Light Tackle Adventure Tarpon Fishing Puerto Rico,Light Tackle Adventure


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In 1999 born a new guide service(Puerto Rico Fishing Charter)
Light Tackle Adventure Tarpon Fishing
in Puerto Rico West Coast.

We provide fishing guide services to the following towns of the west coast of Puerto Rico.
Rincon, Aguadilla, Isabela, Anasco, Mayaguez, Lajas, Guanica and Ponce.

We deparute from the ramp close to the Culb Nautico and Mona Acuatic dive center in Poblado de Boquerón, Cabo Rojo.

From Northwest (Isabela, Aguadilla, Rincón, Añasco) take road # 2 to south. When pass Mayaguez (you'll see Mayaguez Mall at the left and Walgreens pharmacy at the right),turn to the right to take road #100 to Cabo Rojo. Then count 7 lights and turn to the right to road #101. At the end you'll find the ramp close to the Culb Nautico and Mona Acuatic dive center in Poblado de Boquerón, Cabo Rojo.
From South(Ponce,Guanica)-Take road #2 to west When pass
Hormigueros,you'll see the exit to Cabo Rojo by road #100.
Count 7 lights and turn to the right to road#101.
At the end you'll find the ramp close to the Culb Nautico and Mona Acuatic dive center in Poblado de Boquerón, Cabo Rojo.
Distance times:(Aproximate)
San Juan to Boqueron 2.30 hours
Rincon to Boqueron 35min
Isabela to Boqueron 45min
Ponce to Boqueron 45min
Guanica to Boqueron 45min
Capt.Pochy ,the pioneer developer of Boqueron Bay Inshore Tarpon fishery .
In 1999 after getting his U.S.C.G license, he decides to start his own business as Inshore Fishing Services. He offered Fly
Fishing and Light Tackle trips for tarpon, snook, jacks, mangrove snapper and barracudas.
He has a 17’ customized Falt boat skiff for a spectacular Tarpon fishing in Puerto Rico. The boat has marine
radio, livewell with bait pump, 14 rod holder ,deep finder,
19 gal. Gas tank, 2006 85 hp Yamaha endure,6 life jackets USCG approved, 3 bait net, 4 dry storage, nav. Lights, push pole, flear kit and fire extinguisher.
Capt. Francisco "Pochy" Rosario
U.S.C.G Certified Captain License
Certified Guide by Puerto Rico Tourism Company (GT2001018)
Endorsed by the Puerto Rico Tourism Company
Endorsed by Public Service Commission
(S-03-06-Feb-518)
We guarantee a Professional Service
WE SUPPORT CATCH AND RELEASE
Fishing Equipment
Spinning: Silstar Pinaccle Power Tip Pro fishing rods, Penn spinning reels
Fly Fishing: Temple Fork and Redington fly rods, Billy Pate and Temple Fork fly fishing reels
Hooks: Mustad circle hooks
Flies: Custom made flies
Line: Mustad Ultra Line Pro Plus(8,12,20 lb.)
Fly line :monic and Rio
Push pole: LOOP

New List of Price for 2014
1/2 day trips

2Person 4 hours = $340.00
3Person 4 hours = $390.00

3/4 day trips

2Person 6 hours = $450.00
3Person 6 hours = $500.00



Tel.787-547-7380
Address to send the check
Capt.Francisco Rosario
P.O.BOX. 355
Hormigueros,00660 Puerto Rico


Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Tarpon on the FLY in Puerto Rico

Tarpon on the FLY in Puerto Rico
by Light Tackle » Sun Jul 04, 2010

Tarpon on the FLY in Puerto Rico
Written by Brad Kemis
Friday, 05 March 2010 00:00
I spent a day 2 weeks ago with my new friend Capt. Pochy, the owner and guide of Light Tackle Adventures in Cabo Rojo, PR. Boy can Pochy put you on the Tarpon, skip Florida and head straight to Capt. Pochy. This was my first trip fly fishing in the salt and I made my fair share of rookie mistakes, I even hooked Pochy on the backcast once (sorry about that Pochy). Right away we started seeing Tarpon and I started scaring them away with my slow on the target and off ta rget cast. He took me into the mangroves to work out the kinks and we saw dozens of baby (10-30 pound) fish. I ended up jumping one in the mangroves and blew my chance at many more.

