ight intrepid anglers and I set out at the end of May to

visit two of my favorite destinations. Tarpon Cay Lodge

and Isla Del Sabalo are both operations that focus solely

on the pursuit of baby tarpon on the fly. Of the eight

experienced anglers only three had encountered tarpon before.

The others took a crash course that placed them squarely on

some of the world’s most productive tarpon water. Seemingly

everything about these fish demands a unique set of skills from

the saltwater fly angler. From the casting techniques to the fly

patterns, from leader configurations to rigging and hook setting

strategies, all aspects of this fishery have unique idiosyncrasies.

E

By the end of the trip everyone in the group had landed

multitudes of tarpon and experienced a dizzying array of eats,

jumps, boils, take downs, slashes and follows from the mighty

Silver King (or in the case of juvenile tarpon, the “Silver Prince”

may be more appropriate).

The trip began with a 3.5 hour drive from Cancun to San Felipe.

The anticipation of arriving at Tarpon Cay Lodge exponentially

increased the closer we got and the welcome sight of Beto the

lodge manager, holding a full tray of frozen Margaritas, was

exactly what the doctor ordered for nine travel-weary gringos.

Everyone eagerly scooped up a glass of the slushy concoction

and raised them high to toast the beginning our epic tarpon

adventure!

Dawn on our first morning at Tarpon Cay Lodge

After a hearty dinner of fresh fish, rice, beans and an out-of-this-

world flan for dessert, we settled in for our first evening at the

lodge. Everyone was busy rigging their rods, attending to their

leaders and discussing strategies for the fast approaching

morning. Many questions surfaced as to the proper way to rig a

leader for juvenile tarpon. I let the crew know that the most

important aspect of these leader systems is to include a heavy

section of shock tippet at the terminal end. No less than 50lb

monofilament should be employed as the incredibly hard mouths

of these fish will cut right through lesser strengths.

The front door at Tarpon Cay Lodge

Angler Mike casts in one of the numerous creek mouths at Tarpon Cay Lodge

The knock on the door came at 5AM the next morning and I

opened it to find a cheerful señor Beto holding a perfect cup of

made to order, piping hot coffee to get me going. At breakfast,

the energy and anticipation of the angling day ahead was

palpable! By 6AM we had the boats loaded, all of the rods

rigged, the guides were assigned, and as darkness was giving

way to dawn we slowly putted out of the marina in our 18 foot

pangas.

Action this first morning was fierce and consistent. Fish were

found quickly by the guides and nearly everyone on the trip had

multiple encounters with tarpon attempting to eat their fur,

feather and foam creations. Some boats hooked in excess of 10

fish each. By the time everyone rendezvoused back at the lodge,

stories of high flying tarpon attacking well presented flies

punctuated our fantastic grilled fish lunch. Reports of schools

numbering between a dozen and fifty fish flooded in. Group

members marveled at how aggressive the fish were and how

difficult they were to land.

A high flying baby tarpon on the open water turtle grass flats

After a frenzied early morning session we were back at the

lodge around 11:30AM and by 2PM everyone in the group was

experiencing the pleasures of a split shift schedule having had a

relaxed lunch and an energizing air-conditioned siesta. We

loaded back in to the boats at 3PM for the evening session,

recharged and ready for action.

The evening fishing was a bit slower than the morning, which

we found to be the case on each day of our time there. The

brilliance of the evening fishing experience, however, is

punctuated by the opportunity to fish through a golden sunset

each night. As the heat of the day wanes an incredible

kaleidoscope of bird life springs in to action around the waters

of San Felipe. Flamingos, osprey, fly catchers, ibis, green

herons, great blue herons, frigate birds, spoonbills, egrets, and

various hawks were all spotted by the group. Every creature

around seemed to emerge from their hiding place to bid the day

good bye. At times, it was hard to concentrate on the fishing as

the sun slid towards the sea and the sky turned to brilliant shades

of pink, orange, red and gold. Thankfully, the hard working and

skilled guides of Tarpon Cay were always there to snap you

back to fishing reality with an excited, “Sabalo! 10’oclock! 50

feet!”

Sunset envelops our evening session at Tarpon Cay Lodge

Setting the hook on these fish as if a trout had just eaten your

parachute Adams will almost always result in a failed attempt.

Instead, we found that multiple swift and powerful strip strikes

are required, followed by a low and powerful sweep of the rod

to drive the hook home. Of course, the process is all too easy to

imagine from the relaxed confines of my cozy office. The reality

of trying to force your body to correctly set the hook while

bobbing around on the front of a panga is much more difficult.

Especially while a rampaging 10lb tarpon is attempting to

annihilate you!

