Cayo Paredon, Cuba: December 2023

I had the immense pleasure of hosting a group of 8 anglers for the above trip, on behalf of Go Fishing Worldwide. Mac and Geoff who joined me to fish at Cayo Cruz the previous week accompanied me on the short trip to Paredon to enjoy a second week of fishing.

Paredon has a well-deserved reputation for bonefishing of the highest quality and boasts sport with resident tarpon, year-round. Permit also adorn its lucid waters, along with plentiful jacks, snappers, triggers and some impressively large barracuda.

The Hotel Playa Hermosa was our base for the week, where we were well fed and slept soundly on comfortable beds, especially after sampling several cocktails at the hotel bar.

A 7am breakfast with lashings of reviving coffee saw us arrive at the Marina for 7.45am via an 8-seater Golf Buggy, where our skiffs awaited.

Several members of the group made straight for the tarpon grounds, where fortunes were mixed over coming days. Colin was unfortunate to connect with several tarpon, only for them to throw the hook. Peter also suffered malfortune at the hands of the Silver King. The skiff shared by Jay and Earl probably invested most time in pursuit of tarpon and despite both anglers parting company with a number of fish, Earl was eventually rewarded with two sparkling tarpon.

The quality of bonefishing at Paredon and their average weight is exceptional. Several anglers recorded PB fish as the week progressed.

On the second day, my boat partner Duff caught a gorgeous 7lb fish under the expert guidance of Raudel. Duff was clearly emotional with his catch, caught under far from easy circumstances. Duff proved this was no lucky catch by running up an impressive number of fish by the trips end.

Later that day, Raudel poled us into 'Big Fish Bay'. Aptly named! Standing on the casting deck, I spotted a small shark which I pointed out to Raudel and was instantly corrected. The shark was in fact a very large bonefish! The fish in the bay were difficult to tempt but eventually I persuaded an extremely powerful fish to consume a Chenille Mantis Shrimp. The outcome, of course, was inevitable. The bonefish was uncontrollable and ran at lightning speed for the nearest clump of dense mangrove, dragging a full fly line and a considerable amount of backing with it, before leaving me with a broken 20lb leader and badly lacerated fly line. For some reason Duff and Raudel found this to be hilarious!

The remaining 4 days passed in a blur of tailing bones and leaping tarpon as all members of the group enjoyed flats fishing of the highest order.

I chose to spend the next 4 days wading for bones in the ultra-shallow water of some massive lagoons, with the agreement of my daily boat partners.

Raudel was clearly at home in this environment and was able to demonstrate his astounding ability to spot bonefish from a considerable distance, leading to the capture of sone fabulous bonefish while wading with Geoff, Peter and Philip. Philip accounted for two cracking bones of 7lb and a new PB fish of 9lb.

Meanwhile I waded alone in my own little world of waving tails and fluttering fins, quietly stalking fish from afar until a cast could be made. For me, this was fishing of the highest order, in a wild and remote environment of ankle-deep water and golden sand.

An early high tide on the final day saw the bonefish enter the mangroves to feed and the decision was made by most boats to search deeper water for jacks, snapper and the ubiquitous barracuda.

My boat partner for the day Philip and I enjoyed exciting sport with hard hitting jacks in variety and an extremely hard fighting and acrobatic cuda. A great way to end a super trip.