A no nonsense, no fluff guide to fishing South Andros Bahamas. (mainly because I’m too lazy to type a novel) 😉
via South Andros bonefishing trip primer, part 3: The fishing.
Well… I’d say this is worth a look. Sam Root over at Salty Shores is one hell of a photographer too. Sam put together a few posts about his South Andros experiences and I’d say they are worth reading. Check them out.
I can’t actually tell you which pages were viewed most over the year, since I’ve only been able to really track viewership since March of 2010… but, I’d bet it is pretty accurate, since about three times as many people read this little project now as did back in March.
1. My review of the Helios reel by Okuma – I wouldn’t have guessed that one would rise to the surface… but it did.
2. Costa Del Mar review – Another gear review was the second most viewed individual post.
3. Interview with Kristen Mustad, Nautilus Reels – What can I say… the guy makes awesome reels.
4. Interview with Chris Goldmark from Puerto Rico – Not a place most folks think about in terms of bonefish, but Chris catches them there.
5. Interview with Joe Gonzalez – Joe was an interview I was tracking down for months. Glad it finally happened.
6. My review of the TFO LA 375 – Ya love the gear reviews. This one had some fun in the comments section too.
7. News about Buccaneers and Bones – Just a new item I found from the San Pedro Sun.
8. Interview with Scott Heywood, Angling Destinations – One of the first phone interviews I did and a good conversation.
9. Interview with Bruce Chard – Saltwater guru and instructor at Andros South’s Bonefish School
10. Upper Sacramento – A post about my home river, my home water and one cool picture.
I love this picture… not because it is particularly beautiful, but because it shows some of the most important water in my life…. this is from #10.
Upper Sac... Prospect
Aaron Adams… Director of Operations for BTT… yeah, the guy knows bonefish. He put this together, which is just a joy to watch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_q1QSErsvo?fs=1&hl=en_US
Mikey over at Burl Productions is putting together what should be another classic in Soulfish 2. Belize, BC, Egypt, Mongolia, CA… some good looking footage in there. Check it out.
I like this blog… I like this story. Check it out.
Lately, things have clicked for me, at least. I’ve had a few unforgettable days on the water when Zach couldn’t make it and I felt more than a little bad at rubbing in my good luck, knowing that he had yet to land a bone of his own. My success, I think, is more a case of being able to be in the right places at the right times than any major increase in skill. Although, I know my eyes are much more attuned at spotting fish than ever before.
via This River Is Wild.: 14 Months in the Making..
We woke up the last morning at El Pescador knowing the clock was running down. We had to be back and packed by 11:45 before we took the boat to San Padro, flight to Belize City and then to Dallas before we’d go separate ways. Since it was 5:00 AM, we still had some quality fishing time to get after and that’s what we did.
We got the canoe out in the lagoon and hit our favorite spot from the first DIY day. When we got there the water was glassy smooth and, as you might expect, there were a few tails working, easily spotted from a couple hundred feet. It was a nice scenario for our last day.
Glassy
I got to the tails first and managed the first fish of the morning, which was nice. Unlike the last time we had fished this spot we didn’t find large schools of fish, but smaller groups. Shane stuck a couple more and then we moved.
In the transition the weather started to change… up came some wind, in came cloud cover and the threat of rain. We came upon a clearing between mangrove chutes that looked pretty good. Shallow. Good bottom. Spooking fish as we paddles. We tied up the canoe and went to work.
Here, Shane managed one of the better Belizean bonefish we saw. It was a single, cruising the edge of the mangroves. Shane pulled some ninja stalking techniques out and the fish ate.
An honest 4 pounder... maybe 4 1/4.
Shane really came into his own here… seeing fish I couldn’t see and then casting to them and catching them. I walked through the muck to get to another spot and managed to have a decent bonefish come unbuttoned. I also managed to have THREE mojarra beat bonefish to flies… damn mojarra. I managed a couple more bonefish, included one small enough to make me think I was fishing a creek back home.
