Now you see them, now you don’t………….
I had a tip off that the tarpon were showing in the secret lagoon. Ok, not exactly a red hot tip off because the rainy season had started the previous day and a good flush had drained off the swamp into the lagoon. This always wakes the tarpon up. But had the tarpon actually left the lagoon, or were they there all the time? My thinking is that they were there all the time. We have seen them lurking deep in the fallen timber, seemingly not feeding or moving much.
Yesterday however it was all different. Now we are back to the normal behavior (or so I thought). The tarpon, mainly small fish up to say 10lbs, in pods of four or five were porpoising right out in open water pretty well the whole length of the lagoon. Unfortunately I was late on the water, and a light breeze had sprung up, and this immediately switched off this behavior. Not before I had hooked one fish and played it for several minutes before my knot failed.
We were chatting about knots failing the other day, and all of us agreed that it was something no one likes admitting. Sue says it’s a man thing. It’s a bit like your pride in being a good driver (no one EVER admits to being a bad driver do they?) We ALL tie good knots ALL the time don’t we? Well actually no we don’t! And we NEVER have a knot fail do we? Well yes we do, actually! If we are honest. A lot of the time it is not the knot’s fault, it’s just been tied badly. Generally speaking, the more complex twists and turns the knot involves, the more opportunities there are for a careless moment which might (as in this case) cost a fish- and a lure as well!
Anyway, the fish was lost, and as the breeze strengthened, the fish faded away. And one thing I have learned here is that when the tarpon say no, they mean it. No amount of persuasion will tempt them
So back next morning at the crack of dawn. Flat calm, exactly like yesterday. Well with one difference, where were the tarpon? Not a sign. So Sue and I eased gently down the lagoon in our boat Patience, scanning the water all around us. Tarpon are prone to rolling in the wake of your boat although I can’t think why. Nothing doing. Eventually I spotted a couple of fish porpoising, so we glided gently over to them. Sue hooked one immediately but after one surge the hook hold gave and that was that. So we decided to move back down towards the sea inlet which takes us past a couple of trolling hotspots. We trolled right down to the entrance without seeing a fish, turned and came back up debating whether to call it a day. Just as we approached the second hotspot, Sue spotted a pod of tarpon rolling just ahead of us, so we thought we might as well troll over them just in case. Well I got a big hit as we passed by and 100yds of line melted off the reel in no time. The fish jumped twice in quick succession and then turned and started to run straight back towards us. For the next 20 minutes or so the fish ran back and forwards, but the jumps became fewer and smaller. Fortunately I had hooked the fish out in open water so there was no real danger of snags. However as the fight developed, the boat was drifting perilously close to the edge of the lagoon where there is plenty of timber and refuge for a hooked fish. I knew that I would not be able to stop a determined effort to get into the timber, as my light spinning rod and 12 lb line were already at full stretch. The fish by this time however was tiring and after a couple of slow runs beside the boat, Sue was able to lift the fish on board for unhooking and a quick photo. She has been moaning about a sore finger, raked by the gill rakers ever since – but I think she is secretly proud of the battle scar.
So here is a pic of the morning’s efforts. Not a monster by any standards, but a brilliant fight on light tackle. My little soft plastic fish had survived the battle and so lives to fight another day. That seemed to be a good moment to run back up to our mooring and then home for breakfast.
Whichever way you look at it, it’s a good way to start your day.

FLY ONLY - the ultimate test!
Our next guests were Len and Juliet from Tanzania (East Africa) and Archie and Barbara from Kansas USA. This foursome were fly only and so offer the toughest test of the fishing down here. We had teamed them up with our top guide, Ian Cuevas, so we were confident that they were in knowledgeable and skilled hands, in the face of difficult conditions.
Fortunately, they proved to be very good anglers and although the permit were elusive, they caught bonefish and tarpon on fly. Monkey River grudgingly conceded some late tarpon as dusk was descending, to add a little extra to the day. Curiously the early morning sessions in the river did not produce. We concluded that this was a tide issue. A rising tide at dusk appeared to be the best time.
