rasbrown
08-05-2005, 06:22 AM
Bill,
Just returned from 10 days on Ambergris Caye and the "prime time tarpon fishing" when the big migratory tarpon are in the area. Well, I can tell you the big ones are there, I saw two 5'+ tarpon, but unfortunately I was scuba diving and they were in about 25' of water in a nature preserve/park - just holding in the current letting the bait fish wash into them.
However, I did fish two days while there. Nesto was a bust...I started calling him a couple days before we were scheduled to fish and he never materialized. So, I walked down the beach about 300 yards from our resort to El Pescador and booked a guide for the next day (Andy should be proud to know the picture of him in the water craddling that tarpon hangs on their wall of fame, the same picture that is blown up in your shop.)
So I showed up at El Pescador on the appointed morning promptly at 6:45am all rigged and ready to go, thanks to Putnam. Luis my guide, who is in early to mid 20s, showed up about 7:30am, looked over my gear and set-up, and agreed that it was appropriate. We hit he water at about 7:45-8am to go fish.
I told Luis I wanted a shot at a tarpon, just to hook one, I didn't have to land it, I just wanted to see what it was like to hook a big powerful tarpon, and I didn't really care to catch a bonefish. He was agreeable to that so we headed out to a tarpon flat between Deer and Bird Caye on the West side of Ambergris and floated through it a couple times and didn't see a single tarpon - nothing rolling or jumping. So at this point Luis wanted to go bonefish and permit fish so we could land some fish and we were back at El Pescador by 3:15 that afternoon.
While talking to Luis during the day of fishing I found out Luis is Nesto's cousin, the guide that never materialized, and he told me Nesto was up in Mexico at another cousin's wedding and wasn't coming back to San Pedro for a couple couple days - but enough whinning.
Now, I have to admit the conditions were tough - very windy, overcast, and outgoing to low tides. So we went and caught bonefish, saw one permit, but I was pretty discouraged about not seeing any tarpon and thought I would just dive and hang out with the wife and kids for the rest of the trip.
Well, that lasted a couple days and I had the itch to tarpon fish again, so I decided to track down the other recommended guide from Ruby's Hotel, Lindo. I found Lindo on the back bay and we talked about the tarpon fishing. We agreed to fish a couple days later and that he'd pick me up at my resort at 7am.
Once the day arrived, Lindo, who is in his early 50s, was there at 6:45am ready and rarin' to go, so we were off to check a deep cut at the South end of Ambergris for rolling tarpon and then some flats to the Southwest of island. Lindo and I had the same conversation I had with Luis - I just want to tarpon fish, just wanted to try to hook one, don't care about catching bones.
Saw nothing rolling in the cut so off to the flats we went. Again, tough conditions - windy, overcast, and outgoing to low tides. Hit the first flat and no rolling or jumping tarpon to be found, but Lindo poled that panga (he has a poling platform on the back) all over that flat. We saw some fish, but almost all were sitting on top of the turtle grass and weren't on the move. It was tough to see them until you were right on top of them because the light conditions were so bad. No rolling or jumping tarpon all day.
We saw a lot of 3-4' tarpon, probably upwards of 20 fish, but only a few casts off to one fish. Should've had a shot at another fish, but this rookie tarpon fisherman had his fly fowled in the line.
Lindo worked hard all day long...he was on a personal mission to get me a tarpon that day. After we, or should I say he, worked a flat hard - poling, looking, constantly scanning for fish, then we were on the move to another flat to find fish. We worked so many flats, we were close enough to make a quick run over to the mainland to check the surfline where they sometime roll.
Lindo had me back at the resort about 4:30 that afternoon. He was a little dejected that we didn't get a tarpon, but I was pleased just to see some, and get a cast off to one. I'll defintley be back when the tide and weather is better, and just as a fishing trip.
I enjoyed San Pedro a lot - there are very reasonbale accommodations, food and prices for guides.
Thanks to Bill and Jeff for helping me out with flies and the set-up.