This IS the other side of the rainbow... it ends in Belize.
Not a big fish... but pretty.
Shane ended up catching something like 15 bonefish just that morning before we paddled back. I caught three. This bit of ass-kickery kind of illustrated exactly how much the Grand Slam from the day before was up to fate and luck as opposed to skill. I knew I wasn’t as good an angler as Shane and this re-enforced that belief. The guy can flat out fish.
The release
Soon we were paddling back across the little lagoon, wind in our face. We made it back with plenty of time for showers and lunch. While Shane was eating lunch I took 15 feet of tippet and a small velcro crab out to the dock. I had a hunch I wanted to test out about those dock bonefish. I managed to convince a little snapper to eat the crab and then I saw a little school of 5 or so bonefish. With the wind to my back I tossed in the crab. One bonefish came right up to the little fly and ate it. I tried to set the hook, lifting the head of the bonefish up, but the hook simply came right out. Damn, I thought… that would have been a good end to the trip!
The trip had been a good one… a great one even. I had caught my first ever permit and my first ever tarpon in a magical day that had landed me a Grand Slam. I had caught my largest fish to date… a 25 pound Jack. I had caught many smaller bonefish to add to my overall bonefish knowledge for future bonefish trips. We had fished through crappy weather and good weather and some tense times with Katchu and fun times with Katchu. I had shared the trip with a good friend in a kind of magical place.
I hadn’t caught as many bonefish as I had really thought I would, but then I hadn’t figured on chasing permit and a day on the tarpon flats, which were both great experiences.
Thank you El Pescador for having us. You have a special place and a special fishery.
We set our alarm for 5:00 AM so that we would be totally ready by the time Katchu, our guide, got to El Pescador with the boat. All showered and fed and ready to go, we were looking forward to a day of more productive fishing than the previous day’s tarpon hunting.
We were going to be headed up along the Mexican/Belizean boarder where we hoped to stay north of the clouds. The day looked promising as we headed out. There were no other boats headed our direction as we made the 45 minute ride up the interior of the bay. A good sign.
We got up to the park and paid our $5 USD entrance fee and in 5 more minutes we were set up, drifting along near the shore, looking for permit. Katchu told us that the fishing for bonefish would be better in a couple hours and that at this time in the morning (about 7:50 or so) we should try to find some permit. I was on deck again first and had the Sage Xi3 10 wt. rigged for permit, which in this case meant 15 pound tippet and a lightly weighted Christmas Island Special.
Along the shore were cruising a couple nice bonefish and Katchu positioned me to cast to them. I was maybe too keenly aware that I had a 10 weight in my hand and I tried to have a delicate presentation and ended up totally under-powering a couple of casts. It was such shocking casting that even Shane had to say “Those are probably the two worst casts I’ve ever seen you make.” It was objectively true, so I couldn’t argue. It was a case of dramatic over-thinking.
Luckily, things changed quickly when nervous water was spotted coming towards us… a school of permit. I made the cast, right in the middle of the school, and just like their cousins, the Jacks, the permit parted and quickly regrouped. I stripped fast and one fish became hell bent on eating. He chased the fly with reckless abandon. Just like with Shane’s Jack the day before, I could see the fish, water sheeting over it’s head as it chased down the fly to eat. It did. I set the hook. It was off to the races.
Permit. Not a world record, but a frigging permit!
Now, fishing for permit presents some interesting gear choices. The fish I ended up landing was not really a fish you’d throw a 10 weight for… maybe it went 2-3 pounds, but out there on that same flat were permit going 20+. The Orvis Helios 8 wt. probably would have been better, but, ya know… probably better to be over-gunned than under.
The permit was my first. A milestone in its own right.
I'm ready for my close-up!
Shane was up and after being out of position for most of the other permit we saw, we headed to a little Caye riiiiiiiiight up against the Mexican boarder to look for bonefish. It must be said that while we struggled with light and clouds, we could see the Mexican side bright and sunny all day. It will give me extra reasons to root for the US when next we play soccer.
