Keith Calhoun of Sea Island Georgia made a trip to Tarpon Cay Lodge at the end of June on the Yucatan's west coast. He fished a few days solo then had some friends join him for a couple days. Many thanks to Keith for taking the time to write this report!
Hi Scott,
I trust you are doing well. Sorry it has taken me so long to send you this brief report. It's been a whirlwind since I returned from my trip.
In a word, the trip was great! The fishing was extremely good and I caught a lot of fish, missed many as well. Over the 4 1/2 solo days and 1 1/2 double days, I probably brought about 50 fish to the boat, and jumped another 30 fish that I lost for various reasons, mostly angler error. One morning, I jumped about 20 fish, but I guess the fish gods weren't with me as I probably got less than 10 of those to the boat.
I fished 4 days with Martine and 2 days with Pedro. Martine is much more intense and he has very definite ideas about leaders & tippets (he wants 50 lb) and he likes to select the flies. [Editor Note: there are more migratory bigger fish on the Yucatan's coast in the summer months and the guides like to increase shock tippet strength during these months]. He also has the best eyes of any guide I've ever fished with. He saw fish that I never saw, and I would call BS, but when I threw where he told me, I got an eat. Pedro is much more relaxed, and he was fun to fish with, but he didn't see fish like Martine.
Most fish were between 6 and 15 lbs, but we got a few in the 20 - 35 range, and one guest caught one over 40. I caught several fish on the Red Eyed Lady and I few fish on the Kid's Meal but I didn't fish them that much, mainly because Martine liked another style I had in my box. However, based on some of the other flies I threw and caught fish on, I'm not sure that the fish were that picky as a rule. However, a couple of times, they were very selective and often, quite spooky.
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| Keith's flies |
The routine of morning for 4 1/2-5 hours and afternoon for 3-3 1/2 hours was great. Food was excellent. Beto and Filly were very helpful. Martine & Pedro were great guides! Marco was a very friendly host.
All in all, it was a great trip. The lodge was adequate, the food and people were wonderful and the fishing was world class. I will be calling you to go again.
Thank you Scott for setting this up. I'm looking forward to returning to TCL.
Best regards,
Keith