Just like our previous guests, Len and Archie found the bonefish uncharacteristically uncooperative and catches were by our standards, low. This is the end of the tourist season and it may be that the fish are getting wary when rods start waving around out on the flats. Both Len and Archie had several shots at permit, but as is the nature of this most elusive of fish, chances were brief and few.
The ‘gummy” fly which Dell had first shown to us seems to be a particularly good bet especially for tarpon. Archie also had these, in a thin tiny baitfish shape, and a fuller more rounded version which Ian thought (correctly as it turned out) would be a better match for river fishing. Len promptly jumped three tarpon on one, and landed the fourth, all in the space of an hour or so.
So what was our conclusion? Well nowhere in this world has fishing that can be turned on (or off) like a tap. However good the fishing, however huge the shoals, however beautiful the surroundings, there will always be times when things just don’t go right. The last three weeks have been like that. Unstable weather has without a doubt played a big part. Len kindly invited me to join him one afternoon and I could see just how difficult it was to present a fly in the crosswinds we had, particularly casting right into partially submerged wild cane along the river’s edge. Only a really good caster could manage that-Len did!
I suppose you could say that this just adds to the desire to come back and try again, a feeling we anglers all get from time to time. No sooner are you off the water than you are thinking about the next time.Still as Sue remarked as we said goodbye to our last visitors, a month which included three new records, two Grand slams, plus a number of fly caught firsts for guests cannot be called poor in anyone’s language. Maybe we expect too much from the fish lurking in their watery world below the silvery surface.

Return of the flyfishers!
This week we have Dave Lewis, demon fly fisher from Wales, making a return visit to us, together with Terry Smith, and newcomers Ray Jennings and Dell Elliot making up our second consecutive party of four from England (sorry, Britain).
When the weather forecaster on our national radio station, Love FM, knew Dave was coming back to Steppingstones, he immediately changed the forecast to howling gales and rain. As usual however he got it wrong, although we did have a fairly brisk wind.
With choppy seas on Day One, the guys decided to hit Monkey River at first light as we have been getting reports of tarpon and snook showing. This proved to be a good decision. Dave landed tarpon and snook on fly, Dell had his first ever tarpon on fly and the others also jumped tarpon and snook, as well as a few surprise tubas. These perch-like ciclids fight like blazes, and it is a pity they don’t grow all that big! The machacas which can normally be expected to come up to surface lures were however not coming out to play.
Day Two was a blast straight out to the reef with bonefish the main target. The sea has heavy so the guys got bumped and soaked going out, and bumped and soaked coming back. Despite this they were rewarded with some decent sized bonefish on the flats around Nicholas caye. Ray managed his very first bonefish on a fly which is always a great landmark. A strong breeze however made sight fishing a challenge even with our eagled eyed guides George and Wayne at the helm.
By the time the guys got back it was 7pm, so in two days they had averaged 12 hours a day on the water. No wonder they looked tired. Dave made a brief appearance before dinner before crashing out in his cabana. He ate his dinner for breakfast the following morning! Sue’s Mexican tacos WERE good, but for breakfast??
Thursday dawned much calmer, so amidst muttering about permit fishing, the boats set off for the southern end of Port Honduras Marine Reserve. The day turned out to be not a day for permit. A strong wind and colored water made fish spotting very difficult. Ray had some nice jacks on poppers plus more tarpon to everybody. Both boats went up Deep River which IMHO is one of the most enchanted places on earth. But nothing inclined to feed. The rivers need a good flush through which we reckon could happen any day now.
Their day ended in Monkey River hoping for a last minute tarpon, but it was not to be. They did however witness a pitched battle between two rival troops of howler monkeys - probably a territorial “misunderstanding’ as the Belizeans call it!
So to Friday. The plan was to go out to Ranguana and engage the bonefish again. However the wind sprung up overnight, so both boats elected for a starting effort back in Monkey River.
The river was quiet, so a move down to Deep River seemed like the best bet. However this too was pretty slow. After a day of stopping and starting, despite all efforts the day was unproductive. So while Dave and Terry decided to call it a day, Ray and Dell decided to have one last cast. Their persistence was rewarded and a tarpon and snook compensated for a disappointing day.
