Placencia, Belize November 2013
For the 11th time I fished in Placencia, Belize with friends Al, Mack, and Doug. This was Doug’s first time fishing the tropical salt. We fish out of Placencia because of the many options its location offers. We can fish the myriad of cayes close by, all the way north to Tobacco Caye, south toward Punta Gorda and Ycacos Lagoon, and if the weather is really bad we can fish behind Placencia in the mangroves, creeks, and lagoon. As always, we stayed with Lisa and George Westby at the Westwind Hotel. It’s not the fanciest place in town, but it is right on the beach, within walking distance of some wonderful local restaurants, and Lisa and George treat us very well and have become close friends. Our guides are Bruce Leslie and Ian Cuevas. Bruce has been guiding for 18 years and I think Ian for about 10. These guys are amazing at finding fish, and they go the extra mile every day. Most days they pick us up on the beach at 5 or 5:30 am and several nights we did not get back until after 6. They want to see us catch fish more than I think we want to catch them sometimes.
Doug and I fished 12 days, Mack 10, and Al 7. The first 5 days we had exceptional weather; hot and full sun, light wind, and flat seas. Later in the trip it turned wet and windy many days which meant the bait got pushed off the flats and so did the tarpon. This meant we fished where tarpon congregated around some of the cayes, fished more of the deep drop-offs, or just went south to Ycacos for permit. This year there was more bait (both fry and sprats) everywhere we fished which meant the tarpon were very spread out. Early in the trip we found bait on many flats which meant we got to sight fish tarpon. We did real well at hooking many nice fish in the 40-60# range and we saw some bigger than that. Many of these fish ate the fly (mostly clousers so we could get to the level of the cruising fish fast) pretty close to the boat which makes a good hook set difficult. I had a couple of fish eat with only the 9 foot leader still out. In addition to tarpon we caught permit, bonefish, jack cravelle, bar, longtail, horse eye, and bluerunner jacks, lots of different snappers, Spanish and king mackerel, and barracuda.
Some of the major highlights of the trip include:
-Mack and I caught grand slams of tarpon, permit, and bonefish on the same day with Ian. This was my first slam, Mack’s second (the day before his birthday) and Ian’s first double slam.
-Doug caught a nice cobia (a first for us and only the second Bruce has seen on the fly in his career.
-Al got a pretty nice barracuda on the fly without wire.
-One day Mack and I fishing with Ian saw about 60 permit on one 200 yard stretch of flats. I am sure many of the 60 were the same fish getting spooked off the flats and then coming back again. There were many larger (maybe 10-12#) singles and doubles and schools of from 6 to 15 smaller fish.
-We saw many permit at Ycacos but only got one. This is some of the most frustrating fishing but also very exciting. I don’t like to fish permit all day but when we got shots every 30 minutes it was pretty amazing. One day Doug and I had 4 really good shots each. The fish would charge the fly, tip up, we’d set and nada. We had several crushed crabs and felt or saw the line go tight and we did not hook them. My first good shot was a permit that Bruce said was in the 20 to 25# range. He tailed on the fly twice, I felt him and did not connect. Our theory is that almost all of the shots we had were on fish that were coming directly at us and that as we set we pulled the fly out of their mouths. According to Bruce this is pretty common and fish that give you a crossing shot are easier to hook.
This was another great trip and I can hardly wait to go back. Here are some photos. I'll post more when I get them from the other guys.
Tarpon food- fry
Tarpon food- sprat
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by FISHEYE
Bookmarks