Fly Fishing in Cuba:  JUST DO IT!!!

The word for the group this week, which was repeated over and over, was REPETITION.  Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Outliers, refers to the concept of “it takes 10,000 hours of repeating something to become an expert, potentially.”  In sports, this is called building “muscle memory”…a golfer develops muscle memory with their swing, a tennis player with their swing, a basketball player with their shot.   Muscle memory development allows the athlete to, as Nike coined, “Just Do It” and not have to think about what to do while doing it.

The same concept of “muscle memory” absolutely applies to our sport of fly fishing.  Are we able to “JUST DO IT” with our double-haul casts, or do we have to think about what we need to be doing at each step to try to get the job done?  Do we need to remember to feed our hand back up to our rod to prepare for the forward haul after our first haul, or has that “muscle memory” been ingrained that we automatically do it?  Has it burned into our memory to stay in connection with our fly line after letting the forward cast fly, or do we find ourselves letting go of the fly line only to have to frantically find it once the fly has hit the water so we can begin to strip the fly?

Flats fishing can often be an extremely fine line between an incredibly productive outing, perhaps even our first Grand Slam or our first day landing 5-10 tarpon, or it could be one where we had the possibility to have a very productive day, but it wasn’t.  Developing proper “muscle memory” with our casting and fishing skills is the key to getting more productive on the water.   Repeating over and over, the correct way to double haul, to managing line, to setting the hook, to clearing the line, to pulling properly on fish, to landing fish efficiently, will all lead to creating a top flats angler.   This can only be achieved through repetition.  We can get the knowledge in our head through various sources, but at some point, we have to go out on the water and actually “JUST DO IT.”

We were very successful during the week of taking new saltwater fly fishing information for many of our anglers and repeating the proper way to perform that fly fishing skill on the water.  Some anglers were on their first ever saltwater fly fishing trip while others have been on dozens upon dozens of saltwater outings.  But, every angler learned some new information that they could apply to their craft. 

The North wind blew hard in the am, making most of the morning seasons relatively difficult on many fronts.   Tarpon typically hate the North wind.  Like they HATE, HATE, HATE IT!!!!  The North wind didn’t allow us to fish in spots we wanted to fish and handicapped us most of the mornings.   We choose to split the day up and come back to the boat for lunch and a break before attacking it with rejuvenated spirits in the afternoon.

This proved to be a very successful plan for our group as the afternoon fishing was like a new experience, one that was successful.   Everyone in the group really enjoyed the regathering at the boat and setting off in the afternoon with a new outlook.  On average, anglers were getting 2-8 eats during the afternoons on quality migratory tarpon, with the larger fish in the 75-90lb class.  We say eats because the “muscle memory” on the proper tarpon hook set has yet to be mastered by many.  Those that did grasp how to really set the hook properly on larger poon had much better eat to land ratios.   Again, no one is born a tarpon angler.  The hook set on a tarpon is unique to that fish, a hook set that is not a normal hook set for any other species.

Permit and bonefish were also available species to be tangled with during the week.  Many anglers had successful mornings targeting the bonefish on the flats, whether they decided to wade for them or fish from the skiff.   Those who sought bonefish usually ended up landing double-digit numbers of bones up to 6lbs.

Permit were available all week as well.   The key to Permit fishing is accuracy and quickness with the delivery of the fly.  Again, these require “muscle memory” to the Nth degree in one's casting skills.  This is often why permit fishing can be difficult for many anglers.  Permit don’t tend to hang around very long in one area.  It is best to think of making 1 cast to catch a Permit.   We want to avoid making several casts to the fish that are off target and having to recast.  The goal is to make 1 cast that is on target.   Easier said than done, but that is the goal when permit fishing.   Our group had on average 3-15 shots at Permit when targeting them for a 1-2 hour period.

All in all, the Boca Grande group had a great week.  This was there 3^rd consecutive year fishing the Cuba Tarpon migration.  It certainly won’t be there last.  They are now all fired up to get out and practice, practice, practice the new skills they have learned so they can develop that “muscle memory.”   They now that they will get more than enough Reps on their Cuba fly fishing trips.  The are guaranteed to “JUST DO IT” on their trip next year.