Lake El Salto Fly Season Wrap-Up!

Primetime at El Salto ends with a SPLASH!

Well, I am excited to report that this past season's fishing at Lake El Salto was strong! We had multiple groups fish El Salto from mid-November through mid-January and all had consistent fishing for Largemouth Bass up to almost 9 pounds. There was good sessions of topwater on some trips, but most of the bass were fooled in the top of the subsurface water column (down to about 6 feet).

And of course, the fantastic accommodations and service was provided by Anglers Inn. It was great to see the all of the same friendly staff members such as Jose, Sammy, and Tony. Also, Anglers Inn purchased new boats that are absolutely ideal for fly anglers. The boats are configured with spacious, level front and rear casting decks and super comfy seats for each angler. Anglers Inn seems to keep raising the bar every year with incredible service and hospitality.

Finally, here is a recap of the top tackle that produced BIG bass this past season. The top flies this past season are as follows:

TOPWATER FLIES

• Chewy Pop (yellow or white in size 2/0)
• Bisharat's Flat Fred (shad)
• Pultz's Popper (black over silver, black over chartreuse in size 2)

SUBSURFACE FLIES

• Bisharat's AirHead (brown over white, chartreuse over white in size 1/0)
• Big Game Gummy Minnow (pearl in size 2)
• Clouser Minnow (chartreuse over white in size 2/0)

LEADERS

• Topwater: RIO Striped Bass (7 1/2 foot / 20#)
• Subsurface: RIO FlouroFlex (20#)

KEITH'S GO-TO SETUPS

• Topwater: Sage BASS (330 grain line), Sage 4580 reel
• Subsurface: Sage TCX 890-4, RIO Outbound Short Type 6, Sage 6080 reel

The bass will be going on the spawn soon at El Salto, which marks the close of primetime fly fishing season. The lodge continues to run strong for conventional anglers until July, but the spawn and springtime afternoon winds make conditions less than ideal for fly fishing tactics. So, with this said I look forward to another incredible fly fishing season at El Salto in Fall 2012 / Winter 2013. We already have weeks on the books for hosted trips, so if you are interested please drop us a line to inquire. Fish ON!

FAT El Salto Bass

El Salto Bass CRUSH the AirHead!

Mr. Hanely showing the goods at El Salto...

Lodge manager, Jose, putting on a show with Spanish Coffee!

Loretta showing off her BIG fish of the season. WOW, 8.8 pounds!

Morning run for topwater bass...

Ladies' double up for El Salto Bass...

Topwater "POP"...

The close of another spectacular season at Lake El Salto...

Trip Report: Tarpon Cay Lodge (Aug. 14 - 22, 2010)

Bill definitely needed two hands to handle this whopper

The following joint report has just come in from long time fishing friends Bill Ninke (New Jersey), Bob Huddleston (Minnesota) and Gary Fritz (Montana) who spent this week at Tarpon Cay Lodge. Bill and Gary are repeat clients, having spent a week last August at TCL. Bob, upon hearing their glowing reports from last year, decided to join them this year.

“To maximize our fishing opportunities, we booked the option where we each had an individual guide and boat each day. We also chose a schedule so that each of us spent two consecutive days with each guide. This proved to be a wonderful arrangement. Each guide is excellent but has a somewhat different style, giving us a variety of experiences.

Our three guide amigos – Martin, Cresp, and Carlos

Convinced that the baby tarpon would always be available, we tried for larger tarpon down near the light house the first four mornings. Winds were fair the first and third mornings and very calm the second. We caught some 20 and 30 pounders those three days. Bill landed the biggest that Carlos estimated was near 60 pounds.

Here’s Gary’s narrative.

‘From less than 200 feet away I saw the fish roll. Bill, who was 80 feet away, made two false casts and landed his fly next to the fish. The tarpon instantly ate the fly and the battle was on. That cast would not have happened the previous year because Bill was not a distance caster. He took the time and made the effort to become a vastly better caster in salt water and his lessons and practice his last year paid off with that gorgeous tarpon, as well as others. I’m particularly proud of Bill because, as a guide, I see tons of anglers, especially older ones, who cannot or will not improve their fishing experience by becoming better casters. Bill wanted to do this and did.’

