FISHING REPORT

May 12, 2013 - May 18, 2013

Weather Conditions: The week started with some overcast skies and an occasional thunder storm. Tides high at 10 am moving later in the week. The week progressed with sunny conditions with a prevailing E wind 10 - 20.

Air Temperature: High 90, low 74. Winds: East winds most of the week. ENE 5 - 20, then moved ESE 10 - 20.

Water Temperature: Temps in the high 70s, low 80s

Moonphase: First Quarter May 18th

WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:

BONEFISH: The beach fishing in front of the lodge has been great. Usually ignored, those tails popping out of the turtle grass flats called us out. We call these double point fish. Carson stalled out his departure depression by landing a nice 4 pounder off the dock on fly. Andy Bowen was a great host for his trip fro Cohutta Fishing Company. His whole group landed several bonefish. Congratulations to: Andy, David, Ken (who also slammed!), his son Drew, Terry and his crazed fish head son Kane, Bill and Judy - who celebrated their anniversary here as well, and Greg - who all landed several bonefish on fly. Frank and Nancy were here from New Orleans and enjoyed catching bone on fly, but I think Nancy is most excited about learning her double haul! Mike and Mills, it was great to see you here again and I know you wanted that permit, but congrats on some nice bonefishing! Tom and Sue adventured out in the lagoon and caught bones, and so did Dane who was here from Crested Butte Outfitters. Nice job everyone. Remember, bonefishing is the heart and soul of our sport and keeps us on our game!

PERMIT: Shout out to Father and son duo Ken and Drew! They both landed permit on fly with Captain Emir, and Ken's went toward his slam! Dane also landed two permit with Captain Emir and that also went toward his slam! And the really weird one was Mike, who was tarpon fishing with Captain Luis, and he cast a black death to a tarpon and a permit ate it! This also went toward Mike's slam! So, 5 permit landed on fly this week.

TARPON: No doubt about it, tarpon season is here! Savannah, Hicks and Long Caye all with fish. Not all the fish were taking flies this week, but anglers had a chance to cast to several fish - which is good for learning how to stay focused when fish appear and you need to make that cast! The three most important and only tarpon landed on fly was Captain Luis getting Mike into a 60 plus poon, and Captain Emir getting Ken into his 50 pound tarpon, and then Captain Emir getting Dane into his "big" tarpon as well. All these tarpon went toward "first" Grand Slams for Mike, Ken and Dane. Dane has great footage - and Drew is going to You Tube his dad's slam. So, we will keep you posted!

OTHER SPECIES: Weird that we are seeing so many snook! Chances at Mr. Snook with fly and spin - snook won. Barracuda is being target more all the time and we had some dandies landed on both fly and spin.

FLIES THAT WORKED

FOR BONES - Gotcha, Crazy Charlie's in tan or white, just about anything would work - mostly size 8 and 6, some with weed guards

FOR PERMIT - Our standard never gives up: Orange Christmas Island Special in size 4 or 6, Avalon in size 4, and Gotcha's in size 4 or 6. Some crabs in 6, tan. Mantis shrimp, tan and bead chain eyes - it works.

FOR TARPON - Chartreuse toad, slow easy twitchy retrieve - depends on what the fish is doing. Watch and listen. On Savannah we are using 40 and 50 lb shock. Let the fly settle, and then move it. White, tan, pink - bunnies and toads. . Really fun tarpon fishing in skinny water right now! Favorite color - orange.

Guide of the week: Well, of course, Captain Emir was responsible for Two Grand Slams!

This Week's Summary:

The week flew by! It was wonderful to see our return "Family" guests. Thank you Mike and Jenny, Mills and Carol Ann, Donald and Doreen for returning to see us! You make great neighbors; I think you should move here! We had the lodge filled with laughter and generations of people taking time out of their lives to pursue their curious natures and explore Belize. Andy was a great trip leader from Cohutta Fishing Company, and we look forward to seeing Dane in the future with Crested Butte Outfitters. What was really amazing is that we had THREE GRAND SLAMS THIS WEEK! "Firsts" for everyone. So, as we listened to these amazing fishing stories, dreams were realized and new seeds planted for future trips. There is nothing more that warms our hearts here at El Pescador than to see our guests leave with big smiles and relaxed shoulders. It was wonderful to meet you all and we look forward to seeing you returning to our dock soon! Thank you.

If you have any questions or would like more information, please email us at [email protected]. Happy fishing! L-A