TERRIFIC TARPON FROM CUBA’S NORTH COAST  - DEAN RIPHAGEN REPORTS

We had some really great fishing and good weather. Between seven anglers we boated numerous tarpon over 90lbs with three over 120lbs. The largest was 130lbs which was hooked on the flats.

Dean Riphagen with a 120 pound tarpon

I hooked one on the last day estimated (by the guide) at 130lbs. It was solidly hooked and right at the start of the fight it jumped near the boat and ripped the remaining line off the deck. I was more interested in watching the amazing spectacle of this huge fishing leaping out of the water than managing the line and of course the episode ended in tears! The line wrapped around my neck and head and the rest, as they say, is history. The fish popped the 100lb tippet and that was that. Still, it was amazing to see such a big fish clear the water so close to the boat.

I tied my own patterns before the trip, one with a double rabbit strip for a tail. Since it was my own design and I had no name for it, I called it, for want of a better name, the DTF (Dean’s Tarpon Fly).

Brad Stransky

Very original! Anyway, the minute the guide saw my fly, and specifically the one with the barred orange tail, he pulled it from the box and told me to tie it on. That was the fly that ended up doing most of the damage.

Paul Fevrier

One of my mates was on the trip is wheelchair-bound so it just goes to show that if he can do this, anybody can do it.

Rob Medway

We hired a ’57 Buick during out last day in Havana and had a taxi driver drive us around the city which was a most interesting experience.

The fishing on Cuba’s north coast is world class and far better than anything the established operations on the south coast have to offer. An average tarpon would run 80lbs to 90lbs whereas an average tarpon on the south coast would run 20lbs to 30lbs.

Dean with another tarpon over the 120 pound mark