I get it Belize, you LOVE to fish!
There's something about the fact that I spent a lot of time in Belize and that I come from Puerto Rico that sort of tells people that I would love to go fishing.
I'm not sure if the world is conspiring against me or if my friends from the Belize Tourism Board do enjoy laughing at my misery (sometimes I think it's the latter), but as hard as I tried not going on a single fishing trip, I ended going on three.
December 20, 2011
This was not a fishing trip, but when you're crossing the bay from Corozal to Sarteneja with a fisherman, it is almost inevitable for them to want to fish while carrying passengers. I was the only passenger.
"Do you want to fish?", asked the fisherman.
"NO!", I replied without skipping a heartbeat.
I'm the first one to admit that I turn into a little brat when someone tries to make me fish or eat fish. I'm not exactly sure why do I hate fishing, but what I know is that I don't have the heart to see a poor fish suffering. And yes, they suffer, even if they have a short-term memory for pain.
"We can try it for a few minutes", he responded as if my emphatic no meant yes.
As he was getting ready to stop, we felt a shook on the boat.
"We hit something, I need to stop."
"What we hit?"
"I think it was a big fish."
"Oh shit, please don't be a dolphin, please don't be a dolphin, or a manatee", I said looking back to spot our victim.
"It's a barracuda"
"phew� ok, get that and that's your catch for the day! Enough fish killed today, time to go to shore!"
October 15, 2011
I had been told many, many times how great the fishing trips are in Placencia. Well, I sort of dragged myself to take a small peek at the wonderful world of fishing in Placencia. And yes, it is wonderful, but again, not my cup of tea.
We traveled about half a mile inside the mangroves of Placencia before we started hopping popular fishing spots. I know I'm a zero when it comes to fishing techniques, so I wasn't surprised when all I fished where rotten leaves from the bottom of the mangrove canal. Though, I was secretly happy that I didn't harm any fish.
After countless tries, I told the fisherman I was ready to go. But he wasn't, so I just sat on the boat and did nothing but wait.
"Those clouds look pretty serious", I told the fisherman, referring to the huge black cumulus that looked like they would break into a storm in any minute.
"They will pass in 5 minutes", he responded very assertively.
"They don't look like 5 minute clouds to me! I think we should go."
He didn't mind much my concern about the weather. Of course, I'm not a fisherman, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt that he actually knew what he was doing.
Ten minutes after, the wind started blowing strongly and the rain fell heavily.
"We cannot leave now, we need to wait here because the sea is too rough now", said the fisherman as he pushed the boat to the edge of the mangroves.
We were stuck in the mangroves with no way out. The boat is too small to take the big waves in the open water and we had at least a 30 minutes ride back to town.
We were stuck! After about 20 minutes of waiting under the rain, the sky started to ease a bit on us. At that moment he decided that we should leave before it got worse again.
That boat ride back to Placencia was nothing but scary! I seriously thought the waves were going to sink the tiny fishing boat. They weren't huge waves, but when you're riding such a small boat, even small waves can rock it heavily.
I got back to land fully soaked and swore I didn't want to go fishing again.
November 8, 2011
This was a sailing and snorkeling trip to Mexico Rocks in Ambergris Caye, but all of the sudden it turned into a fishing trip - which sucked for me!
On the sailboat there were two couples. One of the guys wanted to show his "manly skills" with the fishing rod. After a few tries, he successfully caught a big nasty fish with huge creepy teeth that would easily sever a finger. I swear it was an ugly fish!
After a few proud pictures, the captain approached the guy with a club in his hand. In my innocent and fishing-ignorant mind, I thought he would use that club to release the fish.
PLACK! PLACK! PLACK!
I couldn't believe it! I had to cover my ears and turn away to avoid seeing that poor ugly fish being killed.
I was offered the next turn to fish. I passed.
The next guy takes steps up. Of course, he wants to outshine the other one. After a few tries with no success, he tries to up the game by using conch bait. Right after he releases the bait into sea, a greedy seagull comes flying and eats the conch, only to get caught with the hook.
As the poor bird tried to fly away, the guy stood there not knowing what to do. The bird kept trying to escape, flapping its wings even stronger, to the point of bleeding heavily. Blood started to sprinkle all over the boat and our bodies. We looked like if we butchered a few animals on board.
One of the girls started screaming, "Kill it! Kill it!", trying to put the bird out of its misery.
"NO! Don't you kill it! Cut the line and release it!", I screamed back.
After a few failed attempts to reel the bird back to the sailboat to get the hook out, they had nothing to do but to cut the line and let it fly� hurt.
See why I don't like fishing? It's clear that fishing and I don't mix.
Even though fishing is not my thing, I do recommend fishing in Belize. Belize has an immense love for the sport of fishing and they do know what they are doing, so any fishing aficionado will love this. And, as you can see, anything can happen while fishing in Belize!
SOURCE
AmbergrisCaye.com 