Randy
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Just returned from 10 days on Ambergris Caye and the "prime time tarpon fishing" when the big migratory tarpon are in the area. Well, I can tell you the big ones are there, I saw two 5'+ tarpon, but unfortunately I was scuba diving and they were in about 25' of water in a nature preserve/park - just holding in the current letting the bait fish wash into them.
However, I did fish two days while there. Nesto was a bust...I started calling him a couple days before we were scheduled to fish and he never materialized. So, I walked down the beach about 300 yards from our resort to El Pescador and booked a guide for the next day (Andy should be proud to know the picture of him in the water craddling that tarpon hangs on their wall of fame, the same picture that is blown up in your shop.)
So I showed up at El Pescador on the appointed morning promptly at 6:45am all rigged and ready to go, thanks to Putnam. Luis my guide, who is in early to mid 20s, showed up about 7:30am, looked over my gear and set-up, and agreed that it was appropriate. We hit he water at about 7:45-8am to go fish.
I told Luis I wanted a shot at a tarpon, just to hook one, I didn't have to land it, I just wanted to see what it was like to hook a big powerful tarpon, and I didn't really care to catch a bonefish. He was agreeable to that so we headed out to a tarpon flat between Deer and Bird Caye on the West side of Ambergris and floated through it a couple times and didn't see a single tarpon - nothing rolling or jumping. So at this point Luis wanted to go bonefish and permit fish so we could land some fish and we were back at El Pescador by 3:15 that afternoon.
While talking to Luis during the day of fishing I found out Luis is Nesto's cousin, the guide that never materialized, and he told me Nesto was up in Mexico at another cousin's wedding and wasn't coming back to San Pedro for a couple couple days - but enough whinning.
Now, I have to admit the conditions were tough - very windy, overcast, and outgoing to low tides. So we went and caught bonefish, saw one permit, but I was pretty discouraged about not seeing any tarpon and thought I would just dive and hang out with the wife and kids for the rest of the trip.
Well, that lasted a couple days and I had the itch to tarpon fish again, so I decided to track down the other recommended guide from Ruby's Hotel, Lindo. I found Lindo on the back bay and we talked about the tarpon fishing. We agreed to fish a couple days later and that he'd pick me up at my resort at 7am.
Once the day arrived, Lindo, who is in his early 50s, was there at 6:45am ready and rarin' to go, so we were off to check a deep cut at the South end of Ambergris for rolling tarpon and then some flats to the Southwest of island. Lindo and I had the same conversation I had with Luis - I just want to tarpon fish, just wanted to try to hook one, don't care about catching bones.
Saw nothing rolling in the cut so off to the flats we went. Again, tough conditions - windy, overcast, and outgoing to low tides. Hit the first flat and no rolling or jumping tarpon to be found, but Lindo poled that panga (he has a poling platform on the back) all over that flat. We saw some fish, but almost all were sitting on top of the turtle grass and weren't on the move. It was tough to see them until you were right on top of them because the light conditions were so bad. No rolling or jumping tarpon all day.
We saw a lot of 3-4' tarpon, probably upwards of 20 fish, but only a few casts off to one fish. Should've had a shot at another fish, but this rookie tarpon fisherman had his fly fowled in the line.
Lindo worked hard all day long...he was on a personal mission to get me a tarpon that day. After we, or should I say he, worked a flat hard - poling, looking, constantly scanning for fish, then we were on the move to another flat to find fish. We worked so many flats, we were close enough to make a quick run over to the mainland to check the surfline where they sometime roll.
Lindo had me back at the resort about 4:30 that afternoon. He was a little dejected that we didn't get a tarpon, but I was pleased just to see some, and get a cast off to one. I'll defintley be back when the tide and weather is better, and just as a fishing trip.
I enjoyed San Pedro a lot - there are very reasonbale accommodations, food and prices for guides.
Thanks to Bill and Jeff for helping me out with flies and the set-up.
Randy
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