Belize 2005

“The Grand Slam”

We were just days away from our Belize trip when I received a call from Carolyn in Placencia.  She said, “Al you have no rooms at the Tradewinds”.  At first I thought she was joking, but she was not!  Some how our booking was not confirmed and the Tradewinds was already booked.  This was serious, no rooms and the town was full.  She gave me some options as to what was available.  She said “Evan’s Place, still had rooms so we booked it right away.  I notified the group that we were changing locations, no one seemed to mind but since most of them were returning anglers, they knew what to expect at the Tradewinds but not at “Evan’s Place”.

The trip down couldn’t have been better.  Margie was waiting for us at the airport when we arrived and made sure that we were connected to Tropic Air flight to Placencia as scheduled.  Cornell was waiting for us at the Placencia airport and would transport us to “Evan’s Place”.  As planned Doobie was waiting for us, he would move all of our luggage to the hotel.  Wow!  “Evan’s Place”, was fantastic, large clean rooms with a/c.  What a treat.  And it was just a few feet from Cozy Corners Restaurant and the beach.  That night I had arranged for all of the guides to meet us at Cozy’s, so we could all talk about the next six days of fishing.

Sunday – it was overcast in the morning with no wind and by 9 am it was hot!  My partner, Willie had excellent shots at permit but couldn’t make a long enough cast to get into them.  We went over to the bonefish flat and in a short time Willie landed 3.  Later, Willie got a grab on a tarpon, but didn’t get a hook set.  Randy hooked a permit on the second cast of the day but quickly lost it, he did land several bonefish, and Dan caught one bonefish and several jacks.  George and Bruce went south and made some good attempts at permit.  One of the guides didn’t show up, he was sick, so they were left that morning fishing the beach.  They caught lots of jacks and perch.

Monday – all of the guides were on time today.  John said it was the best permit fishing he has ever seen.  The baitfish were plentiful this year so there were lots of jacks working the flats.  Willie hooked one a tarpon about 40+ lbs. the third jump it threw the hook.  He couldn’t believe the explosive power that a tarpon has, he was hooked and that is all he could talk about.  He wanted one more shot.  Dan and Randy had fun catching lots of different species in search of permit.  Again, George was looking for that one hungry permit.

Tuesday – Willie had many, many excellent shots at permit but for one reason or another it just didn’t happen.  All he could think about was the tarpon from yesterday.   We saw lots of big tarpon to 60+ lbs along the reef.  John and Roger caught snook, jacks, hooked some tarpon and made casts to permit, it was a full day.

Wednesday – Willie made a good cast to two tailing permit but they turned away.  The baitfish were concentrated on the deep water side of the islands and this is where the tarpon were hanging out.  We saw plenty of them and got a couple of grabs.  They weren’t aggressively taking the fly, just picking it up and dropping it just as fast. Randy landed his first permit today, must be beginners luck, since this was his first saltwater trip.  To Randy’s credit, he is an excellent caster.  John and Roger caught some very nice bonefish today.

Thursday – While John and Roger were snook fishing, a tarpon grabbed Roger’s popper, needless to say he was not expecting that, so it was a very short battle.  Randy hooked one tarpon but could not get a good hook set.  Willie was still hunting for that next tarpon.  When we returned George informed me that he had made a mistake on booking his return ticket and had to leave tomorrow.  I was on the phone to Margie in Belize City to make the change in flights.

Friday – George was good to try and fish but changed his mind since he needed to leave for the airport around 11 am.  We had lunch on one of the many islands that dot the coast of Belize, John and Roger were already there on the beach.  John’s guide told me about what had happened to them earlier.  I was shocked!  I walked over to John and asked if it was true, he said yes.  Until that point he hadn’t give it much thought that he was so close to a “Grand Slam”.  Earlier, John had hooked a good tarpon but lost it mid-way through the battle, he later landed a respectable bonefish and then a permit.  If he had only landed the tarpon!   I talked to his guide and asked if they were going back later, he said it was up to John and Roger.  We left in different directions so it wasn’t until we return that I got the final word.  Yes, a “Grand Slam” for John Waldum.  They went back later in the afternoon and he hooked four more tarpon, three of which he lost, the fourth was finally landed.

The “Grand Slam” is not an easy feat to pull of, everything has to be in your favor and that just doesn’t happen that often especially in Belize.  Congratulations to John and his guide who worked very hard to make it happen.

Looking forward to next year!