2013 tarpon tour trip report
DESCRIPTION
Fly Water Travel trip report for Dylan Rose's 2013 Tarpon Tour. Fly fishing for tarpon on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula.TRANSCRIPT
ight intrepid anglers and I set out at the end of May to
visit two of my favorite destinations. Tarpon Cay Lodge
and Isla Del Sabalo are both operations that focus solely
on the pursuit of baby tarpon on the fly. Of the eight
experienced anglers only three had encountered tarpon before.
The others took a crash course that placed them squarely on
some of the world’s most productive tarpon water. Seemingly
everything about these fish demands a unique set of skills from
the saltwater fly angler. From the casting techniques to the fly
patterns, from leader configurations to rigging and hook setting
strategies, all aspects of this fishery have unique idiosyncrasies.
E
By the end of the trip everyone in the group had landed
multitudes of tarpon and experienced a dizzying array of eats,
jumps, boils, take downs, slashes and follows from the mighty
Silver King (or in the case of juvenile tarpon, the “Silver Prince”
may be more appropriate).
The trip began with a 3.5 hour drive from Cancun to San Felipe.
The anticipation of arriving at Tarpon Cay Lodge exponentially
increased the closer we got and the welcome sight of Beto the
lodge manager, holding a full tray of frozen Margaritas, was
exactly what the doctor ordered for nine travel-weary gringos.
Everyone eagerly scooped up a glass of the slushy concoction
and raised them high to toast the beginning our epic tarpon
adventure!
Dawn on our first morning at Tarpon Cay Lodge
After a hearty dinner of fresh fish, rice, beans and an out-of-this-
world flan for dessert, we settled in for our first evening at the
lodge. Everyone was busy rigging their rods, attending to their
leaders and discussing strategies for the fast approaching
morning. Many questions surfaced as to the proper way to rig a
leader for juvenile tarpon. I let the crew know that the most
important aspect of these leader systems is to include a heavy
section of shock tippet at the terminal end. No less than 50lb
monofilament should be employed as the incredibly hard mouths
of these fish will cut right through lesser strengths.
The front door at Tarpon Cay Lodge
Angler Mike casts in one of the numerous creek mouths at Tarpon Cay Lodge
The knock on the door came at 5AM the next morning and I
opened it to find a cheerful señor Beto holding a perfect cup of
made to order, piping hot coffee to get me going. At breakfast,
the energy and anticipation of the angling day ahead was
palpable! By 6AM we had the boats loaded, all of the rods
rigged, the guides were assigned, and as darkness was giving
way to dawn we slowly putted out of the marina in our 18 foot
pangas.
Action this first morning was fierce and consistent. Fish were
found quickly by the guides and nearly everyone on the trip had
multiple encounters with tarpon attempting to eat their fur,
feather and foam creations. Some boats hooked in excess of 10
fish each. By the time everyone rendezvoused back at the lodge,
stories of high flying tarpon attacking well presented flies
punctuated our fantastic grilled fish lunch. Reports of schools
numbering between a dozen and fifty fish flooded in. Group
members marveled at how aggressive the fish were and how
difficult they were to land.
A high flying baby tarpon on the open water turtle grass flats
After a frenzied early morning session we were back at the
lodge around 11:30AM and by 2PM everyone in the group was
experiencing the pleasures of a split shift schedule having had a
relaxed lunch and an energizing air-conditioned siesta. We
loaded back in to the boats at 3PM for the evening session,
recharged and ready for action.
The evening fishing was a bit slower than the morning, which
we found to be the case on each day of our time there. The
brilliance of the evening fishing experience, however, is
punctuated by the opportunity to fish through a golden sunset
each night. As the heat of the day wanes an incredible
kaleidoscope of bird life springs in to action around the waters
of San Felipe. Flamingos, osprey, fly catchers, ibis, green
herons, great blue herons, frigate birds, spoonbills, egrets, and
various hawks were all spotted by the group. Every creature
around seemed to emerge from their hiding place to bid the day
good bye. At times, it was hard to concentrate on the fishing as
the sun slid towards the sea and the sky turned to brilliant shades
of pink, orange, red and gold. Thankfully, the hard working and
skilled guides of Tarpon Cay were always there to snap you
back to fishing reality with an excited, “Sabalo! 10’oclock! 50
feet!”
Sunset envelops our evening session at Tarpon Cay Lodge
Setting the hook on these fish as if a trout had just eaten your
parachute Adams will almost always result in a failed attempt.
Instead, we found that multiple swift and powerful strip strikes
are required, followed by a low and powerful sweep of the rod
to drive the hook home. Of course, the process is all too easy to
imagine from the relaxed confines of my cozy office. The reality
of trying to force your body to correctly set the hook while
bobbing around on the front of a panga is much more difficult.
Especially while a rampaging 10lb tarpon is attempting to
annihilate you!
