Weather Conditions: A cold front moved through but not causing too much trouble – water temperatures stabilizing in the high 70’s allowing fish to feel more comfortable.
Winds: 15-25 knts. E/SE, moved SE @ 25 knts. – moved N, then NE @ 20 knts.
Air Temperature: Low 80’s
Water Temperature: High 70’s
Moonphase: Moving to full on the 29th.
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONES: Some days were easier than others for Mr. Bonefish. Our tides are not huge, about 2 feet, but the bones really respond best with the incoming tide. One analogy would be looking at trout fishing when there is a hatch, vs. no hatch. Bonefish behavior is all about having things just right: An incoming tide bringing in food and water temperatures stabilized. For the angler – we need light to find the fish and the ability to get the cast there before the moment dissolves. Bonefishing in my mind is the quintessential saltwater fish. Fly or spin…they will make you giggle every time. How much fun is it to have it all come together and then feel that reel spin out with a bonefish moving through the water full throttle? I mention all of this because people wonder why bonefish don’t stay in one place…and why certain times of the day they seem to be more responsive. Sight fishing numbers will always be smaller than bones caught in a mudding situation. The guide will up your game as you progress. Several of our anglers this week were on that learning curve. 20 fish days went to 5 fish days, but with a lot more pride.
PERMIT: It is all about permit right now. When there is light and the tide is right…there are permit. And so it was for me this week, landing my first permit here at El Pescador Lodge! And did the casting gal lose it or what! But after a few deep breaths, and a few more desperate casts… I was connected. The day was a thrill - all three of us on the boat landed permit, the youngest guy being 14. His father is a deep sea guide. Dingo’s first comment after landing his 8 lb permit, “That beat the 58lb wahoo I landed any day!” Big smiles all around. Oh yeah, our guests Bill and Neil landed permit on fly too! More on Bill….
TARPON: A lot of “almost” this week! Tarpon grabbed and then things happened….as they can do. Tarpon from 40 – 60 lbs seen and targeted, 0 landed.
SNOOK: Mr. Snook happily stayed in the mangroves… not targeted.
JACKS: A few jacks were landed – one was about 15 lbs, and took an hour to get in! This is a great fish…not one to be included in a “grand slam” or “super grand slam,” but one that will kick your butt everytime!
FLIES THAT WORKED
FOR BONES- Christmas Island Specials size 8 and 6, Charlies and Gotchas. Tan, gold, sexy patterns. OK, we are using patterns tied on………circle hooks! Size 8. More on hooks…and hook setting….
FOR TARPON - Black Beauties and Grizzly Bunny’s, some Toad patterns as well.
FOR PERMIT - Orange and pink Christmas Island Specials size 4 stripped fast, and Merkins.
This Week’s Summary
Did I mention I landed my first permit since I arrived 5 months ago? Busy getting used to my new life here, I’ve been focused on projects and my bonefishing time in the lagoon. I knew that permit season would present itself, and it has. Maybe that is why I had such a bad case of “fish fever!” Standing on the bow of the ponga…and then seeing schools of permit…is something I knew was going to happen, I just didn’t know when. Just because I live here doesn’t mean that time out on the water is taken for granted. It is special every time! And speaking of “special” – all of us in camp this week marveled over our new buddy Bill. He was in a wheelchair for a couple of years and then worked really hard to gain back the ability to walk. Balance is an issue in the boat, so he used the cooler to sit on the bow for casting. What an inspiration for all of us. When he landed his permit his face beamed for at least 24hrs. We all have our dreams and fish goals…witnessing it all come together is a gift for us all.
Weather Conditions: Warm and mostly dry weather conditions prevailing with a few scattered showers. Sea State, choppy.
Winds: 15-25 knts. NE/E.
Air Temperature: Low 80’s
Water Temperature: High 70’s
Moonphase: Moving to new moon on the 14h.
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONES: All guests landing and tagging bonefish. We are seeing larger schools and a variety of size this week. Smallest landed, six inches. Largest landed, 29 inches. Morning tides – rising tide make for aggressive takes….And, we found out this week that our common bonefish grows slower than the same bonefish in the Florida Keys…So a 5 lb bonefish here is like catching a 9 lb bonefish in the Keys, and they would be the same age.
PERMIT: Eight permit landed this week. The most special permit being Cameron’s 14th birthday permit! How about that. Permit on fly took Christmas Island Specials in size 4, and pink crabs.
Live crabs – well, they teased up the bigger fish.
Two tarpon landed, almost every angler had stories of….bites, breakage, and tears.
TARPON: Two tarpon landed, almost every angler had stories of….bites, breakage, and tears.
SNOOK: Mr. Snook happily stayed in the mangroves… not targeted.
JACKS: Allen had some great jack fishing….2, 12-15 pounders….long fights on fly. Strong fish!
FLIES THAT WORKED
FOR BONES- Christmas Island Specials size 8 and 6, Charlies and Gotchas. Tan, gold, sexy patterns. Just don’t pull it out of their mouth with a super strip set. A slow steady strip will bring success. Finesse.
FOR TARPON - Black Beauties and Grizzly Bunny’s, some Toad patterns as well.
FOR PERMIT - Orange and pink Christmas Island Specials size 4 stripped fast, and Merkins.
This Week’s Summary
Landing a permit on your 14th birthday, fishing with your dad, having a ball. Cameron’s face was so lit up when I met him on the dock, I thought he was going to pop! Of course Emir was bouncing up and down as well. “You should have seen it Lori…big permit man!” And then there was Dino and Nicholas, another father son team. Nicholas learned how to cast from watching YouTube casting videos, and then he taught his father! Both avid anglers, we gave Dino full warning that his son may very well end up being a fishing guide somewhere – he is crazed. They both landed permit this week, but Dino won hands down for most drastic change in appearance. Something happened to him when he landed his permit. For the next few days, he was floating. I know that fish is going to stay with him for a very long time. I also know we will see him back here chasing permit! And then Tony & Alex, another father son team – six days of fishing with big adventure packed into 2 non fishing days. Tony thought it would be so hard to learn how to double haul – but then he nailed it. Alex was in charge of helping the younger children on the dock with their snapper fishing every evening before dinner. Those two had fly rods, spin rods, trolling rods…and they caught almost everything. Tony had a clean cut on his shock from a 60 lb tarpon…I told him it took me 32 tarpon before number 33 was landed. Things happen.
Weather Conditions: The week was dominated by wind, with just enough breaks to get the job done. Good tides and a new moon.
Winds: 25-35 knts. NE/E. Then moved Easterly 10-15
Air Temperature: Low 90’s
Water Temperature: High 70’s
Moonphase: New moon on the 14h.
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONES: We never take our bonefish for granted and God love them for one of the best angling fish in the salt! All of our anglers caught bonefish this week. Beginners as well as advanced anglers found big schools as well as larger bones tailing in skinny water. Disappointment in weather was forgotten when shimmering tails lit up the lee waters!
PERMIT: Tom showed up and landed his first ever permit, a dandy 8 pounder. Sean had total beginners luck, and on his second cast landed his first permit. The guides found schools of permit 5 to 20 lbs – some schools were really large, like a 100 permit swimming in a group. Most of the permit fishing was down by Cayo Congrejo, but Sean’s permit was in the Bacalar Chico Reserve – smaller permit, but prevalent.
TARPON: The water was blown out for most of the week on the tarpon flats. One tarpon landed, and nice 25 pounder from a small lagoon. Savannah had bites, but angler error kept them from the boat.
SNOOK: Mr. Snook seen….but not interested.
JACKS: 1 NICE jack landed this week on fly. Schools of jacks seen while permit fishing.
FLIES THAT WORKED
FOR BONES- Christmas Island Specials size 8 and 6, Charlies and Gotchas. Tan, gold, sexy patterns. Sexy patterns are flies that move so great in the water you just to have it!
FOR TARPON - Black Beauties and Grizzly Bunny’s, some chartreuse Toad patterns as well.
FOR PERMIT - Orange and pink Christmas Island Specials size 4 stripped fast. Also some gray crabs, size 4 – it’s all about the materials.
This Week’s Summary
People talk about luck a lot in fishing. As much as we practice our skills, I’ll take luck anytime! Challenging conditions brought out the best in our guests this week. The guides are thinking about sacrificing their fishing director to stop the wind….but they continue to find magic for people, and for that, I’m grateful. One of my most fun days….when Adam invited me to fish with him and Nesto. I asked Nesto if I could pole the flat, he let me, and then he let me drive his boat to check out tarpon fishing. What a blast. After running flats boats here and there in open water, I am now a true fan of our pongas. Incredible boats in big water with wind….Pretty funny to see Nesto in the front talking with Adam as I was driving around dodging big waves. Our favorite fishing days so often include these stories more often than big fish days. This was one to keep forever.
Weather Conditions: Even though it is a bit early, it looks like the “rainy season” is here! Words like…”sheets of rain, pouring buckets, we have a lagoon around our house, town is flooded.” Big rain, some breathers between storms, and then some really nice days!
Winds: 25-35 knts. NE/E. Then moved Easterly 10-15
Air Temperature: Low 90’s
Water Temperature: High 70’s, low 80’s, depends on sun.
Moonphase: Moving to full on the 27th.
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONES: It seems like as the moon moves closer to full, bonefish get pickier! They are also very sensitive to water temperature change. Good tides helped rainy conditions for finding the bones in lee water. Large schools seen, and we are consistently finding our “big bones” (which is 4 to 6 lbs), on the flats. All good news. All of our anglers landed several bonefish this week on fly and spin. Several bonefish tagged for “Bonefish Tarpon and Trust”…looks like our guide Luis is going to win the Temple Fork Rod for most bonefish tagged. Go Luis! Our goal is 2000 tagged for 2010.
PERMIT: We are all permit crazed this week. When we could see…we found permit. One permit on fly landed…..congrats Matt! Large schools, some big, some smaller in size. L-A had permit wading up North….they followed, but wouldn’t eat. Which I hate.
TARPON: Our legendary guide Carlos had anglers land a total of 4 tarpon this week. 3 on fly, one on spin. Amazing considering the weather. Good things happen to those that “seize the day.”
SNOOK: No reports this week.
JACKS: 1 NICE jack landed this week on fly. Schools of jacks seen while permit fishing.
FLIES THAT WORKED
FOR BONES- Christmas Island Specials size 8 and 6, Charlies and Gotchas. Tan, gold, sexy patterns. Sexy patterns are flies that move so great in the water you just to have it!
FOR TARPON - Yellow and small (thanks Dar for that fly….he just missed it on Savannah), Black Death and a secret pattern.
FOR PERMIT - Orange and pink Christmas Island Specials size 4 stripped fast. Also some gray crabs, size 4 – it’s all about the materials. Also, we strip a lot of flies for permit. It is the way the San Pedro guides do it, and it works! Shrimp patterns, size 4.
This Week’s Summary
When seasons change, it affects us and everything around us. Shifts in behavior…we find that we adjust to consider weather conditions for daily life. Here on the island, it will mean that I will plan on a shower sometime during the day. We were all thinking this was going to occur in June, but a sniff of rain - or in this case, it was sheets of rain, took all of us by surprise. The fact is, the rainy season is here….and with this time of year, we also have a lot of fish around. The San Pedro Dorado Tournament had several boats with dorado 20 to 25 lbs landed outside the reef. For those of us fishing the flats…large schools of bonefish, permit….and the migratory tarpon are slowly moving in as well. Anglers went out, got drenched, and found fish. Now we just need to find the balance between rain and fish…..the good news, you don’t get cold. Summer rain feels very different than rain in December. It represents a new season…our summer season. Fish will feel that and get happy too.
Weather Conditions: Big rain and stormy early week…like 1.5 inches of rain in 2 hrs…followed by the occasional thunderstorm, and then it got pretty.
Winds: ENE 10 mph with gusts 15 – 20 mph.
Air Temperature: Low 80’s
Air Temperature: Low 80’s
Water Temperature: High 70’s, low 80’s, depends on sun.
Moonphase: Moving to full on the 27th.
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONES: All of our angling guests were awarded bonefish pins this week. Kelly found one “special” bonefish – the first one she landed that she was able to see, and get the perfect cast. Yeah Homegirl! Definitely some really fun fishing up on the north beach from the lodge in the turtle grass – afternoon tides caught some of these really smart fish off guard. Size 8 circle hooks in the turtle grass….who knew? Kathleen landed several nice bones after not fishing the salt for six years. All smiles for Kath.
PERMIT: We are all still permit crazed. Bill IV landed a nice little permit, which got their fishing rolling for the week. Bill IV loves the permit and tarpon fishing here at El Pescador. He brought his father, Bill III here from the Keys to check it out. Bill III and Nesto immediately bonded…and their week ended with some amazing stories. More in the tarpon section. Some schools with 25 – 35 lb fish seen on the flats….they just missed the fly. Fish error. Kyle landed a nice permit, and Bill IV had to hear about it. Nice fish Kyle. Permit for Bob! Big fun with Sinoe…they saw permit everyday.
TARPON: The tarpon fishing was blown out the first part of the week, and then….here come the big girls. Fish up to 150 lbs rolling down by Long Caye. Bill III – had one on…witnessed by the angers close by so we know it was not a “fish story.” He also had an 80 lb fish eat….then Bill IV had one eat – line wrapped around the reel….then he had another one eat…line finds the smallest part of a Timex watch….watch is donated to the sea with some choice adjectives. Jason – Homeboy from Driggs, lands his first tarpon, about 25 lbs. Actually he landed two tarpon this week. This caused him to schedule out the rest of his vacation time with more time on the water. He and Kelly were a team with Cesar – great to see. And David? David fishing with his dad John…rocked it with an 80 lb fish on for an hour before the tarpon won.
SNOOK: No reports this week.
JACKS: A few NICE jacks landed this week on fly. Schools of jacks seen while permit fishing. They can be more aggressive and get to the fly before the permit….otherwise, they are a great fish! It’s just kinda tough when you are expecting a permit.
FLIES THAT WORKED
FOR BONES - Christmas Island Specials size 8 and 6, Charlies and Gotchas. Tan, gold, sexy patterns. Sexy patterns are flies that move so great in the water you just to have it!
FOR TARPON - Green Toads dominated this week. Grizzly Cockroach as well. 3/0.
FOR PERMIT - Orange and pink Christmas Island Specials size 4 stripped fast. Also some gray crabs, size 4 – it’s all about the materials. Also, we strip a lot of flies for permit. It is the way the San Pedro guides do it, and it works! Shrimp patterns, size 4.
This Week’s Summary
For me it was “old home week.” All the way from North Pole, Alaska…Kathleen and Bob have been fishing buddies for over twenty years. They have been in parent mode, but figured they better come see what the fishing was all about.
What fun! I know I will see them for more permit and tarpon fishing soon. What struck all of us in camp this week were the “father/son” teams. It just happened by chance that we had three father/son fishing partners this week. From all parts of the US, it was great for me to watch generations of fishing….sharing time on the water, what could be better? Well, no mercy some days. There were some amazing stories generated! Jason and Kelly from Driggs, Idaho….so lots of news from my old stomping grounds. Sounds like it is still winter there! It might be raining here, but the fish are in. Rolling tarpon, schools of permit, and feisty bonefish. I’m glad they decided to play for our anglers this week. They all deserve a ton of credit for dealing with rain…but the rewards were worth it, right? Thanks for the fun.
Weather Conditions: Warm and mostly dry weather throughout the week. Visibility was a challenge on some days due to partly cloudy skies. Showers were isolated, and short lived. Sea state was mixed, some days blowing, and one day was like you read about.