So the following day, bright and early the team decided today was to be the big day, and duly set out after permit. That evening the guys were back late. When we saw the boats approaching the dock in pitch darkness we knew something was up from the broad smiles. Dave had hit his grand slam of a permit, a tarpon and a bonefish, and Terry managed a permit and a bonefish, and lost no less than four tarpon late on in Monkey River in a desperate attempt to achieve his grand slam! So it was drinks on the house for everyone that evening, which is a Steppingstones tradition. Grand slams are not common, even here in Permit City. It is not just a matter of catching all three species in one day, it is as much a challenge of finding all three species feeding! The purists will insist on Grand Slams being all fly caught, but we excuse a little involvement of hermit crab in catching permit! As the guys will tell you, hooking a permit is hard enough on ANYTHING!
The following day, it was hardly surprising that, sore heads from the night’s celebration or not, the team was headed back out to do battle with the permit again. Terry in particular felt hard done by having missed out on his Grand Slam so narrowly the previous day. Determination often gets rewarded, so it was no surprise that Terry turned out to be the star of the show, with a Grand Slam of his very own to celebrate that night!. This Steppingstones tradition is getting to be a bit expensive on free drinks! Still it does not happen every day.
Next day saw the weather on an improving trend so it was back out to the reef in search of the bonefish shoals. The fish were quickly located but were in a silly mood, swimming around like harbor mullet, as Dave described it, and refusing even the most tempting of offers. Despite this a couple were landed and a very big bonefish showed itself although it remained uninterested in feeding.
Overall this was a story of what might have been. Stories of lost fish, missed fish, and shoals disappearing in a flash. However, the boys, led by demon flycaster Dave all caught tarpon, bonefish and snook . Terry and Dave both had Grand Slams as memories to treasure. Dell and Ray had some decent jacks, plus barracuda, etc. on lures as well as their successes on fly, so honour was in the end satisfied.

Highs and lows-some you win some you don’t.
Well for our latest guests, Billie and Steve Barlow from England, things did not get off to a good start. Four of their bags including both rod cases managed to go off on a holiday of their own to who knows where. One advantage of staying at Steppingstones however is that as former tackle dealers, we have no shortage of fishing tackle. So spare rods etc were quickly provided, and the guys rushed off down our dock to do battle with the local fish. Things started slowly, as a cold front moved over, with murky water populated by a seemingly endless stream of small catfish. Somewhat unusual for this time of year, but at least it was a diversion. However as the water cleared, the snappers and snook started feeding providing a change from the catfish. One afternoon the bigger fish moved in and a couple of sting rays provided the action, followed by something that picked up Billie’s fish fillet and moved steadily off, eventually breaking his 40lb line without stopping pausing or changing direction. Most likely this was a nurse shark, but who knows?
Next day we had a display from the local dolphins, who at one point were right close to the end of the dock, presumably feeding on baitfish.
We had arranged a couple of days for Steve and Billie to fish with George. Their first day turned out to be quite an active day with a variety of fish being taken. Steve managed to catch his first ever bonefish on a fly, and followed this up with Spanish Mackerel, barracuda (of course) and a king fish. Both Steve and Billie lost unstoppable fish trolling - probably big kingfish. The very high temperatures during the day made things tough, but a mixed bag made up for the inevitable sunburn!
In spite of this they managed to find yet more barracuda, and as Steve said, “We had our string well and truly pulled”. A succession of small grouper marked the morning session, followed by bonita, a couple of lizard fish and a snapper or two.
Next day our old friends from Virginia, Keith and Sheila arrived next, this time with their daughter Heather on a short visit to renew acquaintance with the fabulous fishing and wild life down here. Very soon there was the makings of an international competition on the end of the dock, with the usual discussions and debates on pretty well anything and everything, in between pulling in a succession of small snappers.
We had arranged a block booking with our top guide Ian for the second week to take out our guests in rotation.
First up were Steve and Billie for their third trip out, but the first with Ian. The day was dominated by very rough seas outside the reef. Fortunately Steve and Billie fish one of the roughest pieces of sea in Europe, the Irish Sea, back home, so big seas don’t worry them. They got soaked through in a rising sea, but still managed a bunch of barracuda, mostly on livebait.