I tried to impress upon everybody on the trip that getting “the
eat” and seeing them launch themselves into the air was the real
goal. Success and failure should not be judged by how many fish
are brought to the gunwale of the boat. There are simply too
many variables at play that are out of the angler’s control with
tarpon to judge quality fishing by fish landed. It’s very difficult
to set a hook hard enough to pierce a tarpon’s mouth. In most
cases even landed fish come to the boat with the point of the
hook barely penetrating. The vast majority of encounters with
baby tarpon involve a vicious attack of the fly and a head
shaking leap that leaves the fish traveling a full meter into the
air, resulting in a lost fish and the angler left shaking in their
flip-flops.
A baby tarpon launches itself amongst the mangroves at Tarpon Cay Lodge
Angler Cheryl lands a beauty
We spent three days total at Tarpon Cay Lodge and mostly
lucked into decent weather. Overall we experienced some
incredible fishing and some tough fishing as well. At times we
would find a mass of fish that would not eat a perfectly
presented fly to save our life! While at other times, it was as if
the tarpon were fighting each other to get at our offerings.
Numbers of fish hooked varied greatly from boat to boat and
session to session. Some would struggle to get one eat for the
morning, while others would hook from 6 to 12.
The learning curve of how to effectively target these fish was
steep. I noticed near the end of our time at Tarpon Cay, that
everyone was finding their groove with the casting, hook setting
and knot tying aspects of the baby tarpon game. It was all
coming together just in time for our transfer to Isla Del Sabalo.
Angler Mike shows us a nice baby from the mangroves
“THE VAST MAJORITY OF ENCOUNTERS WITH BABY
TARPON INVOLVE A VICIOUS ATTACK OF THE FLY AND A
HEAD SHAKING LEAP THAT LEAVES THE FISH
TRAVELING A FULL METER INTO THE AIR.”
On day four we packed up and made the 4 hour van ride to the
small commercial fishing village of Isla Arena and our second
destination of the adventure. On the way, we passed through
Mayan villages where some of the locals are still living in adobe
huts. In several places ancient ruins are visible from the road.
Colorful locals, smiling children and families spending time
together in town squares are regular sites along the route.
Traveling the world always leaves me with a broader respect for
how others live and life in the backcountry of the Yucatan
instills a sense of appreciation for modern conveniences.
The extremely remote town of Isla Arena lies about 50
kilometers north of Campeche. The waters surrounding the
island are a pristine, mangrove- lined oasis for juvenile tarpon.
With more than 25 separate rivers draining a massive brackish
marsh, this is the ultimate biosphere for raising, nurturing and
growing tarpon. Perhaps the most amazing aspect of this vast
fishery is that, like Tarpon Cay, Isla Del Sabalo is the only
outfitter fishing these waters. This means that overall pressure
on the resident baby tarpon population remains extremely low.
A well presented fly almost always draws a vicious attack
leading to an immediate explosion of water and an airborne fish.
Lodge owner Marco Ruz scans for rolling fish at Isla Del Sabalo
On the first day at Isla Del Sabalo, Marco (the lodge owner) and
I played the role of scout boat for the other boats in our fleet. At
dawn we zoomed north from the lodge along the thickly coated
mangrove coastline. We were all smiles upon seeing that the
first three rivers we tucked into had rolling tarpon. Several times
we gently nudged up the river with the push pole, eased around
a corner and saw multiple pods of frolicking tarpon in a tranquil
river. We had to bite our knuckles on each occurrence as we
forced ourselves to leave the rods stowed and carefully backed
out of the river without disturbing the fish. Clients first, now that
is my definition of true will power!
The first two days of fishing at Isla Del Sabalo were action
packed. Anglers reported good numbers of fish encounters with
boats jumping anywhere from 4 to 15 tarpon with many other
impossible to classify encounters including various bites, takes,
boils and slashes. Fish found along the shoreline and up the
creeks ranged in size from an honest 4lbs, up to 25lbs and every
single fish fought like a welterweight prize fighter. We also
managed to find some good concentrations of nice sized Snook
which readily took the fly.
A few nice snook were also found at Isla Del Sabalo
Hasiel poles the boat on a glassy afternoon at Isla Del Sabalo
Each afternoon we experienced rain and a couple of substantial
thunderstorm cells. One particular squall knocked out power to
the island for the better part of 24 hours. It became very
apparent during the trip, just how truly remote this destination is.
The nearest gas station, for instance, is a two hour round-trip
drive. With no grocery store on the island, the staff at Isla Del
Sabalo does a remarkable job of keeping the boats running,
supplies well stocked and the cabanas in good working order.
A comfortable air conditioned private & cabana at Isla Del Sabalo
The armor plated face of a baby tarpon at Isla Del Sabalo
Dylan Rose with a leaper out of a secluded river at Isla Del Sabalo
Marco Ruz shows us a healthy juvenile from Isla Del Sabalo
During the course of our stay at Isla Del Sabalo, Marco and I
had been obsessively searching the open water areas for the
larger juvenile fish. Only a year prior we found ourselves about
1.5 miles off shore enthralled in some of the most epic tarpon
action anyone could possibly imagine. This larger class of fish
run is sizes from 20lb – 50lbs and tend to inhabit the deeper 10
to 12 feet deep turtle grass flats some distance off-shore. The
trouble is that finding these rowdy teenagers requires incredibly
calm conditions and a smooth, glassy surface in order to spot
them.
