Zapata National Park Salinas Fishing Trip Report November 22 to 29, 2025

Our November hosted trip marked another great trip to Cuba's Zapata National Park. Nancy and I had 6 anglers join us for this week. Two anglers were complete rookies to flats fishing (Allard & Steve) and one client - 81 year old Bruce - was a first-time visitor to Salinas but had flats-fished at multiple other destinations.

It’s always a good start to the trip when all the transfers with the planes (the direct Calgary Varadero flight is sure nice and easy) and vehicles work out the way they are supposed to. Everyone arrived in Playa Larga with all of their appropriate luggage, etc which is also always good news. With everyone settled into the the three different Casa Particulars we use for our groups it was time to have dinner and a drink or two before getting gear ready to take to the Salinas' flats for day one of fishing on Sunday.

The drive from Playa Larga, leaving at 7-7:15am, to Salinas is about 45 minutes and passes though the Zapata Swamp/Wetlands which always has tremendous bird life. No matter how many times you do that drive seeing the beautiful pink of the flamingoes never gets tiring. The bumps along the way can be a tad wearing after day 5 or so but since it is the only option to fish this special area it's one of those things that just needs to happen.

Setting up all the various rods on day one always takes some time. Since you have the boat to yourself you can easily have 4 to 5 rods ready to go to cover the variety of fishing situations you might encounter.

Typically, we have at least one bonefish rod (preferably two (7 or 8wt) - light and heavier wt flies), a permit rod (8 or 9wt), and a tarpon outfit (9 or 10wt) ready to go at any given time. That is the unique nature of Salinas - all of the flats species are within a 45-50 minute zone from the dock with some bonefishing spots only 10 minutes away! 

This November's trip our group had mostly the “younger” guides with two of the remaining senior guides (Felipe and Julio). Felipe took Steve for his introduction day and Brian took Allard for his. There is A LOT to learn when you go on your first flats fishing trip. See the post by Allard for his “rookie experience”.

I got to fish with one of the newer (on his second year) guides Ernesto. He is a bit of a permit fanatic and rightfully so. Last April (within a week of our last group leaving), while he was “training” with one of the apprentice guides, he managed to catch the single biggest permit I have ever seen caught in Salinas!! On one of Ray’s Alflexo crabs!

This has him on a perpetual hunt for these amazing/frustrating fish! We spent the first several hours looking in a common permit spot and of course saw nothing! Switched it up just before lunch and got to experience some excellent bonefishing to very good-sized bones coming off a dark area onto pure white sand so the fish definitely stood out. These were 3-6 pound fish that were happy to eat on the edge of the sand flat and were very comfortable due to the dark and deeper water right beside them. Made some good casts caught a few fish and definitely made some bad casts and scared the shit out of them! I do truly love bonefishing in that situation.

I was able to try a brand new crab pattern tied by Ray (one of our expert local customers/tyers) using Fulling Mill Crab bodies. The fish loved it. Wind resistant to cast (might try a slightly different leader set up for this pattern rather then my typical 12’ long one (Rio SW 10’ 16lb + Shinsei 15lb tippet) but extremely effective when presented properly.

After lunch we went permit hunting again in another one of my favourite areas. And again nothing (a re-occurring permit theme for me for the week!). As it was getting near the time we needed to vacate the area and head back, Ernesto discovered that the motor wouldn’t go down (hydraulics not working) from the “up” position while polling. A motor doesn’t work so well with its prop in the air! We tried everything for half an hour (while still watching for permit) but nothing worked, akin to the permit observations, so we decided to start to poll through a canal that was a “shortcut” to head home with the hopes that another boat would come across us. A text about our situation was sent (there is some reception for Cuban cell phones) and we entered the canal.

Extremely luckily we heard another boat pull up for a quick permit look before heading home. We whistled and yelled from inside the mangroves to get their attention, quickly turned the boat around and polled out to see Jose and Bruce. After some rapid fire Spanish explaining the problem I jumped in their boat with my gear and the three of us headed for home base leaving poor Ernesto to wait for the rescue boat/mechanic to come.

On the ride back I learn that Bruce has had a great first day landing about a dozen bones. He is happy to be able to have me join him for the ride home (about 45 minutes).