The fishing along this little caye was just fantastic. There were about a million bonefish there, but also jacks, barracuda, snappers and permit. We fished one little school of bonefish and if I missed the fish the drill was to cast out to line the school so they would retreat. This they would do, totally according to the script, and then they’d come back in a couple minutes. We could have sat on that school of bonefish all day. We traded fish for a good amount of time and fun was had.
Point, cast, catch... Shane at work.
When Shane was on deck we saw, right mixed in with the bones, permit. There were actually two schools of permit and there were some tense exchanges between Shane and Katchu about what cast was the best to make but in the end Shane made the cast that needed to be made and he was soon watching his line rip through the water, attached to a permit at the other end. Then… the fish just came unbuttoned. No reason… it just came off.
We fished down to the point of the Caye and got to do some wading. Shane is at his most content when he gets to find his own fish, so this was a good stop for Shane. It was a good stop for me too as I stuck a fair number of bonefish there myself.
Belizean Bone rocking the Skinny Water Culture mask.
We fished here until it was about time to head back and Katchu said “If we want to get you the Slam, we better go now.” So, we went. It took all of about 5 minutes to get to the canal and another 5 minutes to get to the little mangrove enclosed lagoon where we’d be looking for “baby” tarpon.
I had never caught a tarpon. But, ya know, before that morning I had never caught a permit either. I had hooked a tarpon (the day before) and made quick work of botching the job, so… I was glad to hear “baby tarpon.” They sounded maybe a bit easier.
Just on the other side of this tunnel, I botched TWO tarpon eats.
Newsflash… the babies are not really babies… they are more like young-adults full of testosterone and anger. The first fish I cast to (which was totally not small, by the way) attacked the fly like my wife going after a pair of comfortable black high-heels… like me after bacon… it was savage. I felt totally unprepared. Actually, I WAS unprepared and quickly botched it. I then botched the follow-up.
We retreated further into the mangroves and I found myself in a mangrove-lined dead-end mini-lagoon with a tarpon at the other end and my grand slam on the line. An off-shoulder backcast was called for and delivered. The fish showed some real psychological issues as it threw itself at the fly and I nearly had to seek immediate psychological help after I botched THAT attempt. The fish, however, was still looking for the fly after I had just pulled it from its mouth and two more strips and the fish ate. I didn’t botch this one. I didn’t give an inch. I bowed to the fish when it jumped NINE FRIGGING FEET in the air.
There it is. Amazing.
The fish was in. The grand slam was in the bag. I was amazed. A Grand Slam that featured my first ever permit and my first ever tarpon. This sort of thing just doesn’t happen. But it did. What an amazing day.
Thanks for being there Tarpon.
One of the best beers I've ever had. A Grand Slam Beer.
As I waited at the Miami Airport to get to Belize, I posted a picture from Facebook showing the bonefish sculptures there. I got a reply that went “Hey, I work there, where are you?” I ended up meeting and talking briefly with Chris, who immediately noticed my Skinny Water Culture hat.
Today, I looked on the Skinny Water Culture blog, and who is it but Chris with about a 12 pound bonefish. Fantastic! Way to go Chris!
I thought to myself, jeez…what am I going to do when I see a bonefish. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the unmistakable, unfamiliar sight of a tail pop up.
via Skinny Water Culture: Monster Kayak Bonefish!.
The fourth day of the trip and the third day in Belize saw us heading out with a guide for the first time. El Pescador had a stable of highly respected guides and this day we would head out with Katchu. We met him on the dock at 7 and got on the panga, heading south to head through the passage in San Padro. From there, we’d head north to the tarpon hunting grounds of Savannah Cay. That is what we thought was happening anyway.
As we made it through the mangrove and shack lined cut to the bay side of Ambergris we surprisingly went south and in a few minutes the guide stopped the boat and, frantically, said “Where’s the permit rod?!” We weren’t rigged for permit, we thought we were headed to fish tarpon. Katchu was a big agitated, but we finally got rigged up, I was up first and I made my first cast to a school of marauding permit. They didn’t eat. We probably spent an hour chasing nervous water, but the fish were just not in range most of the time. We called time on Permit and headed North for tarpon.
