Cuba Fishing Report & Pictures

[Muskyfanatic]

I just returned from a business/pleasure trip to Cuba. The trip over all was good and we even managed to get out on the water for a couple of mornings to do some fishing.

 

I want to start out by telling you a little bit about the resort where we stayed, reason being is that my mate Ryan and I were very dissapointed with the place, not Cuba just the resort, this was my 4th trip to Cuba and I absolutely love the island. The resort we stayed at was the Superclubs Breezes Jibacoa, despite receiving some good reviews on Trip Advisor I can honestly say that in my opinion this was the worst resort I have ever stayed at in the Caribbean for the following reasons:

 

1. Awful food

2. Terrible service

3. Rude, surly and unaccomodating staff. I must stress that there were some great staff members too, Jannout (Buffet), Luis (Bell Boy), Barbarita (Sunwing Rep), Leonardo (Virgin Rep) and a couple of bartenders who's names I forget, but there were not many who would even crack a smile.

4. Terrible Management Team who were completely lacking in any Management skills whatsoever.

5. The resort is advertised as being in Varadero, this could not be further from the truth as it is actually located between Matanzas and Havana in the middle of nowhere. To give you some idea of the distance, a taxi ride from Jibacoa to Varadero will cost you the equivalent of $70.00 US.

 

Jibacoa is rated as a 4 star resort, I wouldn't rate it any higher than a 3 star max. I wanted to share my experiences with the members here so you can avoid the dissapointment that we experienced. My advice would be to book a resort that is actually located in Varadero if you're heading to this area, in my opinion the service at these resorts is generally of a much higher standard and the Staff much more accomodating, friendly and polite. I'll post more on our actual experiences later when I have more time.

 

Despite the above problems the trip wasn't a total wash, we met some great locals including 3 great guys from a nearby resort who took us out fishing in a Hobie Cat where we trolled the deep edge of the beautiful reef that is located directly in front of the resort. We also had the pleasure of doing some beach fishing with the Bell Boy from the hotel, Luis, at one of his secret spots.

 

A trip to Cuba wouldn't be the same without visiting Havana, this of course we did on one of the more windy 'unfishable' days Havana is a beautiful city that hosts some incredible architecture from the 17th and 18th Century, it's well worth a visit.

 

Below are some shots of a few of the fish that Ryan and I managed to hook up with on our few short trips fishing the reef. If you're heading down be sure to take your own rods, reels, tackle and lures, these items are very hard to come by in Cuba. Feel free to PM me for some pointers if you're heading down.

 

We were fortunate to have someone offer to cook up the large Snapper and the Tuna for us, I'm not a huge fish eater but I have to say that it was absolutely delicous, talk about fresh :thumbsup_anim: All the Barracuda we caught were released, man do those guys put up a fight, they're like Musky on Steroids 8) By far the most productive baits for all species were the new large #14 X-Raps in the colours shown below, Flourocarben or Cortland Toothy Critter tieable leader material was key to avoiding losing our baits to the aggressive Cuda's :wink: Catching these hard pulling fish in a small catamaran is an absolute blast, but the rough seas at time are not for the faint hearted

 

Unfortunately on the the last 3 days of our trip the winds picked up to around 60 to 70 KMH and we were somewhat land locked. This especially sucked on Thursday as we had booked a charter boat in Varadero to finally head out for our first ever Sailfish trip, needless to say it was cancelled due to the high winds and we couldn't make it the next day as we had to head home. Oh well, next time.

 

Despite our bad experience at the resort I highly recommend Cuba for a vacation, the people generally are extremely friendly and the fishing is fantastic, even close to shore. The Rum isn't too bad either

 

Species that we caught off the reef and the drop offs were Tuna, Barracuda, Red Snapper and Yellowtail Snapper - Pictures below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Norm B]

Nice when you can mix a bit of fishing with business.

 

 

[Edited to remove the quote. The reason being, we can see the original post and don't really need to go through it again in its' entirety, especially when only a one line reply is added. Plus it saves downloading time for those people who still have slow connections - John S]

Edited June 7, 2007 by John S

[Elton]

Fantastic photos and cheers for the report.

 

I've been to Cuba a couple of times with the misses. Would love to leave her behind and go just for the fishing

[Tony U]

Musky mania just a couple of points:

No-one ever went to Cuba for the food, you can always find something good to eat and remember the difficulies they have sourcing on the world market with the US trade embargo.

Do not take too much notice of the hotel starring system this varies from country to country I have stayed in five star hotels in Eastern Europe that would not rate more than a two star than say in Spain.

