Cuba - The Isle of Youth
“I have been leading groups to Cuba for the last six years and don’t know anywhere else in the world that can compare with the fishing at Jardines de la Reina and Isla de la Juventud (the Isle of Youth).”
In 2003 the Cuban government allowed test fishing of the northern keys in the Archipelagos de los Canarreos. These are located off the northeast coast of the Isle of Youth and stretching southeast for nearly 75 miles to Cayo Largo. Despite the trial fishing being held in August when the water temperatures are normally too hot on the flats, they had caught and seen lots of bonefish; many of which were up to 9 lbs. These fish had never seen anglers, were easy to approach, and took whatever fly was cast to them. This group caught several tarpon of 30 – 60 lbs and saw snook and schools of small permit.
In 2005 the government agreed that a new operation could open in January this year. I took two weeks there; one in March and one in May. Both trips were a fantastic success and we all caught large numbers of bonefish from 4-8 lbs and saw several that would be 10lbs plus on the vast large sand and turtle grass flats. The bonus was the snook, with several caught on the fly to 12lbs and larger fish lost. A super slam was definitely on the cards here – tarpon, bonefish, permit and snook on the fly on the same day. We knew there were tarpon but what surprised me were their numbers and size.
In my March week, we explored some of the northern channels and flats. Arriving at one channel, we saw a large school of tarpon rolling and on my first cast I hooked a tarpon of at least 90lbs that threw the fly after a spectacular series of head shaking jumps. Retrieving the fly to make another cast, I hooked up again, 20 minutes later releasing a 60lb tarpon – Michael, my young Cuban guide, was smiling from ear to ear. During the next two hours I hooked a further 7 tarpon from 40 – 80 lbs bringing four to the boat. Our week continued like this no matter where we went – there were tarpon and bonefish everywhere, and we learned a lot about the new location but with such a vast area to fish I realized we were not even scraping the barrel.
May was even better with my long term fishing companion Richard Ward catching a snook, bonefish, tarpon grand slam. My group of eight anglers hooked 247 tarpon in six days fishing. To end a fantastic week’s fishing, one fisherman on his own on the last day hooked a staggering 47 tarpon on the fly, boating 24 of them. His largest fish measured 6’ 1” that we estimated at around 100 lbs. I believe we have only experienced the tip of what this exciting new location has to offer and you might now appreciate why I rate the fishing in Cuba so highly.
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Location:
Isle of Youth
Saltwater:
Flats skiff
Country:
Cuba
Capacity:
8 per week
Season:
Mid March to Mid March
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