The Caribbean: Cuba like you have (never) seen it before!

By STEPHAN GIAN DOMBAJ

Cuba’s sporting virtues might be just as eventful and rich as its history. Everybody is talking about this Carribbean destination since the rumors began about the renewal of diplomatic and economic ties between them and the U.S. Looking back at it now the rumors and speculation was about right.

Although the ultimate transformation from arch enemies to best friends has a long way to go, the mills of politics are grinding slowly but steadily ever since Congress passed a fundamental economic reform in favor for free entrepreneurship in 2011. Coincidentally, that was the year I fished Cuba for the very first time. It would take another three years till U.S. president Barack Obama announced the subsequent end of the cold war (but of the Embargo not quite yet)…

To make a long story short: Cuba is opening up to the U.S. market. Everybody in the fishing industry expected a cataclysmic shockwave violently flushing people over the borders straight onto the skiffs and boats of Cuban guides and outfitters. To be on the safe side, many smaller outfitters from the US opened up or subcontracted Canadian based business to get a fair share of the pie.

The presence of rum faced realtors from all over the globe at bars like Sloppy Joe’s, Floridita or Bodeguita del Medio in Havana Vieja was growing every year. These guys would sit at the bar, chug one drink after another and would tell you the story “this is Puerto Rico all over again.”

What these guys would discover is that it’s still nearly impossible to buy land as a foreigner. But we all know nothing is really impossible. Money talks, you just have to find the right person with influence.

Now let’s forget politics for a while, let’s forget about business and let’s talk fishing. A mere 90 miles off the coast of the U.S. lies an outstanding fishery that is opening up to the U.S. market. The funny thing is, that the great new thing and hype is not so new at all.

It has been there forever. Whereas anglers from all over the globe, except for the States could enter and indulge in the solitude that the restricted access to Cuba’s marine park had to offer with ease, our American friends found it a bit more complicated. But that doesn’t mean that it was “closed.” How else would you explain that over the last decade some of the largest outfitters on the islands clientele were 60-70% U.S. anglers. This was long before there was ever talk about Cuba opening up.

Fishing is a great universal unifier, it’s a passion without borders. It would take a dedicated U.S. angler only a day or two to fill out an application form that would allow them to travel legally to Cuba for humanitarian, religious or social reasons… even if one would go small time narco-style via Mexico, as long as you were smart enough to pay cash on location and not get a stamp in your passport (which they only do if you asked them too) you were perfectly fine and ready for some exceptional inshore fishing. It was that simple really. Good thing, in the near future, simplified border procedures will grant an easier access.

The rest of the fishing and destination angling world was affected as well. Some feared that the simplified access and ultimately open gates would flood the market with Floridian weekend anglers. That the prices would rise to a westernized standard and that the fishing pressure overall would increase. This fear resulted in a run for the fishing spots like never seen before.

Many people wanted to see it one more time before the rusty old lady Havana Vieja would lose her slowly decaying charm and her old American dream cars along the way. Cuba was an evergreen amongst European and Canadian anglers - it was so readily available at a reasonable price that as a matter of fact, most anglers didn’t really know how good they had it… and they had it almost all for themselves.

In this respect, men (mainly) never really mature at all. We get careless about people and things, till someone else comes along and shows more affection or interest and suddenly we are all ears again.

Cuba was and still is caught up in this love triangle and this is what happened: For the first time bigger outfitters have to deal with waiting lists that reach as far in the future as 3 years for prime time weeks, low season weeks are still moderately requested. This is slowly changing as demand grows. The potential restrictions on DIY angling in the Bahamas is also pushing this trend, although DIY angling in Cuba, especially where it’s worth it, is highly restricted too.

Anglers who have feared that the high demand would lead to more fishing pressure, stay calm and rest assured that the marine park regulations will rule this out. There’s only so many boats officially allowed in each area, just showing up and hoping to “do your own thing” is not an option. The number of rods/boats per area has increased moderately to cope with the numbers of anglers, but it’s important to put the numbers in perspective.

The fly fishable part of the highly sought after Jardines de la Reina marine park is twice as big as the entire Florida Keys area (356 km2 without the Everglades) - a maximum of 32 rods per week is allowed to fish it.

And this is just one area of six that are well known to fly anglers. Most smaller areas like Cayo Cruz or St. Maria operate a max. of 8 boats and 16 rods during prime time. Do the math, there’s plenty of water to roam freely and undisturbed. Another bonus is, on the ocean and the flats, there are no weekend kitesurfers, boaters or jetskis detracting from the your fishing experience - they just don’t exist (yet).

It is still as good as it has always been, and as long as the marine parks keep their strict guidelines and enforce them, it will stay like that for a long time. The Cuban government is slowly realizing the potential of its marine parks and the talk is out about a Marine Park Entrance Fee of 100 Dollars per year that will cover the costs of an extensive protection and enforcement plans to further strengthen this trend.

As I sit down to write this article, I can literally see the foreign money at work. Havana Vieja is getting a facelift, mainly the tourist areas of course. Just get a drink on top of either the Hotel Saratoga or Parque Central, and you will get to see reconstruction happening on one side, and what locals and Cuba long timers call „little Bagdad“ on the other. The old lady has partied hard, has seen a guerilla war, democracy, socialism, boom times, economic crises and many other highlights and downfalls…now she’s licking her wounds.

Nearly every production team and photo crew has done a segment about Cuba lately and if not, it’s on their list. For some of you, watching this footage might be something fresh and new - an opportunity that’s lurking literally 90 miles around the corner, a tease. For others, it’s the same good old very reliable fishing ground that has stepped up a notch - and seriously, do we ever get enough of flats fishing anyways? If your answer is no, then this pictorial is just about the right thing to help you escape for a brief moment into a world of white beaches, cocktails, warm weather, girls who like to fish and the hope of a grand slam.

The first experience on Cuban’s prime flats seven years ago was eye opening - and ever since, I have been fortunate enough to fish almost every marine park on the island. Sharing is caring - together with the European Agent for Avalon, Catch Outdoors, we decided to invite London based model and fly fisherwomen Rabia Maddah, to follow us into the flats of Cayo Cruz.

To leave her comfort zone and trade trout gear for saltwater rigs. As we all expected, she did well - and we had the pleasure to follow her first steps into the world of a lifelong addiction that every saltwater angler just knows too well:

The Flats…