Winds: 10 – 20 knots.
Air Temperature: Low 90’s
Water Temperature: High 70’s, low 80’s, depends on sun.
Moonphase: Last quarter on the 4th.
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONES: Large schools of bones, and some big bones cruising alone. Mike and Katy caught their first bonefish on fly….a ton of them. Rick was here to celebrate 15 years of marriage, and happy about his bonefishing. Everyone caught bonefish – but the primary target this week was tarpon, so the bones did not get the glory they deserved.
PERMIT: Schools of permit up in Bacalar Chico Reserve; 5-20 lbs targeted. Also schools down south and close to home with larger fish up to 30 lbs. Lone permit witnessed over 50 lbs! Bottom line, a lot of permit in town. Angler and fish error persisted this week. The guides found them, but that is only part of the puzzle, right?
TARPON: One day was so perfect I grabbed Cesar and said, “let’s go!” Cesar is one of our younger super star guides – he loves to practice his cast, no matter which rod, with a giant tarpon fly. He also likes to show off, and cast the entire fly line both right and left handed. Anyway, there we were, with slow and happy tarpon eating green toads with total confidence. It was more than this gal could handle….pulled it out of 3 mouths! But those bites were priceless, and it just made me mad enough to make sure that doesn’t happen again anytime soon. That’s my intent anyway. On the dock, Bill W just smiled. The kind of smile that says it all. Tarpon landed early morning, several bites….and just the fix he needed to feel the love from his El Pescador family!
SNOOK: No reports this week.
JACKS: Were found schooled up, finning and chasing with reckless abandon. They usually caught most of the anglers off guard this week, thinking they had a tarpon or permit, but Mr. Jack showed up instead. All good. Jacks 12 to 15 lbs landed and not all released: “Dinner Call” for a few.
FLIES THAT WORKED
FOR BONES - Christmas Island Specials size 8 and 6, Charlies and Gotchas. Tan, gold, sexy patterns. Sexy patterns are flies that move so great in the water you just to have it! WEED GUARDS!
FOR TARPON - Green Toads dominated this week. Grizzly Cockroach as well. 3/0.
FOR PERMIT - Pink Crazie Charlies, Orange and pink Christmas Island Specials size 6 and 4 stripped fast. It is the way the San Pedro guides do it, and it works! Shrimp patterns, size 4.
This Week’s Summary It was a melancholy week for us at El Pescador. We lost a good friend, my predecessor, Bob Stevenson. There was a memorial for him in Placencia, and his friends and family were in town to celebrate his life. These poignant times weight on our hearts, and this is when fly fishing becomes religion. It is a time to connect with nature on a raw level and to listen to yourself as you send out each cast. Our lagoon system was “home” to Bob. His kayak and skilled hands tossed a fly out to several permit and bonefish in areas that revealed themselves to Bob. As I paddled my canoe out to his old stomping ground, now my new home, I thanked all the water and everything that lives in it for Bob. These waters hold big promises and broken hearts. Watching Bill fish in memory of his friend gave me goosebumps. You could hear friendship ring loudly with each cast. And each fish connected was a shared thank you.
Weather Conditions: We would really like the wind to lie down…variable conditions prevailed. Some sun, light clouds, short rain storms, and wind averaging 15 – 20 knts.
Winds: ENE 10 mph with gusts 15 – 20 mph. Then went SW @ 20 ( blew out the tarpon on those days) and returned to easterly about a steady 15.
Air Temperature: Low 90’s
Water Temperature: Low 80’s, depends on sun.
Moonphase: New moon on the 12th .
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONES: Really sensitive to that in-coming tide this week. Maybe due to the wind as well – which pushed a lot of water around. Anyway, bonefish save our day, but never to be taken for granted. All anglers awarded bonefish pins this week!
PERMIT: To Jerry Siem @ Sage...Dan landed a permit using the bluegill rod!
TARPON: John and Mark from “the flyfishingDVD.com” were here to hunt tarpon, and land them as well! These “down under” boys were 100% serious about making it happen. It did happen for Mark….John had, can we say several? On. Just the nicest guys, so we know they will be back to chase more tarpon. That’s how we get our good people back. And by the way, their DVDs are quality – great learning and a nice pace to fishing, so check them out. I had one tarpon eat 3 feet from the boat, but couldn’t believe it, so I missed. What? Gotta believe, right?
SNOOK: No reports this week.
JACKS: This is a regular pattern for us now…..A few NICE jacks landed this week on fly. Schools of jacks seen while permit fishing. They can be more aggressive and get to the fly before the permit….otherwise, they are a great fish! It’s just kinda tough when you are expecting a permit.
FLIES THAT WORKED
FOR BONES - Christmas Island Specials size 8 and 6, Charlies and Gotchas. Tan, gold, sexy patterns. Sexy patterns are flies that move so great in the water you just to have it!
FOR TARPON - Green Toads dominated this week. Grizzly Cockroach as well. 3/0.
FOR PERMIT - Orange and pink Christmas Island Specials size 4 stripped fast. Also some gray crabs, size 4 – it’s all about the materials. Also, we strip a lot of flies for permit. It is the way the San Pedro guides do it, and it works! Shrimp patterns, size 4.
This Week’s Summary Part of my everyday life here at El Pescador is to ask people about their fishing day. I just want to know what they saw, and hopefully had a big fun time. I also hold my breath for words that tell me that someone’s dream fish happened….and that happened for Aussie guide, Mark Bargenquast. And maybe because he is a guide – to me he so deserves a fish from the front of the boat! And then my own tarpon fishing this week…I felt myself slow down, and watched as flies landed where I wanted them to – that is always a good thing, but more importantly, I felt myself get in tune with our under water friends – feeling their mood in the water, anticipating behavior. Our fishing is often such a reflection of our own moods and behavior. My mentor, Diana Rudolph, tells me to pretend I’m fishing in jello. I hate jello, but I get it. So when the wind is howling, we breathe a little deeper, face the wind, and slow down. Leaders will turn over, and bites happen, so hold on.
Weather Conditions: Variable conditions. We saw sunny days with isolated rain showers.
Winds: E 10 mph with gusts 15 – 20 mph. Then went ESE @ 20 and returned to easterly about a steady 15.
Air Temperature: Low 90’s
Water Temperature: Low 80’s
Moonphase: First quarter moon on the 19th.
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONES: Over 300 bonefish landed this week! Many of these fish came from giant muds as well as sight fishing to large schools of 2 lb fish. Bigger fish, or “lone bones” were caught up to 5 lbs.
PERMIT: One landed on spin. Several chases on fly…some hook-ups and some adjectives.
TARPON: One landed on spin, congratulations Hunter! Several “almosts” on fly.
SNOOK: No reports this week.
JACKS: We basically lost count of the number of jacks caught this week. These jacks also fed a few guests who wanted to dine on their “catch.” What a ton of fun these fish provide on the end of any line!
FLIES THAT WORKED
FOR BONES - Crazie Charlies in pink, size 6. It’s pink over orange right now. Tan and gold flies working as well. Weed guards!
FOR TARPON - Green Toads, Black Death, and some deadly new patterns…3/0. Circle hooks, J hooks, it is up to the angler. Beginners chasing tarpon on fly have more success on circle hooks because you don’t set the hook like you do with a J hook. 60 and 80 lb shock. The tarpon down by Long Caye are flat out beautiful right now. Big girls rolling, or moving slowly across the flat…just one shot…make it happen!
FOR PERMIT - Orange and pink Christmas Island Specials size 4 stripped fast. Also some gray crabs, size 4 – it’s all about the materials. Also, we strip a lot of flies for permit. It is the way the San Pedro guides do it, and it works! Shrimp patterns, size 4.
This Week’s Summary We had a group of 18 anglers for Reilly’s “Father and Son Fishing Tournament.” What a blast. Watching the level of confidence rise each day as family-paired boats went out in search of fish and finding who knows what. The group landed approximately 300 bonefish, and a total of 1000 various species of fish in 3 days of fishing. Wind, a little rain, sun…they left the dock each morning and returned with amazing stories. Awards were flying and no sore losers. Thanks you guys!
James and Mike from Scotland chased tarpon all week…Mark landed his, James jumped a few. It can be challenging to get rise out of James, but when he smiles, it is priceless!
All the players are in town, Mr. Bonefish, Mr. Permit and Mr. Tarpon…and it is still all about hunting and those split second moments…where it feels like time is suspended.
Weather Conditions: Tropical Storm Alex came through early in the week, followed by partly cloudy skies clearing more as the week went on.
Winds: Alex held 50-60 mph winds , a day of light winds , then it kicked up over 20 mph from the NE which gradually wound down to 5 mph by the end of the week.
Air Temperature: Low 90’s
Water Temperature: Low 80’s
Moonphase: The week ended on the last quarter
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONES: Large schools of small bonefish and a few bigger fish were landed, the biggest of the week around 5 lbs.
PERMIT: One nice 15 pounder landed on spin ( go Brandon!). Several follows on fly…a couple hook-ups and the 3, 3-8 pound permit on the 4th when the winds finally laid down.
TARPON: Two fish to the boat a few more were jumped thanks to Jay just after storm Alex. The tarpon were shut down for a couple of days of the big winds with just a couple fish hooked. July 4th’ s favorable winds sparked a great tarpon day with 5 boats landing tarpon, most between 60 and 80 pounds.
SNOOK: A few shots but nothing made it to the boat.
OTHER: Jacks of all sizes were reported, Lots of Barracuda with some 15-25 pounders landed on spin gear/
FLIES THAT WORKED
FOR BONES - Crazie Charlies in pink, size 6. Christmas Island Specials size 6. Weed guards are nice on the grass flats in front of the lodge!
FOR TARPON - Chartreuse Toads
FOR PERMIT - The guides love Christmas Island Specials size 4 stripped fast!!
This Week’s Summary Congratulations to Charles R. who ended the week with a grand slam!!! Although it was a tough week with Alex and then that nasty NE wind, our Franks group from Illinois kept their spirits high with bonefish, barracuda, snappers and jacks despite the tough fishing. Their tarpon patience paid off as the weather improved with every boat coming back with stories and pictures. It was nice to have several family trips this week with some youngsters (and oldsters) experiencing their first bonefish on the fly. Return Guest Jay kept tarpon hopes alive with some Savannah Flats tarpon action.
Weather Conditions: Tropical waves continued to pass through our area creating interesting weather conditions. Each day would have a variety of weather. Bright sun for a while, then a quick shower, more bight sun, more showers with some heavy rain at times. Lots of Rainbows were on the horizon.
Winds: In general winds were about 5 mph unless you found yourself in one of the isolated squalls that came through. These short periods had some heavy winds while the rain storm passed by but was followed by dead calm at times.
Air Temperature: High 80’s
Water Temperature: Low 80’s
Moonphase: The week ended on the quarter moon.
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONES: Everyone was catching bonefish! The biggest of the week was around 4 pounds caught by Jenn Parker
PERMIT: Several boats landed permit in the 4-8 pound range, with one 20 pound fish early in the week.
TARPON: Tarpon made a comeback, although landing one seemed to be a tough task with most fish receiving an early release. The sizes ranged from 20- 100 pounds.
SNOOK: No snook were reported.
OTHER: Jacks, barracudas, snappers were all caught as a few days were devoted to these alternative but fun species.
FLIES THAT WORKED
FOR BONES - Christmas Island Specials size 6, Spawning shrimp size 6
FOR TARPON - Chartreuse or Purple Toads, Back Death, Deceivers
FOR PERMIT - Christmas Island Specials size 6, 4, Spawning shrimp size 6
This Week’s Summary Congratulations to both Jesse & Courtney G. and Rich and Elizabeth S. These two couples chose to spend the honeymoon with us. Courtney and Jesse tag-teamed a 100-pound tarpon to the boat for the biggest fish this month so far. Rich was shooting for a honeymoon slam (a new category the couples invented where you have the whole honeymoon to land the 3 species). It was a pleasure to share the first married days with both couples.
The bone fishing was so consistent that a couple guests on their first flats adventure caught enough bonefish to satisfy them and they decided to searching for permit and tarpon. A few of them hooked tarpon, but none came to the boat. Permit seemed to be more fickle this week with only a few fish to the boat. Some large schools of permit were found, but not many were fooled this week. One exception was a 20 pound permit landed by Andy C, the rest of his day was searching for a willing tarpon to complete the slam… he got an 80 pounder to eat but lost it after the second jump… so close!.
Weather Conditions: Sunny with some cloudy spells. A few showers and thunderstroms throughout the week.
Winds: The prevailing winds this week were ENE 10 mph with gusts 5-15 knots. We had the wind move around to the west when storms blew in, but returned to the east.
Air Temperature: High 80's, low high 70's.
Water Temperature: High 70’s, low 80’s, depends on sun.
Moonphase: Last quarter on the 3rd.
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONES: The bonefish are in big schools, and we are seeing fish in the 4-6lb class more frequently! Guests fishing both fly and spin have all caught bonefish this week. When Cale was going for his "slam" with Sinoe, his bonefish was caught with the motor still running! Evan has been on vacation from his life as an ER Doc and father of 3..... he caught his first bonefish on fly and had several shots at permit. Not bad Evan! We expect to see the kids down here soon fishing from the dock. A special treat when landing here at El Pescador, you are greeted with Mr. Bonefish. Somehow, they know everyone leaves from the dock, and they are safe there! The race still goes on with the guides for the most bonefish tagged this year. Our goal is to tag 2000 fish by the end of 2010. We are about half way there!
PERMIT: Possessed. That is one way to describe the feeling about permit here at the lodge this week. Actually, we argue about what fish is more addicting, the permit or the tarpon. If you landed your first permit, like Pierre this week, you would say a permit. If you are Ian, co-owner of Yellow Dog, you say, tarpon. That's my observation anyway. And then looking into Dave's eyes last night at the bar as he was telling me about wading out at Ali's Bonefish Island. He hooked two permit, and landed number 3! First permit experience, not bad! And I have to brag about my fishing buddy, Wil. Wil landed a 30lb permit wading up to his neck, stripping with the rod and reel underwater! The fish didn't move at first, and then he saw his 150 yd marked backing fly out through the guides! Yep.
TARPON: Thank goodness for digital cameras. Even if you don't land the fish, you can return to the lodge at the end of the day, and look over all the pictures. And even if you didn't get the fish to the boat, you can look with giant satisfaction at an image that happened not too long ago. And there is NOTHING like a tarpon jumping from the end of your rod. I guess you can tell I'm biased, but the connection with a creature that is more than 50 million years old on the end of your line is exhilarating. Jim from Yellow Dog jumped an 80 pounder this week, and Cale started his birthday landing his tarpon which later led to his grand slam. Tarpon landed on both fly and spin. Most of the fish hooked and caught this week were down by Long Cay - were the migratory tarpon are hanging out.
SNOOK: Eric, who owns The Sunrise Fly Shop in downtown Melrose, landed a nice snook out on Ali's bonefish island! He said Mr. Snook was hanging out under the mangroves. A cast and a couple of strips and the fish was on!
JACKS: Schools of jacks on the flats up to 20 lbs. They just don't get the glory, but reports of jacks landed on fly and spin this week.
FLIES THAT WORKED
FOR BONES - Christmas Island Specials size 8 and 6, Charlies and Gotchas. Tan, gold, sexy patterns. Sexy patterns are flies that move so great in the water you just to have it!
FOR TARPON - Green Toads dominated this week. Grizzly Cockroach as well. 3/0.
