Cuba : Jardines de la Reina

  • Location
  • Jardines de la Reina Islands, southern Cuba
  • Type of fishery
  • Saltwater flats, fly fishing & spinning
  • Season
  • All year round, peak season March - July, hurricane season August to October
  • Accommodation
  • Various live-a-board options
  • Getting there
  • International flight to Havana, road and boat transfer to Jardines
  • Related articles
  • Cuban Crusades, Cuba, Cuba Uncovered

The Jardines de la Reina island chain in southern Cuba is one of the last truly great places on the planet for shallow water sight fishing to tarpon, permit, bonefish, jack crevalle and a host of other species. This is primarly a fly fishing destination, but light tackle spinning is welcome and successful. The operation, boats and guides are top class, making this truly is a spectacular fishing destination. As an added bonus, the area also boasts a 200km long bluewater dropoff that absolutely teams with big predatory fish. Massive Cubera Snapper, amberjack and jack crevalle await brave anglers along the steep coral walls!

With exclusive fishing rights to this area, and a number of live-a-board options, this amazing stretch of reefs, flats, channels and mangroves is yours to explore. The SCUBA diving here is superb, and anglers are welcome to combine fishing with diving.

The accommodation

There are a number of mobile live-a-board boats to chose from, allowing anglers to explore every inch of the fascinating system, and maximise their fishing time. All boats are spacious, have large comfortable cabins with en-suite bathrooms and are air conditioned. They operate in totally flat sheltered waters so you are not affected by ocean swell or poor weather. The crew are really friendly and incredibly helpful, and will cater to your every need.

The fishing

The live-a-board boats utilise Dolphin Super Skiffs with Stiffy 24 feet carbon poles & poling platforms. These are the finest flats skiffs in the world, and can run in a heavy chop yet pole along silently. They are super fast and can cover a lot of ground in a days fishing. All skiffs are equipped with all necessary safety equipment.

Most of the fishing takes place from the skiff, but there are plently of wadable flats and some excellent shallow water flyfishing for tailing bones. Tarpon (15 - 120lbs) are the main draw card here, but there are good numbers of really big permit, snapper, bonefish and jack crevalle. The local guides are very experienced and will consistently put you onto good fish. Two anglers per flats skiff and guide.

Most of the flats are within fifteen minutes of the boat. Guests can fish late into the evening if they like and there is never a daily gasoline limitation for the guides. Fishing weeks on board the boats run from Saturday to the following Friday.

There is much more to do and see, and we invite you to contact us for further info.