Marco and Hasiel search for the larger juvenile tarpon at dawn
We had been actively looking for these big schools of roving
tarpon as we were eager to introduce them to the group.
Unfortunately it was looking like all of the time we had spent
off-shore searching was in vain. The final afternoon arrived and
Marco and I were heading for the lodge to pack up and call it a
day. On the boat ride back, the mid-afternoon Yucatan sun was
blaring down on me and the drone of the 60 horse Yamaha was
coaxing my eyelids closed with an inexplicable amount of force.
Dylan Rose battles a fearsome juvenile tarpon from Isla Del Sabalo
“ONLY A YEAR PRIOR WE FOUND
OURSELVES ABOUT 1.5 MILES OFF SHORE ENTHRALLED
IN SOME OF THE MOST EPIC TARPON ACTION ANYONE
COULD POSSIBLY IMAGINE.”
Suddenly Marco threw the boat into a full speed banking right
turn and instantly all of my senses jolted into high gear. As
Marco began hollering at the other guides via VHF radio, my
heart started to pound as I looked up to see a school of 200
happy tarpon chasing bait and rolling on the surface. Marco cut
the engine and we poled closer to the school inch by inch. I
could see that several of our boats where within range of our
radio call and they were happily starting to emerge from the
mangroves to join us in the hunt. The fish seemed to be tracking
ever farther away and creeping up on them proved difficult.
Marco launches a beautiful cast in the direction of a lone rolling fish.
Dylan Rose displays a larger juvenile tarpon from the waters of Isla Del Sabalo
At last the school slowly turned in our direction and with my
longest cast possible, I put the fly in front of a threesome of 30lb
tarpon. Within two strips of the line a fish snatched up my
Puglisi pattern and I blew the hook set. Yet another fish grabbed
the fly on the next cast, everything came tight and in a flash it
was lost as well. Finally, after an intense internal pep talk I
launched another cast in the direction of several more fish that
had broken off from the main herd. That time it all came
together! The fish ate my 4 inch Sardina pattern and was
instantly airborne. Just like all of the other fish, this sub-adult
was a leaper, except he had the body mass to really pull and
instantly it put the shakes in to my knees.
Angler Doug find a nice open water tarpon at Isla Del Sabalo
The bigger fish do not relent like the smaller babies. It’s as if
their added years instills a kind of meanness to them that super
charges their efforts. They are perfectly suited to their
environment and when you see their armor plated scales, huge
eyes and witness them breathing air in hot, oxygen depleted
water, it’s no wonder that they have survived for an age.
A lucky angler connects with one of Isla Del Sabalo’s larger residents
Most of the other boats were able to join in on the fun as the
massive school of fish milled around for quite some time. I
could not have imagined a better end to the trip as most of the
members of the group got a chance to encounter these larger
open water fish. After fishing everyone returned to the lodge,
packed up and had a quick lunch. We loaded up the vans bound
for Merida which is home to a population of around 1 million
people. In the bustling modern city we had a fantastic
celebratory dinner at La Parrilla and then checked in to the
stunning Hotel Victoria Merida for a restorative last night prior
to our early morning flights out.
Without a doubt, anglers shouldn’t expect to arrive at these
destinations with the thought that this is a fish-in-a-barrel
scenario. I liken the level of difficulty to being much harder than
bonefish and much easier than permit overall. That’s precisely
why I love it! Boredom infiltrates my fishing when too many
fish are caught and the challenge is lost. At Tarpon Cay Lodge
and Isla Del Sabalo the fishing can, at times, be absolutely
lights-out. There are certainly days when the fly lands twenty
feet from the boat and twenty feet away from the fish and they
charge up and grab it anyway. However, tarpon are still tarpon.
Good casts, proper presentations and correct fly choice is very
important. Without a doubt, great casters are rewarded and the
ability to reach out to distances of 70 to 80 feet with a minimum
of false casts is a distinct advantage.
A lone panga works the flats on the fertile flats of Tarpon Cay Lodge.
The raw beauty of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula never ceases to
amaze me and Marco’s operations have everything we look for
in brilliant, off-the-beaten-path destinations. The unpressured
fisheries, attentive staff, pristine environments and brilliant
home-cooked Mexican cuisine left me longing for more as I
boarded the plane – headed for home. I was thrilled knowing
that so many of the anglers in our group got a chance to hold
their first tarpon. I’m confident the northern Yucatan Peninsula
is the best locale on the planet for a fly angler to immerse
themselves in all things baby tarpon. A return trip is in the
works and now the hard part begins, waiting for my next shot at
a marauding school of Yucatan baby tarpon and the next Silver
Prince to bite my fly
A long flamingo walks on water as it attempts lift off.