Just a reminder… the idea we hold in our head of a thing does mean that thing is actually going to be like that.
Here’s to low expectations.
This is June in Florida.
RUN!
Archives
05
Dec 11
Luckily, the trip was about more than just the fish
I’m in a cafe in Hawaii at the moment… I’m all packed up and killing a bit of time before I have to get on the flight back the Bay Area.
The trip was a good one, as long as we don’t look at it strictly in fishing terms. I had a few reasons to head here and fishing was only one of them. In many ways this was a trip to bring the last 8 years of my life full circle and I think I accomplished that. Another reason to come here was this is where I saw my first bonefish, about 4 years ago. The experience had a bit of an impact on me and I always wanted to come back to have another shot at those fish.
The first couple of days the weather was considerably less than ideal. High winds, constant cloud cover and a good smattering of rain really put the damper on things… literally and figuratively.
Hard to see the fish with out the lights on.
The weather broke a bit on Saturday and I had a good amount of time with the lights on. No bones even seen.
Sunday… Sunday was what I was really here for. I walked out onto the flat and saw what looked like a bonefish feed mark. I took a picture. 20 seconds later I saw my first bonefish of the trip and 30 seconds later I spooked my first bonefish of the trip.
Much better conditions
I came back to that spot three more times and the next two I found single fish and at each occasion the fish spooked on the cast. Fly hit the water and the fish bolted. These fish are SUPER SPOOKY. They were in deeper water, maybe 3 feet, and I was lucky to see them at all.
Later, at low, low tide, I was walking really far out on a big rubble flat and I saw tails. I don’t even think they were tailing, I think they were swiming in water that was about 5-6″ deep. I got two casts in before they bolted, never to be seen again.
Sunday was a day of shots. I had them. I can’t argue with that. I didn’t convert any, but I had shots. I found the fish, on multiple occasions. Turns out these fish are a bit tougher than I planned on.
I’ll post some more pics and go into things a bit more in the coming days.
24
Nov 10
OK… Belize Report, Day 2
I’m back from Belize now… it was 55 in the house when I got home. I miss Belize already, but I look forward to seeing my wife and daughter again (which I’ll do on Friday). I’m going to pick up reporting on the days of the trip, starting with Day 2.
Day 2 started out in Miami and from there on to Belize City and from there to Ambergris and El Pescador.
As we descended into Belize City my heart kind of sank a bit. There was a lot of rain on the ground and buckets still falling. The puddle jumper from Belize City to Ambergris was a cool flight, but still the rain was coming down. Lori-Ann met Shane and I at the dock for the ride to El Pescador.
After we got our room, we got ready to hit the beach in the rain in search of tails. We found them (the first fish spotted was actually right when we got to El Pescador… right by the dock… crazy). The turtle grass was so thick it was tough to get flies to the fish and we ended our first actual day there without a fish to our name, but at least we had gotten out there and paid some rain soaked dues.
We were scheduled to go out with guide Katchu the next day, but decided to push that off for a day to let the weather settle. We’d day the canoe out in the lagoon system behind El Pescador for the second day there.
Dinner was great and we met the other anglers and divers staying at the lodge. Everyone got on well and we were looking forward to the next day, despite a less that totally awesome weather forecast.
Stay Tuned for Day 3.
