When the news broke that the Tapam tarpon lodge would be reopening in the Nicaraguan jungle, I couldn’t help but grab hold of one of the first weeks back. Tapam is a destination that grew a following long before a lodge was even available, thanks to the incredible film by Daniel Goz and Jan Bach Kristensen. In the film, two blokes in dinky float tubes targeted monster tarpon. A few years later Tapam Lodge opened and gave anglers a chance to experience the area themselves, but from the comfort of traditional panga boats. Then came Covid, which put a stop to it all until the relaunch in 2025.
Preparation for the trip was incredibly easy, albeit a step away from the norm, due to the simplicity of it. Bring multiple 12 weight rods, several identical lines, reels that can stop a bus, a range of flies on 4/0 and 6/0 hooks and decent 100lb+ fluorocarbon. When all packed away, it was one of the lightest and smallest bags I have taken on any fishing trip – which was useful when we had to cram into the old Cessna Caravan for the hop from Managua to Bluefields.
Unlike many of its central American neighbours, Nicaragua is largely off the tourist circuit. With that comes a breath of fresh air, we experienced none of the street bartering and attempts to relieve tourists of cash, but more people going about their daily lives. Bluefields is a bustling town on the Atlantic coastline, with a population of over 60,000 people. Monday morning, the town was full with people heading to the shops. Multiple farm hardwear outlets suggest a thriving agricultural industry and the seaport is a hive of activity with boats of all sizes popping in and out. We certainly felt very safe out and about here.
The next leg of our journey was to take a boat for three hours north, zipping through jungle channels and across large open lagoons into the heartland of the Miskito people. The colourful village of Kara on the lower Rio Grande de Matagalpa was to be our home for the week. Hosted by English-born David who heads up a wonderful team based around the village people with the added assistance of two international fly fishing guides. For our week they were Lucas de Zan from Argentina and Isaac Sebastian from the USA (who I had also crossed paths in northern Norway!). The guides are supported by local boatmen, Lorenzo and Wilton. The kitchen is headed up by Brunhilda and anglers are served by Alma.
The lodge is comfortable but authentic, the stilted wooden structure overlooks the water with large airy windows. The rooms are basic with double beds, mosquito nets, shelving and electric fans for comfort at night. Whilst air con is not feasible in the location, the fans do a great job and communication with the outside world can be maintained through Starlink Wi-Fi (an irony given the lack of connection at my house in the UK.)
Out on the water we got the full fishing experience of this environment, from lagoons, winding channels, expansive rivers, to the famous Tapam Canal – originally dug by US Army Corps of Engineers but abandoned due to several outside factors, but a much loved spot for giant tarpon and their prey.
It soon dawned on us that this was not your average tarpon fishery and more like what Norway is to salmon fishing. It is a case of numbers, and the numbers do not stack in your favour, but the possible rewards are great. It was a matter of putting in the hours, the casts, and searching multiple types of water. The changing environments keep the fishing interesting because it takes you to places within the jungle seldom seen by outsiders. It’s the journey through the mix of environments that brings a sense of adventure that I will come onto later.
Across the week, we fished a number of different lagoons which came in a variety of shapes and sizes. They differ from the tarpon lagoons that I had finished elsewhere in the Caribbean, in that they are usually lined with mangroves and have water flowing almost all the way around with little channels coming in and out. The Nicaraguan lagoons however had solid banks, which meant that the tarpon had to move up and down through the main rivers and channels. The fish in the lagoons were primarily smaller baby tarpon and mid-size fish up to around 80lb, in some of the bigger lagoons it was possible to encounter some of the bigger tarpon in the hundred pound plus category too.
In the lagoons, the food sources appeared to revolve around smaller baitfish and shrimp (which had arrived almost two months late this season). The waters in the lagoons are heavily tannin stained, almost to the point of a strong black Nicaraguan coffee. We had regular daily shots at fish in the lagoons, but fish were largely disinterested in eating with just a handful of hookups through the week. Another week and it is easy to see how these locations could provide great action.
The winding channels were an exciting place to fish, the highways for the tarpon to move between lagoons, but also an opportunity for them to stop and snack on their way. When the action came, it was almost like encountering a fresh pod of salmon. Fish would roll through the surface and move up through the channel, casting would be furious, as soon as your fly landed in one spot a fish would roll somewhere else. The snaggy banks also offered perfect hiding spots for snook, again not really active during our week but definitely there.
It was in these channels, that we picked up several hookups in the week from Gordon’s baby tarpon, a good mid-sized fish that threw the hook, through to a jungle giant that Simon hooked into. Estimated at 130lb+, the fish erupted into the air in a channel that was at most 50ft wide. It was an awesome sight, water spraying from bank to bank. The fish then tore off downstream, heading back towards the ocean. There was little way of stopping it as it rounded a corner and zipped through a puzzle of mangrove roots. In a battle that is already challenging enough in normal circumstances, the added challenge of corners and snags saw the fight come to a painfully short end.
