Belize Recap 2004

Despite a long travel delay we made it Belize and had some fantastic fishing.

I like taking the red-eye flight out of SFO that was we can get to Placencia around noon the next day.  This gives us time to relax, get our gear in order, have a good dinner and get to bed early for the next six (6) days of fishing.

After our long anticipated trip, we boarded our flight from SFO to Houston TX.  We were on time when we landed in Houston and had about 2 hour wait for our connecting flight, so we grabbed a cup of coffee and a light breakfast.  Our connecting flight that was coming from New Orleans had been delayed because of some weather related problems but it was expected to arrive on time.  As the minutes slipped to hours we realized that we were not going to make it to Belize as scheduled.  We could see a big storm south and west of us, our hopes to depart before the storm ascended on the airport were diminishing by the minute.  I have never in my life seen rain and lighting like this.  Finally the weather cleared, we were now about 6 hours behind schedule.  At 3:30 pm we finally boarded the plane, we were hoping to make the last flight out of Belize City.  But that was short lived as we headed east to get around the storm.  There was a lot of confusion in the terminal at Belize City, my old friend Margie was waiting for me and had arranged transportation to Placencia for us.  I made one more call to Bruce in Placencia so that he would know that we had finally arrived.  It was a long bumpy drive down the coast road to Placencia.  We didn’t arrive until 10:30 pm.  Doobie had been waiting for us since noon; he was in charge of moving all of our luggage to the beach cabin.  Bruce was waiting for us too; we had decided to make a little later start the next day so we could get some rest.  We finally got to bed around 12:30 am.

The next morning our guides were waiting for us on the beach 25 feet from our cabins.    We all headed out in different directions and would not see one another until we got back that evening.  Everybody had some good shots at permit but no hook-ups.  We were still feeling the effects of our long travel day so were all in bed early that evening.

Day Two – The hot guide for the past couple of weeks was Ivan and he showed why this day!  After George and I had returned from fishing, I went to the store while George was cleaning his gear.  Walking back from the store I ran into Willie, he was eating an ice cream, when I approached him I could see that he had a little grin and I asked him how did you do; he said “I caught a permit”.  I couldn’t believe it; you have to realize that Willie at 78 years young has failing eye sight but does have good casting skills.  I was so happy for him and his guide Ivan.  That wasn’t the only success for the day, John and Roger had hooked 20 tarpon, landing 5 and several snook. 

Day Three – George caught several nice bonefish and tried very hard to get his permit but it just wasn’t going to happen.  John R. landed his first tarpon and George B. landed one too.  The team of John and Roger had another good day catching tarpon.  Willie and James were up to their usual selves catching lots of bonefish and hunting for more permit.

Day Four – It was raining very hard when we got up the next morning but Bruce still picked up George B. and John R. at 5 am.  We all new where they were heading, back to catch a few tarpon.  Sure enough, John landed one tarpon and they headed out to catch the tide on the flats.  John R. hooked his first permit but it broke him off in the coral.  If you aren’t counting that was two thirds of a “Grand Slam”.  George B. hooked and landed his first permit on the trip.  James hooked two tarpon, landing one.  While John W. and Roger had another good day with tarpon and snook.

Day Five – It was a windy morning but we all headed out to the flats.  Once you are out on the reef, the wind lays down since it is protected by the many surrounding islands.  George T. again had many good shots at permit.  I really feel sorry for George; he wanted to catch a permit so bad he could taste it.  He is 80 years young and like his brother has failing eye sight.  Even for us who have good eye sight, catching permit is no easy task since you also need to make an accurate cast and have some cooperation from the permit.  Every body had good shots but no connections today.

Day Six – Our final day of fishing.  I could tell that there something wrong with George B. when he came out of his cabin.  He slowly walked out to boat, climbed in and off they went.  It wasn’t until we got back that evening that I found out what was going on.  By mistake George had taken several sleeping pills instead of his regular medication that morning.  He spent most of the morning sleeping it off.  Despite that he managed to hook and land one tarpon and did manage to hook one more permit but it was lost in the coral.  John W. and Roger had some great shots at permit.  James and Willie went outside the reef and got into a school of black fin tuna, they landed 10.  If you have never caught these bullets, they can give you quite a ride on your fly rod.   

It was our last night in town and I had the guides meet us for dinner at Cozy Corners.  We all had a traditional Belizean dinner, stewed chicken and rice.  It is one of my favorites.  After dinner we said our good byes to our friends and look forward to our return next year.

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