A word about Tarpon fishing - you have to be quick on the draw (I mean real quick); once a moving Tarpon is spotted you have about 5 seconds to get the line in the air and land the fly a few feet in front of the fish. No false casts or the guide will yell at you and the line will scare the Tarpon. Once you get the fly in the correct spot you need to let it sink and strip and jiggle the fly just right to get the Tarpon to strike. And then the strike- wow, like nothing else.

Back to the story. After the mangroves we went over to a dock structure, I laid down 15 feet of line and it was literally a Tarpon frenzy. There were Tarpon fighting over the fly! Insane! I ended up hooking one but again made a rookie mistake....I had the leader knot on the wrong side of the tip top. Bang, the rod tip pulled off and the line broke. The adrenaline was pumping now and I was ready for more. I made a few more short casts but the Tarpon were long gone.

We poled up the shore but nothing was happening, starting to get worried that I blew all the chances Pochy had given me.

We then motored over to another bay and started scanning the waters for the silver shadows. Pochy spotted a pod of 4 working the area 100 yards in front of us. I quickly spotted them and started getting ready. Man the adrenaline was flowing now and I knew I had at least one more chance. I made the best cast I made all day and landed the fly 5 feet in front of the lead fish. Bang, she struck, I waited a split second and made a monster strip set the and the fish jerked the line out of my hand. The fight was on! She immediately took off and went in to the backing. Still running she made a few jumps.

Strike!

Now the work began. She ran a while surfaced for some air, them went back to the bottom. Tug and tug, she wasn't moving. This epic battle continued on, based on the size Pochy predicted a 1:45 minute fight, we were only 30 minutes into the battle and my arms were fried. Finally, after 2 hours, she was getting tired. Pochy termed the battle "the young man and the sea", funny guy that Pochy. I pulled her close to the boat and Pochy grabbed the leader, she was tired and he puller her into the boat.
A few quick pictures and she was released. Estimated at 62" and 100 pounds. To book your own Tarpon on the Fly adventure get a hold of Capt. Francisco "Pochy" Rosirio at Light Tackle Adventure and tell him that Brad from the land of 10,000 lakes sent you!

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Capt.Pochy

Capt.Pochy
Capt.Francisco (POCHY) Rosario

Fly Fishing Information for winter anglers


Fly Fishing Information for winter anglers the island of Puerto Rico is located just a short 3 to 4 hour flight from any major city on the East coast of the United States. Unknown to many, Puerto Rico offers some of the most sensational fly fishing and light tackle opportunities in the Caribbean. The West coast waters offer to any angler a fishing paradise in the winter.

The area is home to a significant population of year-round resident tarpon. Plenty of larger fish also ply the regions bays, lagoon and estuaries throughout the year. The big Tarpon are present, presumably to take advantage of the warmer waters and plentiful forage.

I had the good fortune to call the flats and bays my office for work . Cabo Rojo is a magnificent area to cast a streamer in front of hungry tarpon. I was presented with the options of casting to schools of feeding fish over vast shallow flats, working amongst entangled mangroves to pocket pools & tiny creeks with single fish, and working the magic of the river. There’s enough variety in this game to keep anyone engaged.
A massive mangrove shoreline dominates the coastal habitat. Crystalline waters are the norm for the lower reaches as they empty into sweeping flats. On the other hand, rust-stained hues characterize the smaller quarters of the upper river and tiny creek habitats. The estuary habitat is superb; shallow sandy-bottomed grass beds, banks dominated by mangrove roots and green canopy. The entire region sports an average depth of two to Twenty feet overall. The dynamics provide you with a perfect window to sight-fish.

The Bay open water affords fly fishers with 360 degrees of casting opportunity. Keep your eyes peeled – scan for dorsals & tails, breezing baitfish, or erupting water and instant mayhem. The flats are a casters dream situation. The longer you can cast a line, the better your chances of reaping the harvest. Everyone standing on the bow of the flat boat have the opportunity to cast your fly in front of the silver king.
It’s an awesome place to explore. It’s darn productive for feeding fish. This place isn’t for the faint of heart however as you’ll be challenged in all aspects of your angling skills. You earn every fish that comes to hand. I love this game.
Once the fly hit its mark a tarpon wouldn’t waste any time with their reaction.

