Now that we've launched our new website, we'd love to keep you guys posted on our adventures, as well as sharing useful tips and tricks in addition to regular quick fly tying tutorials!
While we've had a couple more recent trips, we wanted to throw back to our first hosted trip we took to Cuba. We love the opportunity that hosted trips present for us to get our gear directly in your hands in fishing environments, rather than just at demo days or fly fishing shows. While those are great ways to cast a rod or spin a reel, there's no better test than actual use in fishing environments (plus the food and culture is always worth it)!
Cuba is a relatively untouched fishery, especially Zapata where we were, still lacking the fishing pressure experienced in many comparably-priced saltwater options. And we took the live-aboard option, which really streamlines the whole experience! During the fishing days, you wake up, eat breakfast on the mothership, step off the back deck on to your skiff, fish for the day, and return straight back to the mothership to relax until dinner. The food is excellent, there's no stress, and there's no commute!
No let's get to the important part: the fishing! Bonefishing was excellent, with both good numbers and solid average size. Tarpon fishing was even better than expected, with one particular day where two anglers followed up lunch by jumping over two dozen fish without even leaving their lunch spot. Plus, you can target the tarpon in a variety of different eco-zones, from backcountry mangrove-dwellers to bigger oceanside fish. The tarpon were my favorite species of the trip, though our return trip will likely be based around different tides to take advantage of the permit fishery as well! Nevertheless, our trip saw a variety of species caught, including bonefish, tarpon, several jack and snapper species, snook, barracuda, and others.
Our next planned trip has us headed to the Amazon to target peacock bass this September, and we'll be adding some other options soon. Where would you like to go with us?