Catching my first IGFA Super Grand Slam at Cuba’s legendary Jardinas de la Reina fishery on May 25, 2009 ranks as one of the best and most unforgettable days of my life.
High-fiving my guide Bemba as we laughed and shared a couple of icy Crystal beers on that golden afternoon is a very fond memory. That day, we’d finally added the elusive snook to the permit, bonefish and tarpon we’d managed earlier, and thus we had achieved something that nobody had ever documented in nearly twenty years of fly fishing at Jardinas de la Reina.
The following year, seeing Bemba’s proud, beaming face when I handed him a framed copy of the IGFA Super Grand Slam certificate was almost as big a thrill as the catches themselves. The IGFA gold embossed logoed certificate now holds a place of pride on the wall in his home.
I’ve since managed two more Caribbean-based Super Grand Slams and a dozen Grand Slams, including three double permit slams, and even the most wizened old veteran guides always look thrilled when we manage to get it done. Guides live to catch grand slams!
Catching a Slam lets a guide really show his mettle. It brings his knowledge of the area and the tides on any given day into sharp focus, and many of my favorite guides are really galvanized by the challenge. It’s just as difficult for them as it is for the angler.
Catching a Slam is also a great test of your own various skill sets. So, you’ve caught your permit but can you feather that little toad fly down in front of that big laid-up tarpon with a twelve-weight rod? Can you side-arm that deceiver right under the mangroves and tease out that big snook? Can you bring that tiny unweighted shrimp pattern down gently in front of that nervous bonefish cruising in 6-inches of water, especially when the sun is sinking low and an IGFA Super Grand Slam completion hangs on it? After fishing a heavy crab pattern for permit, fishing for tarpon, snook and bonefish requires dramatic adjustments in your presentation and this is what makes what I think “slamming” truly special.
Catching a Slam is a real achievement but with good preparation it’s eminently achievable. The golden rule is be prepared with the tackle, flies and most importantly the focus required to catch each of your targets. Remember, this must all must be done per IGFA International Angling Rules.
Catching any three of these species in a day in accordance with IGFA International Angling Rules constitutes an Inshore Grand Slam, catching any four in a day constitutes an Inshore Super Grand Slam and catching any five in a day constitutes an Inshore Fantasy Slam. Catching all 13 species during the course of a lifetime earns an angler the Inshore Royal Slam!
Some places give you a realistic chance of an Inshore Super Grand Slam or even the ultra-rare and much-coveted Fantasy Slam. If you’ve set your heart on a slam, think about which location gives you the best chance. Here are a few ideas to get you started thinking of your own slam quest.
The inshore fishery in Bahia Solana on the Pacific coast of Colombia is in its infancy, but it offers roosters, Pacific snook, tarpon (YES!, that have entered the Pacific through the Panama Canal) and big cubera snapper. Additionally Panama’s Tropic Star Lodge provides similar inshore exploits with the same species. Imagine catching all four of those in a day!
In the remote Western Seychelles, Providence is just one of a few wonderful destinations that can offer the chance of a Fantasy Slam consisting of a giant trevally, bluefin trevally, milkfish, bonefish and even a snubnose pompano (the coveted Indo-Pacific permit). That’s another potentially long but eminently possible and massively rewarding day.
Wherever you choose to target your Slam, respect the fish and don’t treat them as a commodity in the race to get it done. The IGFA Inshore Slam doesn’t require you to weigh fish, so photograph them quickly and safely before returning them to the water unharmed.
Make sure you’re familiar with the IGFA’s International Angling Rules for fly and conventional gear. Get to know the very best and strongest knots - Lefty’s non-slip loop, the improved Homer Rhodes and the slim beauty cover most of the bases for me and are super strong and reliable when properly tied.
While nearly angler loves the thrill of a giant fish on the end of their line, it actually makes sense to target smaller specimens when fishing for the brutes like GTs, tarpon and cubera snapper, as time is everything when aiming for a Slam. That said, a slam featuring big fish of each species makes it all the more special.