Next up was Keith, raring to go, having heard all the stories from Steve and Billie and as the girls wanted a day ashore, I “volunteered” to accompany him. This seemed like a good opportunity to try out my newly arrived Rapala X Raps which Steve had kindly brought out from the UK . Ian took us down south, deep into the Port Honduras Marine Reserve. We stopped on the way where he had seen a big shoal of jacks crashing yesterday. However as usual they had moved on. My Zara Spook was ignored. We moved into the mouth of Deep River to look for tarpon, and although we did find a group daisy-chaining, they were not interested in our baits, and my Zara Spook was ignored again. We pushed on around the river delta but apart from a solitary baby jack to Keith’s crystal minnow, nothing moved, and although I switched to my new shallow X Rap, it too remained untouched.
Then we had a flurry of action with both of us getting a small kingfish in quick succession. We decided to move around the small cayes in the river mouth, but again, nothing. Ian took us around two tiny reefs just north of Punta Negra, and there we found a few barracuda, one small one to me and two close to 10lbs each to Keith. All were safely returned back to fight another day. We discussed the pros and cons of release of barracuda, and with care, we concluded, small and medium sized ones could be released safely providing they were lightly hooked. This signaled the end of our day and we made the short run home to Steppingstones. A good day? Well judged by results, no. But a great pleasure to be out at sea with a knowledgeable angler like Keith who is such good company even when fate deals a bad hand, and Ian with his local knowledge and almost sixth sense.
And my verdict on the X Rap, much praised on one of the on line forums? Well, inconclusive from a results point of view. I can say that the action, a whole body roll, does look good (the fish did not agree on the day!), and at last Rapala have produced a shallow runner in heavy duty plastic to provide genuine alternative to the Yo Zuri Crystal Minnow. Worth observing though that the X Rap is a suspending bait, running at around four feet, whereas the Crystal Minnow is a floater, running at about two feet. So there STILL is no quality marine alternative to the Crystal Minnow for ultra shallow situations. Rapala please note!
So day three for Ian, and it was Steve and Billie’s turn to hit the reef. Ian had decided to try the reef again, as the weather had noticeably improved.
The highlight of the day was a mutton snapper of 13lb 9oz, which is a new Steppingstones record. Stunning! Steve managed two cobia, some barracuda as well as another (much smaller) snapper. Billie had what we all have sometimes - a mare. His best fish of the day would have been a double figure barracuda had not two other barracuda bitten it clean in half, and not satisfied with that, another attacked the head end and ripped that up as well.
It was time for Keith’s “family day out”. Ian took them out to a nearby patch reef for a session of bait fishing. The girls caught a cooler box full of snappers etc which were sent down to a very grateful village. After lunch Ian took Keith up Monkey River looking for tarpon. Keith managed to turn a few over but no hook ups.
Later, Keith and I had a try in the back lagoon for tarpon. They were there, but deep in the timber and almost impossible to lure out into open water. I lost a snapper back there, and we both turned over tarpon.
Next up, the dynamic duo were out bright and early on their way out to the reef for another livebaiting session. True to form Steve hooked the biggest fish which ran backwards and forwards, up and down, ahead of the boat and behind it, while Ian and Billie debated what it could be. They were all wrong. It turned out to be a 15lb 9oz Blackfin Tuna, which is an exceptional size for here. This was followed by a filefish. This is the first of these weird looking fish landed at Steppingstones. Not really a sport fish, but technically a record!
Later in the day Steve hooked two fish in 200ft of water which ran irresistibly into rocks under heavy pressure. Hard to know what these were, but big grouper looks the best guess.
We all had tuna steaks for dinner. There is nothing in this world to match fresh tuna on the BBQ with a salad (homegrown) and a glass of chardonnay.
Last day of Ian’s booking fell to Keith. By all accounts he had a ball, with a double figure kingfish heading a full fish box of barracuda , snappers , etc. The biggest pair of barracudas were released back safely. Keith’s complaints of sore shoulders and strained muscles were not met with much sympathy. But the twinkle in his eyes told a different story!
During this period, Steve and Billie also found time to get out in our kayaks and had some decent fish on the patch reef in front of Steppingstones, and also around Greater Monkey caye. Steves best fish was a 20lb stingray which he managed to unhook at the side of the kayak.
