Reid Hagelin about the North Coast of Cuba, May 2011:

After fishing in Cuba for almost 13 years, this was the first time to try out the Islands on the north coast.

The Islands south of Cuba where I have been on my previous trips has a fantastic population of Bonefish, but I have to say that the bigger Tarpons have been a bit few and far in between.

Our first trip to the North coast took place in February and was tuff due to heavy wind, but the next trip in May should give us a test of both man and equipment. All the Cayos up there are scenic and holds a lot of Tarpon the rumors says. Santa Maria, Guillermo, Paradon and Cayo Coco is all next to each other and to see my old friend Fabrizio running it was even better. During the 1h flight from Havana we saw flat after flat after flat appearing and disappearing under us and you realize the potential of these areas. Once we landed we were transported to our all Inclusive hotel which is a very comfortable and great way of staying and with only a short drive to the marina it works out great.

The first day we had a lot of contact with Tarpon between 40-100lbs and Nic landed a nice 60-70lbs as the biggest. We lost and missed at least 20 fish that day due to bad hook ups and rusty fighting technique. During the next couple of day we were chasing fish between 150-200lbs, but on the white sand they were very shy and easily spooked. Paul and Phil had a great ball with different big fish as Jack, Snapper and Barracuda, landing big numbers. Morten and Atle were landing some nice Bonefish, but for me, Nic, Henrik and Peter it was all about challenging the Tarpons. Peter and I had a double hookup and landed one 40 and one 80lbs before I hooked up a monster fish that took us 1h20m before it jumped off. We had a lot of action that Thursday. Going back to the same place the next day I was shore that I had lost the fish of my life the day before, but! Just after 12 pm I hook a fish that after 9-10 200m runs, dragging the boat with 3 men aboard and took us 7km over the flats for nearly 4h was measured to 87 inch or 2m 20cm long. After releasing the fish in the water we all just looked at each other and couldn’t believe what just had happened! What a Tarpon!

See video on www.gcof.no and thanks Christer for twisting my arm to visit this great part of Cuba.

Regards

Reid Hagelin