The Bite and the Fight

On the flats, you get no fight until you learn how to recognize and respond to a bite. Bites from some species are mysterious, seldom felt, and hard to read Bonefish tarpon, and permit, our glamour quarry, all eat best when the fly moves straight away from them. Important but somewhat lesser species, like ladyfish and snook do the same thing. Since they rush the fly head on, they often push the line toward you and eat on the end of a slack line. It's rare to feel the initial bite of a bonefish as they keep moving along with the school when they eat. Permit are often found alone and pin baits to the bottom. ladyfish and snook often stop to chew.

Tarpon often announce a bite with an easily read flashing side and occasional huge boil. Seeing a tarpon bite is a problem for most of us. There is no doubt when a fish responds, but a mouth offers little resistance if the fish are not properly pointed before we attempt to set the hook. Tarpon mouths hinge like the loading ramp of a cargo plane, the upper lip is much like the top of a tunnel. If you pull on the string while the fish is pointed at you, the fly usually pops right out of their mouth

You have to strip until you feel the weight of a tarpon in your hand or against the rod tip to make sure some of the fish is between you and the point of the hook Reaching for the sky before you feel the fish in your hand leads to failure most of the time, a trait called "snatching." Moving the rod to set the hook is a mistake with most flats species.

A lot has been written about leader systems for tarpon and I am sure that everyone has a favorite set-up. I tend to rig my tarpon fishing rods as big game rods, coming from my big game experience pelagic species. The leader system is very simple and allows the person that has to leader the tarpon some control, as these fish can be downright crazy and even dangerous on some occasions. I like to start with a 3 feet of double line knot to which I attach to my 20 pound on the reel, that section will be on 40 pound test. After that section I like to use a blood knot to attach 3 to 4 feet of 60 pond test fluorocarbon followed by another blood knot and 2 feet of 80 pound fluorocarbon leader.

The rough mouth of the tarpon along with the environment where I fish, with mangrove roots, and waterlogged trees with barnacles everywhere, trying to provide for protection from cut-offs is a number one priority. The main thing for the guides fishing in many parts of the world should be conservation; it is an unwritten rule here in Puerto Rico for all guides to preserve the fisheries for our future generations, so we encourage the use of circle hooks exclusively for bait fishing for tarpon. Gone are the days where the tarpon that were released after a fight would show up dead a couple of days later after being gut hooked and fought with a standard “J” hook, after adopting the use of circle hooks exclusively almost 10 years ago, very rarely do we see such a sight. With many types and brands of circle hooks available these days, I like to choose my hooks according to the size of the bait, and most importantly it’s physical characteristics. Many of the major hook manufacturers are making extremely sharp hooks suitable for tarpon and they come in sizes from 1/0 to 10/0. I happen to like light wire hooks on most occasion, specially fishing in daylight hours, although you have to be careful and try not to “horse” the tarpon in on the leader, as this can straighten or break the hook.

There are a few points that are important to remember when fighting these fish, number one rule among all tarpon anglers is “Bow to the King”, this simply means that when the tarpon’s head breaks the surface to jump, you lower the rod tip to perpendicular with the water’s surface, an action that looks very much as a knight’s chivalry act with a sword. Number two, “never give the tarpon any slack, simply said, never let the line go limp, on many occasions the hook will pop out of the hard mouth of the tarpon upon the line being slack. Number three, fight the fish from the bow of the boat, many anglers make the mistake of staying in the back of the boat, this hinders the anglers ability to react quickly to a surging fish tarpon have an amazing ability to seek places to break you off, and that includes the boat’s engine, trim tabs and hull, the angler in the front of the boat can compensate for the fishes behavior and can protect the fishing line from contact with the boat, on some occasions even having to put the tip of the rod in the water and swing the rod around the bow, after the fish dives quickly under the boat. One of the most important things to remember while fighting a tarpon is that if you want to end the fight quickly, the angler must modify his actions with the rod.

Tarpon must be forced to work hard by pulling with the rod in the opposite direction of where the fish wants to swim; this hinders the tarpons ability to properly oxygenate and zaps his strength. You can put the rod in the water while applying pressure in this manner, a technique popularized by the legendary Florida guide Stu Apte, and is called the “Down and Dirty” way of fighting a tarpon. The tarpon will tire more quickly this way and eventually rolls over and gets confused, giving the Captain or mate the opportunity to hold him either the lower jaw for smaller fish and the jaws and gill plate for the larger individuals. This applies to spinning, casting and fly rod fishing and when one properly, this fish fighting technique works wonders on many other species as well. Tarpon fights swing in the fishes favor with every passing minute, so the angler must strive to apply the maximum amount of pressure in the shortest amount of time to be successful. If you want to fight the fish for a long time keep the rod in the normal position, pumping up and down during the fight.

