TRIP REPORT: CAYO LARGO LIVE-ABOARD
The flats around Cayo Largo may be the most beautiful in all of Cuba
In the past, all guests fishing the area in and around Cayo Largo stayed at resorts on the island. Just this summer, the outfitter decided to try using a live-aboard yacht as they do in other areas in Cuba. The thought was to provide better service, and to allow fishing clients easier access to some of the further away fishing zones since the boat could moor throughout the chain of islands.
I just came back from one of these first experimental weeks, and was joined by 3 other FlyWater customers, and 6 great Argentine guys. Overall, we had difficult fishing, mostly due to extremely warm water conditions. That said, we learned a lot about how this trip works.
The Canarreos Archipelago stretches from Cayo Largo in the east, to Island of the Youth in the west. Generally speaking, the fishing in the eastern zones is more targeted towards Permit and Bonefish, while the western zones have much more Tarpon habitat. This is exactly what we saw. Our most westerly moorage provided amazing amounts of mangrove lagoons, channels, and a section of reef that were ideal for Tarpon. As we moved back to the east, the islands became longer and thinner with fewer mangroves. Here, the flats were immense, and full of schools of Bonefish. This is also incredible Permit habitat, although on this trip we saw few of them.
The Aggressor yacht is very comfortable and spacious, and with one of the best crews I have experience on nearly 20 trips to Cuba. They are simply amazing, friendly, and so targeted towards making your trip the best you have ever had. I was also very happy with the way that the travel and itinerary was arranged, making this a fairly easy trip coming in and out through Havana.
The Aggressor, moored in a Channel surround by Tarpon habitat
Below is a short selection of photos from this trip. The first is my pic for the photo of the week…..look closely to see all the Bonefish in front of the angler, Paul!
School in front of the boat!!!!
Dead-calm flat near Cayo Largo
