Tarpon Mayhem - Yucatan Destination Report

My interest in the juvenile tarpon fisheries of the Northern Yucatan began around 13 years ago. I’ve learned so much over the years from working with these locations that just when you think you’ve seen it all, a trip like this comes along that deepens and enhances everything I knew. From rigging tactics to fish behavior, tidal exchanges and working with the guides, there’s just no substitute for being there and experiencing our destinations from a guest’s point-of-view.

Isla del Sabalo (IDS) is a quintessential beachside tarpon camp offering a simple, no-frills, and fishing-focused experience. Located about 60 miles north of Campeche, IDS is positioned to access a vast and pristine mangrove ecosystem. With some 12 major estuaries and innumerable creeks, lagoons, and flats to explore there is a mind-boggling amount of water to experience. We explored new fishing grounds every day on the water.

The trip began by departing Medford on an early morning flight, connecting through Denver and Houston before arriving in Merida, Mexico that evening. My first night was spent at the Fiesta Americana, which is a beautiful colonial-inspired and fully featured hotel in the heart of the city about 15 minutes from the airport.After getting recharged our group of six anglers departed for the lodge at about 1pm. After an easy 2.5-hour drive through small settlements and remote countryside we arrived in the fishing village of Isla Arena and our home base of Isla del Sabalo (Island of Tarpon) for the first portion of the trip.

Each day began early as we were in the boats at daybreak and steaming for crystal clear flats, beautifully calm water, and savage interactions with seemingly endless pods of tarpon from 5lbs – 30lbs. Often we’d pull into a likely area, kill the motor and begin slowly poling along a mangrove shoreline or up the first 100 yards of a creek. I’d stand at the ready with an 8wt and floating line, looking for the telltale signs of fish by spotting subtle pushes of water on the surface. At times, they were easy to see, as tarpon would viciously attack baitfish on the surface. At other times, I’d simply hear a small slurp from a general direction and then lace a cast in the vicinity of the sound. Often, if fish were nearby and saw my fly, they would eat without a second thought. Sometimes, the fish were wary of our presence, particularly at times where the wind was still, and every sound seemed magnified in the calm conditions. In this case, it helped to reach out and present to the fish at maximum distance which sometimes demanded casts in excess of 80 feet. The first days of the trip emphasized an aspect that I’ve always loved about this fishery. These tarpon reward great casting. When I was off my game, I struggled. If I put the fly where it needed to be and my delivery was on time, the reward was imminent. 

The joy of this fishery is enticing the eat. It becomes an addicting and all-consuming task to see these fish aggressively track and demolish your fly. As soon as I’d release a fish and watch it swim away, the burning desire for yet one more eat began to gnaw at me. At times, we would watch fish strike and miss the fly, a second one hook up, then jump a few times before coming loose, while a third would attack all on the same retrieve.

At one point, the guides became aware of fish milling around about a mile and a half offshore. These offshore flats offer huge areas of flat, calm water where rolling fish are visible from hundreds of yards away. The guides worked together with radios to call the other members of our crew so we could all take part in the fun. That day, our three boats spent about three hours tracking and hooking pods of fish moving in all directions around the boat. The fish had inundated a shallow eel grass flat. As they moved in small groups in dead calm conditions, we’d be careful with our casting and voices to keep still and quiet. A good cast at distance yielded several savage takes. These tarpon were especially fierce, with some that would leap clear of the water more than six feet. It’s easy to fall into the trap that because you’re targeting juveniles, that fishing is (or should be) easy. These resident tarpon are simply smaller versions of their bigger migratory brothers and sisters and can be every bit as challenging to entice into biting the fly. By far the biggest challenge is keeping them hooked! Their incredibly hard mouths and wild head-shaking nearly always result in lost fish. It was clear that to gauge success, it’s better to count your hooked, rather than your landed fish.

After three amazing days it was tough to pull myself away from Isla del Sabalo. The mix of high-quality fishing, the simple camp, quality home-cooked Mexican meals and a great crew of guides and fellow anglers made it tough to move on but further strengthened my resolve to always make time to return.

On the fourth day of the trip, I made the six-hour drive to Tarpon Cay Lodge (TCL) in Rio Lagartos with my longtime friend and owner of both IDS and TCL, Marco Ruz. Marco has been the passionate driving force of these operations for more than 20 years. His dedication to his staff, guides and these remarkable fisheries still burns bright, and I couldn’t wait to see what he had in store for me at TCL.

Tarpon Cay Lodge has been at the top of the list for our juvenile tarpon offerings for a very long time. The lodge is actually a small hotel with a nice bar area, restaurant, and swimming pool with easy access to the marina across the street. It sits at the water’s edge in Rio Lagartos, which is a small and bustling village with significantly more hustle and bustle than Isla Arena (Isla del Sabalo). The area is a jumping off point for tourists that come for bird watching and various eco-adventure activities and offers a nice selection of basic restaurants and bars for anglers interested in stretching their legs away from the hotel. 

With more than two dozen small estuaries draining a massive, protected mangrove wilderness, the innumerable flats of Tarpon Cay Lodge are loaded with schools in the 6lb – 30lb range. On previous trips, I’ve spent many days plying the closer flats, and while there were good supplies of tarpon on hand in the nearby zones, Marco and I opted to gamble a little and make the hour-and-a-half long run to an area that sometimes holds a larger size class of fish near a remote lighthouse. At times we’ve encountered migratory adult fish in this zone that can reach 100lbs or more. We loaded an 11wt, the 9wt, and a spare 8wt and made the long run to the lighthouse, far to the west of Rio Lagartos.