FOR PERMIT - Orange and pink Christmas Island Specials size 4 stripped fast. Also some gray crabs, size 4 – it’s all about the materials. Also, we strip a lot of flies for permit. It is the way the San Pedro guides do it, and it works! Shrimp patterns, size 4.
This Week’s Summary How does it happen? Cale, who is Mr. Wonderful and a class act as a trout guide in Montana, shows up to get married this week. He is marrying Michele, who is beautiful and a ton of fun. Actually, they decided to get married here at El Pescador their last trip here. Cale hooked the tarpon, and Michele landed it. At that point she looked up to Cale and said, "OK, let's get married!" And that is the story. But it goes on. Cale and Michele are getting married today. Cale also had his 32nd birthday this week and caught his second GRAND SLAM with Sinoe. Isn't that incredible? The entire wedding party has been fishing, diving, snorkeling, shopping and hanging out in the pools, having a blast. There is no doubt there will be a sea of love welcoming their marriage.
Weather Conditions: Sunny or partly cloudy with isolated showers or thunderstorms, seas choppy.
Winds: East 5-15 Knots. The wind moved all around this week, but always returned to the east by the end of the day.
Air Temperature: Mid 90's, low 80's.
Water Temperature: High 70’s, low 80’s, depends on sun. A lot of fresh water from rain.
Moonphase: New moon on the 10th.
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONES: Lots of nice bones in the 3 to 6 lb range landed this week! The Robinson Family all were awarded bonefish pins – their first time fishing saltwater flats. Eric was here for his first round fishing the flats with his flyrod. Just remember Eric, Mr. Bonefish is the heart and soul of flats fly fishing. Mr. Permit and Mr. Tarpon are wonderful in other ways, but it all starts with “the silver ghost.”
PERMIT: Still possessed with permit around here! Brad and Terri here for a fun vacation and Brad was hoping to make this fishing report! Done on the first day. Brad and Kachu found permit, Brad – first cast, three strips, and there he is, Mr. Permit! What? Terri loving pool side and is now our new entertainment director for future visits! Spencer landed a permit on spin the first day out with his buddy Sean. I schooled these guys on how lucky they are. People spend years trying to land a permit! We are just lucky here at El Pescador, the permit fishing rocks. (And oh yeah, I Ianded a permit this week too! )
TARPON: Andrew landed a tarpon, about a 50 pounder I think he said. The smile never left his face after that. Sean shows his buddy Spencer by landing a tarpon on spin. Lots of tarpon hooked on fly, but not landed due to angler error. Ouch! But it is the bite that is so great, so we try to talk ourselves into that bit of glory. I know because I’m snake bit right now, but you will hear all about it when I get one to the boat, and it is going to be soon!
SNOOK: Stayed safe this week.
JACKS: Schools of jacks on the flats up to 20 lbs. They just don't get the glory, but reports of jacks landed on fly and spin this week.
FLIES THAT WORKED
FOR BONES - Christmas Island Specials size 8 and 6, Charlies and Gotchas. Tan, gold, sexy patterns. Sexy patterns are flies that move so great in the water you just to have it!
FOR TARPON - 3/0 yellow toads, green Toads, black death cockroach, and look out with purple!
FOR PERMIT - Orange and pink Christmas Island Specials size 4 stripped fast. Also some gray crabs, size 4 – it’s all about the materials. Also, we strip a lot of flies for permit. It is the way the San Pedro guides do it, and it works! Shrimp patterns, size 4.
This Week’s Summary It’s August and it is hot. The easterly winds are keeping us comfortable, and the fish are in, so a lot of dreams are coming true out on the flats. If you can handle hot days, the fishing here in August is incredible. It really feels like summer; the pools are full of families laughing and lounging. The stories at night linger in the humid air, and the new moon made for fish that wanted to eat! I’m not sure if we are supporting addictive behavior or providing a place to hear yourself, but I do know when anglers are fishing, they are not thinking about anything else! Amen.
Weather Conditions: Sunny skies with a few cloudy spells. Short thunderstorms in areas throughout the week….some people got drenched, some stayed perfectly dry!
Seas choppy, except the 25th – which was flat calm and perfect.
Winds: East 10 -20 Knots. Gusty days when thunderstorms were blowing in. Moved to SE then back to prevailing E.
Air Temperature: Low 90's, low 80's.
Water Temperature: High 70’s, low 80’s, depends on sun.
Moonphase: Full moon on the 24th.
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONES: The bonefish in front of the lodge all around our dock are driving us all nuts! These 4 – 6 lb fish have been loving the incoming tide this week on the turtle grass. But the lodge fish are super smart. Few are landed, and that is the challenge. For fish on the flats: If bonefish were targeted, they were landed. Beginners started fishing muds – where you really don’t get the see the fish - it is more about casting to where they are feeding. As the game progresses, the guide moves you to sighted fish – presenting the fly right on them if they are tailing, or ten feet in front of them if they are on the move.
PERMIT: These are just beautiful fish. We have noticed they really like to eat right before or on the full moon. So we had some beautiful permit landed this week up in the Park and also down by Congrejo. Nice fish up to 30 lbs. Ray got his permit for his grand slam stripping a Merkin. One happy guy!
TARPON: Windy days kept many anglers from sighted tarpon fishing. For those that didn’t mind the bumpy ride down to Long Caye, they found rolling tarpon. Some hooked with intermediate lines. The only one landed was from Captain Sinoe’s boat. That’s all it took for Ray to complete his grand slam!
SNOOK: Stayed safe this week.
JACKS: Two pins for our awards ceremonies I wish we had this week. A “Jack” pin and a “Cuda” pin. Jim finally landed a nice jack his last day out fishing. He and his now fish crazed wife Donna had been tarpon fishing for days, so he was hoping it would be the silver king. Not this time, but wasn’t that fun?
FLIES THAT WORKED
FOR BONES - Christmas Island Specials size 8 and 6, Charlies and Gotchas. Tan, gold, sexy patterns. Sexy patterns are flies that move so great in the water you just to have it!
FOR TARPON - 3/0 yellow toads, green Toads, Black Death cockroach, and look out with purple!
FOR PERMIT - Orange and pink Christmas Island Specials size 4 stripped fast. Also some gray crabs, size 4 – it’s all about the materials. Also, we strip a lot of flies for permit. It is the way the San Pedro guides do it, and it works! Shrimp patterns, size 4. Worm patterns on size 6 – tan rabbit strips.
This Week’s Summary This was one of those weeks I just love my job. I count my blessings all the time, believe me, but this week just kept a big grin on my face! Donna and Jim are celebrating their 31st wedding anniversary, and they ran around here like teenagers. They grew to love their guide Cesar, and then found it necessary to extend their stay here for three more days. We started calling Donna, “Cuda Queen”, because she landed so many barracuda. In one picture the cuda is bigger than Donna! You go girl. And then Natalie and George here for their sixth wedding anniversary and they landed their first bonefish. But the star of the show this week was Ray. He and Ty were here from the Florida Keys and they wanted a grand slam. Well, Ray got his wish. He has been fly fishing since he was 10. Now retired, Ray “got a dream.” This is what Antonio, our bartender here at EP, was telling us when he and I were out fishing with Captain Emir. Antonio was telling me and Emir that his Uncle always says, “Give me a dream,” and just as he is telling us this, a 3 lb bonefish eats his fly by Deer Caye! Yep. This was Antonio’s very first bonefish on fly. Elated. Emir and I just looked at him and said, “You are lucky! Enjoy it.”
Weather Conditions: Week started with partly cloudy skies, ending with several perfectly clear days.
Winds: Winds were 0-15 miles mph through out the week generally from the north-northwest.
Air Temperature: Mid to high 80’s
Water Temperature: Low –mid 80’s.
Moonphase: The week started on the last quarter moon.
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONEFISH: Bonefish were no problem for any anglers this week with boats reporting 3-20 bonefish per day. Those 20 fish days could have been a lot more as those guests only fished for bones for a few hours. Largest was 4 pounds.
PERMIT: Return Guest Tom from Jackson WY and his guide Emir targeted permit most of the week landing 5 the first day with a two more single days after that. Other boats reported several shots, follows and takes but none to the boat.
TARPON: Tarpon seemed slow as 2 boats went out for tarpon without any takes. Marc did manage to hook up his first tarpon estimated to be 30 pounds, it didn’t last long and left him shaking his head in amazement at how fast it all happened. Bill came through on the last day with 2 tarpon one at about 40 pounds. It ended up going under the boat and breaking his rod before he landed it.
SNOOK: No snook were targeted or caught.
OTHER: Lots of Jacks of all sizes were caught with a nice 20 pounder landed and released. Many nice after hours bonefish and Lady fish were landed while fishing the beaches near the lodge, barracuda, snappers, moonfish were all landed on the fly.
FLIES THAT WORKED
FOR BONES - Crazy Charlies in pink, tan size 6,8 . Gothca size 6,8, Christmas Islands size 6
Really just about any fly seemed to work.
FOR TARPON - Blue/White Deciever, Orange cockroach size 2/0
FOR PERMIT - Christmas Island Special size 6, Emir’s Pink CI size 6
This Week’s Summary The fishing was fantastic for bonefish with pretty much unlimited numbers to those who concentrated on them. Permit fishing was good one day, bad the next even though weather and tides seemed the same. Tarpon continued to be shy of the fly till the end of the week. There seems to be a huge amount of bait around so perhaps they are just full??
Weather Conditions: 2 days of partly cloudy skies, 2 days of mostly sunny skies, 2 days of all sun, ending with an overcast day.
Winds: Winds were 5-15 miles mph through out the week generally from the north-northwest.
Air Temperature: Low to mid 80’s
Water Temperature: Low 80’s.
Moonphase: October 7th was the new moon.
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONEFISH: How about 53 bonefish in one day by one boat? Bonefish were automatic for anyone who tried. Largest was 6 pounds. Several 4 pounders were landed after guided hours walking the beaches in the evening.
PERMIT: Steve’s quest for permit amounted to most of the week’s permit total with 2 the first day and 1 the second day! Jason added another for a total of 3 this week, not bad considering only Steve was targeting permit specifically.
TARPON: Tarpon were hot 2 days this week with 4 boats going 8 for 22 (eight landed out of 22 that ate). Sight fishing was good for several days, but shut down once the clouds arrived on the 10th.
SNOOK: When the tarpon day was a bust due to low visibility one boat went looking for snook and was rewarded with a nice 10 pounder. Way to go Dick!
OTHER: Jacks, Ladyfish, and mega barracudas were landed this week. A few snappers came to the dinner table.
FLIES THAT WORKED
FOR BONES - Crazy Charlies in pink, tan size 6,8 . Gothca size 6,8, Christmas Islands size 6
Really, any fly seemed to work.
FOR TARPON - Tarpon bunny in tan size 1/0, cockroach size 2/0, Orange butt 1/0, black death 2/0, greenie weenie 2/0, orange cockroach 2/0
FOR PERMIT - Christmas Island Special size 6
This Week’s Summary The fishing was easy pickins for bonefish for those who pursued them. The bigger tide seemed to lead to a few 5 pound plus bonefish. Sight fishing for tarpon turned on, and large schools of permit were found even in the dim light of the last day. Permit continued to be available to those with the heart to dedicate some time to them. Congratulations to Jason with a grand slam trip with permit, tarpon and bonefish to the boat all in one week.
Weather Conditions: Hurricane Richard left us in the early morning hours of The 25th and we were able to get started fishing around 8 am once we cleaned up the boats. The rest of the week was clear for the most part with an occasional shower or thunderstorm here and there.
Winds: Winds started at 10-20 mph slowly getting better as the week went on. Wind direction was from the east most days moving out of the North by the end of the week
Air Temperature: Mid 80’s
Water Temperature: Low 80’s. Some very low tides this week.
Moonphase: The last quarter moon fell on October 30th.
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONEFISH: Bonefishing was outstanding even as the hurricane left the shore. The 2 boats that ventured out all caught fish the first day and continued to be cooperative throughout the week. Ned landed the biggest of the week around 4 pounds. Mary landed her first bonefish on a fly rod ( 7 that day for here) thanks to some casting lessons by guide Erlindo.
PERMIT: The permit fishing heated up on Wednesday with the 2 boats targeting permit coming back with 3 for Ned and Henry from the UK and one for Bernhard from Austria. Bernhard’s permit was 13 pounds.
TARPON: The flats were churned up so tarpon fishing was slow until…Bernhard and Otto jumped 5 tarpon one day but none made it to the boat. Several other boats went out for tarpon and were snubbed. Towards the end of the week Anatoly ( from Russia) jumped a half dozen large tarpon down near long key.
SNOOK: Snook are starting to congregate and some schools and loners were found. Snook fishing should heat up soon.
OTHER: Barracuda, snapper, jacks, ladyfish were landed.
FLIES THAT WORKED
FOR BONES - Gotchas, crazy charlies, christmas island specials – anything small and moving.
FOR TARPON - All White Cockroach ( size 1/0) , black death (tarpon bunny style) size 2/0
FOR PERMIT - Christmas Island Specials, Slimram Shrimp
This Week’s Summary Bonefish and permit fishing was great but tarpon was slower than expected even after the flats cleared up. One day the tarpon are eating flies while the next they are nowhere to be found. Our fishing director Lori-Ann Murphy is back next week! It was a privilege to fill in for her while she was on vacation.
Weather Conditions: The week started out clear with Trade Winds easterly, then a low pressure system moved in bringing some rain and wind.
Winds: Easterly Trade Winds at 5 knots, moved to ESE, then SE, moving back to a strong NE at 10-20 knots.
Air Temperature: High: low 80’s, Low: low 60’s
Water Temperature: Low 70’s.
Moonphase: First Quarter on the 13th.
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONEFISH: Everyone loves a confidence booster, especially as adult learners in a new sport. Our bonefish are a stellar act, and have given our anglers a great invitation to salt water fly fishing. “The newlyweds”, Sara and Shawn, came back with double digit numbers most days. But just as soon as you think bonefish are a “gimmie,” a whole new scene presents itself during low tide conditions. Travis and Kristen our other newlyweds this week had amazing fishing….Travis had permit and tarpon on fly in the first hour, but the bonefish eluded them when the tide went low, keeping him from his grand slam!
PERMIT: Just a crazy permit week. Emir had my long time fishing buddy, Kim Keeley and me out for a day. In the first hour we hooked 4 permit and landed two. Kim’s was bigger, I’ll admit. A nice 19 lbs. The first quarter moon is a great time for permit fishing from our beach as well. Three hooked, none landed. Jim and Matt landed 3 on fly with Nesto their first day out!
TARPON: Wow. Our migratory tarpon are still down by Long Caye, and Savannah has been on fire. Before the low pressure system came in, slick calm conditions with happy floating poons…..Kim and I each came sooooo close to a grand slam, but Mr. Tarpon won with a jump, and angler error! Ouch. Thank you to our El Pescador Guide Team for loving the chase and the glory of tarpon.
SNOOK: Some large 20 lb snook were seen and cast to, but no bite. I’m expecting one to show up on the dock today for dinner. (No change from last week, and no snook on the dock, yet!)
JACKS: A few jacks nice 15 – 18lb jacks landed this week on spin and fly.
FLIES THAT WORKED
FOR BONES - Christmas Island Specials size 8 and 6, Charlies and Gotchas. Tan, gold, sexy patterns. Sexy patterns are flies that move so great in the water you just to have it.
FOR TARPON - 3/0 yellow toads, green Toads, Black Death cockroach, and look out with purple! Your choice, circle hooks will help people who have not had experience setting tarpon, while the standard is still with J-hooks, or set hooks.