Once back at the dock, the Cuban guide team gets the mechanic out to Ernesto and he gets back to base just after dark when we were already back in our Casas with drinks-in-hand. The situation was handled extremely professionally with basically no interruptions for our group. I had envisioned a LONG poll back toward home base and not getting back until well after dark if Jose and Bruce hadn’t shown up! 

It was very rewarding to hear the stories of the rookies first flats day. People are always surprised at the speed and maneuverability of bonefish in shallow water when they catch their first one. Again see Allard’s post about a rookies experience. Brent, a Salinas veteran, moans and complains that he only caught one fish all day. The bonefish just wouldn’t stay on! After a few minutes of teasing us he lets the group know that the fish he'd landed was  a nice permit! So, he of course got some major ribbing even though we were happy to hear that a nice permit ate the fly! Congratulations on your second Cuban permit Brent!

Day 2 starts a tad windier but still nice and sunny which always helps! I’m with Ernesto again and we head east to hunt for tailing bonefish. We find some in nice skinny water along the edges on the lee side of the mangroves and only have to deal with the odd gust of wind creeping over the mangrove tops. Inevitably one of the bones is tailing directly into the wind. I manage to make the cast and the fish (about a 2.5/3lber) chows down on the fly. It decides the best course of action is to come straight at the boat. My only option is to strip line as fast as I can with my rod up. Being directly into the wind the now slack line the bonefish has created gets blown around the rod tip. (You know where this is headed!) The bonefish is going full speed under the boat now and the wrapped tip follows. NO rod survives that and it only took about 3-4 seconds for all this to happen. Broken rod tip and the fish stays on and is landed. All I needed to do was use the rod tip (at the fishes mouth) and push the fly out like a perfect release tool and away it swims. So now one of my favourite bonefish rods (Lamson Velocity 9’ 7wt) is out of action for the remainder of the trip!! It’s 11am on day 2 of 6! This is a good reminder to always bring at least one more rod than you need on trips like this especially for bonefishing!

Since I’m now onto an 8wt we decide that we might as well chase some permit for the remainder of the day. You can probably guess how that went - though my hopes were up due to Brent’s success from Day 1. It didn’t matter.

We looked for several hours and nothing. We were headed back out of the bay and just as we emerge from the Chanel we see a push of nervous water directly in front of the boat at the 12:00 position. Looked very permity to me. Ernesto had about 20 yards to poll to get me into position when all of a sudden he says “Dave 20 Meters 3:00 cast now!!!” I turn to the right and there is a much bigger push of water (which had been hidden be the edge of the Chanel) coming straight at the boat. I quickly make the cast to the front of the push and start to strip. Wham fish on. Hooting and hollering ensues and we are sure we’ve hooked a perm. The initial run is WAY into my backing and it feels “stronger” than a permit. I’m feeling more jackish now! Jacks are simply stronger than permit. Sure enough after several minutes of chasing the fish we get within visual range and confirm it's a Jack. At least it's a cousin of my fish of choice! Now that we are closer I’m confused as to why I can’t control the fish very well as I saw it was not a “big” one but good-sized 8/9 pounder. The fish turns sideways and we see that it came for the fly, missed and hooked itself in the top of the head. Oh great I now have a 8/9 pound Jack hooked in the top of the head on an 8wt!! Lots of extra pressure and Ernesto and I get out of the boat and he eventually is able to grab it.  

Tough fish to deal with normally and more so when not hooked in the mouth!

Back to home base and we hear the rest of the stories for the day. It's Monday which means we head over to one of the other houses for dinner which is always a treat. First time clients are generally surprised at the quality of the food we get for all our meals. Great fresh fruit and fish for those who like to eat fish or lobster the way it’s meant to be!

Day 3 for me was another special day. I got to fish with Yasiel who I had first fished with 5 years previously when he was first starting. I hadn’t managed to be with him for a couple of years. It was good to be back in a boat with him. The tide was starting to be lower in the morning now and coming in later in the day. So we had to struggle around a bit with the boat during the low water but we managed to get into one lagoon where he had a plan.