After the long run we searched high and low with few results. There were certainly some signs of life, with a few fish rolling out of reach, but we hadn’t hit the motherlode we were hoping for. Opting to stick it out for the potential of a large reward, we returned to the lighthouse the following day. It was clear that our guide Martin, who has been a fixture at the lodge for nearly 15 years was starting to dial it in, as we had some exciting encounters with fish pushing 30lbs.  It was evident that even larger fish were around, but we just hadn’t connected yet. With a number of incredible hook-ups and Martin sniffing out the location of where the fish were hanging out, it became clear that we needed to up our game. We broke several fish off on 50lb shock tippet, and had knots blow up. We lost fish by succumbing to wrapped underwater trees with barnacles and frustratingly wrapped our fly lines around bags, legs and feet after hooking up. The two professional anglers needed to get our act together to take advantage of the increasingly amazing fishing. It was also clear that our small flies, meant for the smaller fish nearer to the lodge, were just too small. It seemed that no matter how hard we strip set or how much leverage we applied to the fish, the hooks would come unbuttoned.

The next day, we returned yet again with renewed vigor to the legendary lighthouse. We came armed with 60lb pound fluorocarbon leader rigged straight to the fly, bigger hooks, and our game faces on. Martin had now firmly figured out how to access these larger fish as Marco and I enjoyed hours of hooting and hollering as we jumped many tarpon, taking turns on the bow. We homed in on an area strewn with woody debris and natural spring upwellings that seemed to be holding the fish tight. Every time we would carefully pole past the holding zone, we hooked up. We still struggled to keep fish pinned as the sheer chaos of these insanely hot fish caused numerous calamities. Regardless, it was a fun and amazing experience to cap the trip off with, not to mention, good-natured and endless ribbing between old friends over lost fish and poor hook sets.

In the game of juvenile tarpon fishing, the reality is that casting matters. The benefit of high line speed and accuracy at distance simply offers better and more consistent access to the fish. The better your casting, the better your success. It can be thought of roughly by using the measure of distance to the percentage of fish accessed. Assuming you’re accurate, a consistent 30-foot cast equates to about 30 percent access to available fish. A 40-foot cast equals 40 percent access, increasing upward to 70 feet with about 70 percent access. In general, a consistent 70-foot cast with a crisp double-haul, in two or three false casts is a good barometer for your casting skill when getting ready to make a trip for juvenile tarpon. This is certainly one of those destinations, where extra time on the local ballfield practicing before you depart will do a lot of good.

To that end, having the proper gear is a huge part of the equation. I religiously fished a 9wt SAGE SALT R8 on this trip paired with the SAGE ENFORCER 9/10 and the RIO ELITE TARPON tropical saltwater line. This outfit perfectly matches these fisheries and gave me the ability to reach distance with ease. So often, we hear from the guides about anglers arriving unprepared for these fisheries. It’s imperative that your line matches perfectly to your rod and has enough mass to create high line speeds, especially with larger and more wind-resistant tarpon flies. The RIO ELITE TARPON offers a perfect blend of short length power (for loading quickly) and longer belly smoothness for carrying line and reaching further distances. Beyond 60 feet, it’s often not a question of how far one can cast, but how quickly you can get your fly in position. As the fish continue to move and mill about, the angler fastest to 70 feet with the least amount of false casts will be most rewarded. It’s crucial your tackle facilitates this goal.

This report could be summed up in two words that started circulating one night around the dinner table at Isla de Sabalo, “tarpon mayhem”. It’s not uncommon to arrive on a big trip and have too much rain, too many clouds, too few fish or any number of conditional factors that may limit your catch rates. It’s incredibly rare indeed when it all comes together, the stars align and all the pieces fall into place to deliver truly epic fishing, however, this was one such trip.

Isla del Sabalo and Tarpon Cay Lodge are both fantastic destinations for any anglers interested in pursuing tarpon with a fly rod. Isla del Sabalo offers a super remote and simplistic experience with access to some of the most remote and mature mangrove forests found anywhere in the Caribbean. This is a vast area, so at times finding fish can be a challenge, however, in my seven trips to this location I can say that it’s now fishing the best I’ve ever seen. From the guides and accommodations to the food and staff, IDS is delivering great experiences for anyone that does not require plush creature comforts and arrives prepared with the skills required to consistently hook tarpon on the fly.

Tarpon Cay Lodge has teamed up with a beautiful small hotel in Rio Lagartos. This family-run business offers fly anglers comfortable lodging and an excellent small restaurant to keep hungry anglers satiated. The split-shift schedule at TCL allows anglers a midday break for a siesta, which is a lifesaver when fishing very early in the morning and late in the evening. The bustling town atmosphere of Rio Lagartos is perfect for anyone requiring a slightly more well-rounded travel experience as compared to Isla del Sabalo. Both of these operations are functioning as well as we’ve seen over the last 15 years. The time is now for affordable flights to Mexico, great tacos, lunker-sized laughs, and high-flying juvenile tarpon on the fly.

Images and Words by Dylan Rose