We ran down to the light house area again the fourth morning but the winds were too high once we got there and we went back to baby tarpon. Bob and Gary discovered an easy test determine whether a try for the bigger tarpon was merited. They stood in the gap between the east end of the hotel and the next building first thing in the morning. If they felt a distinct breeze, it was going to be too windy to try. If near dead calm, it was off to the light house.

The last three mornings it was fishing for babies in the creek mouths and creeks. Most afternoons we had showers. One afternoon was entirely wiped out and another was cut short by two hours. Afternoon tides were quite low so the baby tarpon were on the flats. Gray skies and wind made finding fish and getting them to eat very difficult. But, we still all caught tarpon. Most were in the normal size range for TCL fish.

Occasionally though, one of us would jump a surprisingly large tarpon.

Bob’s surprise in the mangroves

Bill’s surprise on the flats

The showers, thunder, and lightning flashes provoked an interesting discussion one evening. Bill and Gary claimed that if you counted the seconds from seeing the lightning until hearing the thunder that this gave an indication of how far away the lightning struck. Each second indicated one mile. Bob claimed this was wrong. Sound travels at about 1100 feet per second (approximately one-fifth of a mile per second). Therefore, you need divide the time in seconds by five to get the distance in miles. Bill and Gary checked this out upon returning home and confirmed that Bob is right. Now they are trying to blot out the many occasions when they should have been scared but weren’t.

The food at TCL was superb. Beto (who serves as host, waiter, cook, bartender, and tour guide} prepared many luscious seafood dishes along with some local favorites using beef and pork. Baby octopus were in season and were incorporated in several excellent cerviches.

Beto, the Renaissance Man

At lunch one day, Beto promised to prepare his famous Guacamole recipe as an appetizer for dinner. Bob ventured that he had an excellent recipe too. So Beto invited Bob to join him in the kitchen that evening to prepare Bob’s version also. The two versions emerged and Bill and Gary were charged with deciding which was better. They wisely chose to completely consume both versions and declare the competition a tie.

Beto volunteered to take us on a tour after lunch one day, an invitation we gratefully accepted. We drove the waterfront and side streets of San Felipe, visited the nearby town of Rio Lagartos with its swimming cenote, stopped off at a wonderful white sand beach east of Rio Lagartos, and finished with a drive through the evaporation lakes and salt collection in Rio Colorado. We highly recommend this tour if you go to TCL.

While we took an enormous number of different fly pattern with us, we actually used very few of these. For the larger tarpon, we used chartreuse Toads tied on 2/0 Gamakatsu SC15 hooks, Sea Habits in the Sardina coloring tied on 1/0 Tiemco 600SP hooks, and chartreuse and white Rob’s Receivers also tied on the 1/0 Tiemco 600SP. We had some red and white Whistlers along but never got around to using them.

A touch of Chartreuse attracted the larger tarpon

For the baby tarpon in the creek mouths and bays, we used mostly smaller Toads tied on size 1/0 and size 1 Gamakatsu SC15 or SS15 hooks (chartreuse, purple, tan and orange). Additionally we used various colors of Seaducers on 1/0 SS15 hooks and rabbit strip baitfish on 1/0 SC15 hooks. A foam-backed version of a Seaducer with added eyes to mimic a shrimp worked particularly well.

Toads and Baitfish

Seaducers

For fishing the flats in the afternoons with the very low tides, very small flies were required so as not to spook the hell out of the fish. The rabbit strip baitfish rode high enough in the water so that it still worked. A foam-headed Toad on a size 1 hook did well as did two of the guide Carlos’ flies – a small black gurgler and a small deer hair slider. If we go back to TCL, we’ll have a much wider selection of very small flies than we took with us this trip.

