Yakutat Coho Salmon - 2025

 We had a new flight service, for 2025, featuring 2 beautiful Beaver bush planes.  Each can carry 5 anglers, plus gear and fish, but it was certainly cramped.  Fortunately, we are all CLOSE friends.  Grin!

Since this new service was just that, new, they were somewhat unfamiliar with the rivers we normally fish, so we were limited to only two rivers.  The Akwe and the Italio.  Both rivers have an amazing run of coho salmon, and we started on the Italio. The Italio was a bit crowded, however, virtually all of the anglers fish the upper river, leaving the lower river untouched the entire week.  Since we know this part of the river, rather well, it didn't take long to find the silvers, and start catching them.  Heavy rain raised the river on several days, but the fish-catching was not a problem.

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Will Steiger and I got started right away, catching silvers!

It didn't take but a few hours, and our gang of 10 anglers were headed to meet the Beaver with our limit of 40 silvers.

Once again, the 60 deg. jig hook, Lee's Coho Fly was the answer, fished on a Rio Outbound Short, floating line.  Solid hookups, few dropped fish, and virtually 0 snagged fish!

With heavy rain, the rivers were really flooded, so the salmon were not slowed in their quest for the spawning grounds.  This area near the mouth, can be magical, with normal tides and rainfall...but not on this day!

We were not far behind wolves that were patrolling the beach!  Fresh tracks, for sure.

My partner, Will Steiger, hooked and landed the largest coho of the trip (and he keeps reminding me too!  Grin!).  This 13.1 lb. silver was caught on the Akwe River, and one of the largest our group has taken, in a number of years!

  Congratulations, Will!

This beautiful Coho came to a top water bug:  

The Pink Polliwog Gurgler!

Our flights, to and from the rivers, provided us with spectacular views, with jagged snow capped mountains, as well as moose and grizzly bears, along the way!

...another beautiful Italio male coho!

Finally, the rain stopped and the clouds parted, giving us an incredible sunset from our cabin!

Many thanks to Jeff Slaboden for organizing this trip, and working hard to make it a reality for us all!

God's creation cannot be adequately described!

Tarpon Cay Lodge - 2025

 

Our trip to Rio Lagartos started off with 5 guys enjoying our first day, preparing for a week of tarpon fishing in, and around Tarpon Cay Lodge.  As usual, we all met at the Courtyard Hotel, near the Cancun Airport, to relax, enjoy dinner together, and get to know each other.  After a restful night, we all met up in the lobby to connect with our transfer van, heading to Rio Lagartos.  

As we arrived, the staff of the hotel met us with many hands, for our gear, and a warm welcome.  With plenty of time to set up our rods, and store them in the rack, we relaxed and were ready for our first dinner, looking out on the marina.  

Father and son, Frank and Anthony were really excited, as this was Anthony's first time fishing for tarpon.  

Meng Syn was making his first trip to TCL, and was very excited to experience this new fishery.  Meng is a long time flyfisher, and professional fly tier, and was loaded with flies!  Fishing as a "single" Meng would have all the shots he wanted, as we prepared for our first day.

My good buddy, and previous partner, Ron Sakino, and I, were excited to be fishing together, again!

Even with stormy weather ahead, we were optimistic and excited to get started!

Out on the shallow flats I was excited to start the day....

...and it didn't take long to get my first tarpon in the air!  These fish never disappoint with their high flying acrobatics.  

It didn't take Ron very long to get on the board!  Nice tarpon, Ron!

As the weather turned to rain, the tarpon were still eager to entertain, and our guide, Martine, closed the gap on a nice pod of tarpon, feeding along the mangroves.

The guides at TCL are fantastic.  There poling is virtually silent, and they always position the boat perfectly, for the cast.  (Note:  If you fish with Martine, just be sure not to "lifta tha rod"!!

Many times, with stormy weather, floating grass will be blown into the creeks and estuaries making conditions difficult for making clean casts.  Fortunately, we have the weedless fly, the Slideball Slider, available for these situations.  I have encountered floating grass a number time at TCL and over on the west side of the Yucatan, at Isla del Sabalo, and this fly has "saved the day".  The tarpon have no problem targeting the fly and blasting it up through the grass!

Ready to spot and make the cast!

Fishing small shrimp or baitfish patterns, on the calm, shallow flats is really a finesse game.  Delicate, and accurate casting with light weight flies defines this fishery.  You might say it is more like dry fly fishing than down and dirty tarpon fishing!

 

                The weedless, #2, LT Shrimp, once again, proved to be the perfect fly!

For fishing the mangroves and tree lined creeks, the weedless, Floating Minnow, was the answer.