All in all this has been a pretty eventful fortnight, with three new records, the blackfin tuna and the mutton snapper and (grudgingly) the filefish all caught by Steve. Both Steve and Billie lost big fish to livebait in deep water, which raises yet again the question of whether we should have a serious effort to catch one of these monsters.
Please note that all the fish brought to the dock, except those kept for our own consumption, were taken down for distribution in Monkey River village.

Pics will follow - the internet is on go slow right now.

Bryan and Chris in the Secret Lagoon
The mile long lagoon at the back of Steppingstones has given up a couple more of its secrets as a result of a week long series of early morning and dusk sessions.
Let’s start however with the tarpon fishing which is not really a secret at all. The local guides know well that the lagoon holds a good head of small to medium size tarpon, and the lagoon is used as a backup if Monkey River is not producing.
Bryan is a frequent visitor and friend, and he and I spent a few sessions in the lagoon “putting away the boat.”
We tried both first and last light and interestingly found little difference. The tarpon can be seen porpoise-ing at pretty well any time of day. The very small Storm Swim shads (the ones with a single hook only) are best. Lure running depth seems to be crucial. Too deep and the tarpon don’t seem to hit. Top water lures also work. Small poppers and a Luckycraft Sammy lure tried by Bryan worked well.
The trick is to sneak up to within casting range if a porpoise-ing fish can be spotted. However, by noting where fish have been active on previous days, it is possible to hook fish which have not shown themselves Doing this, Bryan managed a personal best fish of 10 ¾ lbs on a very light outfit. The fish fought furiously as tarpon always do, jumping clear of the water five times. Bryan did extremely well to subdue this fish which in addition to trying to fly, also went right under the boat several times and made determined efforts to reach the mangrove edges.
Apart from that we both had plenty of hits and jumped a number of fish, mostly in the 6-8lb class. It was interesting to note that tarpon would roll in the wake of the boat on occasion, so keeping an eye on proceedings behind us, as well as in front was important.
I might digress at this point with a story from a visit Sue and I made to the Zapata Peninsular in Cuba a few years back. Fishing a tributary of the Rio Negro, we came upon a group of porpoise-ing tarpon. Whereupon our guide (himself a skilled angler) opened up his throttle and to our amazement roared straight through the shoal, and ran the boat about ½ mile upstream before abruptly shutting off and shouting for us to immediately cast behind the boat. Rather stunned, we did and a double hook-up resulted. Later he told us this was an established tactic for narrow water tarpon fishing. I subsequently checked this out with several other Cuban guides and they all agreed this was so. The other day, Sue and I tried this in a narrow section of our lagoon. Well, all I can say is our tarpon clearly were taught different behavior from their Cuban cousins… Nada, as the Cubans would say. Still I do wonder if we might be herding tarpon in front of the boat when what we THINK we are doing is following them!
Anyway, back to the lagoon. Everyone knows that hooking and landing tarpon is hard, hence the American habit of counting “jumps”. I would guess we are landing two or three out of ten which is about average. I had a solid hookset on a popper, only to have the hook pull out (of the lure). I have subsequently drilled the popper and inserted a long shank hook right through, so this will not happen again. That’s the problem with using poppers designed for large and small mouth bass, so beware, those poppers are not designed for the pressure a double figure tarpon can exert.
Losing fish in a heavily overgrown environment is a fact of life. I lost another good fish in a heap of sunken logs, although we both had a feeling this might not have been a tarpon.
Well during the week we jumped quite a few fish, lost several, cracked off a couple on the strike, and had plenty of follows, near misses and on two memorable occasions two double hookups in the same place! We did have to follow the fish around quite a bit though (hence my thought above that we might have been herding them). We did wonder if the noise of my outboard even at tickover was spooking them. I tried poling the boat, but we could discern no great difference in catch or hit rates.
