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Hi, I am taking a trip to Ambergris Caye, Belize in September. I have hired a guide for a few days and I want to mainly fish for bonefish and baby tarpon. I am just curious if anyone has fished down there and has any fly suggestions?
I am thinking I will tie deceivers, black deaths, tarpon bunny's, and toads for tarpon, and just some simple Christmas Island specials for the bonefish. Am I missing and must bring patterns? Thanks.
I know that Captain Andy Guibord at Kiene's Fly Shop in Sacramento has fished that area for many years now.
I fished the entire coast of Belize for about 20 years too but Andy is more up to date with modern patterns.
Out of Ambergris Key you will have Tarpon, Bonefish and Permit.
Take any rods you have from 8 to 10 weight in 4 piece models.
We mostly use tropical floating lines.
Most use smaller #1/0 flies about 2 1/2" for Baby Tarpon.....Red/yellow, barred tan, red/white, yel/orange are good.
Early in the mornings you can wade for Bonefish, etc right along the shore on the east side of the island in front of the resorts.
I can't speak for Ambergis because I've never been there, but I can speak for Turneffe in Belize because I have been there (in fact just got back on SUN). There are no baby tarpon at Turneffe, so I can't speak for Ambergis. At Turneffe, the traditional style tarpon flies (like toads, bunny leeches, etc) are rarely fished. Everyone at the the lodge was fishing baitfish style flies, think of natural colored striper flies in purple/black, tan, brown, and olive about 4-6" long with 3/0 and bigger hooks. EP tarpon flies are very popular in this style if you don't tye your own.
https://www.epflies.com/product/tarp...-black-purple/
At Turneffe, for bones, you fish ridiculously small unweighted flies. Most all of our bones were caught on #10 Gotcha/Charlie style flies tied with plastic Hareline eyes. I've been SW flats fishing the tropics for over 30 years, and prior to going to Belize I NEVER have fished a #10 unweighted fly. If I didn't have 3 dozen of them in my box, we would have been SOL.
This EP bonefish fly was very effective at Turneffe in size 10.
https://www.epflies.com/product/turn...p-pearl-tan-8/
I recommend tying/getting bonefish flies (pattern doesn't matter much, but size does) in sizes 8-10, some with lead eyes, some with bead chain eyes, and some with Hareline plastic eyes. We didn't fish a single typical size 6 bonefish fly the entire week.
WLREDBAND, why do you use such small flies for those Bonefish? What's the average size fish you are catching?
Thanks
You pretty much have to use small unweighted flies at Turneffe if you wade the flats. Fishing ankle deep water, loaded with coral snags, to very spooky fish. Bigger flies splash too much, and they hang up on the coral, spooking the fish. In over 30 years of SW flats fishing I have NEVER had to fish an unweighted #10 bonefish fly. I had to fish them at Turneffe. Thankfully I had 3 dozen of them in my box. And I only returned with around 10 because I lost so many due to the coral. So carry lots if you go there. You NEED them.
The only place I have not fished for bones is the Seychelles, and Turneffe has the largest average size bonefish I have seen anywhere. Most fish are 3-5 pounds and bigger models are very common. Me and my buddy got about a half dozen around 8 pounds and we broke off frequently on bigger fish. Unfortunately at Turneffe, landing the bigger models is difficult due to all the sharp coral snags and break offs are very common.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dynaflow
I've fished Belize from Dangriga to Placencia and found the bones to be very small by comparison to anywhere else. I was even one of the first to use a SAGE RPLXi in a 6 wt. just because of the abundance of small fish there.
The original Blue Horizon with Lincoln Westby was our home base for several trips. Got my first permit there too.
Tony
https://i.imgur.com/zSp4ALF.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/fep1CPn.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/5BbIjaE.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/72KfQCc.jpg
I have to agree with Tony. In a week at Turneffe, the largest Bone I caught was around 5 pounds and many were around 2-3 pounds.
I fished a size 8 fly while my partner fished a size 10. My partner hooked/landed 2 bones to every one I hooked/landed but they were small.
For what it's worth, the Permit we saw were all good sized.
Just got back from there last SUN. I know what I saw and landed. Since the netting has stopped a few years ago (Thank you Turneffe Atoll Trust), the fish have responded in a big way. And Turneffe is NOT Placencia, where netting still occurs, it's a long long way from there. Turneffe has the biggest average size for bones of any place I've fished over the past 30 years. I know because I saw it with my own eyes.
Turneffe Island is a different situation where the Turneffe Flats Lodge is a big deal.Quote:
Originally Posted by dynaflow
They have had some of Belize's top guides out there for decades.
Joel Westby, Willie Dyer, Eddie Hide, and Winston "Pops" Cabral are all Belizean legends.
