NICARGUAN JUNGLE POON

While enjoying a glass of wine on the riverbanks of the famous Rynda river in Kola Peninsula in Russiaon 24 June 2015, I was told by my Belarusian friend, Vadim Titovets, of his dream to go chase tarpon in the Nicaraguan jungle, an area very famous for its HUGE tarpon. He has visited there already earlier that year and saw the potential as they hooked into some serious fish, but not yet big enough to his liking. One of his companions on that trip managed to land a fish of well over 200 pounds though, which is pushing the limits of any fly rod. He would go back for another shot at conquering one of the monsters. 

I was extremely excited when he invited me along to share in his dream come true. The next nine months leading up to the trip was spent doing preparation in between guiding stints in Kamchatka, Seychelles and short home visits in Cape Town. Tying flies for tarpon while sitting on an island in the middle of the Indian Ocean was not too difficult though. Sourcing all the necessary tackle to target 200lb fish on the other hand is not an easy task in South Africa. I finally sourced the right  fish hooks, in this case the Owner Aki's which was the only option for me. I have tried and tested these hooks before and was convinced of their trustworthiness. We would be connecting these flies to 130lb fluorocarbon using crimps, which again is probably the strongest connection available. My Sage 6000 reels were loaded with a variety of different lines, from quick sinkers to floating. This would be supported by 300m of 50lb backing.  My Sage SATL 12wt would be used to launch rockets. I felt confident that we were ready and well prepared. 

Finally it was time to go. I left home in Cape Town on the 8th of April 2016 to meet up with my Belarusian friend in Managua, capital city of Nicaragua, by the 11th. But, as with every good story in life, everything didn’t go quite as smoothly as planned! In a nutshell – due to certain airlines cancelling flights through Panama City, I had to re-book airline tickets on very short notice and not having been to that part of the world before, made a few - well - let’s call it “slight mistakes”…  After having the proverbial heart-attack upon realizing that I couldn’t get on the aircraft due to some documentation shortfalls, there were a couple more times where I honestly felt like I wasn’t going to make it to South-America in time. But, with the expert assistance of an experienced travel agent, obtaining an emergency yellow fever certificate and borrowing a substantial amount of money from a supportive friend for new return airline tickets, I was on my way to Sao Paolo, Brazil. I will probably have to mow his lawn for the next fifteen years should I not be able to repay him, but I’ll take that offer any day!

After 29 hours of traveling, I finally made it to Nicaragua, still on time. One constantly feels like a drug smuggler when traveling through these Central American countries though. I have had to unpack and re-pack my travel bag a countless number of times as I was thoroughly searched at every entry/exit point. Huge sigh of relief when I eventually left the airport. I was going tarpon fishing! Finally my own personal dream was also becoming a reality. 

I met up with Vadim later that day at our hotel, just across the street from the airport. My excitement levels sky rocketed as we sat talking about tarpon fishing over a glass of local Nicaraguan rum at the pool side bar. I have to admit: the rum was really good, which was a blessing in disguise as I suspected that we would be consuming a good amount of it throughout the week. With Vadim’s very strong Russian roots and the lack of Vodka, I had to surrender to the fact that rum would be part of our everyday itinerary.

After a short domestic charter flight the following morning, we made it to Blue Fields, a little town about three hours by boat from our lodge, where we would be set up for the next week. We met up with our guides as well as hostess for the week: a family-run operation, the brothers Marco and Orlando being our guides and the older sister Rosa being the big boss. Her husband was Randy, a 60 year old rock & roll fanatic from Tennessee. Randy was a really cool guy and tried to introduce me to the history of Elvis Presley, but in actual fact I couldn’t understand half of what he said due to his strange accent. They turned out to be an awesome team and made the experience much more memorable.

Early the following morning we made our way further into the jungle by boat. This was my first real introduction to the waters we would be fishing for the next couple of days. When we finally made it to the lodge on the riverbank, we were greeted by a lovely shrimp lunch accompanied by a DVD of Elvis Presley performing at some major concert, before rigging up for what looked like "war". We decided to head out for an afternoon session to familiarize ourselves with the area as well as our tackle setup. We would be targeting these silver kings, a.k.a. tarpon, in various different areas ranging from channels, lagoons and rivers, to even some flood plains. In a weird way it felt like I was back on the Zambezi river in Africa with  a lot of similarities, but the one thing that stood out was how breathtakingly green and lush the river bank was, overgrown with mangroves, over-hanging palm trees and massive mahogany trees. The birdlife was something to behold.

