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All the other stuff / Locations — 14 Comments
17
Sep 12

Great Honeymoon or The Greatest Honeymoon?

It has been said before, I’m a lucky guy. I managed to find a smart, beautiful woman who not only would agree to marry me, but would also agree to go to Belize, to El Pescador, for our honeymoon. How awesome is that?

I wanted to share my love of the flats with my new wife, but I also wanted to have other activities to do on our honeymoon (beyond the activities that normally come to mind). El Pescador proved to be exactly what we wanted. Not only did we get some fishing in, but there were other experiences that we both really enjoyed.

We snorkeled with sharks and rays. We saw Mayan ruins. We spent a little time in San Pedro. We walked on the beach. We sat by the pool. We ate. We drank. We read. We pretty much thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

While the new Mrs. got massages, I took a kayak out in the lagoon in back, finding fish each time. I even managed to get a couple of bonefish off the dock, which was a total bonus (there was even feeding of tarpon, which was totally ruling).

Nurse Shark, snorkeling with El Pescador.

My wife wanted me to mention specifically how good the food was. It was pretty good. We even had a private dinner arranged at the end of the dock, and that was a special experience.

Pork, Chicken, Lobster, Beef and various kinds of fish. It was great. All of it. We both ate too much. There was dessert every night.

One sure way I know the honeymoon was a success… she says we can go back for our anniversary (she says 5th, I’m thinking 1/5).

Basically, it was wonderful.

Locations — 1 Comment
17
Sep 12

Back to reality

OK all… I’m back after a wonderful week at El Pescador down in Belize for my honeymoon. We had a lot of really great experiences down there and I’ll run though the more fishy of those here over the next week.  I also managed to do a little fishing.  The new Mrs. went out with me one day and we had a good time on the flats, which was kind of a big deal.  Other times she got a massage and I’d go out in the lagoon in back. Hard to complain.

One thing I was really very proud of was that I managed to catch a couple of dock fish.  Dock fish are kind of hard, in my limited experience.  Not big, but a good dock fish.

My first fish of the trip, from the El Pescador dock!

 

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Locations — 5 Comments
07
Sep 12

These next few days

I didn’t write a post last night, I was writing my vows for  my upcoming wedding (Sunday). Yes… I actually do mention bonefish in the vows. No, really.

These next few days are likely going to be kind of a whirlwind and I’m betting I won’t have much time to post here on the blog, although I’ll try to post a few little pictures and things like that.

I’m thinking I’ll reply my last trip to El Pescador over the next week, as that is where I’ll be for my honeymoon.  Funny thing is I might actually run into a couple of BOTB readers down there, which should be fun.

So, stay tuned… I’ll be riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight back.

 

It will be good to be back, especially with the Mrs.

 

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Fish Tails / Gear — 8 Comments
06
Sep 12

The last piece of the puzzle for Belize

The last piece of gear I needed came today… a 10 wt. Sage Response loaner. I’ve put on the Lamson Lightspeed and a clear int. sink and I have in mind mangrove channels and baby tarpon. I close my eyes and see a 25 pound “baby” emerging from the leafy darkness, frantic casting, the fly landing close, the fish seeing it, charging, opening it’s dumptruck mouth and inhaling the fly, quickly turning away, and then the chaos. Holding the line tight to keep the fish from running into the mangroves and ruining all hope, the fish will leap, high and repeatedly, putting holes into the still water with every jump and crash. The fish will be subdued, maybe not the first, but I’m hoping the 4th or 5th shot might stick. I’m predicting some shrieks from the newly minted Mrs., and I’m expecting awe and if it comes together, I’ll have it, because it is that kind of experience, it inspires and commands awe.

That’s what I have in my mind. That’s what I want to not only experience, but share.

Anticipation

 

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Gear — 5 Comments
31
Aug 12

I like blue

Blue is my little girl’s favorite color. Now, just changing the color of some random bit of fly fishing gear does eff-all for how it fishes, but I have to say, I’m kind of intrigued by the Link rod I just got from Redington to demo down in Belize.

At the show I met with Kara who gave me the rundown on all things Redington and she pointed out the Link rods. The Links are a little bit more pricey than Redington gear normally is, and by that I mean it is about half as much as the top rods will run you.

The 9 weight I just got… well… it looks kind of sexy. And, it has some nice blue accents and a really nice look on the blank.

