Posted By: jrod88
Finally Fishing - 12/15/17 02:28 AM
Well I made it to my destination here in Cuba and finally had a couple tries at throwing some flies. It is definitely not what I expected. I brought mostly flies geared towards flats and a few flies to throw at teased Mahi-Mahi when the opportunity to charter arrives. There are no flats. My first challenge was finding beach locations that I could actually fish as most of the area has restricted access or are unsafe to wade. There are only a few beaches, and even then, its a stretch calling them that.
Once I found a spot that allowed fishing, it was an elevated pier with a good 20 ft to the surface. Since it was used to dock large vessels, it was deep. The Philippinos dropping live bait said 50ft. I figured I'd tie a good 12-13ft of leader and see what happened. What happened was the wind caught hold and threw my clouser wherever it wanted. After a while I tied a popper on and tried to see if I could get something around the bulkhead, but no luck.
My next free morning I headed off on a walk to find any area that was not posted Restricted and was protected from the wind as a storm was due and it was windy as heck. I found what looked to be an old slip and was overgrown with mangroves. There was a section that had about 4 ft of water access and I decided to rig up there. I saw a few baitfish jump on the far side and tied on a slider. After a few casts the green outline of a houndfish appeared. He seemed interested at first, but would turn away every time. After hitting as much of the mangrove as I could, I switched over to a glass minnow and tried the same areas and the center of the slip. Two more houndfish showed, but no real interest in the fly. After no less than 50 gnat bites, I called it a day and headed back. I'll need to find out what they'll bite on and head back.
I just passed the requirements to rent a skiff and will most likely head to the mouth of the Guantanamo River and make my way up. I hear there are many 10-15 pound snook caught there. I am also waiting on delivery of a sinking fly line so that I may target the reefs. That'll be another learning experience added to the wind. Hopefully next week I'll have a catch to report.
Once I found a spot that allowed fishing, it was an elevated pier with a good 20 ft to the surface. Since it was used to dock large vessels, it was deep. The Philippinos dropping live bait said 50ft. I figured I'd tie a good 12-13ft of leader and see what happened. What happened was the wind caught hold and threw my clouser wherever it wanted. After a while I tied a popper on and tried to see if I could get something around the bulkhead, but no luck.
My next free morning I headed off on a walk to find any area that was not posted Restricted and was protected from the wind as a storm was due and it was windy as heck. I found what looked to be an old slip and was overgrown with mangroves. There was a section that had about 4 ft of water access and I decided to rig up there. I saw a few baitfish jump on the far side and tied on a slider. After a few casts the green outline of a houndfish appeared. He seemed interested at first, but would turn away every time. After hitting as much of the mangrove as I could, I switched over to a glass minnow and tried the same areas and the center of the slip. Two more houndfish showed, but no real interest in the fly. After no less than 50 gnat bites, I called it a day and headed back. I'll need to find out what they'll bite on and head back.
I just passed the requirements to rent a skiff and will most likely head to the mouth of the Guantanamo River and make my way up. I hear there are many 10-15 pound snook caught there. I am also waiting on delivery of a sinking fly line so that I may target the reefs. That'll be another learning experience added to the wind. Hopefully next week I'll have a catch to report.