I tried to impress upon everybody on the trip that getting “the

eat” and seeing them launch themselves into the air was the real

goal. Success and failure should not be judged by how many fish

are brought to the gunwale of the boat. There are simply too

many variables at play that are out of the angler’s control with

tarpon to judge quality fishing by fish landed. It’s very difficult

to set a hook hard enough to pierce a tarpon’s mouth. In most

cases even landed fish come to the boat with the point of the

hook barely penetrating. The vast majority of encounters with

baby tarpon involve a vicious attack of the fly and a head

shaking leap that leaves the fish traveling a full meter into the

air, resulting in a lost fish and the angler left shaking in their

flip-flops.

A baby tarpon launches itself amongst the mangroves at Tarpon Cay Lodge

Angler Cheryl lands a beauty

We spent three days total at Tarpon Cay Lodge and mostly

lucked into decent weather. Overall we experienced some

incredible fishing and some tough fishing as well. At times we

would find a mass of fish that would not eat a perfectly

presented fly to save our life! While at other times, it was as if

the tarpon were fighting each other to get at our offerings.

Numbers of fish hooked varied greatly from boat to boat and

session to session. Some would struggle to get one eat for the

morning, while others would hook from 6 to 12.

The learning curve of how to effectively target these fish was

steep. I noticed near the end of our time at Tarpon Cay, that

everyone was finding their groove with the casting, hook setting

and knot tying aspects of the baby tarpon game. It was all

coming together just in time for our transfer to Isla Del Sabalo.

Angler Mike shows us a nice baby from the mangroves

“THE VAST MAJORITY OF ENCOUNTERS WITH BABY

TARPON INVOLVE A VICIOUS ATTACK OF THE FLY AND A

HEAD SHAKING LEAP THAT LEAVES THE FISH

TRAVELING A FULL METER INTO THE AIR.”

On day four we packed up and made the 4 hour van ride to the

small commercial fishing village of Isla Arena and our second

destination of the adventure. On the way, we passed through

Mayan villages where some of the locals are still living in adobe

huts. In several places ancient ruins are visible from the road.

Colorful locals, smiling children and families spending time

together in town squares are regular sites along the route.

Traveling the world always leaves me with a broader respect for

how others live and life in the backcountry of the Yucatan

instills a sense of appreciation for modern conveniences.

The extremely remote town of Isla Arena lies about 50

kilometers north of Campeche. The waters surrounding the

island are a pristine, mangrove- lined oasis for juvenile tarpon.

With more than 25 separate rivers draining a massive brackish

marsh, this is the ultimate biosphere for raising, nurturing and

growing tarpon. Perhaps the most amazing aspect of this vast

fishery is that, like Tarpon Cay, Isla Del Sabalo is the only

outfitter fishing these waters. This means that overall pressure

on the resident baby tarpon population remains extremely low.

A well presented fly almost always draws a vicious attack

leading to an immediate explosion of water and an airborne fish.

Lodge owner Marco Ruz scans for rolling fish at Isla Del Sabalo

On the first day at Isla Del Sabalo, Marco (the lodge owner) and

I played the role of scout boat for the other boats in our fleet. At

dawn we zoomed north from the lodge along the thickly coated

mangrove coastline. We were all smiles upon seeing that the

first three rivers we tucked into had rolling tarpon. Several times

we gently nudged up the river with the push pole, eased around

a corner and saw multiple pods of frolicking tarpon in a tranquil

river. We had to bite our knuckles on each occurrence as we

forced ourselves to leave the rods stowed and carefully backed

out of the river without disturbing the fish. Clients first, now that

is my definition of true will power!

The first two days of fishing at Isla Del Sabalo were action

packed. Anglers reported good numbers of fish encounters with

boats jumping anywhere from 4 to 15 tarpon with many other

impossible to classify encounters including various bites, takes,

boils and slashes. Fish found along the shoreline and up the

creeks ranged in size from an honest 4lbs, up to 25lbs and every

single fish fought like a welterweight prize fighter. We also

managed to find some good concentrations of nice sized Snook

which readily took the fly.

A few nice snook were also found at Isla Del Sabalo

Hasiel poles the boat on a glassy afternoon at Isla Del Sabalo

Each afternoon we experienced rain and a couple of substantial

thunderstorm cells. One particular squall knocked out power to

the island for the better part of 24 hours. It became very

apparent during the trip, just how truly remote this destination is.

The nearest gas station, for instance, is a two hour round-trip

drive. With no grocery store on the island, the staff at Isla Del

Sabalo does a remarkable job of keeping the boats running,

supplies well stocked and the cabanas in good working order.

A comfortable air conditioned private & cabana at Isla Del Sabalo

The armor plated face of a baby tarpon at Isla Del Sabalo

Dylan Rose with a leaper out of a secluded river at Isla Del Sabalo

Marco Ruz shows us a healthy juvenile from Isla Del Sabalo

During the course of our stay at Isla Del Sabalo, Marco and I

had been obsessively searching the open water areas for the

larger juvenile fish. Only a year prior we found ourselves about

1.5 miles off shore enthralled in some of the most epic tarpon

action anyone could possibly imagine. This larger class of fish

run is sizes from 20lb – 50lbs and tend to inhabit the deeper 10

to 12 feet deep turtle grass flats some distance off-shore. The

trouble is that finding these rowdy teenagers requires incredibly

calm conditions and a smooth, glassy surface in order to spot

them.

