markg52
Well-known member
Left Northwest Arkansas Saturday morning, June 2, for a week a Blue Bonefish Belize. Flew American- XNA to DFW to BZE, Tropic Air from BZE to San Pedro. After numerous delays on flights, opted to take cab down to Blue Bonefish from San Pedro airport. Did some negotiating with Junior and away we went, arriving at the lodge around 4:00pm. Of the 8 people in our group, 2 were already there and there was a holdover couple who's flight didn't leave out until Sunday morning. By the time I got settled into room and chilled for a bit, 3 others in our group arrived. The final two wouldn't be there until Sunday. Except for not having my bed in it, rooms were ok. Air blew cold and the toilet flushed, what more could you want! Guest rooms are the only air-conditioned areas and WiFi signal could only be picked up upstairs in the dining/living room area. Breakfast is served at 6:30, supper at 6:30, lunches on the water. The owners of the lodge had already headed to their lodge in Alaska, so George and Madison were in charge of taking care of our group. George is the head guide and Madison his wife. They did an awesome job. It was Madison's first time doing all the meals for a group for the entire week and she did great. Even a super picky eater like me found plenty enough to eat. She fixed a lot of traditional meals for supper like she would be cooking for her family. On to the fishing. It was great! Many bones were caught, numerous other species, and two Permit. I was fortunate to land one of the permit. After returning back to the lodge, fishing with George that day, he took to me a couple of small lagoons across the road to get a juvenile tarpon to get HIM a slam for the day! I stuck one and had two more follows, but none to hand. This place was so thick with cut down mangrove roots it would have been a miracle to land one. We went to another spot with better access but they weren't interested in taking a fly. I fished a total of 6 days twice with George, one day Marco, one with Jose, and two days with David and his co-guide Richard, aka Spice. All are great guys and work real hard for you. David and Spice are probably the most fun. Both laid back funny dudes. Also primarily waded with those two and stuck bigger bones. It worked out real nice for each guy in the boat to have their own personal guide while wading the flats. Mostly fished with my 7wt Sage Bolt/Nautilus FWX 7/8 reel and SA Grand Slam line(7wt). Fished part of one day with my 8wt Sage One/Ross CLA reel and Airflow Tropical Punch line(9wt), and hunted Tarpon first day with buddies 12wt Sage Salt HD. The last day I up lined the 7wt Bolt with a buddies 8wt Rio Flats Pro on a 3Tand TF70 reel. I thought it was throwing fine with the SA line I had on, but man that rod found another gear with the Rio one size up. Nice that he works as a rep for Farbank! Wish I would have asked him which line to sting it up with before hand. Every fish I caught was on a fly that I tied, and the Permit came on a gold CI Special. When the Permit swim by, you gotta take your shot. Picture time (first couple are wonky for some reason):
Lodge from the Caribbean side.
Nice little first bone of the trip(guides hand).
Nice Ambergris bone.
Permit on the 7wt Bolt, with George.
Bringing to hand last bone of the trip on Friday morning. Had an amazing trip! Such a hard place to leave. Highly recommend Blue Bonefish as a fishing lodge. My wife, that didn't come along, would've been a little disappointed and drug me back up north of the bridge to Coco Beach. I'm hooked on the salt and on Ambergris Caye in particular since our first trip in Dec. of 2016. Can't wait to go back!
Lodge from the Caribbean side.Nice little first bone of the trip(guides hand).Nice Ambergris bone.Permit on the 7wt Bolt, with George.Bringing to hand last bone of the trip on Friday morning. Had an amazing trip! Such a hard place to leave. Highly recommend Blue Bonefish as a fishing lodge. My wife, that didn't come along, would've been a little disappointed and drug me back up north of the bridge to Coco Beach. I'm hooked on the salt and on Ambergris Caye in particular since our first trip in Dec. of 2016. Can't wait to go back!