We started our fishing in an area better known as The Big River. This river is probably about 200m wide with an average depth of around 25-30ft. A 450-grain Rio Leviathan sinking line was my first choice. I was very happy and in my element casting at the riverbank, taking in the scenery, when suddenly a silver shape rolled next to the boat. The best way to describe the experience is to compare it to dolphin watching from aboard a boat, only this was my first sighting ever of a live tarpon. I expected them to be big, but dear lord, that fish was gigantic! I have to admit: I felt a slight nervous twitch in my leg after seeing that fish. 

After about half an hour of non-stop blind casting I had a flash on my fly and once again the twitch in my leg made an appearance. About ten casts later I had a solid pull as my 4/0 purple & black shrimp pattern hit the water. My guide, Marco, advised me to speed up the retrieve and all of a sudden it felt like I had hooked into a freight train. All hell broke loose while trying to set the hook as hard as I could, trusting my tackle and preparation. It was not two seconds later when the fish cleared the water with a jump of about 10ft high. At that moment everything else disappeared. It was just the fish and I. I couldn't stop laughing out loud, unable to believe I was hooked up with my first ever tarpon. It was just ridiculously thrilling! After a strong fight we got the fish to hand, a beautiful fish of about 50lb. Stoked is an understatement! 

The next couple of days were spent fishing various different areas trying to locate the really big ones. Not losing focus on why we were here; we were looking for that elusive 200lb tarpon for my friend. Fishing in the jungle is not easy. You work your butt off every day, bling casting from 4am until 7pm with an optional lunch or rather, rum break, in between. Long casts are being bombed out on the 12wt’s which is probably the reason why a complimentary anti-inflammatory pill was also eagerly accepted after lunch daily.

Sunday 17 April 2016 – an unforgettable day… We started the day off like all previous days, leaving camp at just after 4am, heading to an area at the mouth of the Big River where we spotted some huge fish rolling the previous afternoon. The water was like a mirror reflecting the early peach-colored sky with a layer of smog hanging low over its surface. The stage was set and now it was time for the actors to show up. Our guide, Marco, told us that we had to stick around that area as we were getting glimpses of the fish we were looking for, big silver fish shapes rolling all over the place! At around 10am my Belarusian friend finally went tight with what looked like a giant fish. The monster cleared the water and everybody went dumb struck as the fish showed herself for the first time. After a serious 45min tug of war, with loads of jumps in between, we finally got the fish to hand. It was our first fish over 100lbs, it would probably weigh in at around 130-140lbs. What a start to the day! After regaining our composure we decided to do the same drift and on my first drop my reel screamed off. I was setting the hook as hard as I could while my line on the reel was fast disappearing. The fish cleared the water the first time probably about 200m away and once again we could make out that it was huge. After a similar fight to the first fish, we finally got her, my personal best and fish of a life time, approximately 150lb this time round. Swimming along with her in the water, carefully reviving her to make sure she swims off strongly, was a very special and almost spiritual experience that I will treasure forever.

After watching this immaculate fish swim off, we took a moment to just slow down and take in what had happened in the last hour. The fishing gods were kind to us and rewarded us for our hard work. What a special moment! We headed back for a quick lunch at the lodge, enjoying a welcome break from the ruthless sun, and also yet another fantastic lobster lunch. Around 1pm we were ready to shoot back out and continue fishing the same area. It didn’t take long before Vadim’s line shot through his fingers when he suddenly hooked up with The One. The fish only made one jump, which was enough to confirm that this was his dream fish. 

He fought it like a true champion, relying on his tackle and pulling the fish as hard as he possibly could with fly gear. Forty five minutes later we jumped into the water with this silver body. Not many words were spoken at that point; again we overwhelmed by the beauty of the whole experience! Vadim’s dream became reality, he finally landed a fish well over the 200lb mark. Marco took the measurements and confirmed that the fish would be around 230lb. A true “monster fish of a lifetime”.  

In the end, we realized that even after our massive success with The Big Ones, this would have been an awesome trip even if we didn’t get that one humongous fish we were after. But we did, and we got more than one of those special fish. For me it was once again about the entire package, from the people who helped making this possible to the ones who in practice made everything happen, doing it in great style, always smiling. Even Randy singing along with his Elvis tracks. Every one of them played an unforgettable part in this memorable week of fishing deep in the Nicaraguan jungle. (Never to forget over indulging on fresh shrimp tempura or local lobster every day, washed down with generous amounts of rum.)

On my last day in the jungle, the famous words of Arnold Schwarzenegger came to mind, either as a promise or a challenge: “I’ll be back!”