The Savannah Cay flat is 16 miles long, all water 3-6 feet deep. The bottom is a mixture of white mud and turtle grass/aquatic plants. When we got there we saw 4 other boats. On a busy day, Katchu told us, there can be FORTY boats there. I really can’t imagine that place with 40 boats… it wouldn’t be good/fun I have a feeling.
Shane... waiting.
We had cloud cover when we got there, but the skies to the west were mostly clear. It was going to be a good weather day. I was up on the bow first and I surprise myself by spotting the first two tarpon. They were a bit too close to the boat. Casts were made. Fish were not eating.
Katchu spotted nervous water heading toward the boat. A school of tarpon was headed for us. I made the cast. I stripped. The fish ate. I set the hook hard. I raised the rod to clear the line. Ummm… turns out you don’t clear the line like you are fishing bonefish. The fly popped out. I was 0/1 and had botched the job on my first tarpon.
Shane was up next and the first fish to the boat would be coming soon. It wasn’t a tarpon, however. Nervous water, moving fast, relieved a school of jacks. Shane cast in the middle of the school and all hell broke loose. As he stripped his fly fast one fish left the school to chase the fly. Water was sheeting it over it’s head as it chased down that fly. It ate and it started its run. A Jack is a bull dog. It doesn’t jump, it doesn’t head shake. It just picks a direction and goes there. A few minutes later and Shane landed a Jack that ran about 15 pounds or so.
A nice jack, first fish of the day
I was up. Tarpon fishing is long stretches of inactivity, punctuated by frantic moments. I stood there for a while, maybe an hour, without a fish to cast to. Then… nervous water, a school of tarpon coming towards us. I made the cast, but my strip was too fast and the fish turned away. Shane was up again.
Soon, we saw a single tarpon. Shane made the cast and even I saw the fish turn, see the fly and just go up to it and open its massive mouth and eat the fly. Shane did everything right and after a few good jumps the fish was in.
Fish On!
That's what we were after
A cool animal
I was back on deck. We went to the north side of Savannah Cay, but the wind had churned up the water and it was too hard to see the fish. We moved back to where we had started. Most of the other boats had left at this point and there was just one other boat, also from El Pescador, left on the 16 mile long flat.
As I was on the deck, Katchu again spotted nervous water. We weren’t sure if they were jacks or tarpon, but I was going to cast at them regardless. “As long as you can, get as much line as you can out and cast as far as you can!” Katchu barked. I stripped line of and started pounding false casts out to get all that line out. Just as I was about to lay down the cast I saw the fish. They were Jacks and they weren’t 80 feet away, they were 20 feet away. I tried to drop the cast short and it all didn’t go well. I had way too much slack out and couldn’t get tight to the fly. The fish moved on. There were some tense words between Shane and Katchu about the difference between “As much line as you can” and 20 feet. I think Katchu even said at one point “I can’t believe you fucked up that cast.” Katchu just wanted it all to happend and he wanted it so bad that if you screw something up, he’s prone to tell you about it.
While we were still having our conversations about exactly how it all went wrong the school of jacks reappeared. I made the cast and the school went insane. The school of fish balled up in a feeding frenzy. I couldn’t see into the school, as the chaos had churned up the bottom. I just kept stripping, felt weight and set the hook. The jack just took off. I stood up there on the deck watching the line just rip out. The run lasted maybe 60 solid seconds, taking about 200 yards of line out. If ever there was a workout for a reel, this has to be it. The Nautilus NV 10-11 did the job very, very well. The Sage Xi3 10 weight we bent at the cork on this fish. Jacks are just amazingly strong and more fun than is reasonable.
And it is off to the races.
Nautilus... good job.
Damn nice fish.
The Jack probably went 25 pounds, making it my largest fish ever.