FOR PERMIT - Orange and pink Christmas Island Specials size 6 stripped fast. Tan and green crabs, size 6, when they are tailing. We strip a lot of flies for permit. It is the way the San Pedro guides do it, and it works! Shrimp patterns, size 6, on long 14 – 16 ft leaders down to 16lb test. Glass minnow patterns work as well. You just have to be brave enough to try.
This Week’s Summary Having my long time great gal pal and fishing buddy with me here this week brought back a ton of funny memories. Kim Keeley is one of the best female anglers I know, and having her down here at El Pescador this week was a treat not only for me, but for the guides. On her third cast, she had a 19 lb permit on fly. Captain Emir kissed that fish so much I thought, “Emir’s wife has nothing to worry about, these permit are his girlfriends!” We reminded each other of crazy times as we learned about salt water fly fishing twenty years ago. We are still learning, still making mistakes, still taking brag photos when possible, still loving it. We are very blessed to know this kind of fun.
Weather Conditions: The cold front moved through, but left the wind. The wind has been a steady 10 – 20 knots, switching up a bit, but it didn’t lay down. Mostly sunny skies shared with some isolated rain showers. Pleasant temps, low 80’s.
Winds: Started NW then moved N, then NE, winding over to our prevailing E wind. 10 knots was considered calm for the week.
Air Temperature: High: mid 80’s. Low: low 60’s.
Water Temperature: Low 70’s.
Moonphase: Full moon on the 18th .
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONEFISH: : We saw some really big schools of bonefish this week – like 500 fish schools. These fish, mostly small, averaging 1 to 2 lbs, provided huge fun for beginners in the salt. Nothing like blowing a shot but then have the opportunity for several more…..This is fun no matter what. The Crabtree Boyz all caught bonefish, and some for the first time on fly.
PERMIT: Still our stellar player. What can we say. Patrick had his first ever fly fishing in the salt experience – a guide from Ohio, he now has a new passion. He caught several bonefish, but he also caught permit fever. He now wears a bone carving of a permit around his neck to remind him of his next cast…..Then Rob goes and lands a permit with Captain Emir on his last day! Our buddy Bill the 3rd, also landed a permit with Captain Sinoe. Eric, from the Crabtree group, also landed a permit wade fishing with Captain Kachu. And me, I had the perfect shot and the wrong fly, and then the right fly and a bad shot. Ouch! Bottom line, there are a ton of permit around.
TARPON: Some nice shots, some bites, but none to the boat. Savannah had a few good days as well as the smaller lagoons.
SNOOK: Not seen as much this time of year – they are closer to the mainland.
JACKS: Bill the 3rd landed some nice jacks – nearly spooled a few times.
FLIES THAT WORKED
FOR BONES - Christmas Island Specials size 8 and 6, Charlies and Gotchas. Tan, gold, sexy patterns. Sexy patterns are flies that move so great in the water you just to have it
FOR TARPON - 3/0 yellow toads, green Toads, Black Death cockroach, and look out with purple! Your choice, circle hooks will help people who have not had experience setting tarpon, while the standard is still with J-hooks, or set hooks.
FOR PERMIT - Orange and pink Christmas Island Specials size 6 stripped fast. Tan and green crabs, size 6, when they are tailing. We strip a lot of flies for permit. It is the way the San Pedro guides do it, and it works! Shrimp patterns, size 6, on long 14 – 16 ft leaders down to 16lb test. Glass minnow patterns work as well. You just have to be brave enough to try.
This Week’s Summary: Full moon week. We all noticed “full moon wind,” but it made for some fun stories. Mike has lived a fishing life and this was his first time fly fishing for the big three. His double haul improved but he hauled the fly into himself a few times. All on video of course. “Buccaneers and Bones” took on a whole new narration as Bill the 3rd and Mike made up their own stories. Fun stuff. Anyway, it really is permit fever around here. We are seeing schools, pairs, singles, 5 to 35 lbs. Long casts into the wind, sometimes it is an easy shot, whatever you get, we all know it is magic when it comes together. Lori-Ann.
Weather Conditions: It was a windy week, and it pretty much blew 20 knots up to 35 somedays…..and then the wind died way down to 5 to 15 east, which is perfect. Mostly sunny skies. Pleasant temp’s, low 80’s during the day.
Winds: The good news is that the wind was primarily east, sometimes ESE – and even though it blew a solid 20, at least it was consistant, and the fish like that.
Air Temperature: High: low 80’s. Low: low 60’s.
Water Temperature: Low 70’s.
Moonphase: New moon on the 4th .
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONES: Really good tides this week for bonefish tailing in the mornings and then late in the afternoon. And yes, due to the wind, it was all about getting out and wading and hunting those bones. Nice fish landed both from guide boats as well as independent angling in the lagoon. Oops, well we give away a few spots in the lagoon, and then it’s up to the adventurous angler to find his/her own surprises. Ali, Alonzo and the children all went off to Bonefish Island for a Friday overnight adventure. Perfect camping conditions as the wind has died, and those fish will be wagging their tales to Andie, who landed her first bonefish there on Christmas Day. She is seven years old.
PERMIT: It’s just plain silly right now for permit. Pretty much daily we are having permit landed on fly. For spin, live crab is a gimmie if you get it there….Some over 15 lbs, and most 5 to 10 lbs. But HUGE CONGRATULATIONS SO LINDA SOUCIE FOR HER 20 LB PERMIT ON FLY with Captain Emir! Check out the photos. And ED, wow, did you have a week. Congratulations on Mr. Permit to you – Captain Kachu had a great time teaming up with you this week.
TARPON: Congratulations to REID for his 50 lb tarpon of fly with Captain Erlindo. Six jumps – a sensational bite on Savannah Flats. And the story goes……Reid says to Erlindo, “Do you think we should leave because we aren’t seeing anything? Erlindo, “ they will come.” And did they. Several shots……
SNOOK: Captain Luis will not give up his secret spot for snook and tarpon! Something about “working their way through mangrove creeks….” That’s all I got. Way to go Jerry who landed a 20 lb snook on fly, and had several shots to tarpon 40 to 50 lbs. The week is not over for you…so we are planning on big things. This is the only snook I think anyone has seen. Secret spots!
JACKS: Dave landed a nice jack, and so did Sarah. So did I for that matter….I thought for sure it was a permit. Not that jacks aren’t wonderful by themselves, but when you are targeting permit, you want permit. This is a good fish to practice your skills at managing tippet strength and “putting the wood to the fish.”
FLIES THAT WORKED
FOR BONES - Christmas Island Specials size 8 and 6, Charlies and Gotchas. Tan, gold, sexy patterns. Sexy patterns are flies that move so great in the water you just to have it
FOR TARPON - 3/0 yellow toads, green Toads, Black Death cockroach, and look out with purple! Your choice, circle hooks will help people who have not had experience setting tarpon, while the standard is still with J-hooks, or set hooks.
FOR PERMIT - Orange and pink Christmas Island Specials size 6 stripped fast. Tan and green crabs, size 6, when they are tailing. We strip a lot of flies for permit. It is the way the San Pedro guides do it, and it works! Shrimp patterns, size 6, on long 14 – 16 ft leaders down to 16lb test. Glass minnow patterns work as well. You just have to be brave enough to try.
This Week’s Summary: I have been having so much fun hearing all the great stories this week! The El Pescador Guide Team is on fire right now! I feel so honored to work with these guys who go out everyday and make it happen for our guests. I brag about them all the time; but really, they take beginners and experienced anglers alike, and with their own independent style, they show people stuff that is truly amazing for fly fishing in the salt. And for those who are spin fishing, there is no lack of adventure. Fishing 400 square miles of flats inside the Barrier Reef. Anything can go on! The best part of being Director of Fishing here at El Pescador is witnessing all the smiles. Lori-Ann. fish@elpescador.com
Weather Conditions: Mostly sunny skies with occasional rain showers. Wind moved all around changing fishing conditions, some days it worked and others it caused spooky fishing conditions. Mid week was really pretty.
Winds: 15 – 25 knots, SE, East and then moved NE.
Air Temperature: High: low to high 90’s. Low: low 70’s.
Water Temperature: mid 70’s.
Moonphase: New Moon April 2nd.
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONES: Really nice bonefishing from the lodge along the beachside of El Pescador this week. These fish are really smart, but this week with the new moon going to first quarter, the fish were participating with anglers testing their skills. Lot of “firsts” for bonefish this week. Beginners usually start by “mudding” fish, and then move to “sighted” fish. Having brown polarized lenses really helps to see the “ghost of the flats.” And then, you want to hunt with the guide….Great to see Barry and Michael again – they had some nice bonefishing. Congratulations David and Jackie….they came here not knowing they would leave knowing how to double haul to bonefish with a fly rod! Yeah.
PERMIT: Silly permit fishing this week. Ed fishing with Capt. Emir landed the permit first…..for the grand slam on fly. Brett knocked it out of the park with Capt. Luis, 3 permit on fly in one day. John landed his first permit on fly as well! It was a great return trip, especially for those looking for permit. Permit shots are anywhere from 40 to 80 feet – usually a fast shot, casting with a Christmas Island Special, size 4 or 6, orange or green, stripped fast. I got to go out with Capt. Carlos for my birthday on the 5th. As soon as I changed my strip a mini second, he ate. A Permit for my birthday!
TARPON: We had two days mid week where Savannah was just flat out beautiful. Quietly going for the GS, Capt. Carlos and I headed over to Savannah after the permit was landed. I was setting the fish when my rod broke at the butt section (I think the feral was loose) in any cast, I had the tarpon by my hand …line running out, he jumped and I forgot to bow my arm! It felt like a hand shake from God. Lots of eats, jumps and then Ed landed his for his 4th grand slam in his life!
SNOOK: No one really went after snook this week. It isn’t our season for snook, but sometimes the guides find them tucked way up in the lagoon system.
JACKS: Some nice jacks around 15 lbs landed on fly and spin.
FLIES THAT WORKED
FOR BONES - Christmas Island Specials size 8 and 6, Charlies and Gotchas. Tan, gold, sexy patterns. Sexy patterns are flies that move so great in the water you just to have it.
FOR TARPON - 3/0 yellow toads, green Toads, Black Death cockroach, and look out with purple! Your choice, circle hooks will help people who have not had experience setting tarpon, while the standard is still with J-hooks, or set hooks.
FOR PERMIT - Orange and pink Christmas Island Specials size 6 stripped fast. Tan and green crabs, size 6, when they are tailing. We strip a lot of flies for permit. It is the way the San Pedro guides do it, and it works! Shrimp patterns, size 6, on long 14 – 16 ft leaders down to 16lb test. Glass minnow patterns work as well. You just have to be brave enough to try.
This Week’s Summary: It’s April and fishing is good. It has been windy, but then when it gets good, it’s good. Really fun for me to see so many guests from the Jackson Hole area. Nice to get caught up! Happy birthday John! Awesome that we both caught permit for our birthday! How lucky are we? Glenn, it was a pleasure once again. Thank you so much for leading another successful Orvis seminar. Your students left here with a life long passion in fly fishing. Thanks to my El Pescador family for another great birthday greeting. I mean the day started with Steve leading the staff to my house with a beautiful cake at 6 am. All those beautiful faces wishing me the best! How’s that for wonderful? Lori-Ann. fish@elpescador.com
Weather Conditions: Sunny skies and windy most days.
Winds: 15 – 25 knots, SE, East and then moved NE.
Air Temperature: High: High: low to high 90’s. Low: low 70’s.
Water Temperature: mid 70’s.
Moonphase: First quarter April 11th.
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONES: Aaron Adams, the executive director for Bonefish Tarpon Trust was here a month ago and re-energized our tagging efforts. The guides have tagged hundreds of bonefish in the last month! Amazing that El Pescador guides have tagged close 1000 bonefish over the past year, and we have not found a single fish with a tag yet! So, the good news is that our bonefish population continues to be large and healthy. Orvis student Ernie was wondering if he was going to be lucky enough to land a bonefish his first trip. He lost count. Congratulations Ernie, you really soared this week!
PERMIT: Well, we sure tried.
TARPON: Way to go Dave D! Sorry I missed the picture, please send it to me asap! And Walt, that was a beauty. You both pulled these fish from not the easiest conditions! Floating lines, 10 wt outfits, and the big grab.
SNOOK: No one really went after snook this week. It isn’t our season for snook, but sometimes the guides find them tucked way up in the lagoon system.
JACKS: I wore myself out with a 20 plus jack! I forgot how powerful these fish are! I love it when a bunch of them just try to attack the fly. Believe me, the jack pulled the panga around for awhile while I tried to get the flyline within sight.
FLIES THAT WORKED
FOR BONES - Christmas Island Specials size 8 and 6, Charlies and Gotchas. Tan, gold, sexy patterns. Sexy patterns are flies that move so great in the water you just to have it
FOR TARPON - 3/0 yellow toads, green Toads, Black Death cockroach, and look out with purple! Your choice, circle hooks will help people who have not had experience setting tarpon, while the standard is still with J-hooks, or set hooks.
FOR PERMIT - Orange and pink Christmas Island Specials size 6 stripped fast. Tan and green crabs, size 6, when they are tailing. We strip a lot of flies for permit. It is the way the San Pedro guides do it, and it works! Shrimp patterns, size 6, on long 14 – 16 ft leaders down to 16lb test. Glass minnow patterns work as well. You just have to be brave enough to try.
This Week’s Summary: OK, Easter Winds have prevailed, but today as I write this, it is flat calm and beautiful! It’s Easter Week, so maybe, just maybe, we have seen the last of our windy days for the season. I can’t wait to hear how the fishing was from guests and guides today. And the sooner I tell you how wonderful it is here, I’m headed out myself. Full moon tomorrow….and we have early morning and late evening tides. Our tide is max. 2 feet.
Anyway, I was away for a couple of days this week traveling in this beautiful country Belize. When I returned home to El Pescador, I noticed a huge difference in the faces of the people I met right before I left. Once again, fly fishing the salt has taken people and put life back into them. And lucky me for getting to see it all happen.
Lori-Ann. fish@elpescador.com
Weather Conditions: Sunny skies and windy most days.
Winds: 15 – 25 knots, SE, East and then moved NE.
Air Temperature: High: High: low to high 90’s. Low: low 70’s.
Water Temperature: mid 70’s.
Moonphase: First quarter April 11th.
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONES: Aaron Adams, the executive director for Bonefish Tarpon Trust was here a month ago and re-energized our tagging efforts. The guides have tagged hundreds of bonefish in the last month! Amazing that El Pescador guides have tagged close 1000 bonefish over the past year, and we have not found a single fish with a tag yet! So, the good news is that our bonefish population continues to be large and healthy. Orvis student Ernie was wondering if he was going to be lucky enough to land a bonefish his first trip. He lost count. Congratulations Ernie, you really soared this week!
PERMIT: Well, we sure tried.
TARPON: Way to go Dave D! Sorry I missed the picture, please send it to me asap! And Walt, that was a beauty. You both pulled these fish from not the easiest conditions! Floating lines, 10 wt outfits, and the big grab.
SNOOK: No one really went after snook this week. It isn’t our season for snook, but sometimes the guides find them tucked way up in the lagoon system.
JACKS: I wore myself out with a 20 plus jack! I forgot how powerful these fish are! I love it when a bunch of them just try to attack the fly. Believe me, the jack pulled the panga around for awhile while I tried to get the flyline within sight.
FLIES THAT WORKED
FOR BONES - Christmas Island Specials size 8 and 6, Charlies and Gotchas. Tan, gold, sexy patterns. Sexy patterns are flies that move so great in the water you just to have it
FOR TARPON - 3/0 yellow toads, green Toads, Black Death cockroach, and look out with purple! Your choice, circle hooks will help people who have not had experience setting tarpon, while the standard is still with J-hooks, or set hooks.