We were going looking for snook. I have only caught two snook on the flats in Salinas over many years of fishing. A fish we typically come upon by chance. Yasiel had been shown this spot by Lazaro Cotayo, who happened to be the very first guide I ever fished with in Salinas 18 or more years ago. We lost Cotayo to Covid a few years ago. He was on both of our minds as we entered the shallow creek mouth that he had shown Yasiel during guide training. We get four or five mangrove bushes deep into the creek and sure enough with the water going out and down a pair of snook slowly slide from under one of the mangroves to head to the “deeper” water of the bay proper. I cast my mantis shrimp in front of the pair a couple of times with zero response. We keep following their general direction but have lost them under the various mangroves that were there. Then as we approach the final low mangrove bush before the bay proper Yasiel, from the casting platform can see one sneaking along the front side (the opposite of where we were) of the bush.

He says “Dave it’s moving slowly right you might get a shot if it keeps going”. The bush is 30 feet away and I’m just starting to see the snook through the branches. It STOPS as snook so many times do in shallow water. It’s back is a tad out of the water and head is pointed right. I make an instant decision to cast directly over the mangrove. I manage to land the shrimp 6 inches directly in front of it's face and the snook immediately opens it’s mouth and gulps in the shrimp. I am able to set the hook straight up as the boat had been sliding towards the bush and we were only 20 feet away. I get one big head shake from the snook as it reacts to being hooked. Then I hear from behind me Yasiel say “Dave now we have a good problem”! I laugh and Cotayo is in my thoughts and my heart as I watch this snook thrash around.

Very luckily the fish cooperates and swims to the right away from the mangrove which is the direction the boat is also sliding. So it ends up running out into the bay away from all danger and with a bit of patience on my 15 lb flouro we manage to land a beautiful snook. Both Yasiel and I give thanks to the snook and Cotayo’s spirit for being there to help us. I will always remember that fish.  

We catch a few bonefish in the bay and of course now “have” to go permit fishing! You can guess how that goes again! Day 3 permit area again. We were within 2-300 yards of where the Day 1 motor issue was and guess what. The motor can’t get up on plane due to some bad gas. Luckily there was another boat (Ray and ironically Ernesto)) there that we let know what the problem was. They let us know they just saw two schools of permit when they first arrived so our hopes were high.  They took first choice of how they wanted to fish the area since they were there first.

We were able to fish the whole afternoon in an area I have cast to a lot of permit over the years. At the very end of the huge area we get one chance at a tail about 40 feet directly in-front of the boat.  The quick cast went where it was supposed to but the fish either found a cave to swim into or was beamed off the flat as it completely disappeared without a trace! So I officially made one cast at a permit all week!  I did finish the day with a beauty 5/6 pound very dark and strong bonefish that this western area is know for. We meet up with Ernesto and Ray in the other boat and I climb in for the long journey home while Yasiel 1/4 speeds it back.

We make it home with me again coming home in a different boat than I left in and people are wondering if I’m the boat-cursed angler! Luckily Yasiel was able to clean out the filter in his boat 3 or 4 times while limping home and managed to get through the bad gas and didn’t end up being a long time behind us.

At dinner we hear all the various stories from the anglers. It’s so great to hear all the various things that happen out on the flats every day. Everyone has a different experience in a variety of area’s. It’s what makes Salinas a special place. There is a lot to do!

The remaining three days are great as well. A weather change starts to come in on Thursday for the “challenging” day with wind, clouds and some rain on Friday.

Two of the days two groups of three head to the Rio Hatiguanico for tarpon with some solid success. Everyone hooks big tarpon over 50 pounds and battles with them for extended periods of time. The river tarpon are strong and can go “down” so they are hard to battle as opposed to on the flats. A few great stories of tarpon episodes and the trip is complete.

Steve manages on Day 6 to cast to and land his first tarpon on the beach. Allard ends up on the Rio for two of the last 3 days as he had a serious score to settle with fish there. The wrap up dinner of roast pork and other traditional Cuban fare is always a hit especially so since we get to enjoy it with the Cuban guide team and other Cuban friends who always make us feel like we are at our home away from home.   

All in all another great trip! Thanks so much to our clients who continue to have faith in our hosted trips, our casa’s and all the staff that make this unique trip to Cuba such an immersive experience for all, and the drivers who are a critical component of the Salinas operation. See you all in April.

Steve (Mason) with one of several new species for him landed during his first flats fishing trip. 

We are always asked about the food on our trips and most first timers are shocked at the quality, tastiness, and access to food we enjoy at the Casas. We always wrap up our week with a meal shared with the entire guide team, the mechanic, our driver, and other Cuban friends.