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Family Fishing Holiday in Cuba - Justin Grapes
From the word go Cuba has appealed to me as a fishing destination, partly because of all the TV programs that Matt Hayes did there with Total Fishing. A few of my good friends had also posted incredible pictures of Facebook of their time fishing on guided trips. I wanted to avoid the guided route, however. As with most holiday destinations, you have to move away from the crowded beaches and find those special places off the beaten track.
I've always found with all the major holiday resorts that, unless you have lots of money for lots of guided trips or go to a specific fishing holiday location, it's not quite like the TV programs. Despite this, there is still lots of fun to be had so I always pack my travel rod and a rucksack of bits and pieces. After doing my research I discovered that there was some good fishing to be had with lure gear.
There were stories of good sized barracuda and snapper from the beach and a pier which was within walking distance from where we were planning on staying. I knew I had to get a setup which was better equipped than my existing one, just in case I did manage to catch up with one of these monsters. If I got all the way to Cuba and didn't have the gear to cope with these fish then I wouldn't be too happy! I found very quickly that there wasn't many four or five piece travel rods which had a casting weight which I needed to cast some of the poppers that I might need and have enough back bone to land something descent if the chance arose. I found a rod that did fit the bill perfectly: The Shimano Blue Romance STC Shore Jigging rod of 50/80g.
Getting my hands on this rod proved to be somewhat tricky, as they were about to be discontinued. Luckily, after asking a few friends in the tackle trade, I was put in contact with Shimano’s very own Gary Lee. Gary met me outside Angling Direct HQ, armed with the Blue Romance – which I very happily took off his hands for him!
I matched the rod up with a reel of equal pedigree; the Shimano OC 8000 Baitrunner. The baitrunner feature wasn't really a ‘must have’ but, as the reel was designed for sea work, I decided it was a bonus. I opted to fill the reel with braided line of 0.35, which was around 58lb braking strain and would give me around 280m on the spool. Most braid spools come in 300m, so I bought a couple of spools of Whiplash braid just in case. I also always use fluorocarbon leaders, as braid it is very visible in clear water it's a must for me. Next on the shopping list were wire traces and, as with the braided line, I like to use silver traces instead of black wire as the silver is better in clear water. I try to use as light as wire as practically possible, so I felt that 40lbs would do the job. Next up was the expensive part – the lures. Since most of my lure fishing in the past has been very limited, only owning a few pike and bass lures, I had to start from scratch. I started by looking on eBay, as it can be cheaper, but you have to be careful as the quality, especially of the hooks, can be poor. Luckily Angling Direct had a small selection of poppers and shallow divers of 30g + so, with 9 months until my holiday, I started buying one a week. I also had a good friend who has done some of this type of fishing before and he let me buy a selection of lures from him, too, so I was all set with a good selection of lures.
I also accumulated a box full of hooks, small weights, and floats etc, which I planned to use to either catch smaller species or to catch live baits (as the live bait is normally a good option for catching bigger predators). With all my tackle sorted and packed in the suitcases the time came to fly the nine and a half hours to Cuba. It was as stunning as the pictures and I couldn't wait to have my first cast in the morning. With the time difference being five hours behind the UK I was wide awake at 3am, which was I bit of a pain as it didn't get light until 6.30am in Cuba, and I couldn't sleep much after that because of my excitement at the prospect of fishing. I was out on the beach at first light. The first choice of lure was a yellow and red popper, which cast really well and worked the surface as I was hoping it would. I walked and cast as I went in the direction of the pier, which I was hoping to lure fish around. I had walked almost to the pier with no sign of fish when, as I got the popper into the surf, there was an explosion in the water as a barracuda hit the lure and went airborne, throwing the lure at me in the process. It happened so fast that I didn't have time to take it all in. To say I was gutted was an understatement but I carried on in that area for a few minutes to see if it would return, to no avail. I did have a couple of follows from the rather large needle fish that stayed around the pier but they never attacked my lure. When I got to the pier I walked the length of it trying different lures as I went but to no avail. I actually tried this tactic most of the days I was there and same result – a couple of hits but no hook ups.
There was a guy from the hotel that was directly behind the pier fishing it when I was walking around. He was catching a few smaller species so, after a quick chat with him, I tried my subiki rigs – hoping to catch some of the smaller fish in order to use them to catch a big one. I did manage to catch one in the end and I put it on 3/0 hook and lure trace which, after only 10 seconds, was away and peeling off line. I gave it a few seconds and then steadily pulled into a fish. Within seconds it was airborne and I could see it was a needle fish. After playing it (it going airborne another 20 times or so) I landed it and released it as fast as possible, as the locals would have had it for lunch, so I didn't get any pictures.
