FISHING ADVENTURES REPORT

About two weeks ago, I was in western Puerto Rico. I had set up a charter with Captain Francisco Rosario. My wife joined me. We had a great time. I caught my first tarpon on fly. It was not a big tarpon, but it was a tarpon...by the way, caught it on a clouser.

You know that I have chartered a lot of guides over the past 7-8 years. Captain Rosario is one of the top three guides I have ever hired. First, he is the only guide I have ever engaged who caught bait before going out on the charter. How uniqe..instead of wasting an hour catching bait, he was ready to go at the dock. While he is very accomplished with fly fishing, he does a lot of light tackle with bait. Since my wife was with me and I do the light tackle thing as well, I was glad we were using everything available. Second, he always had at least two poles out with bait. He was aggressively creating opportunities to catch fish. Thats what I wanted, on vacation. My wife came along for her first charter. She caught two fish, including a small tarpon. She had a great trip...which bodes well for future charters, budget or no. Third, he moved around. We fished open water off a point for tarpon, followed up with fisherman he knew who were changing bait, fished the mangroves of a national park for snook and tarpon, and finished with some docks where the tarpon and snook hung out. Fourth, he had a great personality. Finally, rates were very reasonable.

Captain Rosario also is experienced with off shore. Learned the trade before setting up his business a few years ago. He work as captain of some of the off shore boats in the Norm Isaacs shows on ESPN.

Mr. Sweeney

Pochy, Here is a picture of the fish we caught on our Jan trip.

Again, Let me thank you for one of the best fishing trip of my life. Not only was it a beautiful day with calm waters but by far one of the most exciting fish trip I have ever taken. Tarpon are a pretty special trophy fish and you need to catch one to understand the thrill that comes with the fight. Again thanks for your expertise in getting us on several Tarpon on that day. I look forward to my next trip with you, Pochy can be sure that I will be back to do it again.

The Gang Michael Plourde, Don Applegarth, Joe Morin

Hey Pochy,

Great fishing with you… Danielle and I fish with a lot of guides around the world and we both agreed you were an exceptionally enjoyable guide to fish with. Below is a pic of Danielle’s tarpon. I’m putting a link to your web-site on my site: www.nycflyfishing.com. Would be great if you could do the same for me. I write the resource column for Flyfishing In Saltwaters as well as a few features a year. I’m also a regular contributor to Saltwater Sportsman, Sportfishing, Shallow Water Angler and Saltwater Flyfishing.

Capt. John McMurray

We went back to the mangroves of Joyuda lagoon for kayaking and bird watching with our guide, Captain Francisco Rosario of Light Tackle Adventure. Mangrove habitats are simply full of life and activity. We are drawn to its beauty again and again. This time we put in near Carr 308 about an hour’s drive south of Rincón. The clear shallow water made for an easy voyage. Stopping along the way to examine a bright orange 8” starfish on the floor of the lagoon, the Captain identified all kinds of wildlife, both fish and fowl. The Captain was a regular Dr. Doolittle calling to a Northern Waterthrush who cheerfully waved his tail as he chattered. We spotted a small party of woodpeckers and an osprey watching the scene from a distant branch. A bright red crab crept through the mangrove escaping his enemy, the red snapper.

Birding and kayaking are activities for all ages. The family will be entertained searching both sea and sky for the hundreds of species of wildlife. A four hour excursion requires average endurance. Sun protection is essential. But don’t try this adventure without a knowledgeable guide as the mangroves are an extremely dense region of tiny islands where you could easily lose your way. Call Light Tackle Adventure at 787-849-1430.

Publication:Idaho State;   Date:May 19, 2006;  Great Outdoors;  Page Number:C2
  
Woman hooks 80-pound tarpon near Puerto Rico Sherwood uses 8-pound test line to reel in fish

By Harry Morse For the Journal

Lady anglers have all the luck!

While I fly fished my fanny off for tarpon on the shallow flats of Puerto Rico, Pam Sherwood hooked a world record class tarpon on an 8-pound test line.

She dangled a live sardine out of the back of our boat, and the fight was on.

I wanted to try fishing for big tarpon as part of a cruise ship vacation. Since we departed from San Juan, Puerto Rico it was the logical place to book a light tackle/fly fishing trip for tarpon.

Most of the light tackle and fly fishing guides advertising work out of the harbor area, but I wanted to see more of the Puerto Rico coastline than San Juan Harbor where our cruise ship docked. To find a guide outside of the harbor areas I rented a car and made a two-hour drive to the west side of the island and started asking around marinas for light tackle and fly fishing guides.

Most of the local charter captains referred us back to San Juan while local anglers jokingly referred us to psychiatrists.

We tracked down light tackle specialist Francisco “Pochy” Rosario in the small town of Boqueron. He pioneered light tackle guiding on the west side of the island. Eight years ago he started chasing tarpon on the local flats after moving over from running deep sea charters. For a guide so hard to find, he has an impressive list of avid fly fishing and light tackle anglers from Oregon to England.

Pam Sherwood enjoys light tackle spin fishing but does not saltwater fly fish. Pochy said he could accommodate both our wishes with me casting flies off the front of the boat and Pam fishing bait out of the back. He felt both of us would hook tarpon with most of the action coming on live sardines and Clouser flies patterned after them.