Since Meng is a professional fly tyer, he was very interested in my fly designs, and how to match them, even with different materials.  He recognized why and how my EVA foam has come to play a big part in my patterns, to achieve various certain goals.  This process of designing flies specific to the flats of the Yucatan, and beyond, has taken over 2 decades to refine.  

Creating flies that "look good" is just not enough!

  

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Each meal was more like an art exhibit, than delicious food!

The end of another memorable day, and week with good friends!

With everyone catching tarpon, every day, there were plenty of smiles all around!

We 

had a fantastic time!

Many thanks to Marco Ruz for making TCL an amazing angling experience, and to Raul, and the staff at Yuuma Ha hotel, for a wonderful stay. 

Adios!

**** 

Tarpon Cay Lodge - 2024

 As always, I like to fly into Cancan a day early, and stay at the Marriott Courtyard.  This gives us a chance to unwind and prepare for the transfer to Rio Lagartos/Tarpon Cay Lodge, around noon the next day.

We settled into our clean and comfortable rooms at Yuuma Ha hotel/restaurant, and set up our rods.  The friendly staff was ready to make our week a great one, and the chef was busy cooking up a great dinner for us.

The food at Yuuma Ha was terrific...

...and the desserts were amazing!

Our host, Marco Ruz, met us and suggested that we make the best of our first fishing day, Sunday, since a hurricane was brewing in the Gulf.  No one had heard of a hurricane originating in the gulf, but this one was growing and headed east toward the Yucatan!

Fortunately, the tarpon didn't hear the weather report and were anxious to eat our flies and give us the high-flying thrill we enjoy!

As we headed out on the first day, we didn't realize this was going to be the ONLY good fishing day we would see for the week?

Ken with a nice TCL Tarpon!

"Mr. Lee" even got in on the action

We caught a number of snook, toward the end of the week!

A number of flies worked very well (most developed at Tarpon Cay Lodge!)

The first day, with clear water and tarpon feeding on shrimp, my LT Shrimp was very effective!

After the hurrcane passed, with the water very stained, my Yucatan Sunrise (Foxxy Griz Minnow) was especially successful.

My "Gang", ready to head out for the afternoon's action.

My partner, Ron, with a nice TCL tarpon!

Narrow creeks, with thick mangroves, make for some interesting casting, let alone fish-catching.

The bird life around Rio Lagartos is hard to imagine, and people come from all over the world to experience the variety of birds here!

***

Only 2 days after our arrival at Tarpon Cay, we were forced to evacuate, due to hurricane Milton.  Fortunately for us, although a Catagory 5, the hurricane was relatively small, and Rio Lagartos was spared much damage.  However, to be safe,we evacuated about 1 1/2 hours away to the city of Villadolid, a beautiful city with much to see and experience.  This "detour" in our fishing plans was as pleasant as it could be.

Plaza and cathedral in Villadolid

As usual, Marco Ruz, our outfitter, took good care of us, moving us into a very nice hotel, and treating us to dinner in an old (1500's) colonial home, now restaurant.

Inside the old cathedral


***

Everyone in my group took the hurricane in stride, and enjoyed shopping the many stores and shops in Valladolid.  We all agreed that although not the best week of fishing, it was a great experience!

Many thanks to Marco Ruz, our guides, 

and the staff at Yuuma Ha!

Isla del Sabalo - 2024

 My annual trip to Isla del Sabalo was another incredible success.   50 miles of untouched mangrove shoreline, with tarpon virtually everywhere!

First things first...setting up our rods.

The long, one hour run brought us to a pod of tarpon feeding on the offshore flats, and it didn't take long to start appreciating those high flying jumps along the mangroves, too.

As usual, after the long run, we start working our way back to Isla del Sabalo, exploring estuaries, rivers, and mangrove shoreline.

In addition to the offshore flats, tarpon could be found cruising the shallow shoreline.

My partner, David McKenzie didn't take long to connect with a nice IDS tarpon!

***

After developing a small, light weight shrimp pattern for Tarpon Cay Lodge, I was anxious to fish this pattern along the shallow flats of IDS.  It was a big success!

The LT Shrimp, up close and personal!

On this trip we witnessed something amazing.  Thousands of large dragonflies were buzzing overhead, and we found tarpon actually eating them under the mangroves!  Who knew?

The guides always had shady places for lunch.  Terry and Larry did well too, and we enjoyed hearing about their success.

This tarpon put on a great high-flying show!

Hard to beat my Foxxy Griz Minnow for those big offshore tarpon!

Another beautiful sunset on an incredible fishery!

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