There were no more tarpon. There were no more jacks. We were done for the day. Even though I didn’t get a tarpon, it still felt like a good day. He had lots of fish to cast to. I had hooked my first tarpon. I had caught my largest fish ever. It had been fun. I had learned a lot.
The next day was going to be about production on our last full day in Belize.
The weather was set to continue being crappy and that didn’t seem like a good day to go out with a guide, so we decided this would be our DIY day. El Pescador is on the beach, but in the back, it has a small dock that leads to a lagoon… in the lagoon are bonefish. Instead of walking the beach, we set out by paddle. El Pescador has a rough map with some spots marked and we used that as a starting point to get to the fish.
Stormy skies and the red canoe
The first shore we patrolled was devoid of anything resembling a bonefish, so we moved on. Shane moved further down the beach and I stayed closer. Twenty minutes on I saw a bonefish cruising out of some flooded mangroves. I threw a brown gotcha in a #8 and the fish saw it and charged it. I set, the fish was hooked and it started its run. I tried to clear the line, but… well… the line still jumped up and wrapped around my hand. I was now 0/1. Rumor has it that I dropped a couple of f-bombs at this point in the trip, but those reports are unconfirmed. About 5 minutes later and Shane was hooked up… first fish of the trip was in the books.
The seal breaker.
One more move and my rod was finally bent all the way to conclusion.
Get bent.
Well, isn't (s)he cute?
Turns out what you’ve heard about Belize bonefish is largely true… which is they aren’t very large. This little guy was about the size we caught. We did see a few bigger fish and even caught some (mostly Shane), but there are a lot of smaller fish here. They are still very, very fun and it does present an opportunity to down-size on your rod selection. You could easily get away with a six and, ya know… maybe even a 5. That means if you want to get into bonefishing and don’t want to go out and buy a new rod for one trip, you could grab your trout gear and head to Belize. Just say’n.
Out in the lagoon for the rest of the trip we had a simple rule… before you dip into the cooler for a beer, you have to land a fish. So, this was a nice beer.
Mmmm... good.
Belikin is the beer of Belize and we drank a fair bit of it… 58 of them according to the bar tab. Here’s the thing about Belikin… they are a LIE. The bottle is heavy… very heavy… the weight of each bottle is roughly 95% glass and 5% beer. They are about 2 ounces each… or 9.6 ounces as it turns out. You can grab and empty bottle and the weight makes you think it is full… but it isn’t. That is a tragedy. When you have a Belikin you are largely holding glass. Someone said when you buy a Belikin you also buy a weapon… and I can see that. In my totally imagined feud between Kalik and Belikin, I’m going to raise the Kalik on sheer volume. Hope that doesn’t offend anyone, but really… a beer should be AT LEAST 12 ounces… AT LEAST.
I only managed a couple of fish that day, Shane had about 7, which was a sign that things were as they should be. Shane’s a much better angler than I am since he’s a guide on the water about 200 days a year and he has about 350 days of bonefishing under his belt.
It seemed appropriate with it raining that hard... to have a beer.
The rain came and went… and then came again. Our paddle back to El Pescador was a wet and windy one. Just as we got to the mangrove chute we’d take to get to the dock Shane was mentioning that this particular environment looked ideal for baby tarpon. Then I saw one roll. So, we fished for some very small baby tarpon for a few minutes. I cast from the canoe while Shane stood in the back of the canoe trying to locate the fish. I had one eat, but didn’t hook it.
When we got back the light was failing and we were both wetter than seemed possible. It had been a challenging day, but we had made it work. The best time to go fishing, after all, isn’t when the weather is perfect. The best time to go fishing is when you can.
wet, wet, wet
We made the right call and had a fun day under the Belizean clouds.
Small? Sure. Pretty? You bet.
The third day of the trip and the second day in Belize were done. Dinner was fantastic… Lobster and Chicken Parmesan. They treat you right at El Pescador.
The next day was going to be with a guide and a trip to the tarpon flats.