FOR PERMIT - Orange and pink Christmas Island Specials size 6 stripped fast. Tan and green crabs, size 6, when they are tailing. We strip a lot of flies for permit. It is the way the San Pedro guides do it, and it works! Shrimp patterns, size 6, on long 14 – 16 ft leaders down to 16lb test. Glass minnow patterns work as well. You just have to be brave enough to try.
This Week’s Summary: OK, Easter Winds have prevailed, but today as I write this, it is flat calm and beautiful! It’s Easter Week, so maybe, just maybe, we have seen the last of our windy days for the season. I can’t wait to hear how the fishing was from guests and guides today. And the sooner I tell you how wonderful it is here, I’m headed out myself. Full moon tomorrow….and we have early morning and late evening tides. Our tide is max. 2 feet.
Anyway, I was away for a couple of days this week traveling in this beautiful country Belize. When I returned home to El Pescador, I noticed a huge difference in the faces of the people I met right before I left. Once again, fly fishing the salt has taken people and put life back into them. And lucky me for getting to see it all happen.
Lori-Ann. fish@elpescador.com
Weather Conditions: Sunny skies, some wind, some rain, and pretty wonderful.
Winds: 5 - 15 knots, E, NE – then back to prevailing E. YES!
Air Temperature: High: low to high 90’s. Low: low 70’s.
Water Temperature: mid 70’s.
Moonphase: New moon on the 3rd.
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONES: When someone catches their bonefish, permit or tarpon here at El Pescador, they are awarded a pin. I passed out 20 bonefish pins last night! We had some epic bonefishing this week. It was especially fun for me to see my fishing buddies here – Penny, Betsy and Ann – all doing well hunting bones. The fish were a bit skittish at times this week – making for some really fun and challenging bonfishing.
PERMIT: Friend and fishing buddy Diana Rudolph also showed up this week to fish with me. She had an agenda, and her agenda was permit. That she did! Diana landed 5 permit this week, and one contributed to her grand slam.
Both Jeff’s landed permit, Gary landed permit, Dick had permit on….do you get the picture? It was all about the permit this week! All on stripped flies, mostly CIS.
TARPON: Well, the really big news this week is that I finally landed my first Belize tarpon this week! Thank you Captain Emir, and thank you Diana for being such a great coach and mentor. It got really pretty over on Mosquito Caye, just like you read about. Twenty or so fish, high and happy, each at twenty to forty pounds. It was a flat calm day, and you could see them coming from across the flat. Beautiful. And how about my gal, Diana? Her tarpon added to her first grand slam! Awesome.
SNOOK: No one really went after snook this week. It isn’t our season for snook, but sometimes the guides find them tucked way up in the lagoon system.
JACKS: We had some huge jacks landed this week! All on fly, and wearing our anglers out as they put up a great fight! Twenty plus jacks on fly – you are looking at thirty minutes at least. Really fun.
FLIES THAT WORKED
FOR BONES - Christmas Island Specials size 8 and 6, Charlies and Gotchas. Tan, gold, sexy patterns. Sexy patterns are flies that move so great in the water you just to have it.
FOR TARPON - 3/0 yellow toads, green Toads, Black Death cockroach, and look out with purple! Your choice, circle hooks will help people who have not had experience setting tarpon, while the standard is still with J-hooks, or set hooks.
FOR PERMIT - Orange and pink Christmas Island Specials size 6 stripped fast. Tan and green crabs, size 6, when they are tailing. We strip a lot of flies for permit. It is the way the San Pedro guides do it, and it works! Shrimp patterns, size 6, on long 14 – 16 ft leaders down to 16lb test. Glass minnow patterns work as well. You just have to be brave enough to try.
This Week’s Summary: Seeing my friends this week has really been a gift. And as I said good bye today, I know they will be back soon. Having Diana show up and land her first grand slam here at El Pescador with Captain Emir was the icing on the cake! Diana holds all the women’s records for tarpon, bonefish and permit, and has her own TV show, “Breaking the Surface.” Most of all, she is my fishing buddy.
Repeat guest Steve C. commented on how it really does feel like a family here. I said, “Well, I always tell you that at orientation!” He said, “I know, but you don’t really understand until you spent time here and experience it!” True.
Fishing is getting prime right now. Our big migratory tarpon should be here any day, and the days are flat out beautiful. Penny, Ann, Betsy, it was a pleasure. Great to see so many return guests. Thank you and make sure you go fishing soon!
Weather Conditions: Sunny skies, windy most days, but then it calmed down by the weekend. A lot of humidity – it felt like it wanted to rain, but didn’t. We must be getting close to our summer season!
Winds: 10 - 20 knots, E, SE, E; 5 – 10 by the weekend @ E.
Air Temperature: High: low to high 90’s. Low: low 70’s.
Water Temperature: mid to high 70’s.
Moonphase: First quarter on the 10th.
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONES: The bonefishing was not “a gimmie” this week. We had the perfect moon phase, but he tides were against us. High tide was early in the morning, so the tide was falling during fishing hours. All the fish respond to the tide changes, but bonefish will really show you what’s going on. Our bartender and now fished-crazed Antonio, has been showing guests some stellar bonefishing in the lagoon. He and his guests were rewarded when they waited for the bonefish right when the tide switched to low – and there they came – following the tide out from way up in the mangroves. A few got intercepted!
PERMIT: Did I tell you people like to count permit? Funny, I have never been a counter, but I’ve started with permit. Why not? Permit fishing is an intense game, and that is the challenge. All of sudden they are there – and most of the time you will hear, “SHORT!” I’m starting to hate that word. Anyway, I saw schools of permit up by Rosario and Blackadore that amazed me. Hundreds of permit. I had one eat the Avolon fly ( the Cuba craze right now) while wading. My first permit wade fishing. Congratulations to Bernd! He really wanted a permit on fly and was rewarded his last day! He ate a CIS, an orange one. Ron had his first permit….everything was going well until Mr. Barracuda took over. I’m glad that is a rare event, but congratulations on getting the fish on!
TARPON: I posted pictures of Ron and Tim’s day out by Savannah with Captain Cesar on our Facebook page. Wow. Really nice fish guys! We had guests who really wanted tarpon this week, but the wind did not work with us until the end of the week. So it was basically Monday, and then Friday we started seeing fish. We will be checking out Long Caye for our migratory tarpon. Some have arrived, but not the numbers we are expecting….soon!
SNOOK: No one really went after snook this week. It isn’t our season for snook, but sometimes the guides find them tucked way up in the lagoon system.
JACKS: We had some huge jacks landed this week! All on fly, and wearing our anglers out as they put up a great fight! Twenty plus jacks on fly – you are looking at thirty minutes at least. Really fun.
FLIES THAT WORKED
FOR BONES - Christmas Island Specials size 8 and 6, Charlies and Gotchas. Tan, gold, sexy patterns. Sexy patterns are flies that move so great in the water you just to have it
FOR TARPON - 3/0 yellow toads, green Toads, Black Death cockroach, and look out with purple! Your choice, circle hooks will help people who have not had experience setting tarpon, while the standard is still with J-hooks, or set hooks.
FOR PERMIT - Orange and pink Christmas Island Specials size 6 stripped fast. Tan and green crabs, size 6, when they are tailing. We strip a lot of flies for permit. It is the way the San Pedro guides do it, and it works! Shrimp patterns, size 6, on long 14 – 16 ft leaders down to 16lb test. Glass minnow patterns work as well. You just have to be brave enough to try.
This Week’s Summary: It’s still our busy season. We have been running ten to twelve boats a day….anglers getting up and leaving by 4am to catch the tide…a lot of dedication this week. We welcome our leaders and long time guests to El Pescador, George and Judy! Their dedication to tarpon fishing with Captain Nesto for twenty five years is remarkable. They are in their 80’s and George still stands all day on the deck waiting for the shot! Dedication for a reward that is unforgettable. It was a pleasure out on the casting platform this week. Way to go John for mastering your double haul! The biggest part of upping your game is to continue learning and trying new things in your casting and fishing. We’ll keep you posted on our tarpon as they come in, and you better be looking at finding dates to chase the silver soon!
Air Temperature: High: low to high 90’s. Low: low 70’s.
Water Temperature: mid to high 70’s.
Moonphase: Full moon on the 17th.
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONES: Congratulations to Diane for catching her first bonefish. Tori and Ron made it happen as well. I just love to see what happens…guests show up so excited and wonder if they are going to be able to catch their first bonefish on a fly. By the time they leave, they have the confidence to keep upping their game. Wade fishing this week was productive due to the wind, our beach fishing was good as well on the incoming tide. Our beach fish are smart, so we go down to 8 or 10 lb, with a size 10 fly.
PERMIT: JB had his first permit on this week, but lost it by the boat. Luckily he and his wife Lynnae are here to fish the rest of the week, so we’ll see. They saw some really big, “pizza box size” permit yesterday with Captain Gilberto. Can you say, Buck Fever! I only know it so well. We are mixing up the platter for permit. We are using more Avalon flies, spawning shrimp patterns, a few crab patterns as well in addition to CIS.
TARPON: Captain Sinoe and Rich got it done - a Nice 30 lb tarpon of fly! Sinoe will not reveal where these fish live. He is so excited he requested his new guests get up at be ready at 5 am to go check them out. Of course our tarpon mentor, George was here fishing with Captain Nesto for the past two weeks. George had on the biggest tarpon in his 80 something years of life. His wife Judy is always there to cheer him on, but this time it was a two and half our fight with what Nesto said was, “at least a 150 lb tarpon.” Nesto is one of the very few fishing guides that I know that really doesn’t exaggerate. They lost it – the hook broke where George had it in the vice. So there you have it, from the vice in Alaska, to one hot fish here in Belize, a 2 ˝ hr fight, and the fish won.
SNOOK: No one really went after snook this week. It isn’t our season for snook, but sometimes the guides find them tucked way up in the lagoon system.
JACKS: We had some huge jacks landed this week! All on fly, and wearing our anglers out as they put up a great fight! Twenty plus jacks on fly – you are looking at thirty minutes at least. Really fun.
FLIES THAT WORKED
FOR BONES - Christmas Island Specials size 8 and 6, Charlies and Gotchas. Tan, gold, sexy patterns. Sexy patterns are flies that move so great in the water you just to have it
FOR TARPON - 3/0 yellow toads, green Toads, Black Death cockroach, and look out with purple! Your choice, circle hooks will help people who have not had experience setting tarpon, while the standard is still with J-hooks, or set hooks.
FOR PERMIT - We are starting to throw the Avalon Fly. Our 100% confidence fly is of course…..Orange and pink Christmas Island Specials size 6 stripped fast. Tan and green crabs, size 6, when they are tailing. We strip a lot of flies for permit. It is the way the San Pedro guides do it, and it works! Shrimp patterns, size 6, on long 14 – 16 ft leaders down to 16lb test. Glass minnow patterns work as well. You just have to be brave enough to try.
This Week’s Summary: We see a lot of father/son guests here at El Pescador. Rich and Justin were here – Justin told me he agreed to come if his dad promised not to tell him what to do all the time! So they established their boundaries and then had a great week. Justin told me he isn’t the fisherman his dad is….but then I got him on the casting platform and he was fine! We are so hard on ourselves! Please practice you casting for your trip, but then when you are here, own your shot! Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. I’m hard on myself too – but I remind myself and my students that we are in it for the duration, so learn for each fishing experience and grab a hold of the rewards along the way.
Winds: 5 - 15 knots, E, ESE, E. Our prevailing wind is back!
Air Temperature: High: low to high 90’s. Low: low 70’s.
Water Temperature: mid to high 70’s.
Moonphase: Last quarter on the 24th.
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONES: Once again we had several “firsts” for bonefish this week. Due to the falling tide during the day, it made fish a bit spookier. Anglers were cautioned to wear camo colors and keep a low profile cast to the “ghost of the flats.” A couple big fish in the 4 to 6 lb range were landed on fly.
PERMIT: Wow. What a week for permit. Wallis landed two and half yesterday, ( a barracuda got the other half). First permit landed for Wallis so he is super excited. And Matt! A twenty-five pound permit on fly – several shots from his dad, Mac, and then Matt put a few on and then….take off. Jim also landed first permit on fly with Capt. Emir. Guides reported seeing large numbers of permit….anglers had several shots and follows, but no eats. So, the ones that did eat were the results of several shots…and finally the permit decides he or she should eat that fly. All permit on fly this week.
TARPON: Captain Tomas came in early one day, so I hopped on his boat and we headed out to Savannah. We waited for the tide….and as soon as the incoming started, around 1 in afternoon, there they were! I had one eat. I missed it. I checked my shock, but didn’t check the hook. You can guess, I hook another fish and clearly something was wrong. There was that opened up hook! Angler error. No excuses. We had several anglers with fish on…but none landed. Maybe today. Captain Luis left at 4 and headed down south, we’ll see what they say!
SNOOK: No one really went after snook this week. It isn’t our season for snook, but sometimes the guides find them tucked way up in the lagoon system.
JACKS: We had some huge jacks landed this week on fly and spin.
Barracuda! We usually don’t report on barracuda, but we really had an exceptional week. Bill killed em on spin and fly. This is such a fun fish on the flats. They can get big air and really rip your tackle to shreds. If we had a barracuda pin, Bill, you would get it. Cuda 10 – 25 lbs. ;)
FLIES THAT WORKED
FOR BONES - Christmas Island Specials size 8 and 6, Charlies and Gotchas. Tan, gold, sexy patterns. Sexy patterns are flies that move so great in the water you just to have it
FOR TARPON - 3/0 yellow toads, green Toads, Black Death cockroach, and look out with purple! Your choice, circle hooks will help people who have not had experience setting tarpon, while the standard is still with J-hooks, or set hooks.
FOR PERMIT - We are starting to throw the Avalon Fly. Our 100% confidence fly is of course…..Yellow, Green, Orange and Pink Christmas Island Specials size 6 stripped fast. Tan and green crabs, size 6, when they are tailing. We strip a lot of flies for permit. It is the way the San Pedro guides do it, and it works! Shrimp patterns, size 6, on long 14 – 16 ft leaders down to 16lb test. Glass minnow patterns work as well. You just have to be brave enough to try.
This Week’s Summary: Great to meet the father/son group from Dallas. The guys just graduated from business school. They came here to El Pescador for a nice reward! I think we have a few fly fishing addicts on our hands now. Make sure you get your fishing time allocated when signing that work contract! We have some very serious anglers here this week. Leigh is here strictly for tarpon. It is his dream to land one, and the sooner the better. Ron really wanted a permit – he had a lot of shots with Captain Sinoe, but the fish were not committing. He did leave today thrilled that his is a better saltwater fly fisherman, and I think we’ll see him back in July. It was Matt and Jim that got Ron and Mac here….Matt had 3 permit last trip and landed the big one this trip. No wonder Matt’s smile is so big!
Weather Conditions: Sunny or partly cloudy with isolated thunderstorms.
Winds: NE 5 – 15, and now it’s E 5 – 10. Perfect.
Air Temperature: High: low to high 90’s. Low: low 70’s.
Water Temperature: mid to high 70’s.
Moonphase: First quarter June 9, 2011
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONES: Really classic bonefishing right now – sight fishing in glassy water. The bonefish are saving the day for the tarpon fishermen that got beat up.
PERMIT: On Mike and Mary’s twenty – fifth wedding anniversary they each landed a pemit on spin. Way to go! Thank you Captain Cesar.
