Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico trip report

[Garmin]

I had a great trip to Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico with my brother last week. We fished with Capt Francisco “Pochy” Rosario. We learned a ton of information by fishing with this guy. The transition from trout to tarpon is not easy, & there are several freshwater habits that become Tarpon losing mistakes. Mistake #1): the trout high stick #2) forgetting the strip set #3) palming the reel on Tarpon. Although we were warned, I think my brother and I managed make all 3 mistakes, but we still caught some fish. If you want to catch a Tarpon, Puerto Rico is the place to go. They are all over the place and are not transitory.
The Fishing in Cabo Rojo was very good and in a beautiful area. We fished for baby tarpon along mangrove lined lagoons, & cast to fish cruising in the shadows of boats and docks, and poled and drifted over a couple beautiful flats.
The highlight of the trip was sight casting to a couple of tarpon from the beach about 10 feet from the boat. These guys had their face in the sand and tails sticking out of the water like a couple of tailing redfish. We hooked 4 Tarpon in about an hour and grabbed the leader on 2. I lost one about 50 feet from the beach after palming the reel causing the shock tippet to abrade. Yeah, I won’t make that mistake again. We had an awesome trip. Puerto Rico is a beautiful island, the people are great and the Tarpon are always there. -Garmin
Here is a link to a short video I made about the the trip: http://gallery.mac.com/jww269#100080

[Gary Thompson]

Tarpon have got to be the coolest, bone fish are a great time.
But tarpon fling out of the water, WOW

[Brookie_Hunter]

I spent a few years in the Coast Guard patrolling the coast off Cabo Rojo mainly picking up illegal Dominican migrants being smuggled into Puerto Rico. The westside of Puerto Rico is really nice in many spots. The NW corner near Rincon and Aguadilla is a big surf mecca. Did you visit the village of Boqueron (just a short hop North of Cabo Rojo)? Boqueron is similar to what Key West was probably like in the 1950's and 60's. It's a neat little village with fun beach bars that overlook Bahia Boqueron. It's a popular vacation spot with Puerto Ricans. But not too many Gringos around at least at that time (early to mid 1990's).