This is Chris with the latest news from Steppingstones.
Our guests from Florida have now left; with, we hope, some good memories from their short break with us.
Although they only managed one day out at the reef they brought back some pretty good fish, including a nice lure-caught grouper and some good sized snapper by Lupe, some good sized kingfish, and a stunning ocean triggerfish caught by Jeff who spotted it on the surface, which was at least 10lb if not more. It is worth noting that the world record triggerfish is 13 pounds 8 ounces!
Jeff had particularly asked for a session with the bonefish as none of their party had ever caught one. George put them on a huge shoal and in Jeff's words "we caught them till we got fed up with them, and then moved on". Both Julie and Melissa caught their first bonefish too, much to their delight. Jeff also notched up a permit around 10lb just for good measure.
The best of the fish ended up on the barbeque, with a massive triggerfish steak as the centre piece. I have never had cooked triggerfish before, Sue usually prepares ceviche (raw fish, chopped cilantro, onion, chili and lime juice) Triggerfish is reckoned to be the ultimate fish to use for ceviche. However our guests convinced me to throw it on the barbeque, promising me a steak reminiscent of lobster! And so it was. Absolutely delicious. That's another little lesson learned at the barbeque!
We are also still learning about the fishing here, and the capture of several good fish (plus the loss of several even bigger) only serves to confirm that there is still plenty to discover. Deep trolling in conjunction with a fishfinder is something which needs more experimentation and this we will be doing over the coming months.
On their second day, Jeff and Lupe decided to have a day's bottom fishing using the bonita caught the previous day. They also had some live mullet which George had caught early that morning. Fishing just off Little Monkey Caye, half a mile away from Steppingstones, free-lining mullet, Jeff hit into a lunker which wedged itself into a rock crevice in ten feet of water and refused to move. Despite rushing back here for snorkels and masks, alas when they returned the fish had made good its escape. Another big grouper lost!
So on day three, even though the sea had turned a little choppy, our guests went out exploring the surrounding lagoons, and of course Monkey River, where they jumped four tarpon and landed one.
We are very lucky to have really good inshore fishing around our two cayes, plus the extensive mangrove lagoons and Monkey River as well as the offshore cayes, reef and the Port Honduras area to fish. Thus even when the sea does turn choppy, there are always places to go and catch some good fish.
Pictures will follow shortly.
