[Darth]

Hi I'm traveling to Cuba on 1 of July for 14 days. I would like to get some information i checked most of the posts about Cuba on the forum. I still have some questions i would be very thankful for any kind of information.
The main questions is do i need a license if i want to fish from the shore or maybe a bridge o two. If so where can i buy it????
I'll be staying 3 nights in Cayo las Brujas, Around playa Giron. cayo jutias.
I'll be using light to medium spinn equipment what are the best times in the day, what kind of structure do i need to search for. Any lure recomendations?

Thank you for any kind of help ))
Kind Regards from Slovenia
Darjan

 

[marktheshark]

Hullo Darjan, welcome to the forum.
I cannot speak for Playa Giron and Cayo Jutias, but I have been to Las Brujas before. While you do not need a fishing license to fish from the shore in Cuba, some areas have had fishing rights sold exclusively, and this area is one of them. Fishing is supposedly banned unless booked through the company that has bought the rights.
In practice, it's a large area of islands, creeks and beaches, some remote and some on the main highway (el pedraplen) that runs through the archipelago, and the ban is unenforceable, but you do need to be cautious. When I went, in 2013, the route was patrolled by wardens, and casual fishing was not allowed from the shore, including the bridges.
However, I was able to fish from beaches without seeing another person, let alone a warden on a motorbike, so it's possible. Some other anglers I spoke to said they'd tried to fish bridges in the daytime and had been told to pack up and leave.
A group of Italian anglers at our hotel sidestepped all this by fishing from the bridges at night. I forget which number it is but there is a long bridge fairly close to the mainland that they used to fish from, and they took tarpon to 45lb just drifting Rapala Slivers down the current and retrieving them. They also said they'd had snook, jacks and snapper on X-Rap lures running deeper.
From the shore I had several jacks from 5-10lb on livebait and a few nice mutton snapper. A lot of the beaches are clean sand but where there are rock reefs is good (though you do lose some tackle in the snags). I lost a good-sized tarpon floatfishing a live mojarra over a rock reef too. There were lots of sardine shoals along the sandy beaches in the area and small plastics and flies took barjacks, barracuda, needlefish and smaller jacks. I saw, but didn't hook, some large barracuda very close inshore - one must have weighed around 35lb.
Good luck!

 

[daikent]

Welcome to the Forum Darjan.

All your 3 destinations in Cuba are well off the "normal" tourist beaten track, particularly down south at Playa Giron on the Bay of Pigs and way, way out west at Jutias!

You do not need a licence, although on the bridges/causeways out to Brujas there may be a policeman or two that will move you on, but you may get lucky.

Your best sources of advice will be to chat to the locals when you get to each place.

Take a selection of poppers and shallow divers, plus a few small metal lures. A couple of small sinkers and some very sharp 1/0 to 4/0 hooks will go well with camarones or calamares negotiated from your hotel chefs for a few pesos. There will almost certainly be barracuda around too, so some short wire traces would be useful.

Tight lines!

 

[Darth]

Thank you for your help
Do you by chance know the company that holds the rights? I realy dont mind paying if it means i dont have to duck and cover if i hear a motorcycle approaching. ))
Have you tried renting any unmotorized floating devices (kayaks or something)?
I m staying in Villa Las Brujas, i have added a map with the places i think are good for fishing, just to check if i'm on the right track.

 

[Wellcraft]

Hey!about Playa Giron: you have many options to choose from but the best option not so far from Giron is rio Hatiguanico if you have thick wallet.Official guides,some of them you can find on youtube.Lots of tarpons and snooks.The price is getting higher every year,now 400cuc+70cuc for taxi+tips.Not for me anymore.There are many spots for spinning on the way to Playa Larga,mostly barracudas,sometimes snappers,groupers etc.At Caleta Buena about 8 km from Giron you can find a fishing guide for boat fishing,cheap..He is the only one in the area,senor Naguey.Hobiecats available too at hotel Playa Larga,cheapcheap.
Good luck!

 

[Darth]

I would face castration by my girlfriends hands if i spend that much ((

 

[Wellcraft]

I would face castration by my girlfriends hands if i spend that much ((

oh yeah pricey,Cuba is not cheap,except Havana club...

 

[marktheshark]

I think it used to be Casa Batida, but I'm not sure if that's still the case or how much they charge.
Some correspondents on other websites have reported being able to fish without being bothered, others have stated categorically that a warden patrols the pedraplen. It's worth mentioning that if you're told to stop doing something by anyone in a uniform in Cuba, it's a good idea to stop, as you really don't want to fall foul of officialdom there.
The rocky area to the left of your villa looks promising and it's probably a quiet spot to fish too .
If you go on a boat cruise, or of there is a nearby watersports centre, you can probably troll a lure off the back of a catamaran. There are a variety of sailing trips from the marina near Las Brujas and the inner channels and passes around the archipelago have a lot of good fish, including mutton and cubera snapper, jacks, cuda and tarpon. Rapala X-Raps, YoZuri Crystal Minnows and Tobimarus in 12-15cm all work well.

 

[daikent]

Thank you for your help
Do you by chance know the company that holds the rights? I realy dont mind paying if it means i dont have to duck and cover if i hear a motorcycle approaching. ))
Have you tried renting any unmotorized floating devices (kayaks or something)?
I m staying in Villa Las Brujas, i have added a map with the places i think are good for fishing, just to check if i'm on the right track.
View attachment 452682

Your prospective spots:

From the right:
Bridge: Definitely looks good...if you are not moved on by police/wardens, especially from the west end where you can get down to water level on whichever is the down-tide side. Will need transport to get there.

Shallow private beach point: Cannot access overland through mangroves. This is where the big catamaran trips take people to wade ashore. If you could get there the deep channel looks excellent...
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@22.6...xsBdeA-4aBHLkl_kRno2g=w203-h152!7i3072!8i2304

Las Brujas east headland: Not sure you can get down low enough and it's into quite shallow sandy water. All the front of that headland on the north side looks inaccessible and very high up above the water.

Far west headland north of the marina (over the boardwalk and immediately right): Provided the marina security let you, it would be a rough scramble over the boulders to get there, but this would be a good spot, particularly into the deeper water on the south side.