Guest Sundancefisher Posted May 11, 2008 Share Posted May 11, 2008 Hi all. Day 1... Left May 3 and flew down to Belize. Departed Calgary at 7 am and were in Belize by 3:30 pm. Beautiful country and very hot and humid. The airport is hectic but I did not feel unsafe within the airport or just outside. We took a very smooth hopper flight over to San Pedro. The hotel was great...food was terrific and the pool and bar were inviting after a great days fishing. Day 2... We went off to "learn" hot to spot and catch bones. I caught seven bones and a few small cudas while sight casting on the flats. Casting into the wind is definitely not forgiving and the fish were spooky in the shallows. Also learned to remember to strip strike and not trout strike...ops...many times over that first morning. I lost at least 10 others and saw over 200. Continental Airlines lost my partners luggage with most of his gear. Fortunately he had some carry on gear and I had some spare stuff. Day 3...Still no missing gear. Today we decided to go only for permit near the Mexican border. We saw numerous schools and a few solos but the trick appeared to be finding the feeding permit. The feeding permit traveled in slow random movements...kinda like milling about. One had to pick a cast carefully...drop the fly about 1-2 feet away and hope it was the direction the fish were moving...they change directions a lot like bonefish. My partner and I each had two cracks at permit. My buddy broke off one and missed the other... I missed the first one then bang! Hooked up a 14 pound hard charging permit...YAHOOO! I landed it and have some great photos. Day 4...missing gear finally arrives in the PM...yahoo! We decide to find the permit again. We saw many...many permit but they were all traveling fast and came with little warning. We had one crack with no luck. Caught some bones and small permit after that. Day 5....Went wading the flats for bones and had a blast...Caught quite a few each and then hit the mother load of cooperative cudas. They are just explosive when hitting. I then saw a wake approaching from offshore and waited to see what it was. There were 4 big cudas coming into view and since I had no leader was disappointed. Then all of a sudden 6 jacks started to swim by and turned right in front of me. One cast and a hard hit and I was hooked up on a truck. He dogged me poorly for about 2 minutes as I hauled him in slowly waiting for my buddy to casting to the fish's friends. He snapped off twice and lost 2 others to missed strikes. Then I started to haul him in again and he took off like a freight train. What an awesome fighting fish. When I got back to the dock I saw a school of bones and ended up with a bonus 20 inch bone! Day 6...We had a change in guides as our had to go to court for improper boat documentation. The first guide was all about the plan. The second guide was all about going with the flow. We fished to mudding bones in deep water. Trolled flies for mackerel and ladyfish and then moved on to tailing bones in shallow water. That was super fun and I was getting way better at spotting fish and casting. We also saw nurse sharks and lemon sharks. We finished off the day trolling up 15 pound jack cravelles in a channel and also some cudas. We also saw tons of sting rays and bat rays. Day 7...Had a different guide again today. Quiet guy...laughed at my jokes and took us back to a few old haunts and a few new ones. We caught more bones and cudas and saw a leatherback turtle. We also ended up rescuing a local that was stranded and forgotten by his boss on a deserted Island owned by Leonardo DiCaprio! We also saw an island owned by George Lucas and Harrison Ford in which they destroyed tons of bone fish habitat by dredging the water bottom for fill. What a shame. We finished off the day with an awesome beach barbecue of fish and Conch Day 8...Today we left the island at 10 am and flew to Belize City. Caught a Continental flight out to Houston and when we arrived the Continental guy said our 1 hour time was not enough to catch the connecting Air Canada flight unless we carry our luggage to the Air Canada gate. 7 of us were told that and 3 were not. The 3 got on the plane...7 of us were stuck over night in Houston. We had to fight to get a hotel room paid for. Finally we did and once the dust settled and we caught the shuttle to the hotel we decided we needed some supper. We walked out into the night to find a sushi restaurant. We saw the sign and an open sign and trotted over... Wild Orchid...turned out to be a sleazy massage parlor. Leaving there quickly we decided to hit the Ricky's Family Restaurant across the parking lot only to find out when we got there that is was really Rick's Cabaret. Hmmm...shall we say a gentlemen's club where staff is often hands on in there approach to satisfying customers... Yikes...we then fled back to the hotel and got a ride to a real sushi restaurant. Day 9...I needed to go to the airport at 4:30 am this morning and the shuttle driver decided not to show till 5 am. Start of panic. We eventually managed to get out this morning only to find half the luggage was not loaded on the plane in Houston. What a pain as now I am missing most of my stuff. How much fun is traveling :-). Summary...greatest fishing trip ever with a great bunch of buddies...no airline can ruin the memories! Cheers Sun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sundancefisher Posted May 11, 2008 Share Posted May 11, 2008 jack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monger Posted May 12, 2008 Share Posted May 12, 2008 Congrats on catching new species. Looks like paradise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladystrange Posted May 13, 2008 Share Posted May 13, 2008 i so hope i can get down there for a month sometime in the next couple of years... sigh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gustuphson Posted May 13, 2008 Share Posted May 13, 2008 Nice story and pic's, sounds like quite the adventure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sundancefisher Posted May 17, 2008 Share Posted May 17, 2008 Nice story and pic's, sounds like quite the adventure! Here are a few more pics got from my buddy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rusty Posted May 17, 2008 Share Posted May 17, 2008 Those permit look awesome - they must be a real handful on a fly! What sort of cost are you looking at to do a trip down there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sundancefisher Posted May 17, 2008 Share Posted May 17, 2008 Those permit look awesome - they must be a real handful on a fly! What sort of cost are you looking at to do a trip down there? I organized a group of 10... With airfare, accommodation, all meals, lots of drinks, boat, guide and all gratuities, 6 full days fishing was $3700. Two to a room and two to a boat. It was a great price based upon our research. I will be doing another trip next year based upon the success this year. Not sure if Belize will be the same location however... Those permit were awesome fighters... That fish took 25 minutes of really hard fighting before I could finally tail it. They say they are the hardest fish to catch on the flats! Cheers Sun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sundancefisher Posted May 17, 2008 Share Posted May 17, 2008 This fish was a killer fighter also LMAO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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