We spent the least amount of time on the rivers, perhaps a result of the fishing being slow, but interesting all the same. The addition of currents and compression points made the fishing akin to looking for salmon and trout. The objective was to find areas where baitfish and shrimp would be holed up and an easy target for any passing tarpon. Like elsewhere, we found plenty of tarpon in these areas, both rolling on the surface and flagging up on the boat’s fish finders. Unfortunately, we seldom found the fish when they were actively hunting.
Lastly, the canal, an area that you fish several times each day, and for good reason. For long periods of time it can appear a sleepy mass of water, a highway for the regional boat traffic as village water taxis, supply boats and dugout canoes constantly move back and forth. It is however a body of water lying in wait. “The Canal is The Canal”.
Through the course of the week, it was evident that the bulk of the big tarpon hung out in this area. As with the other locations, they were often sitting deep and simply passing time, but when they woke up it was incredible. The difference in the canal and the other areas was whilst you had the shrimp and the small baitfish, you also had the larger mullet that were shoaled up in big numbers. When the tarpon switched on and decided to target these the activity was explosive! The calm surface would begin to see small silver fish zip in in all directions, like the warmup fireworks on bonfire night, and then would come the crescendo. A sparkling fish with silver armour would come crashing through the surface, mullet cartwheeling through the air. We saw this with tarpon from 30lb through to possibly 200lb, simply incredible.
When amongst the action, a take was not guaranteed given the density of baitfish, but you were definitely in with a great chance. We had several hookups through the week during these moments on a mixture of flies. Manu enjoyed back-to-back mornings of being within the chaos, jumping two lovely mid-sized tarpon only for them to part ways mid-fight.
My own memorable experience was in the canal. In the fading light, schools of mullet could be seen running through the channel. Wave after wave. They would come along the flat calm creating nervous water as the went. Tracking the nervous water, eventually it would be intercepted by the crashing of a huge tarpon.
Throwing a large mullet pattern, I was able to get a cast into the middle of a feeding frenzy. Mullet were zipping around and the fly landed. Stripping long and steady, I felt the fly get hit and then go slack, stripping faster it then drew tight again. Now furiously pulling both rod and line back to try and set the hook, I felt the weight of something solid as it began to run. As the sky burnt orange, a huge fish took to the air in all its glory. It is hard to remember everything past that point, there was a lot of pulling, soreness, mosquito bites and grunting noises (more like a Wimbledon tennis match) as the two of us went toe to toe. An hour went by where me, the fish and my poor 12 weight went through immense pressure. As the fish tired and got close to the boat, the rod gave in – snapping just above the ferral. Now left with a handle and a reel we still had the fish. Lorenzo, the local boatman, had control of the leader by the boat. A fish in the region of 6ft/150lb lay there for a moment before diving momentarily, the sudden movement saw the leader give in and the fish drift off into the darkness with just the memory left behind (no photo!).
Away from the tarpon we did also catch several other fish species, albeit on the small side. We had a couple of jacks, a snook, the most bizarre looking catfish (Gafftopsail), and Ian led the way with the most unusual being the ribbonfish.
Despite the fishing being on the slow side, it was the environment that made this place so special. Although man has attempted to cultivate the land and water with the development of the canal and clearing of jungle for livestock grazing, the jungle has largely held its own and taken land back. Dense mangroves, mango trees, flowering Pachira aquatica, and towering kapok trees combine with countless other flora to offer interest for the eyes but also smell as sweet scents drift in the warm air.
The vegetation and rich waters are home to countless species of animals, from various creepy crawlies, colourful moths and butterflies, Nicaraguan slider turtles, Neotropical otters, manatee, caiman, astonishing birdlife, howler monkeys and white-faced capuchin monkeys, and no doubt so much more.
For those keen on birds, I tried to list some of what we saw; Muscovy duck, short-billed pigeon, belted kingfisher, green kingfisher, yellow-naped Amazons (parrots), Finsch’s parakeet, little blue heron, bare-throated tiger heron, great blue heron, great egret, snowy egret, frigate, comorant, brown pelican, Royal tern, scarlet-rumped tanager, osprey, grackle, yellow-backed oriole, keel-billed toucan, collared aracari, tropical kingbird, mangrove swallow and Seba’s short tailed bat.
Undoubtedly, it would have been fantastic to have encountered more fish, especially given that the fishing action heated up the week after us! That said, it was an amazing experience and to have the chance of encountering giant tarpon in such a unique environment is truly wonderful.
For more information about Tapam Lodge in Nicaragua please email Alex Jardine or Peter McLeod, alternatively you can call our office on +44(0)1980 847389.