Nada, Nada! The tarpon win again...

Tarpon and bonefish plus a host of other species can be caught in Belize

Story by Martin Joergensen

Cool, clear water	My feet in the warm water	Bounty land

Good angle, bad distance
I prepare for a cast working out line in a couple quick blind casts, estimating the distance, shooting line and letting go. The fish are travelling from left to right and while my angle is great, my distance is not. The fly falls more than a meter or almost four feet short of the fishes' projected path. Surprisingly they are not spooked, but continue their travel towards deeper water. I carefully retrieve and make another cast.
This time I am right on! The fly is light and sinks slowly towards the bottom about 30 centimeters or 1 foot down. One fish turns. Then two. Then a last one. I strip carefully and they increase their pace, obviously competing for this snack that literally dropped from heaven in front of them.
I take three or four short, rapid strips and let the fly sink again. I cannot see the fly, but see the first fish stopping and feel the contact. I slowly raise my rod. Now the fish obviously feels it too. My line is on the water, but only for a few seconds. Once again the force and speed surprises and thrills me. All my casting line is gone in seconds. Not much later the rest of the fly line is gone, and I hear the knot clicking through the guides as the backing starts leaving the reel. The discrete sound of my Waldron reel is soothing to the ears. And the fish still keeps on...
Whoa!

Early morning bonefish

A decent bone

Turbo charged
Bonefish are turbo charged! They burst into speed and steadily accelerate into an amazing jolt of power and velocity. It is equally pleasing every time, and I keep on finding myself wishing for such fish in my home waters. Carp maybe, mullet perhaps, but bonefish definitely!
The fish stops about 40-50 meters away. That is close to 150 feet for the non-metric audience. And this is a small fish! I gain some line, get it on the fly line and into about half of that before it takes a typical second run for freedom. Not as long, but still frightfully strong and fast.
I gain line again. This time I get almost to the leader before the fish makes a few quick bucks, each time pulling off a bit of line. It is wearing itself out. Within a minute I have it in my hand.
Ghost of the flats it is, the bonefish.
A slender, silver, soft-mouthed creature of great beauty. I tuck the rod under my arm, unhook it and hold it for a few seconds before it slowly swims off to join its brethren in the deeper water beyond.
The only substantial evidence left is the slime on my stripping glove. No one was around to see or photograph me. I am alone in what seems to be a tropical paradise.

	Mangrove spruce	Mini mangrove tree

Ambergris Caye, Belize
I have been here for about a week, and can look forward to one more week. The past days have been spent fishing from a boat for tarpon and bonefish, but today we have chartered a boat to bring us to a small peninsula close to the town San Pedro, and have been wadefishing all day. The temperature is steadily rising, and now - around 1 in the afternoon - it is as warm as it gets. If I look down, all I see is the shadow of my Global FlyFisher cap.
Opposite most of the area and the locations where we have fished bonefish the latest days, this place is wadable, which feels great after having been limited to the narrow space of a boat for days.
The peninsula is a part of Ambergris Caye and island behind the barrier reef in Central American Belize. Ambergris Caye is a paradise for those who want to enjoy diving and fishing, and even though the tourism has definitely marked the island and its only town, San Pedro, the ambience is still very Caribbean and laid back. We were there in May, which is off season regarding general tourism, but in the high season for fishing. The weather is agreeable, sunny but not extremely warm and usually fairly calm.

Palm

Happy me	Kneeling

Arial view

Go to article start ^ User comments

From: John Cartwright · john·at·deborah.eclipse.co.uk Submitted August 7th 2007 Martin, found this article by accident!! Anyway it is great to know what opportunities there are from the shore and i'm looking forward to following your advice. Any info on Placentia in the south would be great as we will be spending 7/9 days there after San Pedro. Regards John From: Martin Joergensen · martin·at·globalflyfisher.com Submitted May 20th 2007 John, Check out the chapter "On you own" in this article. It tries to cover your options when moving around along the beaches without a guide. Martin From: John Cartwright · john·at·deborah.eclipse.co.uk Submitted May 20th 2007 My wife and I are visitng Belize in November for 3 weeks. She likes to fish but NOT from boats - only the shore!! is this possible on an 'ad hoc' basis along the coastline of Belize even is not staying in the area.? Thanks for your help. John Cartwright (UK)

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