Marco and Hasiel search for the larger juvenile tarpon at dawn

We had been actively looking for these big schools of roving

tarpon as we were eager to introduce them to the group.

Unfortunately it was looking like all of the time we had spent

off-shore searching was in vain. The final afternoon arrived and

Marco and I were heading for the lodge to pack up and call it a

day. On the boat ride back, the mid-afternoon Yucatan sun was

blaring down on me and the drone of the 60 horse Yamaha was

coaxing my eyelids closed with an inexplicable amount of force.

Dylan Rose battles a fearsome juvenile tarpon from Isla Del Sabalo

“ONLY A YEAR PRIOR WE FOUND

OURSELVES ABOUT 1.5 MILES OFF SHORE ENTHRALLED

IN SOME OF THE MOST EPIC TARPON ACTION ANYONE

COULD POSSIBLY IMAGINE.”

Suddenly Marco threw the boat into a full speed banking right

turn and instantly all of my senses jolted into high gear. As

Marco began hollering at the other guides via VHF radio, my

heart started to pound as I looked up to see a school of 200

happy tarpon chasing bait and rolling on the surface. Marco cut

the engine and we poled closer to the school inch by inch. I

could see that several of our boats where within range of our

radio call and they were happily starting to emerge from the

mangroves to join us in the hunt. The fish seemed to be tracking

ever farther away and creeping up on them proved difficult.

Marco launches a beautiful cast in the direction of a lone rolling fish.

Dylan Rose displays a larger juvenile tarpon from the waters of Isla Del Sabalo

At last the school slowly turned in our direction and with my

longest cast possible, I put the fly in front of a threesome of 30lb

tarpon. Within two strips of the line a fish snatched up my

Puglisi pattern and I blew the hook set. Yet another fish grabbed

the fly on the next cast, everything came tight and in a flash it

was lost as well. Finally, after an intense internal pep talk I

launched another cast in the direction of several more fish that

had broken off from the main herd. That time it all came

together! The fish ate my 4 inch Sardina pattern and was

instantly airborne. Just like all of the other fish, this sub-adult

was a leaper, except he had the body mass to really pull and

instantly it put the shakes in to my knees.

Angler Doug find a nice open water tarpon at Isla Del Sabalo

The bigger fish do not relent like the smaller babies. It’s as if

their added years instills a kind of meanness to them that super

charges their efforts. They are perfectly suited to their

environment and when you see their armor plated scales, huge

eyes and witness them breathing air in hot, oxygen depleted

water, it’s no wonder that they have survived for an age.

A lucky angler connects with one of Isla Del Sabalo’s larger residents

Most of the other boats were able to join in on the fun as the

massive school of fish milled around for quite some time. I

could not have imagined a better end to the trip as most of the

members of the group got a chance to encounter these larger

open water fish. After fishing everyone returned to the lodge,

packed up and had a quick lunch. We loaded up the vans bound

for Merida which is home to a population of around 1 million

people. In the bustling modern city we had a fantastic

celebratory dinner at La Parrilla and then checked in to the

stunning Hotel Victoria Merida for a restorative last night prior

to our early morning flights out.

Without a doubt, anglers shouldn’t expect to arrive at these

destinations with the thought that this is a fish-in-a-barrel

scenario. I liken the level of difficulty to being much harder than

bonefish and much easier than permit overall. That’s precisely

why I love it! Boredom infiltrates my fishing when too many

fish are caught and the challenge is lost. At Tarpon Cay Lodge

and Isla Del Sabalo the fishing can, at times, be absolutely

lights-out. There are certainly days when the fly lands twenty

feet from the boat and twenty feet away from the fish and they

charge up and grab it anyway. However, tarpon are still tarpon.

Good casts, proper presentations and correct fly choice is very

important. Without a doubt, great casters are rewarded and the

ability to reach out to distances of 70 to 80 feet with a minimum

of false casts is a distinct advantage.

A lone panga works the flats on the fertile flats of Tarpon Cay Lodge.

The raw beauty of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula never ceases to

amaze me and Marco’s operations have everything we look for

in brilliant, off-the-beaten-path destinations. The unpressured

fisheries, attentive staff, pristine environments and brilliant

home-cooked Mexican cuisine left me longing for more as I

boarded the plane – headed for home. I was thrilled knowing

that so many of the anglers in our group got a chance to hold

their first tarpon. I’m confident the northern Yucatan Peninsula

is the best locale on the planet for a fly angler to immerse

themselves in all things baby tarpon. A return trip is in the

works and now the hard part begins, waiting for my next shot at

a marauding school of Yucatan baby tarpon and the next Silver

Prince to bite my fly

A long flamingo walks on water as it attempts lift off.