Foam-headed Toads and Baitfish

Carlos’ Patterns

As a summary of our experiences, here’s a direct quote from Gary.

‘While I'm not sure who was the bestest or caught the mostest, I can say that I had a great time at San Felipe. As Carlos would always say, I had “good action”. He and I did a lot of fishing in the creeks where the “action” is amplified by the close quarters. I learned a lot about landing tarpon that were leaping over, around and through the brush.

While I thoroughly enjoyed each day, perhaps my favorite was a day with Carlos when we fished to tarpon exploding on bait fish just offshore from some sandy beaches and then went up several creeks to have fish wrap my line around branches.

I'm an anti-fish counter, but the first afternoon I had 17 babies eat the fly, jumped 12 and landed 7. And that's in a few hours of fishing. Of course, numbers are a woefully poor measure of a fishing trip. I had a ton of opportunities to catch fish, fished with some first class Mayan guides that I can call amigos, got to know a little bit about a spectacular marine environment, became friends with a irrepressibly good natured Mayan cook who made the best assortment of sea food that I've ever had, stayed in a little fishing town with no crime and no other gringos, learned new stuff about tarpon and the flies they eat, and enjoyed all of this with two great friends. Now that's a good fishing trip’

What more can we say?”

After the showers

Social Networking On The Fly!

Angling On The Fly is excited to announce that we are now on Facebook! Become a fan!

Trip Report: Tarpon Cay Lodge (August 17 - 22, 2009)

Gary Fritz and guide, Carlos, with a nice Snook...

The following report has just come in from Bill Ninke of Flemington NJ who spent a week fishing Tarpon Cay Lodge with his good friend, Gary Fritz of Cascade, MT. Bill's report is very informative and provides some excellent suggestions for a successful trip to Tarpon Cay Lodge. Thank you Bill for taking the time to write such a detailed report!

“I’m back home in New Jersey enduring deep withdrawal symptoms after returning from a wonderful week in San Felipe. The weather home this past week has been warmer and more humid than it was in Mexico. My wife volunteers that it was even worse while I was away. This has motivated my considerable sympathy toward her plight but has also spurred my thoughts of returning next August.

I had many memorable moments during my week at Tarpon Cay Lodge. Let me cover just a few where a lesson was learned that might be helpful to future guests.

My direct flight from Newark to Cancun arrived at 12:30 pm on Sunday. My fishing partner, Gary, had to take a flyover tour of most of the US to get to Cancun from Montana so didn’t arrive until 4:30 pm. So, while waiting for Gary (also Keith, Tad, and Bob) in the Berry Hill Restaurant I had a chance to tie up some of the baby tarpon leaders that Keith has recently recommended in this blog. I’d read Bill Kiene’s nice article on “Fishing for Baby Tarpon” in which he recommended buying fresh Hard Mason leader material, which deteriorates rapidly, before going on a trip. So I had purchased several coils in 30, 25, and 20 pound test in my local sporting goods store just before leaving and used these for the leaders.

Shortly after our arrival at San Felipe Beto served a wonderful seafood dinner that was to be a harbinger of the excellent meals to follow during the week, Let me say now that the food at Tarpon Cay during the entire week was the best lodge food I’ve ever had. After dinner, the guides appeared to help us set up our tackle. Imagine my surprise when my guide tested and busted every knot in the leaders I had so carefully tied in Cancun. Then he retied my leaders using the same Mason I had brought with me and busted all his knots also. My thoughtfully bought “fresh” Mason obviously wasn’t so fresh. Imagine my panic at having zillions of flies, rods, reels, and lines and no leaders. Fortunately, Keith had some extra Mason which he had bought from Bill Kiene and gave it to Gary and me. This proved to be truly fresh Mason and the remainder of my and Gary’s trip was rescued. So, let me strongly recommend now to anyone reading this blog to tie your Mason leaders before you leave home and test them out. Keith recommends a 3 turn blood knot. I like a 4 turn blood knot moistened well with saliva and tightened using wraps around leather gloves on your hands, stretching the knots between your knees. This really draws the knots down tight. Good knots look like small very compact barrels and don’t fail.