Fly Fishing for Puerto Rico winter paradise fishing for tarpon of all sizes continues to be a sport in growing demand for the traveling angler, as more and more people realize it is easier to schedule a fishing trip to Puerto Rico than to a foreign country. Being a commonwealth of the United States, there is no passport and tourist visa required by US citizens to enter and leave Puerto Rico, also the local currency is the US Dollar further simplifying your travels. It is like going to Florida for the winter but with a Caribbean flair! I am the only fly fishing guide service in the west coast of Puerto Rico and we are booked months in advance during the winter tourism season, which coincides with the best tarpon fishing, with many opportunities for fly fishermen to experience tarpon on a fly.

An experienced angler should hire a guide to see where the fishing action is taking place, what is the technique employed and the choice of flies and equipment, once that is information has been passed on by the guide, the more adventuresome angler can then fish with confidence for the same species the guide fished with the customer. Unfortunately, the truly great fishing is available only from these knowledgeable guides, who monitor the moving schools of tarpon, and in reality these fish are accessible only by boat. Tarpon are indeed the favorite target for fly fishermen, with fish of every size available at all times of the year, from juveniles in the mangrove lined channels that run from 5 to 15 pounds to 150 pound or more giants that can be found anywhere in this water .

Fly fishermen can expect some chances to hook one of these fish, with success measured in the fish you “jump” rather than catch, mainly due to the hard mouth of the tarpon, which makes hooking and landing one of these fish very frustrating at times. As a guide, I have noticed that the main reason for tarpon to throw the fly is because most anglers will lift the rod on a strike, like in the act of hooking a trout, tarpon have a very hard mouth and must be struck very hard, I like to recommend the fishermen to practice fishing with the rod slightly lower than perpendicular to water’s surface, and practicing strip striking with the stripping hand, then lifting the rod and fighting the fish. The techniques that were mentioned work for the fly angler . Releasing a tarpon of any size on a fly rod is an awesome feeling, knowing that you have conquered one of the truly game fish species in the world. Fly fishing in saltwater is really a lot of work, casting heavy rods for hours waiting for the right time, it is worth the wait! The visiting fly fisherman that travels to Boqueron Bay in search of tarpon and snook will have to be equipped with at least 3 rods, an 8 wt, a 10 wt and a 11 wt; these will enable the angler to address most of the fishing conditions that arise.


The fly fisherman needs to be able to cast in different scenarios, short 20 foot roll casts in the mangrove channels and 60 to 70 feet long casts for open water fishing. It is important to practice the double haul at a park, football or soccer field. I am going to emphasize, Please practice your double haul ahead of time, I can not tell you how hard it is to learn this on the water, with tarpon rolling everywhere. And in the event of a spectacular tarpon feeding frenzy, you will hear your heart pounding through your chest. The waters in Boqueron Bay is cristal clear, and let me tell you folks, tarpon have the keenest eyes, make no mistake about it, when they want your bait or fly they will eat it!

Because of the cristal clear water , distance is more desirable an accuracy; the longer the fly is in the water (Strike Zone!), the better the chance for a strike. Many different types of flies work in Puerto Rico, most of the tarpon and snook are taken on the following: Tarpon Toad Purple/Black, Woolly Mullet, gray Grey/Silver/Black, a tarpon bunnys Back/Brown/Purple, Clouser Minnow,Olive/White/Black, Black paradise, and the innovative Gummi Minnow. Always have some Guglers in 2/0 on hand just in case a Tarpon and Snook feeding frenzy forms while you are in the water, an unforgettable sight for those fortunate to see the hundreds of fish working under the screaming seagulls and pelicans.


Puerto Rico is the “secret” hotspot just a few hours from any major airport in the US mainland.
This is a fishery that makes for lifetime memories. The guides and hosts will certainly add their special touch. If you’re interested in more travel details please contact :
Capt. Francisco "Pochy" Rosario
PO BOX 355
Hormigueros, PR 00660-0355
e-mail: tarponhombre@yahoo.com
www.lighttackleadventure.8k.com

(787) 547-7380