So what else happened? Well Bryan managed two tuba which look a bit like overweight perch (see pic). They were small but fight like hell. Bryan extracted one from heavy cover right in the sticks in about a foot of water on his Sammy lure. The fish managed to snag itself on a log but with some acrobatics we managed to free it. I have seen these probably two pounds or so near our mooring, but I suspect they grow bigger. He also caught the first ever Cubera snapper (aka Pargo) I know of from the lagoon. I have long thought these would be present in the lagoon, having lost a couple of heavy fish that were definitely not tarpon but slugged away and in both cases managed to get into the mangrove despite my putting heavy pressure on them. The cubera Bryan had was around 3lb but again I am sure they grow a lot bigger in this unpressured environment.
The lagoon teems with fry virtually year round and is a wonderful nursery for all species of fish. I have caught tarpon fry in my cast net from time to time, and on one memorable occasion had literally thousands of two inch long tarpon thrown up on the beach by a marauding shoal of blue runners. I must have rescued hundreds and put them back in the water, but our cats, dogs, chickens and of course wild birds ate them by the bucket load. It’s nature I suppose.
Bryan went on to land three small jacks, a small mangrove snapper and a baby barracuda. All in all a fun time. Not high pressure, just a few leisurely hours in beautiful surroundings where even if the fish are off duty, the bird watching is wonderful.
Ospreys (nesting now), three species of heron, cormorant (only a couple though!) anhinga, two species of wood peckers, three species of kingfisher, various hawks, odsprey, vultures, egrets, tanager, ibis (loads right now) pelicans, kiskadees, parrots, warblers and LBJs (little brown jobs-ie unidentified by me)
And if that is not enough, we have a resident crocodile which locals have estimated at 14 feet. Having nearly run this beast down in my boat would say 12ft but who’s arguing? Bryan did see a baby croc about a foot long but missed a sight of the big one.
OK here’s the rub. Bryan is writing his own version of this little episode, which Sue insists will be posted unedited, so a comparison will be informative!!

Two days away from Steppingstones.
Hi this is Chris with a report on our two days at sea. We had our friend Bryan Denton staying with us and we decided to organize a two day mini trip out at Seal Caye and surrounding areas in the middle of his fishing week.
We left bright and early from Steppingstones with top guide Ian Cuevas running his boat Opportunity. Bryan is a kayak fanatic so we persuaded Ian to allow us to carry one of our fishing kayaks on board. The last few weeks have been flat calm, and the day dawned mirror calm, so forty minutes later we were picking our way very carefully through the coral heads that surround the entry channel to this small but pretty little caye.
Bryan was unable to overcome the temptations of the shallow flats and banks of the caye, so after a brief stop to unload overnight bags, we left Bryan paddling purposefully towards the nearest coral drop off, along the edge of the flats.
For Sue and I, our task was to get lunch. This involves getting a barracuda, tough job, but someone has to do it. Naturally as soon as we put our lures out every barracuda in the Caribbean for miles around disappeared. However by experimenting with diving depths, trolling speeds, yes and lures too, we eventually fooled a six pound barracuda on a deep diving Yo Zuri Crystal Minnow. Problem solved. A nice Spanish mackerel followed shortly after, but that was it. A small squadron of dolphins escorted us back to Seal Caye.
So to an excellent lunch of fried barracuda with the inevitable rice and beans, Belizean –style. Over lunch Bryan recounted the results of his mornings prowling around the flats. Apart from a couple of small cubera snappers, two small groupers and a jack, pretty quiet. His morning was however dominated by something that hit his lure on one of the flats, ran right across the flat with line pouring off Brian’s reel into the drop off, whereupon the line parted and the fish was last seen heading in the general direction of Jamaica. After due commiserations, we settled down to discuss the afternoon’s tactics.
It was clear from the morning’s slow start that we would need to try something different so we decided to troll along the edge of the drop off using a Mann’s Magnum Super Stretch 30 on a 80lb marlin rod brought along specially for the purpose, and a Yo Zuri deep magnum L Jack Minnow also on a heavy outfit. Sue was to continue with her favourite shallow Crystal Minnow just in case we ran into something feeding on top.
This all sounded right so off we went, and it was not long before the big Super Stretch got its first hit. This lure is about the deepest diving lure around and we were confident that a mega fish was responsible. However, it only took seconds to realize this was only a small barracuda. Moments later Bryan’s rod went and the fish took off on a long run, then stopped abruptly. On getting it to the boat, all was revealed. It was a small kingfish with its tail and back end neatly sheared off.
