Cuba-Cayo Guillermo Bait Help

[Billy Boy]

Hi folks

In case you didnt know i am off to Cuba ans Belize next year to fish my self stupid. At the resort I fish in Cuba (cayo Guillermo) unless you're using rapalas n poppers etc, you obviously need bait but it is harder each year to blag shrimp from the hotel staff. Shrimp catches the grunts that ctach the snappers and so on! How do i catch small baith fish from the pedalos and bridges etc? Do i use nano course hooks and bread? Do I use fruit? I was thinking the little sabbiki feather rigs we use back hear for sandeels etc might work. The only other source of bait there are sausage sized lugworm that the locals suck out of the sand with their mouths and I aint doing that! No info on cubamania.com before you suggest!

I lost a whole rod and reel of a causeway once coz a didnt put the baitrunner on - the bait was a whole sardine. Can fish such as these (maybe mullet, needles etc) be caught near the sure? I dont want to have to take one of those huge cast nets in the luggage.

Any help much gracias! Have tried Berkley gulp from moving pedalos with great success but rubish when fished staticly.

Thanks all

Will H

p.s anyone know how to make a transportable landing net for causeways?

manchester

[Spitfire66]

just use a small hook with squid strips - youll catch plenty of grunts

squid in frozen blocks is a great bait & is usually easy to get hold of

[marktheshark]

Ullo Billy
Best place for small livebait is the Melia jetty (so long as they rebuild it). The far end usually has shoals of sardines and grunts living among the pilings and all you need is a small (1/4oz) weight and size 14-16 hook. They'll take pretty much anything, including bread and shrimp, but the most durable bait is either squid or a tiny sliver of ... sardine. Yup, they'll eat their mates! Live grunts fished on the bottom are the preferred bait for snappers. Both sardines and grunts will stay alive in a bait bucket as long as you have an aerator. If you fish Pilar rocks, shoals of sardines are sometimes forced up against the cliffs, but this isn't guaranteed. You can also catch grunts and small needlefish from the Guillermo bridge.
When I was last there locals recommended two deadbaits: small bonefish and mojarras, a deep-bodied silvery fish. The latter can be caught from the Melia jetty, but halfway along in the turtle grass - the shoal seems to move from day to day. They don't survive for long, even with an aerator, and I used them as a cutbait. Tarpon seem to prefer these and I caught my 30lber on the head half of a mojarra fished on the bottom. I had loads of runs on this bait, but tarpon are notoriously hard to hook and I might try circle hooks next time.
On the subject of landing big fish, I was able to bring the tarpon into the small bay next to the mangrove boats landing stage and chin-gaff it. I brought an extensible gaff with me, but even that was too flimsy and short for gaffing fish from the bridge.
The best place for tarpon (and barracuda, and jacks) seems to be on the Guillermo side on the edge of the lights shining from the boatyard, when the sea becomes alive during the magic hour at the top of high water; but the bigger snapper (and some very large permit) seem to come off the crown of the bridge, and walking a large fish 800 yards to the cove might present problems. Having said that, a drop-net may not be a viable option either as some of the fish are huge and the current is strong too. I lost a tarpon of at least 60lb, and the locals say the biggest cubera snapper they've seen off the bridge weigh more than 40lb. Their way of doing it is play the fish to exhaustion then jump in and kill the fish with a knife, but the way ... rather them than me!
Next time I'll use a really heavy shockleader, 100lb at least, and very strong hooks, and handline to fish up until I can gaff it. If you're as mad as I was, and fish the magic hour regardless of when it falls (4am last time), you might well be on your own, without help. The truth is that a lot of the big fish hooked off the bridge are not landed, because of the logistics. You have a better chance of landing monsters at Pilar ... the evidence is all around in the scales of big tarpon littering the rocks. And whereas you can use just about any method at Pilar - livebait, deadbait, spinning, poppers and even fly - I've never caught anything on artificials from the bridge.
Hope that helps
Mark

[PanamaJack]

I know it’s another ocean (Pacific) but we similarly used the ‘Stateside Sabbiki rigs for Sardines in southern Costa Rica – casting with light spinning rods, fished gentle sink and draw with short sweeps. And then, on my last trip, we were also using Sabbikis, fished conventionally ‘mackerel style’ for Blue Runners, a superb livebait. But occasionally they were targeting fry literally on the surface and there we substituted the weight for a hookless plug – a YoZuri Hydro Tiger, but anything would do. That way the flies were ‘pimpling’ the surface and successfully caught the Runners.