So, the first few hours in Cuba were off to a good start but, with it being a holiday for the whole family, I limited the fishing to a couple of hours in the morning. As I lay on the sun drenched beach I planed the next morning’s adventure. On opening the curtains on day two I had totally different weather to contend with as it was rather windy and the sea was rough. I still gave it a go but with no success.
Over the next four days I only fished once as the conditions were the same and I only had one follow from a needle fish. I then made arrangements to take a fishing trip into the mangroves for half a day to see what it was like. It was a good thing that I had brought all my tackle as the guy who took me had next to nothing. As we entered the mangroves I was expecting to be taken into the channels in the mangroves themselves but the guy took me to the open water first and told me to start popping. We drifted over a lot of open water, to no success, and then moved to a channel in the mangroves which looked more like what I was expecting. It only lasted about five minutes before the outbound was started and we were back in the main basin.
After about an hour of poppers he decided to start trolling along the edges of the main basin with a dead fish he pulled from somewhere. He attached the fish to the bluntest 8/0 hook I had seen and started the troll. And after about 50 yards I had a strike then another but no hook up (surprise, surprise) but we checked the bait and reattached it, as it was a bit tooth ridden, and started trolling again. As soon as we got near the mangroves again I was into my first fish. On retrieving the hooked fish it was only a small barracuda of about 2lb but very welcome nevertheless. Over the next hour or so I had another three small barracuda on trolled fish and one on a rubber shad. On the way back to the hotel we trolled some lures in the open ocean but with no success. The next day I fished I went straight to the pier to try some live baits, hoping for the barracuda that I had seen a few days previous. I had got some prawns from the restaurant the night before and put them in an air tight bag in the fridge in the room to try and catch some bait fish. I had a light travel rod and reel with me, as well, for this type of fishing. I started with a small hook and small piece of prawn with immediate success. I had a fish called a mojarra first which I tried on my other outfit and had a needle fish attack it straight away, but it didn't hook up so I reeled in the not so happy mojarra and put it back. I then had a small jack which, for its size, pulled me about for a few seconds. I put this on the bigger outfit and put it on the baitrunner so I could sort the other rod out. Within seconds there was a big swirl and the rod jumped! The big barracuda was gone in the blink of an eye and it had taken the fish clean off the awaiting hook. That was the last I saw of that big barracuda, although I did manage a small snapper and more jacks and mojarra.
The last trip I went on was in the mangroves again and this time I was ready with a couple of different lures and a couple of traces with strong sharp hooks. We started trolling from the off and, armed with an ice bucket full of what they call sardines, I ended up with lots of action. It started off with a couple of small barracudas on the trolling tactics but, as we got further into the mangrove basin, I had a couple of taps on the rod tip then wham the rod went over and it was obvious it was a better fish. As the fish came to the boat I struggled to keep up with it before then it shot off in a different direction and started taking line. After a few minutes and an exciting fight, the barracuda was landed by my skipper and at around 6/7lb it was a great start. As we started trolling again I had a couple of small barracuda on a couple of different shallow diving lures, however it did seem like they preferred the smaller sized lures of 11cm - the more silver they were the better. In the end, trolling the fish on pennel traces was the best tactic. As we were nearing the end of the half day trip we trolled over an area which looked good. It was a deep channel next to a little island and as we passed the island I thought ‘this looks like a nailed on bite’. As the bait past the end of the island there was an explosion on the surface and the rod jumped into life. This fish seemed like a better fish as it was taking line from the off and then it came towards me quickly. It was shooting about so quickly that it was difficult to keep up with at times but as it got close to the boat I could see that it was a bigger barracuda. As it got close to the boat the skipper landed it first time. In the boat the fish was weighed and a few pictures were taken and, at 10lb, I was well chuffed with my last fishing trip in Cuba. On the way back to the marina we did a couple of drifts over the deep channel near the marina with lures. I had a follow from a small snapper and caught a small barracuda but not much happened. All in all it was a very enjoyable session with great action.
That was the last of the fishing for the holiday but the next day I did a speedboat trip into the mangroves with the better half which I spent snorkeling in a small creek. I saw loads of different species, from sergeant fish to some impressive angel fish which must have been pushing 10lbs.
Since my return people have asked me if I would go back to Cuba again. My answer? Yes, but as a tarpon is still on my list of species to catch I would have to go back to a different area. All in all it was a lovely place and the people were very friendly. I’m already looking forward to my next trip abroad as it will probably be a week beach fishing in The Gambia, West Africa.
