Belize Recap 2006

“What Could Have Been”

The air rates were all over the charts this year.  So we settled for TACA air.  For those of you who have not flown TACA before, it’s a long flight down to El Salvador with a short hop to Belize City.  After arriving in Belize City on time we were transferred to Tropic Air and in Placencia by noon.  This was the best part of our first day’s journey; food, rest and getting gear ready for the next six days of fishing.  Our guides meet us for dinner at 7:00 pm; it was like a reunion of old friends, since most of the group had been with me on previous trips. 

We were awakened to strong winds, so we met our guides at the lagoon launch area.  It’s a little more of a walk but a lot easier place to get in and out of the boats.  All the boats headed in all directions, some braved the wind and headed out to the flats while others stayed in the lagoon.  My partner, George (82 years of age), was a little tired today so we stayed in the lagoon and fished for tarpon.  George did get one to grab but that’s was all of the action that he would see for the day.  Ron and Jim had a great introduction to flats fishing with Kurt as their guide.  Roger and John caught lots of small snook on poppers, while Dan and Willie went permit hunting.

Wind again so we went back to the lagoon.  We worked a small group of tarpon where George got another solid grab but didn’t connect.  It was my turn on the deck and I got a solid hook set on a small 10 lb tarpon.  After several jumps I had the fish to the boat, I was encouraging George to get up and make some casts while the fish were still rolling when the tarpon ran under the boat.  Guess what, the leader scraped the bottom of the boat and off went the tarpon.  The tarpon were still rolling in the area so we stayed around for quite a while.  With all of the activity around us, you would have thought that we could manage to get at least a few grabs, but we didn’t.  Off to some permit flats.  With the tide coming in we found lots of permit working the mud flats but the wind and occasional cloud cover was giving us trouble getting close to the fish.  Around noon we found a very active feeding permit and Bruce (our guide) worked the boat to within casting range.  As I started to make the cast, the sky darkened so Bruce backed the boat away from the fish.  As the sun reappeared, the permit started tailing again, so Bruce moved the boat back into casting range, before I could make the cast, dark sky again.  Over the next fifteen or twenty minutes we would do the same thing until I could get a good shot at the permit with the sun on the water.  Bruce moved the boat again into casting range, I put the crab about a foot away from the permit, he turned on the crab, the tail went up and FISH ON!  If you have never seen this before, it is absolutely amazing, watching the permit tail on your fly.  After a good battle, I managed to get the permit to the boat, a very nice fish about 10 lbs.  If I would have landed the tarpon earlier in the morning, I would have been two-thirds of a “grand slam”.  But it was not to be this day.  John and Roger had an excellent day in the lagoon scoring on tarpon and snook.  The rest of the guys worked the flats, caught some jacks and other species of fish but no permit.

Ron and Jim with Kurt as their guide worked a good bonefish flat.  Ron managed to hook three good bonefish and Jim, new to the fly fishing world, landed his first bonefish.  John and Roger landed more snook and three tarpon with lots more lost.  The rest of the group worked the flats for permit, lots of casts at tailing fish but no takers.

It was cloudy with scattered showers early in the morning; a welcomed sight knowing that the tarpon in the lagoon would be very active.  Sure enough, George hooked three very nice tarpon but only managed to land one snook about 6 lbs.  We all had excellent shots at active permit on the mud flats and are still questioning why no hook-ups.  But that is permit fishing.  John and Roger again hooked a lot of tarpon today but didn’t get many to the boat.  I did manage to hook one 10 lb jack on the mud flat; it was almost too much for George’s 8 wt fly rod.  George wasn’t feeling good so we made it an early day.

The team of Dan and Willie and George and I changed guides today.  Unfortunately George was again not feeling well so he stayed at the hotel.  Ivan and I headed out to his favorite permit area.  We must have seen 40 to 50 tailing permit on the flats.  Dan landed his first tarpon in Belize; needless to say he was quite excited.  Willie stuck one but lost it one the second jump.  This is an experience that Willie can still remember from last year.  He was bound and determined to go home with at least one tarpon under his belt, but not today.  Ron and Jim were excited that they landed more bonefish today and lots of other species.  Same old story from the two old pros, John and Roger, more tarpon and more snook in the lagoon.

Our last fishing day; George was feeling better so we headed out with Ivan to a good location on the flats where there were lots of tarpon.  George hooked three tarpon; one very nice fish about 40 lbs. but none to the boat.  Willie finally landed his first tarpon in Belize.  Dan and their guide gave Willie lots of encouragement and instructions as the battle raged until they finally got the fish to the boat.  Needless to say, Willie was very happy!  Dan did get one more tarpon to the boat.  Ron and Jim both hooked tarpon.  Ron landing his first tarpon and was amazed at just how hard they can fight.  Jim hooked his first tarpon but it was short lived experience.  Jim had such an excellent introduction to flats fishing, he said “I’ll be back next year and I’ll be a better caster”.

We always finish the trip with a dinner with all of the guides.  It’s a good way to say good-bye to our new found friends and an enjoyable way to spend the evening talking about what could have been.  The guides usually do some ribbing and tell a few stories about the anglers. Thanks to Ruth for the excellent Belizean dinner that she prepared for all of us.

Thanks to the guides that made for another excellent trip to Belize; Bruce, Earl, Ivan and Kurt.  And the anglers that made the trip; Dan McDaniel, Roger Case, John Waldum, Ron Bergstrom, Jim Mueller, George and Willie Tsusaki.