Cold Front-The Wind Shifts to the North (Day 5)

We knew that the weather was about to change. A cold front was moving in from the north. The wind was shifting from the east and south east to the north. Hilian, Axel, and Omar decided that we should motor north towards Tranquility Bay. This area is mostly protected from the north wind it was an excellent choice. We love to have a change of scenery so we motored the approximately 14 miles to Tranquility Bay. We were very close to Mexico. The cool thing about the run to Tranquility Bay is we motor along the reef all the way up.

The challenge is sight fishing. The cloudy weather makes it doubly tough to see the fish. Karen and I had both Hilian and Axel along. They are able to see fish when many can not. Doug and Dr. Bill spent the day with Omar. Both boats were never very far away from each other. As we motored into the bay where Tranquity Bay Resort is, I immediately spotted a decent school of better than average bonefish. Hilian set up the boat, Axel spotted the fish too and bam, first cast I hooked up! Not sure that was a good omen but it was a great start to the day.

The clouds made the spotting of permit and bones on the turtle grass quite challenging. No matter. Both Hilian and Axel did a great job giving us shots at both permit and bonefish!

I eventually jumped out and took a walk. This is a neat area because the reef comes right to the edge of the island. I was able to walk right down the reef.

After lunch, we went looking for tarpon but we saw none. We did find a pod of permit but they were always in a hurray. I did get a couple of shots but no luck!

Some days you just lower your expectations and take the opportunities that come your way. That is exactly what we did. After all, look where we are.

Little did we know that the cold front was hanging around for a while.

 

Despair, ...Or Was It? (Day 4)

It is day 4 of our fly fishing adventure to Ambergris Caye in Belize. Dr. Bill Young has made the long trek to San Pedro from snowy Red Deer to join us. We affectionately call my friend Dr. Bill! Today Doug and Dr. Bill headed off with Hilian for the day while Karen and I joined the Doctor of the Flats himself, Omar Arceo. Omar is one of the long time guides in the San Pedro area. He is crazy about permit. They are his passion. Omar's work with biologists and his constant fight to protect the Hol Chan Reserve water and land has certainly demonstrated how much he loves the bonefish, permit and tarpon.

Karen and I knew that we would be looking for permit with Omar in some of his favourite places. We initially motored to Rosary Caye and looked for permit on the flats around the island. We saw none but we did see some bonefish on the edges of Rosary Flats. Omar was able to set Karen up to catch some larger than average bones. She even landed a barracuda. We went looking for tarpon, permit and bones in several places. Karen connected with some bonefish, including a decent grey ghost that was tailing in some mangroves.

As the day wore on, we headed back to Rosary. We hoped some permit moved in with the late day tide. Not much was happening until, ...

Karen and I were about to wrap up our day with my friend, Omar. But wait... Finally, we see a pod of permit but two guides and their guest were already trying to get a hook up. Their client became frustrated and quit the chase and were returning to the island! The guides were chasing the permit with their motor and not poling. That made the permit skittish. The pod had moved off. We decided to wait and see if they would come back and settle.

 Omar spots the permit and yells, "Bob into the water, now!"  We are on the hunt! Omar is 64 and I’m two years older! We see the permit and we are hot footing though the water as fast as we can go! I start to cast and then chase!  The pod of several dozen permit had settled and were actively feeding. We are running in the water that is 3 to 4 feet deep! About cast #35, I hook a permit but I lose it after a short tussle. Shortly after that, I trip on some rocks and do a face plant into the ocean. Omar yells, "Now you are really fishing! Let’s go, I see the permit!"  Omar checks my fly as we chase. It has a tangle that he fixes while we pursue the permit. Omar constantly is positioning me based on how the permit are moving. His instructions were extremely helpful.

 About cast #50, I hook up. Yep, I got a permit! The permit hit my shrimp on the drop. OMG it is bigger than the trophy I manage to land yesterday! We are a mile away from the boat!  Fortunately, I have 16 pound tippet on. The permit almost spools me but after quickly working my way towards my adversary, I manage to get my line under control! My knuckles have been smacked by my reel several times! Finally we get the monster close enough to tail after a 20 minute battle! The tail is too large to grab! After 15 attempts and several dunks in the the water, Omar gets the tail but the monster shakes loose and the tippet catches Omar and the line breaks! It is over! 

We limp back to the boat! Omar is quite upset with what has just transpired. We loved everything about the last hour except the ending!  I told Omar that what happened was nothing short of amazing. I loved the chase, the hook up and the battle. We did it all just right until the massive permit shook away from Omar and broke the 16 pound tippet. What was also instructive was the number of casts I got into the school of permit because we were on foot! The permit seemed to be easily spooked by the boat but not by a guide and fly fisher chasing on foot! Meanwhile, Karen is on the boat! The tide is rising and the anchor lifts! There is Karen poling Omar’s guide boat or it will be way out in the ocean! She manages to get the boat to shore! We return to tell Karen what happened! 

No grip and grin picture but what just happened over the last hour was exhilarating. I can picture that monster just 12 feet from me. That image will not ever leave my brain!

Dr. Bill and Hilian

Omar Arceo - Doctor of the Flats

Permit-The Chase is on!

