Melia Cayo Coco

A resort hotel for adults only set in beautiful spacious well-tended grounds and on a magnificent beach.

The Melia has a choice of rooms from garden views to lake frontage. All are spacious with air conditioning on either ground floor or first floor levels. There is a choice of excellent dining, 5 restaurants and 7 bars and we found the service very friendly and of a high standard throughout the resort. There is a large pool together with a small gym and sauna. Diving and fishing are the prime activities here. Bicycles can be rented by the hour or day for exploring. All food and drinks are included and Wi-Fi is available at a nominal cost. An excellent high quality good value hotel.

We preferred the road transfer between Havana in the northwest and Cayo Coca in the island northeast. It is a 7-hour trip but there is a lot to see en-route.

Fly Fishing: Clients must bring all their own tackle. We use Marlin Fly Fishing who have excellent guides. Their base is a 40 minute (cheap) taxi trip from the resort. The guides have an excellent knowledge of the many flats that offer relatively easy wading.

The season is November to June (July to September can be excessively hot with a possibility of hurricanes) and temperatures in winter average 25 degrees Celsius. April to June - both air and water temperatures rise quickly and this is prime season for both quality and quantity sport especially for bigger tarpon.

Tackle: 8 weight rod, saltwater reel with at least 200 yards of backing. Floating saltwater lines. (a 10 weight is advised only for the bigger tarpon).

Tippets: Bonefish, 12lb, 15lb and 20lb. 
Permit, 20lb, 30lb. 
Tarpon, 20lb, but with a short rubbing leader of 40 to 70lb.

Flies: (effective patterns tend to be larger here). 
Bonefish/Permit: Hook sizes, 4 and 6. Homer Shrimpson, Cuban Shrimp Tan, Bubber Shrimp, Gotcha in chartreuse. Grand Slam Tac crab, Grumby Crab Tan. 
Tarpon: Hook sizes 2, 1/0 (smaller stronger hooks give better hook-ups). Streamer patterns… Los Roques Minnow, Bunny Black Death (also purple), chartreuse, purple and black are effective also lure patterns in EP fibre. Clouser minnows. Also surface poppers including mouse patterns!

Check out www.fullingmill.co.uk for a good fly selection. Also available from all good tackle suppliers.