28s

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[namfos]

Earworm alert!

[Jeremy Maggio]

Great report Jeff. That looks like a great place to be slinging some flies. I have not salt water fished with a fly rod yet but I can tell those are some nice sized bones based on the research I have done on them. That Cuda is a beast too! (great pics overall).

-Jeremy

[Justin Schiavone]

You're a beast Jeff. Awesome post. Congrats on some dandies.

[arthur noglak]

Awesome report man. I have never caught a cuda before? How was the rum?

Art

[Jeffrey Silvan]

I was 100+ yards into my backing within 10 seconds. You'll get 4 or 5 really hard runs out of them. They make bonefish seem like a roll of wet paper towels. They jump like crazy - this one even tail walked like he was a sailfish. I'm not sure if tarpon or cuda will make harder runs, although tarpon definitely have more stamina. They were incredible fish. I had no idea they'd be so much fun.

On Tue, Mar 1, 2016 at 9:25 PM, arthur noglak <arthur...@gmail.com> wrote:

Awesome report man. I have never caught a cuda before? How was the rum?

Art

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