Then Mark’s point about hooking up Tarpon:

Tarpon seem to prefer these and I caught my 30lber on the head half of a mojarra fished on the bottom. I had loads of runs on this bait, but tarpon are notoriously hard to hook and I might try circle hooks next time.

I’ve often heard anglers liken the lining of a Tarpon’s mouth to being like a cinder block! Really difficult to get a hook hold in. Over the last 10 years or so I’ve move over to using circles exclusively for all my live and deadbait fishing. And they definitely work for Tarpon providing you can resist the temptation to strike.

Prior to that though there was a very experienced guide, Bob Trosset, (with over 100 World records for his clients) whom I fished with in Key West, Florida, who would always use conventional ‘J’ hooks straight out of the box. Bob would never sharpen them for Tarpon.

He worked on the theory that the Tarpon clamped its jaws shut and as pressure built up a sharpened hook would attach itself to any sliver of flesh or just nick one of the bony plates. Then, after a few jumps, it would shed the hook. But his unsharpened hooks would actually lodge in the area between the bony plates to give a firm hookhold. It certainly worked for us.

[Billy Boy]

Mark

Your knowledge is second to none as ever - muchos gracias!

As for the 'majic hour' how do us fellow brits work out what time it will be at? Did you just take pot luck?

Also have you fished the pontoons at Jungle tour? I bought the guards some beers and that seemed to keep them happy although all i caught was one grunt for two hours night fishing. Did you need permission to fish the little sandy cove?

Will H
Manchester

[marktheshark]

Hullo Will
The magic hour is the still period at the top of the tide. You'll know when it falls, mostly when the water's high, when the tidal flow through the bridge pilings eases off, and most of all because the water goes crazy with jacks, tarpon and who know what else crashing bait off the surface. Jordan, the guide at Parque Baga, says it's because the small glass shrimps rise out of the sand to feed, bringing in the entire food chain. It doesn't seem to apply to the snappers, which prefer, in my experience, the two hours after sunset from the crown of the bridge, regardless of the tide.
The cove is next to the Jungle Boats and you're welcome to fish it, but few people seem to as it's easy to get snagged up by large fish, and the tidal flow across you makes baitfishing frustrating. Better to fight the fish from the bridge then use the cove as a landing place when it tires. I've not fished from the pontoon, but when I was there last time the nightwatchman came for a chat and to see how things were going. I gave him some line, and hooks, and a snapper and he said I could fish the pontoon if I liked, but I was doing fine off the bridge and never did take him up.
I'd say that if you wanted to fish lures or fly, the pontoon would give you a better angle and closer access to the rising fish, although whether you wanted to chance 100lb-plus tarpon at night on fly gear may be another matter.

[Record Eater]

I went to Cayo Guillermo in March two and a half years ago and I hooked a large tarpon off the causeway bridge on a shad!..needless to say I lost it on the legs of the bridge, the two armed police who guard the boat yard were watching and were gob smacked at the swirl as the fish kicked it's tail and snapped me up! lost but what a buzz!! Take plenty of insect repellent as the mosquito's are rife off the bridge at night. I saw plenty more large tarpon off that bridge but never hooked another, I only fished it twice at the end of my holiday..don't make the same mistake go early -cause then you can go again!..By the way the locals use hand lines with pebble filled coke can alarms and they string these along the length of the bridge at night so be prepared for a bit of competition for space..the guys are really friendly though! Good luck and I'm sure that you'll at least hook one!

[daley]

Hi guys

Im going cuba in january can you fish off the beaches and if so is it worth while?thinking of evening time .

Could anyone advise me of line strength/hook size etc.
I am a keen beach angler usually use 15lb mainline.would i need to take a wire trace?

Also would a telescopic rod be ok?

Would really be grateful of some advice.
thanks

[Billy Boy]

Hi There where are u planning to beach fish in Cuba?

A telescopic beach caster is fine for Cuba but tackle strength is very important as a lot of the fish are big and fast - wire traces are advisable especially if you are plugging/spinning/lure fishing as this will always attract cudas n big needlefish.

search for posts on this site by marktheshark but the best site is www.cubamania.com. Look for Mark's brilliant reports and Waggerlad n Baino.

Please feel free to PM me.

Regards

Will H

Manchester

[daley]

Hi,
Thanks for the reply and info.
Im going to varadero,never been before so i have no idea what it looks
like.

I will have a crack at the beach here if it is allowed and worthwhile
thinking about taking a carp rod/fixed spool and 15lb mainline for
spinning /plugging and ledgering.

Will have a look at the links you said

Cheers