first time at cayo coco

[fourbrrlcarb]

hi,

i've been to cayo coco twice but never fished. Had a great fishing trip to cayo largo 2 years ago though.
We are staying at the oasis playa coco - i've traveled up to cayo guirllermo - is that the bridge that your talking about?
and the rock fishing is that on the right by the main beaches and by the melia?
any other pointers would be great.

thanks,

[Crazyhook]

IS that a musky in your avatar? where you form ?

I had great luck on my last trip , caught loads of cudas including a few over 10 pounds. Loads of fun. TOpwater is where most the action came

if you need more info drop me an email thefishingconsultant@yahoo.ca
Jamie

[bag up bri]

Hi
we've just got back from the Sol at cayo guillermo and we stayed at the oasis playa coco 2 years ago.There are definately more fishing spots within easy reach at cayo guillermo but it's only a few pesos away in a taxi.The wind and the fact that the melia pier had been wrecked by tropical storm noel pretty much hampered the fishing but i still managed to winkle a few out.
The bridge that is talked about so much is the bridge next to the marina at cayo guillermo the best fish i managed off the bridge was a Jack cravelle about 5lbs but you have to fish into the dark and if possible untill the tide turns approx 7.30pm.I heard tell of a big Tarpon taken on a lure on one of my nights off but everything i caught was on shrimp or livebait caught on the night.Lots of fun with small stuff on the pier but the biggest one i caught was what the locals call a pargo about 3lbs( from what i can see they are mutton snappers)but the wind pretty much made for not good fishing.The rocks are a short walk up the beach from the sol hotel i tried them 3 times but only got 1 run i think it was too windy and we were suffering a cold front according to the locals it was only 24 degrees lol,again livebait is the thing to do.
When we stayed at the oasis 2 yrs ago we walked miles on the beach but only managed one small fish ,the best advice i could give you if you want to fish at the resort is take a 6to7ft boat rod and a good selection of lures and see the hobbycat lads.A guy named Adel ran them when i was there, he speaks superb english as he used to be an english teacher.They should be able to arrange a trip trolling across the reef for a price but be prepared to haggle and remember 20 pesos is a months wage!!! I only managed one trip on the cats at guillermo due to them only working 3 days out of 14 because of the wind but it provided my best fish a 10lb+ Amberjack along with a 5lb pargo and 2 good size cudas all in 3 hrs.The guy at the sol was called Erasmo but like i said HAGGLE! he wanted to charge me 40 pesos an hour but after loads of walking away etc and the mention of how much Adel charged 2 yrs ago we settled on 50 pesos for 3 hrs( we got back 15 mins early but after a great catch and loads more runs it would have been petty to mention it).
As for the technical stuff i would look up the old posts from Mark the shark, Waggerlad and so many others their info is spot on,if i can help you with anything else fishing or hotel info feel free to ask and if all else fails theres always the deep sea fishing or the rum.

Tight lines Bri.

[waggerlad]

hi bri
nice report m8 just got back sry i missed you but got your flies for the welsh gayboy mark. will type a report later kindest regards the wagger

[bag up bri]

Hi Steve,

No worrys M8 don't be sorry ( it's a weakness!), missing you and yours wasn't through the lack of trying.Firstly we managed to get the hotels mixed up,so wer'e sat in the sol lobby on sunday with a beer each for you and your better half looking for any tatooed guys (seemed like a good idea at the time)with no results! Wed am bri's up earlish so unsure as whether to fish the pier again i had a walk down before brekkie,from a distance i thought i saw a rather handsome fellow with a pony tail(no it couldn't be could it?)A few days later the whole family went tatoo spotting but to no avail!
A few days later on a mission to purchase camorones which the sol did not have i had a report of a sighting from a lovely guy i had fished with the previous week who happened to have only one arm(at this point i almost feel like i'm in'to james bond territory!)

Anyway the whole point of this post is to say no hard feelings M8 because i too have a fishing rod for a right arm!And we had a great time we met Hanoy(what a lovely lad) and i met Flipper and the old guy on the bridge and without yours and Marks info i wouldn't have enjoyed it half as much,so many many thanks.

regards bri

P.s did you go fishing with Hanoys dad and if so how was it ?

lol bri.

[waggerlad]

hi bri
yes the goodlooking guy with the ponytail and tats was me was told a fine figure of a man was looking for me by the man with the one arm, the older gent was bob who ive fished with before and a good fisherman he is, and his wife is such a good soul.
will write up the report later hanoy told me he met you and was running about like a blue ar@ed fly looking for me he got me twice before i left nice kid everbody knows hanoy.
his father was to pi##ed to take me out fishing but its his only day off bless him anyway he drives that boat like a nutter on speed lol maybe next november we can share a few beers as im booking for 3 weeks in the melia if not kindest regards to yours take care and all the best for the coming season (respect)

[bag up bri]

Hi Waggerlad can't figure out the piccies so watch the Avater lol bri.

[marktheshark]

Ullo Bri
Good report; I know what you mean about the cold fronts. It's really frustrating when you wake up each morning and hear the palm leaves still thrashing outside the room, and it really affects the fishing. I'm leaving it till May-June this year, although knowing my luck I'll probably bag a hurricane instead!
Pargo is Spanish for snapper. If they had a black spot near the dorsal fin they're muttons, but the fishermen I spoke to on Guillermo prize cubera snapper, and also call them cubera rather than just pargo.
Can you tell us what you took the jack on?
All the best and thanks for adding to the knowledge bank!
Mark

[bag up bri]

Hi Mark

This is one of the Pargo mentioned ( pictured on my avater),the Jack Cravelle was taken on shrimp not peeled but whole and threaded onto a 3/0 hook ,the old guy on the bridge showed me how to do this with just the hook point showing(boy doe's he know his stuff).The terminal tackle was carp style,two heavy weights(it needed heavy to hold on bottom)free running on the line with a shock bead to 30lb line.I was advised to ignore the first few bites and wait untill the fish had run with the bait and actually started to eat it then strike hard several times(they were not wrong)!
Talking about the old guy knowing what he was doing,one night i was really snagged hard on the bottom in very heavy flowing water,i was just about ready to give it up and try to break off but the old guy wasn't having it.He instructed me to wait and walked off a fair distance away to the marina,at this point i thought he was going for a boat?He returned with half a mangrove bush after putting it on my taut line and letting it slide down to hook he had me let line out thus floating the tackle away from the snag( what a guy!)all line and tackle was promptly recovered.This just goes to show how precious fishing tackle is in cuba.
One of the things i didn't mention was that there was a trawler fishing 3 nights on the trot at the inlet to the bridge,this combined with the cold fronts made fishing very hard if not impossible even the old guy packed his bags and went home to sell his catch.Even though the fishing wasn't easy we still had a great time and after all where would the challenge be if we bagged up all the time!

Tight lines and regards bri.