Permit!-A Spectacular Moment on an Extremely Windy Day (Day 3)

The wind was howling on day 3 of our fly fishing adventure to Ambergris Caye. I texted Hilian at 5 am to see if we were good to go and he said we were fine and that he would pick us up at 6:30 am. Excellent. I drank my morning coffee watching gigantic waves hit the sea wall in front of Karen and I. The sky was clear but the wind, oh man!

Luckily, Hilian had a plan that allowed us to tuck in on a flat and fly fish.

Little did I know that a big moment was going to come my way and lady luck was going to shine down on my day!

If you played the two short videos, you know how windy it was. Well we motored up the lagoon side of Ambergris Caye almost 20 plus miles. We could see Mexico just ahead when I got up on the casting platform. Our fly fishing day started off looking for permit and bonefish. We were ready for both. Casting was going to be a challenge in places but we were ready for whatever came our way.

We did see a few pods of smaller permit and had some shots. The permit were skiddish and they would not eat. We did catch some smaller bonefish early in the day.

Hilian found a bay that had a few pods of nice sized bones. I connected and landed a 3-4 pound bonefish that took me way into my backing. That was a lot of fun to tangle with a big strong energetic bonefish. Doug was up when we encountered a large pod of bones in a corner. Doug had a blast. All the casts were back hand casts too because of the wind. It was a great chance to sort out our back hand casts because the wind was blowing across our right ear. Doug connected with a lot of nice bonefish!

We tied up a few Golden Gotchas before the trip and we decided to see how they worked. In a word, fantastic! Bonefish absolutely hammered the Golden Gotchas. We used mainly size 6 with 1/8th dumbbell eyes. The medium eyes helped get the flies down about 4 feet.

After a late lunch, we went looking for permit on a new flat that again was mostly out of the howling wind. I was on the casting platform with my 8 weight rod, 12 pound tippet and had a mantis shrimp tied on. I wanted to be ready for a shot at a permit but have a fly that bonefish liked too!

Hilian yelled,  "Get ready, permit at 90 feet and coming towards us at 11 o'clock."

 I was looking along the shoreline at 3 o'clock. I shifted my eyes to the left of the boat and 3 large permit were coming towards us and they appeared to be feeding on the start of the incoming tide. I started to cast when they were 70 feet away and my Mantis Shrimp dropped right in front of them. Hilian yelled, " Strip!"

 I was a bit excited and the first strip was too fast. At that exact moment one of the permit grabbed the fly and it popped out of his mouth. Hilian continued to yell, "Strip, smooth and do not jerk the fly!"

 Three strips later, the biggest permit inhaled my shrimp and turned. I tightened up the line and I was hooked up to the largest permit I have ever had the good fortune to tangle with. I heard Hilian yell, "Let him run!"

 I did exactly that. In a few short moments, the permit was screaming line off of my rod. I also heard Hilian yell, "It's a fish of a lifetime. Take your time."  At that moment I had a horrible thought. 

I yelled,  "I only had 12 pound tippet on." Hilian told me not to worry. We will not force the issue and lets see if we can land this trophy.

The permit was in charge and I could do nothing but hold on. The drag was right and I then heard Hilian yell ," Do not palm the reel!"  No mistakes. I knew that one tiny error would mean the end. I was way into my backing. Hilian instinctively fired up the motor and we headed out towards the escaping permit! My backing was peeling off at an alarming rate. Finally, I was able to gather some backing. I heard Hilian put the boat in neutral. Hilian started to back the boat ever so slowly as I gathered line. The permit took several more shorter runs and I was able to see the end of my fly line that was still over 100 feet away. 

Doug grabbed by camera and took some action shots, then he grabbed the large net we brought with us. After about 15 minutes, the permit showed his side. Could we possibly net this beautiful permit? When the permit came closer, Hilian reminded me not to reel past the tip of the fly line. The permit took yet another short run. After gathering the line, I was able to get the permit to the surface. The permit showed me its side and Doug netted the giant permit. We all yelled. I was so excited.

Hilian backed the boat into the shallow water as Doug ensured the permit was resting in the net. We did not want to bring the permit into the boat. Hilian secured the boat. Both Hilian and I jumped into the water. I could not wipe the giant grin off of my face. Hilian and I have landed smaller permit together but nothing like this. This permit was close to 20 pounds.

Once we got some photos, the permit was off. The permit just plain rocketed away. The permit was lifted for only few seconds out of the water for a quick picture or two!

That was incredible, in fact I had to take some time to gather myself! My brain was racing. We were in the right place at the exact right time. Hilian's instincts and my good fortune all played into what happened. A lot of things could have gone wrong but they didn't. It was my time time and I was very thankful to catch a permit of this size. It wasn't easy and I was fortunate enough to not blow it, especially with 12 pound tippet on an 8 weight rod.

Doug congratulated me. I reeled up and we again started looking for a shot for Doug! We did find a couple of permit but they quickly ran away! As the day was drawing to a close, we motored back to our condo at The Landings. 

You know we were going to celebrate. It took all three of us to land this beautiful permit! 

...little did I know that tomorrow I was going to hook an even larger permit. Oh, that is another incredible story!

Permit on! Yahoo!

Pure Joy!

Celebrate!