 

Glad you thought the cudas hung on for me pound for pound the Mutton Snapper or Pargos you have pictured are a better fighter. On my most recent trip I was fortunate to get a decent King Mackerel (Sierra) and that baby really pulled on 20lb class gear.

When work Angling club and other commitments ease up I will put a report together and post it on AN.

 

If you do go again look to get out to the Northern Cayos Coco Guillermo etc some of the fishing round there is fabulous but you are a way from la Havanna.

 

Tony

Edited June 6, 2007 by Tony U

[Muskyfanatic]

Thanks guys, they were indeed a lot of fun to catch, saltwater fish definately scrap hard. It's just a shame that some saltwater got on the lens of my camera and screwed a few of my better shots up

 

Tony U, As you said, you don't always get what you pay for anywhere, but on the other hand I was expecting a little better food and service at a 4 star resort that is partly owned by Canadians. This was my 4th trip to Cuba and never before have I experienced such shabby food at a 4 star resort. There really isn't any excuse, these resorts do have access to good food items others don't as much of it is shipped in from Canada and Europe, they don't need the US for food beleive me, the resorts are given what they need to make the guests happy, what they do with it in the kitchen however is another story

 

Tourism is Cuba's number one money earner and there are many resorts to choose from, this is my first bad experience on the island so I just wanted to share it with others so they can avoid the dissapointment and headaches we did. I just tell it like it is.

 

FYI: I would also caution everyone to take what you read on Tripddvisor.com with a pinch of salt. I used to be a great beleiver in this site but not anymore. The Jibacoa resort gets nothing but 4 and 5 star ratings, I found this a little hard to beleive after our experiences so my mate and I posted 'polite and clean' reports outlining our dissapointment, they have not allowed them to go up, I tried this 3 times and my post has not been published... Hmmmm? I'll leave the rest of my thoughts to your imagination

 

Cheers, Shaun

[Tony U]

Thanks guys, they were indeed a lot of fun to catch, saltwater fish definately scrap hard. It's just a shame that some saltwater got on the lens of my camera and screwed a few of my better shots up

 

Tony U, As you said, you don't always get what you pay for anywhere, but on the other hand I was expecting a little better food and service at a 4 star resort that is partly owned by Canadians. This was my 4th trip to Cuba and never before have I experienced such shabby food at a 4 star resort. There really isn't any excuse, these resorts do have access to good food items others don't as much of it is shipped in from Canada and Europe, they don't need the US for food beleive me, the resorts are given what they need to make the guests happy, what they do with it in the kitchen however is another story

 

Tourism is Cuba's number one money earner and there are many resorts to choose from, this is my first bad experience on the island so I just wanted to share it with others so they can avoid the dissapointment and headaches we did. I just tell it like it is.

 

FYI: I would also caution everyone to take what you read on Tripddvisor.com with a pinch of salt. I used to be a great beleiver in this site but not anymore. The Jibacoa resort gets nothing but 4 and 5 star ratings, I found this a little hard to beleive after our experiences so my mate and I posted 'polite and clean' reports outlining our dissapointment, they have not allowed them to go up, I tried this 3 times and my post has not been published... Hmmmm? I'll leave the rest of my thoughts to your imagination

 

Cheers, Shaun

 

Shaun

I must admit on my many visits to Cuba I have always found the Canadians a bit more picky than we Brits: perhaps we are just reluctant to complain, but I must admit on my last visit the food though bearable was not as good as it had been on previous trips, so perhaps something is a bit awry.

 

Tony

Edited June 6, 2007 by Tony U

[Muskyfanatic]

Shaun

I must admit on my many visits to Cuba I have always found the Canadians a bit more picky than we Brits: perhaps we are just reluctant to complain, but I must admit on my last visit the food though bearable was not as good as it had been on previous trips, so perhaps something is a bit awry.

 

Tony

 

 

That's so funny you say that Tony, I think you hit the nail on the head. I'm actually a Brit who may have become somewhat Canadianized during my 20 years here, I often get some funny looks whenever I visit home in the UK and I complain in a restaurant. Many of my family would rather suck it up than complain I think it's a culture thing, same with the tipping, Canadians do but very few Brits do. It's just a case of what you're used to I guess.

 

Cheers, Shaun

[Snatcher]

Great report,thanks

[KAYC]

Great report guys, must be great being sales reps for rapala

[Norm B]

Great report guys, must be great being sales reps for rapala

That's a coincidence, Rapala have just sent me a big box of lures, they're great but there wasn't an airline ticket to Cuba with them, I'll just have to use them on the south coast or Alderney.