TARPON:
It’s tarpon week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES. The guides have been all over, Long Caye, west, Savannah….and let’s just say the bite is on. 4 boats landed tarpon on fly on the 8th, Rick has landed tarpon 4 out of 5 days with Captain Nesto….Rolling tarpon with intermediate lines and usually staked out in the channel, as well as sight fishing for the big ones and then site fishing of course on Savannah.
SNOOK: If you want snook you have to go with Captain Luis. Everyone usually gives up on snook this time of year, but now Luis. They landed snook on spin on the 9th, along with a ton of big snappers.
JACKS: Big jacks on fly and spin.
FLIES THAT WORKED
FOR BONES - Christmas Island Specials size 8 and 6, Charlies and Gotchas. Tan, gold, sexy patterns. Sexy patterns are flies that move so great in the water you just to have it.
FOR TARPON - 3/0 yellow toads, green Toads, Black Death cockroach, and look out with purple! Your choice, circle hooks will help people who have not had experience setting tarpon, while the standard is still with J-hooks, or set hooks.
FOR PERMIT - We are starting to throw the Avalon Fly. Our 100% confidence fly is of course…..Yellow, Green, Orange and Pink Christmas Island Specials size 6 stripped fast. Tan and green crabs, size 6, when they are tailing. We strip a lot of flies for permit. It is the way the San Pedro guides do it, and it works! Shrimp patterns, size 6, on long 14 – 16 ft leaders down to 16lb test. Glass minnow patterns work as well. You just have to be brave enough to try.
Weather Conditions: E 10 – 20 most of the week, and then the week ends with small craft warnings and huge wind from the E and SE on Saturday. Mostly sunny all week, then rain and thunderstorms the end of the week.
Winds: E, NE, E, SE……storm from the East and South.
Air Temperature: High: low to high 90’s. Low: low 70’s.
Water Temperature: mid to high 70’s.
Moonphase: Full Moon on the 15th, 2011
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONES: Nigel and Dave had some fantastic bonefishing out on Ali’s Bonefish Island. So much fun in fact they want to get out there again as soon as possible! They survived an epic storm while camping with their families, and they were blessed with some nice bones in the 4 lb plus range. Congratulations to Mike and Sue for some great bonefishing with Captain Erlindo!
PERMIT: Not the time for permit right now. We are seeing them, and some big ones. According to Dave, he and Captain Raton saw permit in the 20 – 30 lb range. We are not seeing the numbers out on the flat because they are still spawning. It was late this year, by a month.
TARPON:
The tarpon fishing is incredible right now. Even with all the wind, the anglers were able to get the job done! Jim landed his tarpon the first day out with Captain Emir, Nigel and Dave had two tarpon a piece and some nice bones with Captain Nesto and his son in training, Alex. Savannah on fire. It’s windy now, but we all know the bite is going to be incredible when this lays down!
SNOOK: If you want snook you have to go with Captain Luis. Everyone usually gives up on snook this time of year, but now Luis. They landed snook on spin on the 9th, along with a ton of big snappers.
JACKS: Big jacks on fly and spin.
FLIES THAT WORKED
FOR BONES - Christmas Island Specials size 8 and 6, Charlies and Gotchas. Tan, gold, sexy patterns. Sexy patterns are flies that move so great in the water you just to have it
FOR TARPON - 3/0 yellow toads, green Toads, Black Death cockroach, and look out with purple! Your choice, circle hooks will help people who have not had experience setting tarpon, while the standard is still with J-hooks, or set hooks.
FOR PERMIT - We are starting to throw the Avalon Fly. Our 100% confidence fly is of course…..Yellow, Green, Orange and Pink Christmas Island Specials size 6 stripped fast. Tan and green crabs, size 6, when they are tailing. We strip a lot of flies for permit. It is the way the San Pedro guides do it, and it works! Shrimp patterns, size 6, on long 14 – 16 ft leaders down to 16lb test. Glass minnow patterns work as well. You just have to be brave enough to try.
This Week’s Summary: I left the island on Friday for the weekend, returning on what ended up being Tuesday instead of Monday. Friday was flat calm. Ricardo drove me out next the reef because it was such a site. The reef was hiding in the flat calm. I came back to EP hearing incredible tarpon stories. The camp went from running 14 boats over the weekend to six or so. The anglers here are all fly fishing enthusiasts. Jim had not fly fished for 25 years and there he was landing tarpon on his first day and tying his white fly at the bench. And then Dave told me he has fly fished his whole life, and you can tell it is very important to him. Vee and Manny have been on fishing vacations with their families for years. They may not have landed tarpon this time like their husbands, but they had a lot to be proud about with their bonefishing. Vee, six or so nice bonefish on the flats in major wind is really really good! Captain’s Nesto, Sinoe and Raton did a really nice job on the camp out – they survived a night in some wind and rain. But hey, that makes for great stories. Mike and Sue we will see you in March and that Avalon will be swallowed immediately. And finally, listen to yourself when you are making that cast. Process all that we learn, but in the end, own it.
Weather Conditions:
This week was partly cloudy to cloudy all week, scattered thunderstorms with 1 day of heavy squalls.
Winds:
10-12 mph predominantly out of the East
Air Temperature:
Mid 80’s highs, 70 as the low
Water Temperature:
Low –mid 80’s. There were some very high tides this week.
Moonphase:
The week ended with the quarter moon.
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONEFISH:
Keith caught some big bones right off the beach in front of the lodge using some of his hand tied flies. Brian swears he hooked “Charlie” the resident 7 pounder (but there was none else present to corroborate this!). Christine and her son Matthew enjoyed their first ever flats trip, Matthew had been practicing on their lawn for weeks and it showed with 23 bonefish on his first day in the salt. Mike saw endless bones and then turned towards permit… His wife Barb didn’t think it was so hard and easily landed many bonefish on the 2 days she went out.
PERMIT:
Lots of permit were spotted, Mike had a big permit eat, hooked him up but got cut off shortly into the fight. With that permit embedded in his brain he devoted his last day to conquer the beast to no avail. He has vowed to return. No permit were landed this week.
TARPON:
Anne (honeymooning with husband Brian) was spooled by a 130 pound tarpon so quickly that guide Cesar and husband Brian couldn’t get lines and anchors out of the water fast enough to chase it down. They figure it went from 30 feet beside the boat to 350 yards out in less then 30 seconds with several jumps in between. (Apparently Anne remained calm while the two guys were screaming like babies). Meredith landed a beautiful tarpon while fishing with guide Tomas while practicing for the Tres Pescados tournament at the end of the month.. Larry jumped 6 tarpon in a day but they all managed to get off. Not to be out done young Evan (guided by Gilberto) landed a 100 pound poon that took the boat into the mangroves twice and somehow they freed the line both times – an epic 2 hour battle ended with the tarpon landed beside the boat. He out fished, his Dad, Mom, and 2 brothers – Way to go Evan!
SNOOK:
Snook were not targeted or seen.
OTHER:
Barracuda, snapper, pompanos & jacks were landed.
FLIES THAT WORKED
FOR BONES -
Gotchas, crazy charlies (tan), spawning shrimp.
FOR TARPON -
Black Death (tarpon bunny style) size 2/0, purple demon, chartreuse toad.
FOR PERMIT -
Spawning Shrimp, Turneffe crab.
This Week’s Summary: With an average of only 4 boats out on the water each day the numbers were good. Weather was below average with clouds being more of the enemy than the wind.
Weather Conditions:
Sunday Monday and Tuesday were clear hot and calm, Wednesday and Thursday brought some clouds and morning showers, Friday was heavy rain most of the day, Saturday dreary but fishing was much better.
Winds:
Winds were very light and variable all week, nothing more than 5 mph, anglers were begging for more wind to cool themselves off.
Air Temperature: upper 80’s for the high, low 70’s were the low.
Water Temperature:
Mid 80’s. Without wind the surface heated up quickly on the sunny days.
Moonphase:
The week started near the Quarter moon.
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
We had 5 or 6 boats out for the first half of the week and success was not limited to any one species. Bonefish, permit, tarpon, cudas, triggerfish, houndfish, many species of snappers, groupers, sharks and jacks were all brought to the boat.
Permit fishing was very successful!!!!!
BONEFISH:
Bonefish were plentiful and easy to catch even though most people were concentrating on permit and tarpon. John from Portland caught his fist bonefish on a fly!! Dr. Brianna spent 45 minutes learning to fly cast on Monday night and caught a bonefish on the fly the next day with super guide Gilberto. Her husband Johnson was not able to score one with the fly rod and Brianna is happy to point that out to anyone interested. Karl on his first attempt with a fly rod landed a nice bonefish with Nesto on the platform. Special congratulations go to Betty for landing her first ever bonefish with Gilberto.
PERMIT:
9 permit were landed in the first 3 days of the week. The largest was around 14 pounds. Special congrats goes to Sam G. for his fulfillment of a permit obsession that has been going on for years at El Pescador! Dan’s permit was the largest and he narrowly missed a grand slam due to some rather apathetic tarpon. Paul and Brad could not get the tarpon to the boat so they too missed the grand Slam.
TARPON:
Tarpon were everywhere this week but because of the dead clam seas they were still a little spooky and not very aggressive. Kevin in his second visit to EP hooked the most as he was able to get 7 or 8 to eat. The bad news is that none of them got to the boat as Kevin went 0 for 8! Returning guest Greg landed a nice one as did Dan and Jeff. John landed a nice 45 pounder ( his first encounter ever with a tarpon with guide Gilberto!)
Avalon, Christmas Island Specials, Pink Clouser, Gotcha, Crazy Charlie tan
This Week’s Summary:
A great week at the lodge with lots of Divers, couples and fishermen thrown in. Even though our best fishing is in the summer and fall it amazes me that more people don’t take advantage of it! None of our fishermen ever saw another boat!
The casting clinic was very popular as many of the non fishing guests decided to take a stab at it . Karl was the gold star student!
Guide of the week: Gilberto for all the firsts he guided folks to this week. The team of Carlos and Marco are a close second for their grand slam ( over 2 days) with Dan.
GRAND SLAMS AND WEDDING BELLS HEARD AT EL PESCADOR
Week of October 16th – October 22nd, 2011
Weather Conditions:
Sunday was overcast with gradual clearing with overcast afternoon, Monday much improved with partly cloudy skies. The rest of the week was slight overcast to overcast with just a few peaks of sun.
Winds:
Winds were out of the northwest all week meaning there was some good calm flat over by the mainland. Wind speeds were calm to 10 miles per hour
Air Temperature: mid 80’s for the high, low 70’s were the low.
Water Temperature:
Mid 80’s. Without wind the surface heated up quickly on the sunny days.
Moonphase:
The week started near the Last Quarter Moon.
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
Bonefish, tarpon, permit, cudas, jacks, snook, ladyfish, snappers, pompano, GRAND SLAM FOR JOHN
BONEFISH:
Rick and Fritz lit up bonefishing losing track on their 3 days of fishing. Jeri (Rick’s wife) went out one day and landed her first bonefish. Kimberly’s first fish ever was a bonefish on a fly rod – nice…..it was on he sweetheart Scott’s birthday!
PERMIT:
John landed his first permit ever while wading with Luis (Gilberto’s son – guide in training) then got 3 more on the same flat! John from Hatch reels boated a nice one on his way to a grand slam on Friday with guide Sinoe.
TARPON:
Jeff is no longer a tarpon free man as he landed his first tarpon with Emir and hooked several more. His buddy Charles hooked a few but managed to break the 50 lb leader with some super human strip sets! Danny and John from Hatch Reels landed a few beauties out on Savannah Flats. Mark and his son Kyle came close to the record for most tarpon caught as they found an energetic school of 8-15 pound tarpon – 6 to the boat and many others hooked!
SNOOK:
Mark and Kyle also had a banner day fishing the mainland for snook with guide Cesar. They had 10 snook to the boat. Mark and Kyle put in some 10 hour days.
FLIES THAT WORKED
Chatreuse clouser, Orange butt tarpon, Crazy Charlie tan, white deceiver,
Merkin crab, Gotcha, Christmas Island Special pink and tan.
This Week’s Summary:
Lots of good things to report this week despite the slight overcast that persisted most of the week..– Endless bonefish, a few permit and a bunch of tarpon.
Special congratulations go to Charles for the catch of the week: his successful marriage proposal to the lovely Allison. We are hoping for a honeymoon visit next year!
Guide of the week: Sinoe for the grand slam with John from Hatch reels but a too close to call second place goes to Cesar for his multi snook, multi tarpon day!
Weather Conditions:
The week began with some overcast skies which made it challenging to find fish, but when the skies cleared, it was great! We had a weak cold front (the temperature doesn’t drop much, it’s just what we call a storm that comes in).
Winds:
Mostly from the Northwest 5-15 mph switching to north northeast later in the week.
Air Temperature: low to mid 80’s for the high, low 70’s were the low.
Water Temperature:
Low 80’s.
Moonphase:
Last Quarter on the 18th.
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONEFISH:
Some really big bonefish were landed this week from the Crab Caye area – 5 to 8 lbs! Love that Gotcha fly! Several schools of bones in the 3 to 4 lb range. Richard and Victoria had several good bonefishing days and Dirk landed his first bonefish on fly….followed by several others. Kristen and Ted came here to land a bonefish on fly..they did that and more!
PERMIT:
So who shows up and lands two permit on fly for the first time in their lives on day one! Well, it happened to Ted and Steve this week! Ted almost slammed twice with Captain Carlos Sr, but the tarpon came undone. One with a broken rod, and the next one right by the boat! (I don’t feel sorry for him!!) He was beaming all week. And Steve went out with Captain Luis and did the same thing on permit. Landed 2 on fly. So we had 4 permit landed by guests and well, Captain Carlos took a cast when Ted was playing his fish and they had doubles. Wading. So, 5 landed, and 6 hook ups.
TARPON:
Our serious November tarpon fishermen are here. George landed one with Captain Nesto, and Mark had 4 eat, jumps and runs one day with Captain Tomas, and so far has landed 2. Joshua is tarpon crazed. He tied some beautiful flies, hoping they get lost actually…check out “Kings Kinky Muddler.” In tan – they chomp it all day long. I’m hoping he gets one to the boat. I have lost count of all the eats, which means he is at least getting the “bait to the plate,” as they say. Patience.
SNOOK:
The guides are seeing more snook as we move into our winter months.
FLIES THAT WORKED
Check out “Kings Kinky Muddler” on Dan Blanton’s website. The tarpon are loving this fly! Chartreuse toad, Gotcha, Christmas Island Special, Crazy Charlie, Bonefish bitters, small crabs on the smart bonefish out front, and blue and silver for tarpon patterns were working well on Savannah.
This Week’s Summary:
It really does blow my mind when people come here for their first saltwater fly fishing experience and end up landing permit and tarpon as well as bonefish. I don’t know why it took me forever! Truly an amazing fishery and I have to give it to our guides. In the two years I have been here now, I have seen them grow in their teaching. They are used to having really accomplished anglers here, but now we are excited to see so many anglers who are new to the salt visiting us. With that, the guides have learned to work with a variety of abilities and magic happens! It warms all of our hearts to see George and Judy here for their 25th year here at EP! And Bob, we will see you here next year with your buddy Mark. I’m sorry to tell you he is nailing the tarpon in your absence! It’s really lovely here right now. Good moon and tides for this week as we move into our Thanksgiving week. We are blessed!
