Captain Gabi was awesome. Tarpon fishing is different then our past charters because essentially your putting out 5 rods with bait and waiting for the magic to happen. If a tarpon catches you have a 45 minute fight ahead of you. But if you don’t catch anything then it’s a lot of sitting around and talking in a beautiful setting. My advice is ask if rods can be dedicated to tarpon fishing and a couple for catching smaller things like barracuda or snappers. That’s what we ended up doing and it was best that way. If you are from out of town Pinones can seem intimidating but highly recommend eating at their food stalls and exploring the area.

Me and my 11yr old son had the opportunity June 2025 to go out with Miguel on a few trips.

Had a great time and caught lots of fish, including some trophies!

Miguel truly loves fishing and we had a blast fishing with him.  He is incredibly knowledgeable and skilled as a captain.  My son had a blast with Miguel and considers him his “bud”!  :)

If you are looking to experience Tarpon fishing I cant say enough good things about these guys.

We had some minor confusion with our booking and Backwater jumped through hoops and went above and beyound to get it straightened out.  Very professional and reputable outfit.

Thank you for taking us out!

My lady and I came to San Juan on a cruise and had a great time fishing with Alex while we were there.

He was great at answering questions, helping with my ladies’ bait and line, and most importantly, finding the fish.

He was great at handling the boat and putting you in a position to get strikes. We tried multiple spots and approaches to target the tarpon.

We enjoyed Alex’s casual approach and fun. He was super friendly and great at communicating what he saw in the water, as well as what he felt the fish were doing in terms of eating and where they would be moving to.

My boyfriend and I went fishing on our last day in Puerto Rico, and were lucky enough to have Captain Abi. He was so attentive, personable, helpful and even brought us lunch! He was totally fluent in English) my boyfriend is fluent but I speak no Spanish..) and was a great captain. We felt safe, educated and comfortable the whole time. Would highly recommend not only Backwater Tarpon & Snook Fishing but also to request Abi specifically. We will never forget our trip or Abi!

We caught one Tarpon (approx. 40 lbs), and a bunch of smalls (mangrove snappers and a poagie). The captain told us on the way out that the mornings in San Juan have been slow, which was certainly true in the beginning if the trip (we didn’t catch anything the first hour and a half). But then we moved spots and got lots of bites and reeled in a nice Tarpon!

The only trouble we had was finding the location as the marina gate was closed when we arrived and nobody was around to let us in. I had to get out and open the gate myself and then someone did show up to tell us where to park.

The captain was fantastic! Patient with us first time anglers, very personable, and gave us tips not just about fishing but where to go for meals, nightlife, etc.! I would recommend this captain!!!