Nov 2011 Belize Fishing Report

[FISHEYE]

I just returned from my 8th trip to Belize. This was my 6th November trip and it was very different than any other trip. The main reason was that we found no bait schooled up around the cayes and consequently, none of the predators- tarpon, jacks, bonefish, snappers etc. However we did find fish. Actually, our guides, Bruce Leslie, Benji Eiley, and Ian Cuevas found the fish. Our group of 6 (Al, Mike, Mac, Lee, Vernon, and I) did all we could to screw things up but in spite of our efforts we caught plenty of fish and had a great time in the process. As always, we stayed at the Westwind Hotel in Placencia and Lisa and George Westby took good care of us. Lisa does lots of little extras for our group which makes the stay more pleasant. We fished from as far north as Tobacco Caye (32 miles) and down to Punta Gorda (maybe 35 miles). MIke and Lee spent a few nights down there and fished the Ycacos Lagoon and the Sapodillo Cayes. Others of us also went to the the lagoon but we mostly fished the cayes within 20 miles of Placencia. Early in the week we did well on tarpon when they were in the deeps around some of the cayes. Since we did not have tarpon sightfishing opportunities we spent lots more time on permit. Everybody got one and there were at least 12 others hooked and lost including some that would have weighed close to 20 pounds. The weather was not very good- lots of wind and some torrential rains off and on. Highlights of the trip include: Al getting his first permit; Verno catching a 180 pound goliath grouper in the lagoon on a 10 wt (he was able to land the fish because it was in 3 feet of water (excellent eating); and Mike and I hooking 6 tarpon on 4 casts in 15 minutes. Mike landed his of about 60 pounds and I had a strike while I was stripping line to get my fly away from his fish. I might add more details later but now a few pics.

Mac with a snook
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s240/BN2FSH/IMGP1381.jpg

Lee with a snook
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s240/BN2FSH/IMGP1378.jpg

Benji and Lee with a tarpon
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s240/BN2FSH/IMGP1354.jpg

Lee with a last day permit
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s240/BN2FSH/IMGP1392.jpg

Phil and Bruce with a tarpon
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s240/BN2FSH/DSCN0404.jpg

Phil and Bruce with a tarpon Bruce caught
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s240/BN2FSH/DSCN0397.jpg

Al's first permit
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s240/BN2FSH/IMG_0284.jpg

Phil's Killa shrimp (this one fly caught 2 permit and 2 jacks plus it should have hooked 3 other permit but did not due to angler error)
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s240/BN2FSH/IMG_0265.jpg

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s240/BN2FSH/IMG_0180.jpg

What the permit eat - the real thing
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s240/BN2FSH/IMG_0302.jpg

Goliath Grouper
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s240/BN2FSH/IMG_0183.jpg

180# Grouper with Bruce Leslie for scale
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s240/BN2FSH/IMG_0186.jpg

Benji on point at sunrise
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s240/BN2FSH/IMG_0161.jpg

Jack Cravelle in the lagoon
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s240/BN2FSH/IMG_0150.jpg

One of da locals
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s240/BN2FSH/IMG_0135.jpg

Phil and Bruce with a tarpon
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s240/BN2FSH/IMG_0120.jpg

Mike Scott with a nice tarpon- 6th fish on 4 casts
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s240/BN2FSH/IMG_0073.jpg

Benji with my 3rd permit
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s240/BN2FSH/IMG_1197.jpg

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I would have to say that you guys have this place dialed 100%....

Thanks for a world class post and hot pictures.

**Some time could you post some picture of your favorite flies for the different species?

In the 1980s and 1990s we fished Belize for quite a years with good size groups and never did as well as you guys have, but we still love the place. Lots of good memories....

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Here is a fly list from Phil Bryna for southern Belize

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Posted by Phil Brna on 2011-11-18 23:10:42


As requested, here are the flies I take to southern Belize (probably way more complicated than you really need):

Baby Tarpon (mangroves):
small (#2) flies like whistlers, gurglers, tarpon bunny, clouser, black death, cockroach. Any color but black, black/purple or black/chart are my favorites.

Deep Tarpon: clouser (black; black/white, brown/white, chart/white all with flash) I tie them on Owner Aki or Tiemco SP600 #2/0 to 4/0. Kinky muddlers, sea habits, and similar heavy flies to get down. These fish eat anything if you get a fly in front of them.

Shallow tarpon: bait fish patterns (like my kiss-of-death), small clousers, Lee Haskin's floating minnow, cockroach, black death etc...I tie all of mine on SC15 size 1/0 down to 2.

Bonefish: small charlies, gotchas, Lee's shrimp neutralizer, bonefish bitters or any bonefish pattern. Tie them in sizes 4 down to 8. Colors tan, white, pink, olive even chart.

Permit: any of the standard permit crabs like raghead, money, turneffe, bauer, ep, fur, Lee's crusty crab, merkins, kung fu, chernobyl. 99% of the time they won't eat it anyway. I am convinced they are the most finicky fish in the ocean. They should mostly be as big as a dime with a few up to nickel size. Sizes 4-6 in olive, brown, or tan. Shrimp- tan, brown, white or olive size 1/0 down to 4. I am increasingly convinced that shrimp are a better option for most permit rather than crabs. See Lee Haskin's post.

Other(snook, jacks, cuda, spanish and king mack, bonito, snappers: poppers, gurglers, clousers (chart/white 99%)

This is a quick and dirty list. I will add other suggestions as I think of more or get the motivation to look at my flies. I hope others add suggestions as well.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

More flies from Howard Brown:

Posted by Howard Brown on 2011-11-19 08:38:35 in reply to Belize Fly List posted by Phil Brna on 2011-11-18 23:10:42


The only thing I would add is that you want flies in different weights, both lead eyes and bead chain eyes. For flies I would add gummy minnows in size two to the tarpon list and clousers (chartreuse/white, green/white, olive/white) in size 6 and 8 to the bonefish list.