Guide of the week: Bottom line, Captain Carlos Sr. is a ninga! He took Ted and Kristen out on day one, and Ted hooked 3 permit and landed 2. Carlos grabbed a rod when Ted was fighting a permit and they had doubles. Wading for permit and from the boat….Captain Carlos is 70 y/o and lights up when talking about his fishing. I just love it.
fish@elpescador.com
Fishing photo of the week:
El Pescador guest Ted and his very first Permit on a Fly!
Weather Conditions:
High pressures behind cold front to maintain cool and windy weather. Showers and periods of light rain.
Winds:
North to Northwest 20 – 30 knots, then moved to NE 20knots.
Air Temperature: Highs: 26C/79F, Lows: 18C/64F
Water Temperature:
80.
Moonphase:
The first quarter moon on the 20th.
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONEFISH:
Some giant schools of bonefish showing up on the east side – so up from the lodge, beach side. The guides report hundreds of “big bonefish (4 – 8 lb fish) in schools right off some of the docks! Congrats to Jeff, Eric, Justin, Renee and Kara for their first bonefish.
PERMIT:
Permit shots all week, but the final comment is, “It’s too cold for them to eat!” All the same, schools 5 – 15 lb, and then some bigger fish found south of San Pedro. Jeff caught a small permit on spin. We primarily used the “Avalon” and the fish followed……. Smitty was awarded a “jack” pin because he landed a jack, but really, really wanted a permit on fly.
TARPON:
Yay Bradford! Tarpon on fly. And Justin, first tarpon on fly as well! Lot’s of shots of tarpon from the north to the south, but when the wind went NE it shut down.
SNOOK:
They’re around.
FLIES THAT WORKED
Frank was our featured tier this week. We made Avalon’s out of all kinds of materials – we were short on the beads, so we modified the fly. It got the attention of a lot of permit! Light flies on Savannah, tan, white. Small crabs working well for bonefish.
This Week’s Summary:
It was really fun to have so many of our friends here this week. Guests who have been coming here for years – so everyone feels right at home. I do think I need some more support. When the guides and the guests give me a hard time I can’t hide! Sorry you guys are going to miss our Christmas party this year! It was a great week of laughter, serious angling and bonding with new and old friends. We also celebrated our Office Manager, Marlin’s, 23 rd birthday! It’s wintertime in Belize and it’s pretty nice.
Guide of the week: Captain Tomas had Mark in tarpon like you read about. It was really wonderful to watch these two head out each morning. Mark had a ridiculous number of bites and was able to land one on fly! Captain Tomas worked with Mark to make his fishing trip!
Weather Conditions:
Mostly sunny with a few showers. With that we also had some sensational rainbows!
Winds:
NNE then moved to ESE.
Air Temperature: Highs: 27 C/ 81F Lows: 20 C/ 68F
Water Temperature:
78
Moonphase:
Last quarter on the 16th.
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONEFISH:
Jill didn’t think she could do it, but congratulations for your first several bonefish on fly gal! Trapper and Adam got into bonefish armies out in the back lagoon via our Fish Hawk Kayaks. There were a few 7 lb bonefish landed out in the lagoon this week. Tailing fish! Ian and Ian, father and son had some incredible bonefishing with Captain Raton.
PERMIT:
Dan landed his permit on fly the last day he was here with Captain Kechu! Talk about the big incentive for coming back! And then, I don’t know his magic, but Steve landed 5 permit on fly, in addition to his grand slam! How is that? He and Captain Emir were unstoppable. And Captain Carlos lead Whitey into 2 permit on fly – not bad from a guy who lives in Smithers!
TARPON:
Steve did it for his grand slam on fly! Gary and Captain Cesar knocked it out of the park on the first cast of the day! A nice 40 lb fish on fly, way to go Gary. Whitey had one on over by Solanas, but they lost it. And then way to go Grant from Botswana – landed tarpon of fly with Captain Sinoe. And then they partied! Imagine….
SNOOK:
Steve was going for his “Super Grand Slam” but didn’t find any takers for the fly. Snook fishing should stay around for another month or so – or until the dry season starts.
FLIES THAT WORKED
Some innovative crab patterns for permit , but mostly Christmas Islands size 4 and 6 for permit in orange. Savannah fish are loving 1/0 in light tans, yellows….. bunnies, toads, cockroach patterns all working. Dan’s fly was the winner for bonefish, but it’s a secret. Oh well, time to get at the vice and copy!
This Week’s Summary:
We had this wonderful wacky group from Botswana this week. We all had such a good time as we watched big time game hunting guides in Africa turn into Belizean tourists. Way to go. Ian Sr. said, “I’m so surprised that there are people here from all different walks of life, yet we all get along so well! “ My answer, fishing. Fishing is the common denominator here at El Pescador. And it is truly magic. Listen to this one. Dan was a little sad in the morning before fishing. The weather was looking challenging at best. I walked in to the restaurant and said, “Well, this looks like the day I went out and landed a permit last week!” Dan said, “Yeah, last week stories.” I went on to tell him how a double rainbow came out and then I landed my permit. So, he and Jill go out to see what the day was going to bring with Captain Kechu. Rainbows and permit! Yeah!
Guide of the week: Captain Emir for bringing Steve into his first Grand Slam and…..5 permt. All on fly. Wow.
Weather Conditions:
Mixed weather as cold front conditions threatened the first week presenting some rainy days as well as a some sunny days…. then we got hit with another cold front that decided to hover. By the end of the week, the cold front dissipated and we ended up with a weekend of flat calm, beautiful weather blowing from the NE at about 5.
Winds:
With the cold front, the wind changed directions daily. 5 – 15 mostly from the NNE. Today it’s 3 – 5 NE and beautiful.
Air Temperature: Highs: 27 C/ 81F Lows: 20 C/ 68F
Water Temperature:
78
Moonphase:
New moon on January 23rd
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONEFISH:
Thank goodness for mudding fish, tailing fish, and waking fish! We did not have a lot of sun, but we did have bonefish on fly and spin to keep our anglers happy.
PERMIT:
Steve landed a permit on the 4th with Captain Cesar! Way to go, numero uno. Dale landed permit on fly with Captain Cesar as well.
TARPON:
Dale landed tarpon on fly…he had his permit and his tarpon…and let his buddy have the deck after that. Wow.
SNOOK:
Snook landed on spin. Snook are not part of the catch and release program, maybe someday. They are great eating, and that’s the problem. They are also a magnificent fish and with the big three, make a Super Grand Slam.
FLIES THAT WORKED
The Avalon fly for bones and permit! On the calm days you needed plastic eyes, or bead chain with a good presentation. Christmas Island Specials in yellow this week for permit…… light colored flies in a 1/0 for tarpon. Cesar is crazy about the tan toad for tarpon, size 1/0.
This Week’s Summary:
Wow. We have had a ton of activity around here these past few weeks. We had a big group of 40 fellow businessmen and anglers come together. This was their 28th year for these fishing trips, and it was really fun to witness special friendships, which started with a fishing trip years ago. We had some tough weather, but I have to give it to our guests who really kept a good attitude and made it happen! We worked on casting, and learning as well as fishing. Big fun!
Guide of the week: Captain Cesar for double tarpon on fly!
Weather Conditions:
We had some flat calm days which was really fun for riding in the boat as much as fishing! Full moon tides and pre cold front conditions. The cold front came in at the end of the week, with close to 25 knot wind on Sunday.
Winds:
NW @ 5 knots, moved to SE, then back to NNE up to 25 knots at the end of the week.
Air Temperature: Highs: 27 C/ 81F Lows: 20 C/ 68F
Water Temperature:
78
Moonphase:
Full moon on the 7th.
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONEFISH:
We’ve had some stellar bonefishing along the beach north of the lodge. These are fish up to 6/7 lbs, which is huge for us. Mark and Carol wandered up the beach and Mark had some nice bones on fly and Carol found some on light spin. Jeff took the lagoon by storm once again….tailing fish up to 4 lbs. A big part of the EP experience is all the fishing that can be done as “Do it yourself” fishing. And our bonefishing is best for this experience.
PERMIT:
Steve landed permit on fly with Captain Cesar. First cast, two strips…permit. Others had follows and trout sets. When it was flat calm, we had tailing fish along the beach up by Rocky Point. Mostly anglers cast to schools of fish – watching for the wakes, and then intercepting them with the fly. And that fly is almost always a Christmas Island Special.
TARPON:
Jeff landed a 15 lb tarpon with Captain Emir our by Mosquito. With the weather, most of the guides have been fishing the West coast. Ray S. landed 2 one day with Captain Sinoe. Sinoe was in fish all week, it was just about finding the day and the fly.
SNOOK:
Ray and Kate brought back a 10 lb snook, but they said they missed several in the 20 – 30 lb range! Sometimes those big fish decide they don’t like flies, no matter how hard you try. But what a take when it happens! Our snook season, which is generally a winter one, is still strong.
FLIES THAT WORKED
The Avalon fly for bones and permit! On the calm days you needed plastic eyes, or bead chain with a good presentation. Christmas Island Specials in yellow this week for permit…… light colored flies in a 1/0 for tarpon. Cesar is crazy about the tan toad for tarpon, size 1/0.
This Week’s Summary:
It was old home week as Ray S returned with his clan to seduce the flats with their flies. Ray and Kate, thank you. It was great to see everyone! We had days like you read about. Really pretty mornings - flat calm that lasted about 3 days.
We adventure out, test our skills, our endurance, our comfort level….and we tap into a part of life that keeps giving back.
Guide of the week: Captain Sinoe for finding a ton of tarpon all week.
Weather Conditions:
Our weather has started to settle out –still have some wind, but mostly sunny beautiful days!
Winds:
North, then NE, Easterly ending the week ESE @ 10 – 15 knots.
Air Temperature: Highs: 27 C/ 81F Lows: 20 C/ 68F
Water Temperature:
78
Moonphase:
Last Quarter on the 14th, Valentine’s Day Moon.
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONEFISH:
Just a great week for tailing bones in the lee! And some dandies in the 4 – 6 lb. range caught on both fly and spin. Weedguards needed for those turtle grass flats on your bonefish flies. (Seems I always get stuck with not enough flies with weedguards in my box!). With the morning and late afternoon rising tides, we have good fishing both in the lagoon as well as the front up the beach.
PERMIT:
Norm does it again with Captain Carlos! CIS to one fish, and he ate! Mark from Bozeman landed a nice permit with Captain Emir. Captain Cesar put Meredith on permit, she landed a nice one, and then went on to try for the grand slam….and soooo close! Lots of permit found on the front as well as the back. Average permit size 8 – 10 lbs, but there are some 30 lb fish swimming around teasing us! All fish caught on fly.
TARPON:
Meredith had one on with Captain Cesar. Marty landed a tarpon on spin with Captain Cesar – worth that early departure. Lots of tarpon shots out around Savannah to the West coast.
SNOOK:
Carrie landed a nice 10 lb snook on fly. Guides reporting snook up to 30 lbs, but not always wanting the fly.
FLIES THAT WORKED
The Avalon fly for bones and permit! On the calm days you needed plastic eyes, or bead chain with a good presentation. Christmas Island Specials in yellow this week for permit…… light colored flies in a 1/0 for tarpon. Cesar is crazy about the tan toad for tarpon, size 1/0.
This Week’s Summary:
I just love seeing our repeat guests! Like the seasons that package their unique gifts in nature, our anglers show up to remind me it’s “that’s time” to be with their favorite guide and make fun adventures happen each day. It’s really heart warming to see the guide’s face light up when he sees his friends return. Stories start before they leave the dock…as well as a new plan for the day in front of them. Karl and Nancy were here and time flew by! Smiles all around. And it was a special treat to see my friends the Tones. I started guiding them 20 years ago, and we just had a big fun week here in Belize. That’s the life we live, are we are so lucky. Fishing is good right now!
Guide of the week: Captain Carlos, “The Legend.” For a reason.
The seas have been quite rough lately, 7 to 10 foot waves. The weather has been humid and hot. No rain, but hazy days.
The fishing inside the reef has been a bit slow. Mostly small snappers, jacks, small groupers and as usual, the fish that always saves the day from coming empty handed, the famous barracuda.
Now, weather permitting, the offshore fishing has been pretty good!! The dorado's have been biting pretty good; caught about 15 this week, and for down here, that is pretty good. These, are considered to be the best eating fish on the ocean!! The tuna's have been active on the late evenings as well. Mostly, blackfin that range from 5 to 10 lbs. That is the average size we catch down here. Sailfish season has started but it has been too rough to go out for them. Also have been catching some wahoo as well as we are at the ending of the wahoo season.
The flats have been doing ok, but mostly only for bonefish since the weather has not been too favorable to go for tarpon and permit. If you can beat the other boats to the bonefish honey hole behind Cangrejo Caye, it is a sure thing, but you have to use a long leader, 16 ft, at least with a small fly, preferably a Christmas Island.
Now you can always catch medium size tarpon all year round in the channels at the south end of the island with life bait and occasionally with flies too, if you are lucky.
Hoping for the breeze to die down to get down to some serious fishing!!
Tight lines
Well, with the coming of the full moon, the strong Easter winds died down together with it as usual except for a few showers here and there, but nothing to stop a true angler from going out for some serious fishing; and boy am I excited about writing this report, because it was one of the best fishing weeks ever!!!
It is sailfish season down here and there is quite a bit of sailfish around, but you have to know how to catch them, because they can be tricky. If you want to drift fish for them along the drop off, where they usually hang around looking for food, the best bait is using a live sardine with a small hook with a short wire leader and about 15 feet of 150lb test shock leader to go with it. A few friends have landed some this week and on good Friday, I landed 2 myself!!! The sailfish down here are Atlantic sailfish and are relatively small, average 30 to 50 lbs, but can be a lot of fun on light tackle.
The dorado's are still doing good, caught some nice ones this week, but my ultimate day was today, April 11th. Landing 2 white marlins, a 40 lb dorado and a bunch of black fin tuna's and big barracudas!!! Now that is what I call a great day of fishing down here, since white marlin are rare for down here and consider yourselve lucky if you catch one or two for the whole year, so landing 2 on the same day is exceptional!!!
The flats have been doing good, mostly for bonefish and permit. The tarpon have been a bit elusive this week. The bonefish honeyhole, behind Cangrejo Caye is a sure thing but you have to know how to catch them, because they are starting to get tricky or real smart, I guess that is why they hang around in schools, ja ja!!! I will give you a few tips on how to catch them next week.
From what I here from my other fellow captains, the reef fishing has been a bit slow, except for the old faithful, the barracuda.
Just got to keep your lines in the water and hope for the best, after all it is called fishing, not catching!!!!
Tight lines, Capt Hillyboo
Here is a white marlins I caught yesterday, there were two.
The seas stayed calm for a couple of days, just enough to go chase some tuna. The tuna start migrating down here from May through September; but it seems that they are starting to come a little early this year!!! But u have to get up real early if u want to catch them. And I mean at least 5 o'clock in the morning, because by 7 they stop biting. I was able to catch about 50 little (torpedo) tuna, that is black fins, ranging from 5 to 10 lbs and with light tackle, they are a lot of fun to catch and make great sushi and tuna salad or casserole!!!!
The dorado's and the sailfish are still biting. Some friends of mine caught a few this week and I personally landed some nice dorado, but no sailfish.
It rained and the breeze starting blowing for a couple of days after that, and the fishing got a little slow with it. But it has cleared up and the fishing is back to normal. From what I here from Omar, (the doctor of the flats), the flats have been doing pretty good for bonefish and permit.