The Bones there are in large schools swimming over shallow Turtle Grass flats.
They use very long leaders and #10 flies that cast over the top of the big schools.
The school 'flinches' and then returns to feeding. It is not my favorite type of Bonefishing.
The lodge was owned by a dentist and his wife in Montana/Idaho and has a huge selection of really good salt water flies.
*Over a 20 year span I fished every mile of the coast of Belize.
I love the people, the food. the eco system, and the snorkeling.
Yep Bill, the "flinch" is a pretty good description of bonefishing there. Not my favorite type of bonefishing either, and if the bones weren't so big, I doubt I'd go back. But, they are oh so big!
Except we didn't fish the turtlegrass flats for bones because we were too busy focusing on permit when those flats had tides. 90%+ of our bonefishing was done on very shallow hard coral bottoms loaded with sharp snags (I shredded two pairs of flats pants there hanging up on coral).
small flies=less weight=less gape=less hangups=less spooked bones
Small flies have nothing to do with the size of the bones there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill Kiene semi-retired
https://i.imgur.com/DNIT3jkl.jpg
Is this close to the average size?
WLREDBAND,with respect,have you ever fished Hawaii,Aitutaki,the Seychelles or the north west coast of Australia? These are some of the places where the biggest average sized Bonefish are found.Mostly we're talking ten pound plus fish here.
Thanks Tony......We fished at the Blue Horizon With Lincoln Westby who was a merchant marine in his early years. He is a really wonderful guy and always works hard for his clients. Permit expert Will Bauer was his American friend who helped get him started out there.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tony Buzolich
One day Lincoln took us for Tarpon in a panga inside a small island lagoon lined with mangroves. It got very hot and there was a loud bang and his ball cap blew up into the air? He had a Bic lighter and cigarettes under his black ball cap and it exploded in the intense heat.
In the afternoons I would go out snorkeling with the teenagers and gather lobsters and conch for dinner.
The Blue Horizon Lodge is in the middle of the "Permit Triangle" in Randy Kaufmanns wonderful book, Bonefishing.
Lincoln and his brothers Joel and David are the most famous guides in Belize.
The Blue Horizon Lodge is one of the most famous Permit destinations in Belize.
https://bluehorizonbelize.com/
Apologies to the chap who asked for some information specifically about flies with the obvious hijack. It seems that I'm about the only one who offered any information that even mentioned Belize flies and the rest is a my johnson is bigger than yours war, including irrelevant dick pix. No Thanks, but I'll pass on that. I actually hope that someone posts some more information about Belize flies to help answer the chaps actual question, but that doesn't seem to be happening.
WLREDBAND, thanks for your useful info on fishing Belize. I haven't fished there. I have had clients who have fished there and have only caught small bones.
They ask to use Bonefish Bitters here in Hawaii, because they used them in Belize. I have not caught a fish on Bitters in Hawaii, so I tell them no.
On Christmas Island we did scale down flies to sized 08, and caught more bones, but smaller ones on the back flats and pancakes. I hope to go back there next March if they all get vaccinated, and hopefully the fishing will be great, and they will take flies pretty readily. They were getting jaded on CI with all of the pressure before the pandemic.
I have fished Bahamas and did land a couple of 8 lbers, but nothing that compares to Hawaii for size. My question is will a size 10 hook really hold a 10 lb bonefish? I have had 10 lber straighten a 06 hook in a flash. I have gotten some 5, 6lber on size 08, but really a 10 lber on a 10 hook?
Sorry if my picture offended you, that is just an average sized bone here in Hawaii. If you really want Boner envy have Dynaflow post his pic of his Aitutaki pig.
If they stopped netting in Belize, then great, I wish we could get Bones protected here in Hawaii. No hard feelings, and if you got an 8 lber on a 10 hook, then more power to you, congrats. Mems.
"Just got back from there last SUN. I know what I saw and landed. Since the netting has stopped a few years ago (Thank you Turneffe Atoll Trust), the fish have responded in a big way. And Turneffe is NOT Placencia, where netting still occurs, it's a long long way from there. Turneffe has the biggest average size for bones of any place I've fished over the past 30 years."
Well,.... I guess all those little Bones I saw grew up to be big bones. Good to know.
As to flies for Turneffe Flats, the lodge has a supply of a number of different style flies in various sizes for sale. If the idea is to tie flies, the owner of Blue Ribbon Flies produced a DVD about the flies used at Turneffe Flats that included recipes for the patterns. Have no idea if it's still available but give them a call or try the internet.
Turneffe Atoll is the best place for Bonefish in Belize because it is off the coast on an atoll and the locals protect it well.