Then followed a succession of small kingfish, barracuda, bonita and Spanish mackerel all released, and although this kept us all occupied it was not what we had come for. The afternoon was wearing on.
Meanwhile, Ian had been watching out for frigate birds circling, a sure sign of baitfish on the surface, with the promise of tuna below. Now Ian was suddenly fixed on a point on the horizon and setting off in pursuit of some wheeling frigates.
Little did we know that a few minutes later we were to witness a truly incredible sight. A school of baitfish was under attack from a shoal of yellow fin tuna from below, and a blizzard of frigates from above. Mayhem did not cover it. The tuna were 20 to 30lbs, too numerous to count, and were jumping feet out of the water in their attempts to catch the baitfish. Sheets of baitfish were flying out of the ater in all directions. At one point we actually saw a 30lb tuna hit a frigate bird in mid air as it came in to scoop up a fish.
Ian gunned the boat and set us running alongside the school which was moving at an estimated 15 knots. The game is to cut the lures into the path of the oncoming school. We hung on to our rods in anticipation of the coming strikes but sadly it was not to be. I had one hit as we passed through, then nothing. We switched lures and depths but to no avail. The school was moving at high speed which made getting the lures in the right place very difficult. Suddenly the inevitable happened. The school went down, leaving frigates circling in frustration. We motored around for a while but they did not return. So it was back to base, vowing to return tomorrow.
So it was a traditional chicken rice and beans for dinner, a few beers then bed, with agreement to be up at dawn for a morning session before breakfast. Bryan again opted for the kayak, while Sue and I decided to have a troll along the inside edge of the reef. Ian felt that if the fish were not outside perhaps they were inside the reef.
The day began with a Spanish mackerel, small king fish and a couple of reasonable barracuda, all taken with shallow running lures on light rods. I changed back to my deep Yo Zuri Crystal Minnow and was immediately rewarded by a hit. The fish came slowly to the boat without showing itself. I suspected a foul hooked barracuda. As the fish neared the boat we suddenly saw it was a nice kingfish. However it suddenly saw us too, and exploded into a series of long runs, dives and lunges. Eventually Ian managed to gaff it and on weighing it was 20lb . The best fight I have had on light tackle in a long while. It was now time to go back for breakfast.
Meanwhile Bryan had had a number of small fish off the flats but nothing spectacular. It was agreed that some action was desperately needed for the next part of our trip. So Ian suggested a run to the nearby Nicholas and Frank Cayes where bonefish are a banker. On arriving, we were not surprised to find that the stone cold certainty bonefish were not there! As we waited a pair of permit swam past. Bryan and I both hastily threw baited jigs at them but they never even paused in their leisurely swim past.
We went around the caye with eagle eyed Ian scanning the horizon for bones (how do they do it, these guides?) Apart from about seven eagle rays wafting across the flats, nothing. Amazing.
However Ian eventually spotted a patch of cloudy water and bingo! There were the bonefish in around fifteen feet of water. Not normal at all. So we cast blind into the cloudy water and within seconds Bryan was away with a bonefish boring away into the murky water. Sue and I shared a rod and for an hour or so we caught mainly bonefish but with a few grunts, and a small jack thrown in.
Time for lunch and a promised return to yesterday’s tuna killing ground. This time we trolled around with Sea Witches (mylar skirt with double ganged single hooks baited with a big flapper of bonita). This attracted a regular stream of kingfish and barracuda and Spanish mackerel to the boat. During all this time Sue had been very quiet and I was just thinking that any minute now her luck could be expected to change.
The thought was barely in my mind when her check screamed and she was into a good fish which was running hard and fast. The line went right down to the last few yards and then….suddenly nothing. The line had parted. No obvious explanation, just one of those things.
As the afternoon wore on we all turned our eyes expectantly towards the southern horizon where last evenings tuna had materialized. This time it was not to be. Plenty of baitfish around on the surface, also a solitary loggerhead turtle made its way past us. Even the frigate birds made occasional passes overhead just monitoring the situation. But no tuna.
