Guillermo Tarpon Channels

[Billy Boy]

Ok Ok so once again everyone is raving about the baby poon channels near the Sol etc. Im off to the island in April for my third visit and want a shot.

3 questions:

1. Where are the channels? I walked from the villa cojimar to the bowling alley and saw some channels but they were at the bottom of steep concrete gourges. Which hotel to I need to go to?

2. Can you use surface poppers a la chug bug etc? I dont fly fish.

3. Anyone seen tarpon caught at other spots on the island?

Cheers

Will H
Manchester UK

[marktheshark]

Ullo matey

Channels run most of the way between the road and the hotels in Guillermo. Some are too shallow to fish, some too snaggy, but the ones I use run round the back of the Cojimar and Iberostar. I'm afraid to say that to get the best out of them you have to wade across to the ribbon island - the water is pretty, um, organic - and I feel my way over with my landing net handle. There may be a sh1t-free alternative route from the Cojimar. Note that this time last year (it's the dry season) some reports said that the channels were low on water. There are also barracuda, with a beautiful olive-gold tint, in there, so you might get bitten off.
I've tried spinning and poppering there but without success. There's a lot of weed and gunk in the water, and spinners pick it up every cast. Others have reported some success on smaller poppers, and some of the guys at the hotel said they'd take prawns too. Only fly fishing worked for me. I tried a number of fry patterns but the ones that worked best for me were baitfish imitations made from soft fibres from Donegal Fly Fishing: Polar Fry, Top Loader and Varley's Fry in sprat and chartreuse colours.
There are tarpon all around the island, especially in the mangroves. You can find some very large ones on bait from the bridge, and from the rocks on Playa Pilar, but hooking, let alone landing them, is always difficult. Some reports also say its possible to connect with three-figure fish from the causeway connecting Coco to the mainland

[baino]

Billy, if you wade behind the international at the Melia you will have a chance of tarpon up to 15lb. Also behind the Iberostar is good. They will take poppers of 3-4" but it can be snaggy. A friend also took one of 10lb on a full shrimp legering without weight with a baitrunner reel. you need a very sharp hook. Hooking up and landing ratio is about 4:1.
Regards, Dave.