Gary and I had both been to Isla Holbox to fish for big tarpon two times previously and were anxious to try for the big tarpon at Tarpon Cay. Initial morning winds weren’t too bad each of the first three mornings so we ran for one hour to fish near the light house. Unfortunately, the winds continually picked up as each mornings progressed and, although we had a few shots at bigger tarpon, we never got any solid hook ups. Both of us did catch some small jacks and Gary landed two big snook on a red and white 3/0 Whistler.

Gary is a professional guide and casts like Steve Rajeff, at least it seems so to me. I’m barely an intermediate caster. So while Gary threw cast after beautiful long cast, I struggled with my 11 wgt. What’s to learn from all this? First, don’t go for the big tarpon unless the water is glassy calm. It’s not only one hour getting there, but one hour returning which really cuts into the time you could be fishing for baby tarpon near the Lodge. Second, practice with at least a 9 wgt rod if you don’t fish saltwater regularly and want to try for big tarpon. I had spent all my preparation time for the trip tying an enormous selection of flies. I hadn’t practiced casting at all. This was a big mistake.

Bob and Keith chose not to fish on the second afternoon so volunteered their guide to Gary and me. So we both went solo for the afternoon. The wind was starting to howl and the tide was up so my guide took me to some somewhat sheltered creek mouths in the mangroves well west of the “Bird Island”. The wind had stirred things up so that there were lots of weeds in the water and foam piled up on the shore, even in the mouths. Fishing was very frustrating since my fly would pick up weeds on almost every cast. My guide quickly noticed this problem and asked if I had any weedless patterns. I had tied a few SeaDucers with weed guards to use in the creeks with all the under water branches and he picked out a tannish one from my box and tied it on. This turned the whole afternoon around. The tarpon were stacked under the foam blankets at the edge of the shore, not really showing themselves, but very willing to come out and attack a fly placed a few feet into the clearer but still weedy water. The last two hours of the day were heaven for me, the absolute best stretch of saltwater fishing I’ve ever experienced. I must have had 30 tarpon attack my fly, hooked up about 20 of them, and finally landed about a dozen. Neither Gary nor Tad had fished a weedless fly that afternoon and, with all the wind and weeds, hadn’t done well at all.

So my lesson here is to take some weedless flies with you, not only to use in the creeks, but also on the flats when weeds are prevalent. For baby tarpon I used only four different patterns during the whole week. One pattern was the Mayan Warrior in both yellow and burnt orange. This pattern worked well in clean water. It has been described in a previous blog and accounted for about 25% of my babies. If I return to Tarpon Cay, I’ll be carrying weedless versions. The other three patterns are pictured below.

On the left is the tannish SeaDucer that yielded about 60% of my tarpon. It is tied on a 1/0 Gamakatsu SS15 hook, the fly being 2-1/2 inches long. Hackle is from a Barred Ginger Whiting American Hackle Neck, almost a Cree Color. Weed guard is a double prong of 20# Mason. On the last afternoon I ran out of this color and used one tied with orange dyed grizzly hackle. This is shown as the second fly and seemed just as effective. The last two flies are a chartreuse and yellow Toad and a small Zonker style minnow tied with a bar dyed rabbit strip. These latter two had their moments.

One afternoon, our guide noticed several tarpon rolling up a creek mouth blocked by a large log. So he had me remove my clogs and wade barefoot in the muck around the log to cast for the fish. Fortunately, I hooked and landed one of the tarpon, the only tarpon I landed in the creeks. All other had done various bad things to my leader and fly while jumping uncontrollably in the narrow channels. The lesson here is trust your guide, even when he recommends what may seem like a stupid maneuver.