By 4pm it was time to return to Seal Caye to collect the kayak and start the run home. One hour later we were back at our dock after a really smooth ride back.
Was this our best ever trip? No, not by a long chalk. But we had our moments, saw some amazing things, but all too little of the rod bending action the Great Barrier Reef of Belize has to offer.
There will be another time…..

Hi everybody. Sorry for the long silence, but regular readers will know that we have been very busy doing the annual renovations, painting, decorating, besides looking for lost ducks, building our iguana habitat (I’ll talk about that at a later date) and all the other things we have to do.
Our wet season, nominally May to November, is also the low season for holidays, including anglers. Quite why this should be so is a mystery to us. Ah but the rain… well yes it does rain here, spectacularly. Yes 14 feet a year. BUT. Most of it falls at night while we are tucked up in bed.
And while we are talking about rain, consider the upside. Yes, rain does have a significant upside for anglers. Monkey River floods, every baitfish for miles around comes to feed in the coloured water and guess what? So do the tarpon and snook. Small wonder then that the wet season is the prime time for both these species.
Anyway the self named “ Four Old Fogies”, Roger, Ted, Alan and Adrian from England defied convention and came out to stay with us for a week, in October, announcing on arrival that none of them had ever caught a bonefish or permit before and wanted to remedy that situation.
My heart sank. Bonefish, OK we have loads of bones grazing around our offshore cayes and reasonably competent fly fishermen can (and do) catch them till they never want to see another bonefish. I understand however that that feeling wears off very rapidly when one is back behind a desk on a cold wet day in London, Chicago, Quebec etc
But as everyone knows, permit are elusive, difficult and above all fickle. Permit can become an obsession. To locate them down here is a near certainty, to get within casting range a few times in a day is probable, to hook a fish is an achievement. To land it, well, permit take grave exception to being hooked and are likely to take you on an extended tour of the surrounding cayes before coming to the boat
That said, Southern Belize has one of the world’s highest populations of permit running well into double figures, so the prospects are very good especially when you are in the boat with one of our guides who know where the permit are likely to be on a given day. Even so, permit are not a fish to cut your warm salt water fly fishing teeth on. So this was a challenge for the Four Old Fogies.
So to the good news. The bones duly cooperated and the guys all had a great time chasing bonefish around. One boat managed over thirty bones in one day, and reckoned they could have had many more.
And the bad news? Well both boats found permit, but getting a fly in the right place at the right time proved very hard.
So one boat went off trolling and came back with the usual haul of barracuda, kingfish, snappers etc. The other boat went looking for tarpon and duly landed a number into double figures including one from our “secret lagoon”. It was that boat which hooked a tarpon on a lure in Deep River and got towed 2 miles up the river before the line parted. The lure? Yo Zuri Crystal Minnow of course. No I don’t have shares in Yo Zuri (but wish I did)
So the week wore on with bonefish, more bonefish, tarpon and more tarpon until the last cast of the last day up Monkey River saw one of the guys hook into a log. The log then started swimming upstream. Some minutes later a huge snook came to the boat and was weighed in at 21lbs 12oz. This is the best ever caught by one of our guests, and the lure? Well what do you think? Correct. Yo Zuri Crystal Minnow again.
So the week ended on a high note. Bone fish ambitions satisfied, but despite some close calls the permit won the day and will await a future occasion.
Coming soon: Chris and Brian in the secret lagoon.

Lots of rain this week thanks to a Tropical Depression which thankfully petered out over Northern Honduras. We are getting huge amounts of rain, even the ducks look depressed. However it is passing over, but many rivers are in flood including Monkey River which is 8 meters above normal at the Swasey Bridge - this translates to a very fast flow once it gets to us. Oh, and the road is flooded and a culvert is broken, so we are cut off for the moment, except of course by boat.

The culvert collapsed just us my friend Kasia was passing over it, being driven by her husband Hudney, our boat mechanic, into Independence to have her baby. Fortunately they were able to get in touch with the village, the boys went and hauled them out - all was well - as you can see from the picture. Baby has no name as yet, the scan was misread and the family were all prepared for a boy!

I am happy to report that the orchids are coming into bloom. I have a very small collection, it's always a big thrill when even the common ones flower.