Now going back to last week's report, the way to catch the bonefish at the honey hole behind Cangrejo Caye, u have to use a 12 foot leader with 4 feet of 10 lb Tippett with a small Christmass Island fly and u are sure to score. Now if u are spin casting, make sure u have some hermit crab to entice them. They just can't resist it!! U will have multiple hook ups!! I have landed up to 50 this way!!' No lie. Well maybe 60!! Ha ha!!
Tomorrow I am going out deepsea fishing and I am going out to Turneffe Atoll, which is one the hottest spots for fishing and I am excited to see what the ocean will have for me tomorrow . I will let u know on next 's week report.
Well, the weather was fairly good all weak long, except for a few showers here and there. Also it was a bit unusual to get the breeze to be blowing from the northwest. And it did pretty strong for a couple of days, but it was welcomed, since all we had been having is hot humid weather. So it help cooled down the island a bit.
Anyway, my Turneffe fishing trip turned out to be a barracuda catching trip. I saw a big marlin jump and a sailfish but could not get none of them to bite. I ended up catching 16 barracudas, a king mackerel and a tuna, but a slow day of fishing beats any day at the office!!
Now, I cannot say the same for the reef fishing and the night fishing!! The reef fishing has been doing great! I have been fishing the drop off at around 130 feet of water and have been catching lots of Spanish mackerels, ocean trigger fish, big yellow tail snappers, strawberry and nassau groupers and horse eye jacks as well!! I have been using cut bait on the bottom and live bait on floating line and it has been doing great. Live sardines and lots of chum Is the way to go!! Now don't ask me the spot, cause it is not going to happen. U will have to come down so I can take u out personally and blind folded too! Ha ha!! Just kidding!!
The night fishing was excellent too. Well at least for the tarpon. I got to go out one night and boy, were they biting !!! I landed 4 all ranging from 40 to 60 lbs and we could had easily landed 10 if the anglers I had were not so novice!!! They were biting with live sardines at the channels at the south end of the island right at sun down. That is the good thing about living on my island, ( La Isla Bonita ) because there is such a diversity of fish that u can always go out and be sure enough to catch something !!!
Well until next week, but for now, keep those lines tight !!
Weather Conditions:
Mostly clear – cooler for this time of year.
Winds:
15-20 mph early in the week, starting from the North and moving to NE, E. Week ended with 10 @ NE.
Air Temperature: Highs in the mid 80’s and the lows were in the low 70’s.
Water Temperature:
around 80 degrees
Moonphase:
The new moon was on April 21
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONEFISH:
lots of bonefish on Sunday.. 25 to Sal on his first day of fly fishing! Another boat had a 50 fish day! Beginning fly fishermen Bill and his son Sean had 2 great days of bonefish, Aud from Norway boated a bunch of bonefish and then cheered Jon as he hooked another tarpon. And the bonefish in front of the lodge just keep getting bigger! George and I were talking and he wanted to know what fly I used a few weeks back on a nice bone in front of the lodge. He had landed one that day, and wanted to compare. Usually we are thinking “smaller for smarter fish…like a 10 with a few wraps.” We were both successful on a size 6 tan and fat shrimp pattern.
PERMIT:
A few shots every day for the few that went permit fishing – what happened after that makes the story. Tim and Captain Kechu had a nice permit on, but not landed. It’s was Tim’s second cast of his trip! Jon of course cleaned up with Kechu earlier in the week with 4 permit bites, and two landed. Nice.
TARPON:
3 hookups and one to the boat for Jerry and guide Tomas on Monday. Captain Kechu and Jon landed a 60 lb fish from Savannah!
SNOOK:
Snook were not targeted.
FLIES THAT WORKED
FOR BONES -
Some with weed guards…but Gotchas, Christmas Island Special, Small crabs, in size 8 and 6.
FOR PERMIT -
Our “rice and beans” = Christmas Island Specials, size 4 and 6. Also, tan crab patterns in 6.
FOR TARPON -
Brown cockroach pattern with some EP fibers to spice things up. Size 3/0. Black death, and then tan toads, white, white and chartreuse bunny’s – size 1/0 – 3/0.
This Week’s Summary:
It’s the time of year we have been waiting for. Nice sunny days, and all the fish are in town. The big girls, tarpon up to 200 lbs are starting to show. We expect to see the masses in a few weeks. Thank you to Ed for doing a great job as fishing director while I had a chance to see friends, family and fish in the States. The highlight for me this week back home at EP was watching Ali teach our guides Fly Fishing Federation guidelines as they prepare for testing at the end of May. Ali is learning as she is teaching, and she has their 100% attention as they take on learning the language of fly casting instruction. Follow her on facebook as we all learn together! We have had great fishing, good times, and we are all pumped up on casting!
Guide of the week: Captain Kechu. Jon and Kechu targeted the grand slam. It happened in two days instead of one, but all the same, nice going! 2 permit on fly and one 60 lb tarpon on fly with several respectable bonefish
We have had beautiful weather all week long, especially in the mornings. It has been very calm with a light breeze picking up in the afternoons, which is very much welcomed, since it has been mostly hot and humid lately; but at least it is good fishing weather.
This weekend, we are hosting our annual dorado fishing rodeo fishing competition. It has always had good participation and it has some attractive cash prices to go with it as well!! If anybody is interested in fishing it, u can contact me through my email, hillyboo1991@yahoo.com. Or call my cell number 011-501-6657106 for more info. I won it a couple of years ago!!!
Anyway the fishing has been pretty good this week. The reef fishing has been average, with big barracudas hitting on the drop off along the reef. And the snappers and groupers have also been a bit active as well. Now if u want to catch the deep water snappers and the deepwater yellow fin groupers, u better be prepaired to reel them in from anywhere from 250 to 500 ft of water!!! And these are plentiful, if u find the right spot, but preferably using an electric reel because after reeling in a couple of these fish from that dept, u are ready to pass out! It Is like going to the gym!!!
The mutton snappers should be biting on this next moon. It is spawning month for them. U can catch them all along the drop off in about 80 to 130 ft of water but the best place to catch is at Rocky Point. These fish average from 15 to 25 lbs and u can fill a big cooler of them if u hit the right spot.
The offshore was a bit slow around the main reef, but my brother Mike, did excellent at the Wahoo Honeyhole at the atoll of Lighthouse Reef ( that us where the famous Blue Hole us located). He is a dive master at Amigos del Mar dive shop and occasionally does private fishing charters, for people that have their own boats. Well, they landed 9 wahoo's and 42 tuna's and a whole lot of barracudas !!! Now that is a good fishing day, and almost beats my record of 14 wahoo's and 47 tuna's for one day!! It is a good thing that I taught him everything he knows !!! Ha ha ! Just had to rub it in!!
The flats have been doing very good. Especially for the bone fish and permit . Lots of them! I went bone fishing a couple of times this week and several times I had double hook ups and landed too!!! I am even attaching a picture of one of my double hook ups, as proof; because as u know all fishermen are liars except for me and u, and sometimes I am not so sure about u!!!
Well this week was a very exciting fishing week. Capt Shark's together with Holiday Hotel hosted the 6th annual Dorado Fishing Tournament and it was a success. A total of 19 boats participated.
The boat Cristina took first place landing 2 dorado's, and the Real Deal, captained by yours truly, me ( Hillyboo Lara) came out with the second place landing 2 dorado's as well, but only 1 of them qualified giving me the second place. My girlfriend caught the fish and sadly we lost a second one. It was a big bull. The Aliyah Marley captained by Ricky Marin came out 3rd.
The fishing was good but could have been better if the tournament had not been held during a full moon. And full it was. It was the closest full moon to the earth we have had in a while. And fish usually feed at night because of the abundance of bait fish around.
Anyway, the flats have been doing really well for tarpon since it is tarpon season here on the island and the night fishing has been doing excellent too. Wednesday night, I landed about 10 and lost about 5 and that is because I only had only one angler.
The bones and the permit are also active too.
We are also getting ready for our next tournament which will be sponsered by the Belikin company. And will be called the San Pedro Day Belikin Spectacular Blue Water Fishing Tournament.
Well until next week, keep those lines tight. Capt Hillyboo
Weather Conditions:
Sunny skies, a little wind, and flat out beautiful.
Winds:
E 5 – 15. Some days in the back it was N, NE.
Air Temperature: Highs in the mid 80’s and the lows were in the low 70’s.
Water Temperature:
around 80 degrees
Moonphase:
Last quarter on the 12th.
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONEFISH:
Cindy practiced her casting before she came with Anthony…and when she received her bonefish award she was beaming. She truly decided to learn something new and accomplished a dream – landing a bonefish on a flyrod. Natalie landed a huge 22 inch bonefish when out with her husband Chad, also a first. So many bonefish were landed on fly and spin, that the general comment was, “ we lost track.”
PERMIT:
Lisa had three permit on with Captain Carlos, landed one. Then she landed another one the next day. All on fly. Captain Emir put Shelley onto her first permit on fly. Chuck landed permit with Captain Cesar – and had a big fish break off on Friday. He brought a quiver of flyrods – he came to play hard! David killed it this week with Captain Kechu – 2 permit on fly, one of them wading. Most fish landed were between 5 – 15 lbs. Des landed a 30 lb permit on live crab, and John and John ripped it up with Captain Sinoe – 3 large permit on live crab. Last but not least, Chad came here to land a permit and he did with Captain Tomas. Nice work!
TARPON:
Betsy jumped a tarpon on Savannah with Captian Carlos. She is forever hooked. I told her….”It’s like a handshake from God.” It will wake you up! Chad had a tarpon on with Captain Tomas, also came unbuttoned. You know they can’t stop thinking about those bites! David landed a nice tarpon with Captain Kechu on Savannah, about a 25 pounder. Des also landed a tarpon with Captian Kechu. Both on fly. Captain Emir had Phillip and Shelley down south, and THE BIG GIRLS ARE IN!!!!!!!!!!! They are going out tomorrow morning at 5:30 armed and ready.
SNOOK:
Snook were not targeted.
FLIES THAT WORKED
FOR BONES -
some with weed guards…but Gotchas, Christmas Island Special, Small crabs, in size 8 and 6.
FOR PERMIT -
Our “rice and beans” = Christmas Island Specials, size 4 and 6. Also, tan crab patterns in 6.
FOR TARPON -
Brown cockroach pattern with some EP fibers to spice things up. Size 3/0. Black death, and then tan toads, white, white and chartreuse bunny’s – size 1/0 – 3/0.
This Week’s Summary:
It was a magic week. The weather was perfect and it was hard to keep track of what was being landed. Fishing is like you read about right now. It was also a special week because we remember Logan and his vision for El Pescador. His family, Chris, Steve and Ali have taken El Pescador and made it one of the best fishing lodges in the world. He touched many of the staff members that still work here today. It’s been ten years and his spirit lives here everyday. The guides share big adventure stories about fishing with Logan. He was an incredible fisherman. Logan you would be so proud. I’m very lucky to know and live your dream. We wear it on our shirts, “El Pescador Family.”
Guide of the week: Captain Carlos for getting Lisa and Betsy into fly fishing saltwater heaven. And for being so patient with them as they learned and accomplished landing fish way beyond their dreams.
Weather Conditions:
And just like that, the weather got mixed up! It’s May, and we are not supposed to have northeasters now! It’s been a tough week on our anglers; wind, rain and a few sunny sucker holes that save the day.
Winds:
NE 5 – 15.
Air Temperature: Highs in the high 80’s and the lows were in the mid 70’s.
Water Temperature:
around 80 degrees
Moonphase:
New moon and solar eclipse on the 20th.
WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:
BONEFISH:
So we decided to start fishing for our fish right out in front of the lodge. We have given them a break. Everyone thinks that they are too tough to catch because they are the “lodge fish.” Well, it’s been pretty darn entertaining this week. With tough days of tarpon fishing, or permit fishing – it’s nice to challenge ourselves casting to some pHd bones. And when it all comes together, it is really rewarding. Way to go Page for waking us up to our own front yard!
Sandy, Tess………I know you were wondering if you were going to catch bonefish, and now that you have, there is nothing else to fear!
PERMIT:
Kinda tough permit fishing this week. They are here, but we need the SUN! Kechu has done an amazing job finding his guests tailing permit in the Park. Way to go. Bruce landed a permit with Emir, and that was wonderful. Bruce came here to land permit. There were shots, and a lot of follows, but no eats. The moon is getting smaller, so get ready.
TARPON:
I have been saying to our anglers who are absolutely crazed about tarpon: “We have a 1 800 number for you! Sandy said she has never seen her husband so obsessed, and after hearing about all his fishing adventures that is a statement. All the same, Captain Luis’s team has ripped it up. Hooked 11 in three days and landed 3. Captain Cesar had John and Donna into tarpon as well. John landed a nice 20lb tarpon on fly after a few previous grabs. Toby had fish with Captain Tomas that came unbuttoned. Sandy had tarpon on live sardine….and the fish was so big it kept running and spooled her. We have Donna and Belinda here who are fishing with their husbands. They rock. Always ready to go and let me tell you, they can get the cast where it need to be. I expect to hear about landed tarpon from them soon.
SNOOK:
Snook were not targeted.
FLIES THAT WORKED
FOR BONES -
Some with weed guards…but Gotchas, Christmas Island Special, Small crabs, in size 8 and 6.
FOR PERMIT -
some with weed guards…but Gotchas, Christmas Island Special, Small crabs, in size 8 and 6.
FOR TARPON -
Brown cockroach pattern with some EP fibers to spice things up. Size 3/0. Black death, and then tan toads, white, white and chartreuse bunny’s – size 1/0 – 3/0.
This Week’s Summary:
Just when we were thinking we were never going to see another rain storm again….ahh, all havoc was unleashed. Pretty much the whole week has been working around the weather. The fish are all here, but we need the sun. Success has been with tailing fish, or waking fish. Our anglers this week are for the most part, experienced angers. They know about weather. They booked on a new moon with morning rising tides. It should be perfect. We have a part of our personality that is all about denial, but soon that doesn’t work. And yes, even for me. I get to live here, but I never take my fishing for granted. You have to go when you can and make the best of it. I was sad today because I want and I mean I’m overdue for a fish. I felt all the emotions…”It’s going to be OK…one more cast….let’s check a different spot…I hate my guide....Oh, not really.” Believe me, they want it just as bad as we do. So, today when I was kinda down because I came home fishless, I heard myself talking. Our head cook, Miss Arminda was on the dock with her grandchildren. They were fishing with hand lines and one of the kids was trying really hard not to cry. “I lost “my biggest fish ever!” I said to him, “A true fisherman never gives up.”
Well it was not a good fishing week since it poured most of the time. It rained so hard that quite a few boats that did not have automatic bilge pumps, even sunk!! Thanks god I got to one of my small boats in time, otherwise it would have turned into a submarine as well!!
Anyway, some of us did manage to get out and fish for a couple of days. A friend of mine went out and caught 14 nice black fin tuna's! They usually don't start biting until late on the evening since they are nocturnal feeders by nature; and they are about 5 to 7 miles offshore, so you better have a fast boat to get back in time to make it through the channels by the reefs, since it gets dark pretty early down here.
I had a couple of hardcore fishermen from England, that no matter what, rain or shine were determined to go out fishing. Now it is prime time tarpon season here on the island and I was able to hook them up with a few tarpon. Actually we landed four of them!!!
Big barracuda's are biting pretty good and some kingfish too. Oh and I almost forgot, lots of Spanish mackerel as well. It is the season for them.
The commercial fishermen are starting to get ready for the lobster season which starts on the 15 th of next month, so you can see all the lobster fishermen taking their lobster shades to their favorite fishing spots.
Well I guess until next week again and I hope I will have more exciting fishing stories for you, since the weather seems to be clearing up.
Until them, tight lines!!
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