Climbing aboard his 17-footskiff, I was impressed with the quality of his gear. He carried a complement of five quality fly rods and five light spinning rods. His live well was filled with silvery sardines he caught with a cast net hours before we arrived at 7 a.m. and he had an assortment of other baits. His selection of flies ranged from traditional Clouser Minnow imitations to a home tied floater.

We sped across three miles of crystal clear flats to Cabo Rojo Pass and pulled in behind several local fishing boats cleaning their night’s catch. A school of 60- 80 pound tarpon lazed along the surface down current of the fishermen picking up scraps and stalking bait fish. We anchored and waited for the schooling fish to move into casting range. As the tarpon worked their way past us I stepped up on the casting platform and started to cast. The fish spooked and bolted before my fly hit the water.

So much for laying the fly out in front of the fish. Pochy baited up two rigs, one with a live sardine and the other with belly meat from a small tuna and cast them out for Pam. He chummed with live sardines and handed me a second fly rod with a silver Clouser Minnow fly on it. The tarpon responded to the live bait and moved back toward us. Almost immediately a tarpon lunged at my fly but missed.

Pam had a hit on one of the bait rods but the tarpon shook the hook with the first jump. Then one crushed a bait and streaked off making the light spinning reel sing. Suddenly the line slacked. The hook was flattened.

The tarpon lingered just out of fly casting range on the clear flats. We watched them fining and cruising around. I picked up one of the spinning rods and heaved out a live sardine on a circle hook.

Immediately a tarpon struck my bait and streaked away, jumping at 100 yards. Pochy cautioned me not to put too much pressure on the fish since the line was only 12-pound-test. A half hour later and three jumps the hook pulled loose. We got a very good look at a 120-130 pound silvery fish. My adrenaline was pumping.

Over the next five hours we changed locations three times fishing mangrove bays, dock structures and flats. We jumped two more medium size tarpon and I brought a small 5-7 pound baby tarpon to the boat for release in a steamy mangrove estuary.

Pochy’s tenacity impressed me. He continually changed locations, stalked fish, changed bait and flies. He was working trying to get us each a big fish.

Pam had kicked back and relaxing when a tarpon hit her 8-pound-test offering. It ripped line off the spinning reel as it headed seaward. The drag was just tight enough to embed the circle hook but not tight enough to break the line. Pochy continually checked the drag.

Our jaws dropped when the fish cleared the water on its first jump. It was not one of the 15-30 pound tarpon we were casting to on top of the water. It was in the 80-pound class.

The fish reduced a full spool of line to a quarter spool and Pochy started the motor and followed the fish. Pam’s first solid hook up on a tarpon came on the lightest line on board, 8-pound test.

Over the next hour the fish led us through an obstacle course punctuated by acrobatic leaps. It swam towards buoys, boats and docks.

Pochy skillfully maneuvered the boat to keep the line from tangling while keeping side pressure on the big fish gradually wearing it down.

When Pochy reached down and grabbed the tarpon’s mouth we realized how big the fish was. Did we want to keep it? As a catch and release guide he did not want to kill the fish and neither did we. After Pochy released the fish we decided to call it a day. Pam was drained and we headed in for a cold beer.

What a way to top off a vacation.

Pochy Rosario is a topnotch guide and can be reached at (787) 547-7380 or visit his Web site at www.lighttackleadventure.k8.com.

He is Coast Guard certified and endorsed by the official Puerto Rico Tourism Company. He fishes out of Boqueron, a two-plus hour drive on good highways from San Juan or a short 20 minute hop flight to Mayaguez. He can help arrange travel and accommodations. Prices start at $275 for two anglers for a half day.

We stayed at the Parador Bahia Salinas facing the ocean with Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge on the other side. Great place, good service, food and view for $150 a night including a meal and two drinks in a four star style beach hotel. YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK — An environmental assessment on westslope cutthroat trout restoration in Yellowstone National Park is open for public comment until midnight on June 7.

The National Park Service wants to restore genetically pure westslope cutthroat trout in East Fork Specimen Creek in Yellowstone. The native trout has declined in the park and elsewhere within its range in the upper Missouri River drainage as a result of interbreeding with introduced cutthroat and rainbow trout.

The environmental assessment is at http:parkplanning.nps.gov or at http:www.nps.gov/yell/technical/planning/index.htm or by writing to Westslope Cutthroat Trout Restoration, Yellowstone National Park, P.O. Box 168, Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190.

Comments must be submitted by the end of the 30-day comment period on June 7 to the above address, electronically to the National Park Service park planning Web site listed above or delivered to the park headquarters in Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming.

Photos submitted by Harry Morse Harry Morse spent hours casting and stalking tarpon, but only hooked a small one. His companion, Pam Sherwood, caught an 80-pound tarpon on her first cast with a live sardine. LEFT: Pam Sherwood shows her 80-pound tarpon. She caught it on an 8-pound test line at Puerto Rico fishing with light tackle guide Pochy Rosario.

Capt. Rosario,

Thanks for a wonderful and exciting fishing excursion. We landed a huge tarpoon, a 25 lb. horse-eye jack, snook, grey snapper, modern snapper, and muliple jacks on this April 2006 trip. I stopped counting after 10. I will definitely come back to fish with you again and will refer friends and family your way. Thanks for allowing my wife and daughter to come along as spectators and photographers, as they were able to capture remarkable film footage of the tarpoon fight amongst others. Hope to come back sooner than later.

Ciao,

Paul Stamm

Paso Robles, California, USA

To Contact:

(787) 849-1430

(787) 547-7380

e-mail: tarponhombre@yahoo.com