Text and photos by Mary L. Peachin
Vol. 13. No. 3
Exploding out of the water, the 200 pound tarpon ran and jumped as night began to fall.
“This is extreme fishing. You’ll be fighting tarpon deep in heart of the Nicaraguan jungle,” La Esquina del Lago fishing lodge owner Philippe Tisseaux told us. Tarpon, larger than a hundred, some two hundred pounds (right!) will be jumping within sight of the twenty three foot panga, but skill and luck are required to catch them.
Philippe thinks Rio San Juan tarpon fishing is the ultimate challenge, but one for experienced and patient anglers.” Or, as Brian O’ Connor of Corolla, North Carolina more pointedly argued, “it’s a knock-down dragged-out brawl with the tarpon controlling you.”
Pioneering in San Carlos seven years ago, in 2003, Philippe bought a corner of land edged by Lake Nicaragua (Lago Cocibolca), Rio San Juan, and Rio Frio and built La Esquina del Lago, which translates to “corner.”