Redington Link

Now, a 9 is a rod with some specific purposes. I’d think baby tarpon, maybe permit and certainly cuda.  The bones in Belize are not 9 wt. fish. While in Belize I doubt there will be much/any permit fishing. I have one day with the new wife and a guide and I think that will be spent looking for little bones, little tarpon and cudas. See, this rod could fit in really, really well.

This rod, cosmetically, hits on the high notes.

Paired with the rod will be a new line from Rio, a 9 wt. Bonefish line, to be exact.

Now, how the rod fishes?  I don’t know yet. I just got it today and I didn’t have time to get a line on the thing and get it out to cast.  I will and I’m looking forward to it.

Now, I didn’t BUY this rod. It is a loaner and I’ll send it back after the trip. That’s the way it goes when I get gear from companies. I don’t get to keep it (although I often wish I could). I feel fortunate to be in a position to demo all this gear and I hope to be a resource for you, the readers, if you have questions about gear or want to know how something fished or how it held up to the elements.

 

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Locations — No Comments
30
Jun 12

Soon… very soon. El Pescador

Now, the big thing that’s happening is the whole “getting married” bit. I’m pretty excited about that.  How’s the whole daughter-fiance thing going, you ask?  Well…

Last night my 5 year old told me to go down stairs and tie flies so that she could do bath alone with my fiance.

Yeah. It is going well.

So, I went down and tied a #8 with a weed guard.  For me, that means one thing… Belize. More specifically, El Pescador, where we’ll be spending our honeymoon.

Soon.

Conservation / Locations — 4 Comments
21
Jun 12

Savannah Caye to the highest bidder

While coming up with interesting new potential office locations for the little startup I work at, I came across a listing for Savannah Caye.

OK, I was kind of goofing off for a minute or two and I came across a listing for Savannah Caye… as in, Savannah Caye, Belize.

I know this place. I fished there with my friend Shane when we were down at El Pescador in 2010. It has a 16 mile long tarpon flat full of big fish when the migratory tarpon are in.  It’s expansive and fairly productive. I botched my first tarpon there and landed my biggest Jack.

I can’t believe someone can buy it. It makes me wonder if someone really should be able to.

The price is $3.5M and it makes me sad that someone could easily scoop the thing up and build something stupid there.  They could dredge a channel, put in a fake beach and generally screw it up.

Damn.

Anyone want to go in with me to buy this thing?  I could easily gather up $200-$300. We could set is aside from development.  The world has enough fancy resorts, but it has all too few places like Savannah Caye.

Anyone?

Savannah Caye Jack

 

Here in the States Larry Ellison just bought most of Lani… $500-$600M.  Dear god.

Gear — 5 Comments
20
Jun 12

Learn something new day… the Panga

Fishing Jones had a story about the ubiquitous Panga style boat.  It is worth a read.

The only place I’ve been on a Panga was Belize and in about 80-some days I’ll be there again, down at El Pescador. Kind of very much looking forward to it.

Everywhere else I’ve fished I’ve been on more modern flats boats, so the Panga was a change of pace.  I was surprised by the size of those boats. They really are pretty large.  For being so large I was also surprised how shallow the draft was.  We got into some pretty skinny water in those things.  I have some great memories on pangas and I look forward to making more.

On the deck of a Belizian Panga.

Locations — 15 Comments
28
Apr 12

My next fishing trip – my honeymoon

So, for those of you keeping track, this last year has been a crazy one for me. I got back from Andros in April of last year to a critically low Domestic Tranquility Index that kept finding new lows, like, Congress Approval Rating kind of lows. That went on for a while until it was clearly not sustainable anymore.

Attorneys, stipulation orders, custody orders, new digs, new furniture, 50/50 split… ya know… just pure joy.

Now that is mostly all water under the bridge (but not like the tides kind of bridge where it flows one way in the morning and the other in the evening, this is permanent kind of flowing under the bridge).  I moved beyond bitter or angry or sad a long time ago and that left me open for something wonderful.

That something wonderful and I are going to get hitched come September.

And… looks like the honeymoon will likely be at El Pescador.  Yeah, I like the direction we are headed in already.

It will be good to be back, especially for the reason why.

 

Conservation / Locations — 2 Comments
04
Feb 12

El Pescador holds Tournament to Benefit BTT

A tournament at El Pescador featured tagging of bones, permit and tarpon. Sounds kind of awesome. The tournament was held by El Pescador for the benefit of the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust.

[vimeo clip_id=”35775583″]

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