Trips, Flies and Fish: Tarpon Cay Lodge

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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