I am heading down to Cuba at the end of the week and wondering if I modify my pike set up, will it work for Tarpon in the small rivers.  Probably 10-30lbs tarpon.

I have a Shimano Compre 7' rod, medium/heavy and fast action.  It has an Abu Ambassador 6500c3 reel on it.  Was thinking of responding it with 30lb braid and 60lb leader.

I am thinking that's this would work but looking for advice.

Where are you fishing at that you plan to only be fishing for 10-30 pound tarpon. These are regularly caught in the 150-200 range. What weight class is your rod? Given your reel choice I assume something in the 10-20 or 15-30 range? If so you are pretty well off for the smaller ones. The larger ones you are going to want more drag, more line capacity, as well as at least a 50lbs braid/80lbs leader. Are you fishing from the bank or boat. If its a boat you have better odds as you can run them down or let them pull the boat so to speak. From the shore its all about line capacity.

There is a place in Cuba with a River tributary that guys are catching just small ones.  I talked to a guy that fly fished it.  He said the guide can put you on 10-30lb tarpon.  Most of the fishing is done on the fly but I don't fly fish.

use a Flourocarbon leader and you will be fine, baby tarpon are fun

There are thousands of places in Florida you can target baby tarpon, nearly exclusively

That was my plan.  Fluorocarbon heavy leader with 30lb braid for the rest.  I think the road has enough backbone and the real should be enough.

I have caught several on a similar rod, you will have a lot of fun.

That will do just fine.

Bring good hooks. I usually use Owner mutu light or SSW circle hooks of an appropriate size for your bait and targeted fish. A tarpons mouth is a tough place for a hook to set.

ETA: just saw the date. Hope your trip is going well. Let's have a fishing report when you get back

Owner Mutus are awesome hooks

My hookup rate on everything jumped big time when I started using owner hooks across the board, but especially on tarpon and sharks. Worth every penny

Just got back yesterday.  It was only a day of fishing with my 12 year old boy.  Rest of the time was spent at resort or checking out other stuff.  It was a bit of an adventure.  Started without booking through a tour company, just a contact phone number from a guy on a fishing forum.  Hired a Amish speaking taxi driver to drive us to the south side of the country, about an hour an half drive.  Once I got the driver to talk to the guide, we actually got on the right path!

Rio Hatiguanico was the place.  It is a small tributary river that flows out to the ocean and starts from a chanel that the Spanish dug a few years back.   It is located in a national park that is mainly swamp and has lots of flora and fauna to discover.  We traveled down the chanel, into the river on a small boat with a 40hp outboard.  The boat was probably 40 years old and 12' long.  We used spinning gear that the guide brought.  I went to grab my rod as we walked out the door and realized it was a one piece rod which wasn't going to work for air travel.  We used both rapalas and large jigs with flies tied on to them.  We had hits several times but couldn't set the hook or we set the hook and the first jump the hook was spit out.  The boy did better than I actually setting the hook.

We caught a few smaller ones in the 10-115lb range.  We then had lunch under the mangrove trees for a break from the heat.  After lunch we decided to troll for them using rapalas.  1-4' divers.  Something I would consider to use for Muskie or pike fishing.  We hooked up a few times and lots of double headers.  We would go back and jig a spot if we had hits while trolling.  The fish were jumping all over the river.  I tied into a 25 lbs fish and landed it.  Fought way harder than I expected.  The kid ended up hooking onto a 45-50 lbs fish.  What a fight for the boy.  He fought that fish for about 25-30 minutes.  He ended up breaking the rod after the fish took off under the boat. The kid could barely hold onto the rod by the edge of the boat as the fish swam hard.  The kid eventually got the fish back to the side of the boat with the broken rod.  He got it up and it was a handful for him but his smile was as big as the fish!

All in all a great day of fishing.  Looking at learning how to fly fish so we can go back down for bonefish.

10-115 lbs is quite a range there, glad you had fun.

Here's the kids big fish.  Happy face!

awesome memories!

Man thats freakin awesome. Good stuff