Keith, Bob and Tad left Tarpon Cay after the first three days to fish at Isla del Sabalo. So this left two guides without work for the last three days Gary and I were to be there. Gary suggested that we hire one of the guides so we could both fish solo for the remainder of our trip. This we did and it really helped me improve my casting and retrieving. I got grooved to spotting and casting to the fish and the guide got grooved to my casting ability and positioning the boat appropriately. We both fished only for the babies those three days and did very well. It’s not always possible to arrange, but fishing solo for a day is really fun.

My final item is a fond recollection, not a lesson. The last afternoon, I hooked and landed both the first tarpon I cast to and also the last. There was still about a half hour of fishing time left when I landed that last one. But, I reeled up anyway and pointed to the Lodge. It had been a wonderful week. My guide smiled deeply as did I.

The run back was beautiful."

(end report)

Trip Report: Isla del Sabalo (Aug. 20 - 23, 2009)

Bob G. displaying a gorgeous baby Tarpon landed while fishing the rios...

After fishing Tarpon Cay Lodge for a few days, we ventured over to Isla del Sabalo to fish this incredibly pristine area. This fishery never ceases to amaze me with its lush mangroves and gin-clear flats. Fishing aside, this environ is as near-perfect as any angler can hope for in terms of sheer beauty, wildlife diversity, and remoteness. Fishing here always reminds me that I have a unique opportunity to fish a part of the Yucatan that has not changed for eons. This place is truly special...

During our days fishing at Isla del Sabalo... we had great conditions for fishing the flats in the early AM. This yielded many shots at rolling baby Tarpon on a calm glassy morning. We enticed a few to the boat, but were often reminded that this environ and calm conditions can require an "A-game". A game of stealth and long accurate presentations. This is my most enjoyable way to fish for baby Tarpon. I appreciate just seeing these Tarpon roll lazily against the glassy surface, while emitting an audible "bloop" sound as they gulp air... to me, this is flats fishing at its finest.

As late-morning and afternoon winds picked up, we would head into the extensive rio system of this fishery. Entering these rios is like having your own playground with Tarpon. Near the mouth, most of these rivers are half a football field wide and allow for open casting to rolling Tarpon. Then, as one ventures further up the river system the quarters can get very "quaint" and turn into an alleyway brawl with Tarpon. We all had our stories of 20+ pound baby Tarpon that slammed our fly in these tight quarters, only to have them win the battle by jumping into the mangroves and dislodging our fly.

The Tarpon at Isla del Sabalo are robust and tough. Their body shape is very stout and their fins erect and full. This is a tribute to the health of this ecosystem. These Tarpon are well nourished by the bounty of this vast mangrove coastline and the pristine flats. All Tarpon are tough, but these fish just seem to have an extra reserve of brute strength that means a tougher fight on the end of your line. I love them all...

In addition to our Tarpon quest, we were also entertained by catches of cudas, snook, and other mangrove inhabitants (snapper, pargo, etc.) One of our group members and his guide even had a close up sighting of a saltwater crocodile that followed them for a short distance while poling up a river. Again, this healthy ecosystem supports so much wildlife... Above the water, there is always a variety of avian life that creates a nice backdrop while fishing. We were accompanied by many birds, including beautiful pink flamingos that are a standout against the lush mangrove shoreline.

In final, this past trip to Tarpon Cay Lodge and Isla del Sabalo was a most memorable one... not only because of the fishing, but the wonderful camaraderie that comes with hosting a group. Lots of laughs and fun during the trip, but we all departed knowing that we have cherished fishing memories to add to our lifetime fishing journal. Travel safe, fish well, tight lines, and good fishing to all...

Keith

Tad Aragaki (Sunnyvale, CA) and guide, Rodrigo, showing off a chunky baby Tarpon landed in the rios...

The most gorgeous backdrop to pursue baby Tarpon...

Downtime under the palapa after a fun day of pursuing baby Tarpon...

Fishing Report: Tarpon Cay Lodge (Aug. 17 - 19, 2009)

Bob Giannoni displaying one of many nice baby Tarpon landed at Tarpon Cay Lodge...

