Hi all, my husband is interested in deep sea fishing when we arrive in Sept. But from what i'm reading, it may be better for him to go reef fishing. Can anyone suggest which might be more exciting for him? Are there any charters you would recommend? He's by himself, so he would also need to find other participants. Thanks in advance for any responses.

Over the years I have deep sea fished several times without much success. Reef fishing has a lot more action and I have nearly always been able to feed several people with my catch. I think I have only been skunked once. I use Eric and Clifford now and have always brought back plenty of fish with them. Good guys and great fishermen.

Loka, some of my friends went out deep sea fishing and they were somewhat successful. I agree that reef fishing is a lot of fun and you may want to join him. My wife who had never fished before loved it. We went several times last winter. Also you can combine a day of fishing and snorkeling. There are several guides on small boats who will meet you at your resort and take you out for reasonable rates and even include a BBQ if you would like. They have half and full day trips and again they will tailor it to your desires.

We always arranged it to go out with two couples or so which made it even more fun. You might be able to find another couple where ever you are staying. One trip we went up North and went into Tranquility Bay for lunch at their restaurant that was a great day. Good luck and have a fun trip.

I'll second LG's nomination there for local waters fishing. Eric's boat is larger and more conducive to a nice day on the water, Cliff, although a bit brusque, is a good mate and will tell you exactly what you need to do to be successful. I mention the boat size because some boats will handle 4 people easily and others, while claiming room for 4, are pretty tight with little room for movement once youre aboard. If at all possible check the boat and talk with the skipper ahead of time. I personally have yet to be fully comforatble on some of my favorite skipper's boats simply becasue they have smaller pangas.

Hill Gonzales, or Eloy,or Tino who, like Eric, also work off the dock at Chuck and Robbie's, are also my suggestions for local waters fishing but their boats, in my opinion, would be limited to two people and only two normal sozed people in my opinion. My lineman size at 6'5 and 350# dictates I go alone on their boats for obvious reasons.


There are cruisers, again some better than others, and you'll pay a price for those, but if your husband has been on these before he knows this. Talking to my son's friend a former fishing operation manager at Turneffe, he pointed out the main reason why local deepsea fishing is spotty is that the Gulf stream is pretty far offshore. We get the pelagics that "stray" off this fishing superhighway. It takes a run to get out to it.

Now you can get nice dorado, 60# wahoo, and small black tuna (little delicious footballs!)off the island on a seasonal basis, without much time invested in travelling but it is seasonal just as it is anywhere. Dont go in Decemebr thinkning youre going to catch dorado who show up in May/June. To get to truly good "deepsea" waters be prepared to spend a good portion of your day simply getting there and it will require a full day charter to do that.

Just my buck $Bz. Hook up!!
Oso

One of the staples on our trips has always been a reef fishing day trip followed by a beach barbecue. No finer way to do fish than an open fire. The people we have used always turned out food to rival any restaurant.

Thanks to everyone, this is very helpful. I think I will recommend the reef fishing AND include myself on this one. I have gone out fishing with him before, but not deep sea. He had a great time in Costa Rica, but I think this would be just as good, judging from your comments. The snorkeling, fishing, BBQ sound like fun. I will check out some of your recommended captains and set something up. Thanks again!

Not to diss my adoptive country but you really cant compare deepsea Belize and Costa Rica fishing. Their offshore fisheries are just completely different, better, there i said it, than Belize. However Belize kicks their ass when it comes to flats fishing, no comparison there...

Sounds good, we weren't familiar with the type of fishing you do there, so I think he'll be happy with flats or reef fishing. We're always up for something different.

Yes you can't compare Belize with Costa Rica. In Costa Rica we we out 50 Miles before we started to fish, but we caught 9 Sail fish in one day, but you can not keep them. The flats and the Reef fishing in Belize is a lot of fun and a lot of action. Plus you don't have a 50 mile drive out to fish. We love catching the fish and taking them back to the condo and cooking them ourselfs. We fed ourself for 4 meals with the fish we caught in one day.

Geez Hunter thats a ride for CR! Out of curiosity where was the marina and what time of year were you there?

LOKA the reef fishing is the way to go ...Go TO my buddy steve at fishingsanpedro.com he books lots of local gudies here
and he takes credit cards and by the way eric is one of the gudes and a nice choice he books as well
as some old timmers pete graniel ,abel gurrero all with new and up to date tackel.
just to name a few check ,Please CHECK out the photos on fishingsanpedro.com web site ,you will get excited .The island has great guides and very low prices .a wonderful value.2/3 less than state side prices .
tight lines and good fishing enjoy your time here .

I dont know about the rest but I agree on these Skipper

captjeff , thanks for the recommendation and bear thanks for the second. I'm going to check out the website and start making plans. It sounds like fun fishing, I might go on this trip.

Loka, do yourself a favor, sure go ahead and email, amd ask for Eric but be sure to ask about boat sizes. Eric's boat was very nice but I know he had some issues that required it going back in for shipyard work. Comfort is a big deal here (well for me at any rate), I would never put another person in the same (small)panga with my self and try to fish unless it was one of the SuperPangas. The larger boats like Erics boat I was on with he and Cliff allowed me to stand and move around while hooked up. Just a heads up...

Ok bear, thanks
for the heads up. I did email with a bunch of questions and am waiting to hear from them.