This week, a few good friends and customers of Angling On The Fly are fishing with me at Tarpon Cay Lodge. We are experiencing very unseasonal winds in the Yucatan this summer. Normally, the months of July through September experience very little wind or none at all. To explain, this year´s summer season has seen an unusual lack of rain in what normally is the rainy season. And with rain, comes minimal or no wind conditions. Without the rainy season arriving yet, the conditions are clear with strong afternoon winds... almost like spring weather patterns. The locals say that it is quite a strange summer season and they are all waiting for the rain to come. As I write, there are a few thunderheads building in the distance in the inland direction... for our fishing, we are hoping that this storm will bring calmer conditions so that we may pursue the larger Tarpon off-shore... our fingers are crossed.

Now, I don´t want to paint a bleak picture of the fishing here this week. Despite the windy conditions, we are still experiencing stellar fishing sessions for baby Tarpon on the flats and around the mangroves. This season, the baby Tarpon seem to be much larger than average with some being jumped in the 12 - 15+ pound range. And again, the fishery is showing its health with good numbers of schools to be found in many areas around San Felipe.

The hot flies this week are the Puglisi Tarpon Streamer (size 2/0 in orange/yellow or rust orange), SeaDucer (size 1/0 in ginger tied weedless), Haskin's Deep Cover Shrimp (size 1/0), Merriman's Tarpon Toad (size 1/0 in chartreuse), and Haskin's Foxxy Minnow (size 2/0 in blush/tan).

This week, our customer Bill Ninke (Flemington, NJ) fished one of his hand-tied SeaDucers that proved to be the ideal fly to counter some of the fishing conditions encountered this week. The strong wind on some days caused the turtlegrass and other aquatic vegetation to dislodge from the bottom and litter the much of the surface. Bill tied his SeaDucers with a two pronged weed guard and this designed was very effective at keeping the fly "clean" while fishing these conditions. He reported that most of his fish this week was landed on this pattern.

Well, our fishing is complete here at Tarpon Cay Lodge. Tomorrow, we depart for Isla del Sabalo where we will continue to fish for baby Tarpon but in a much different environ. We are looking forward to sight fishing and fishing the extensive rios and lagoons at Isla del Sabalo. We will report back soon! Until then, good fishing to you and Fish On!

Bob G. and guide, Cresp, heading out for the afternoon fishing session...

Bob lands his first-ever baby Tarpon

First light at Tarpon Cay...

Bob with a nice baby Tarpon landed on the flats at Tarpon Cay Lodge

I landed a migratory Tarpon off-shore one calm afternoon...

This Tarpon landed on a 2/0 streamer tied by Charlie Bisharat

"White Lines" are NO BUENO! Unseasonal strong afternoon winds this week...

Bob lands another fine baby T during the morning calm...

The happy staff at Tarpon Cay Lodge are always ready to serve you!

A nice baby Tarpon landed on a windy flat one afternoon...

Trip Report: Isla del Sabalo (Aug. 9 - 15, 2009)

Jon sporting a grande "baby" Tarpon at Isla del Sabalo

We just received a fishing report from our good friend and customer, Jon H. of Cupertino, CA. Last week he fished Isla del Sabalo and reported a successful trip with good fishing. Here is his fishing report and some other insightful comments:

"My tarpon count was twenty two, one small snook, a two foot long barracuda and a few pargo.....one around three pounds. I asked Lee [Haskin] to tie up some Gurglers and he added a couple Neutralizers. Caught six tarpon using those two patterns in the creeks and lakes."

Well, it looks like we may have to add a couple more of Lee Haskin´s patterns to our recommended list of flies for Isla del Sabalo! Way to go Jon!

As a side note, I am blogging to you from Tarpon Cay Lodge this week. I will be fishing Tarpon Cay through Wednesday, and then heading to Isla del Sabalo for another few days. I will blog again tomorrow with a report from Tarpon Cay Lodge. Good fishing to you all!

- Keith

Isla del Sabalo guide, Rodrigo, displaying one of Jon´s numerous Tarpon landed last week...