This past couple of weeks have been dedicated to sprucing the place up, with a fresh coat of paint on the outside of both buildings. Chris has been busy laying tiles in the top cabana, I have been doing miles of sewing, and we've both been busy with village matters - looking into the possibility of a solar power micro grid amongst other things.

One important job which we have had to do is cut down some coconut palms, including the very tall one next to the cabanas. Unfortunately like much of the tropics, Belize suffers from Yellowing Disease which is spread by large and naughty beetles with elephant trunk proboscis. The only cure is to cut down and burn the trees to stop the spread. That, and planting new trees, which we do all the time. So Rambo has been busy, and with the help of Chris and the chain saw and our painting crew and their machete, the big tree came down.

You can see in the first picture the characteristic browning leaves, including the centre leaves, and the real tell tale sign is that all the coconuts drop off. A great pity to lose this tree, which survived Hurricane Iris, but we have lots of sprouties growing around its feet.

Down at the secret lagoon……..
OK it’s not really a secret, but it IS hidden from view and does not get fished a lot. The entrance is via a small creek opposite Little Monkey Caye, easily missed unless you are looking for it. The creek widens out after about a half mile into a lagoon and then a further lagoon I guess a mile long altogether, all fringed with mangrove and an average depth of perhaps ten feet. We moor our boat, Patience, in the lagoon as it is safe from the open sea and wind there. So I get plenty of opportunities to pop down and run the boat around the edges. With a small lure trolled behind.

The lagoon is currently flooded because it is the rainy season here. That has brought in large numbers of small tarpon up to about ten pounds plus the odd bigger one. There are also jacks, snook, snapper and other species in the brackish water. My last trip produced in thirty minutes a tarpon of perhaps 7lbs, a small snook and a small jack. Good sport on the light spinning gear we use.

Then last night running up the creek, Sue and I ran across an area of fish slashing through a huge shoal of small baitfish. We stopped, out came the rods and we cast into them. They were a mixture of jacks about 2lb and blue runners the same size. They produced fast and furious sport for about ten minutes until in my enthusiasm for that slightly longer cast (you know the one I mean), I put my lure straight into the mangroves. Sue’s polite enquiry as to whether I was fishing for monkeys was not appreciated.

By the time we had sorted that out the fish had moved on. So we continued trolling up the creek, but had only gone fifty yards before Sue had a super hit and a really good tarpon launched itself out of the water. This was the biggest we had yet hooked and must have been well into the twenties. However the tarpon had other ideas and threw the hook fully thirty yards and disappeared amid a flurry of foam. I had just put the boat back in gear and started moving when I had a take which proved to be another tarpon, this on maybe 5lbs.which we unhooked at the side of the boat. We had really only come out to moor the boat up for the night, so we decided to go in. Not a bad reward for an hour’s fishing!

This is Chris, reporting on Day 2 of our offshore bash. The day started with a run up to Placencia to pick up fuel, which meant an earlier than planned start. However by 7 am we were up on plane running due east of Placencia headed for Gladden Spit, a well known area of reefs with a deep water channel several miles wide in the middle.

Plan was to check out the deep water off the reef for tuna and other blue water fish, then troll the channel, and come up onto the banks and troll the shallow flats inside the reef. We tend to use 30lb class outfits outside the reef, as even the tuna will take too long to bring in on light gear. A fish attack (most often kingfish or barracuda but sometimes shark) is likely if the battle goes on too long. Inside the reef we switch to 10lb class or even lighter. Apart from a solitary Spanish mackerel in the channel, things started slow.

However once inside the reef on the flats, things started warming up (literally), despite being on a falling tide. A couple of barracuda and a small yellowtail snapper (who had an unexpected starring role later) came in quick succession. Then a solid take on my Bomber Jointed Long A (in bonita colour) had us puzzled for a while. Barracuda almost always jump shortly after hitting the lure, especially in shallow water. This fish did not jump; in fact it just kited around with short powerful runs. The mystery was eventually solved when a tarpon of around 25lbs came sliding into view. We prepared to hand land it but just as it came to the side of the boat the hookhold slipped and the fish sank away from view. Long range catch and release we call it! We do not gaff tarpon; slipping the hook out at the boatside is preferable.

So after a quiet period at the bottom of the tide, we went back to trolling the channel. Meantime we had stopped for a quick lunch. Ian’s idea of lunch is to find some shallow water drop anchor eat a quick snack and then up anchor and roar off before Sue and I have even got the champagne bucket, white table linen and silver cutlery out…. Going fishing with Ian, is exactly what it says. No time for eating.

Anyway, back to the channel. Our first run produced one spectacular take, with a sizzling run of around 80yards. This we recognized as classic kingfish behavior, and sure enough a small kingfish of around 8lb eventually came in. We often debate the eating merits between kingfish and barracuda. The local view supports barracuda as top eating fish, and we ourselves tend to eat barracuda pretty much every week. However when it comes to BBQ, I prefer kingfish steaks which hold together better than barracuda while on the barbi.

Ian decided that as I had dominated the morning’s proceedings, he would rig up his surefire lure for Sue. This turned out to be a blue and white rubber skirt with two 6/0 single hooks ganged together, baited with…. you guessed it, the yellow tail snapper caught earlier. Ian cut a very intricate flapper from the fish and Sue ran it out behind the boat.

Now it would be untrue to report that the instant it entered the water it got hit. However, it was only out for a few minutes before Sue finally got off the mark. This turned out to be a barracuda of around 8lbs. Shortly after, using the same flapper, she had a very powerful hit from a fish which moved up ahead of the boat and made repeated long runs across the channel. We could now see this was a barracuda of some 20lbs. Sue got it close to the boat and the fish jumped fully six feet in the air. Although spectacular to see, it does remind you not to try to land these fish until they are ready. A large barracuda thrashing around in the boat is a recipe for disaster! Eventually however, this fish came in and was expertly gaffed by Ian, a really good fight on 10lb class tackle, beautifully played by Sue.

A few more bits and pieces turned up, a couple more yellowtail snappers, a very small barracuda, all of which were safely returned to grow bigger. It was time to be heading back so we decided to troll back outside the reef with big lures. It looked very promising, the water was thick with baitfish, but ominously they were just swimming around aimlessly, not being chased. Were there bigger fish around? Maybe not. Anyway we had to give it a try.

I used a Yo Zuri L Jack Magnum, and Sue used a red YoZuri vibrating lure. After about half an hour, the soporific calm, and the heat of the sun had lured us into dozing. However we were rudely awakened by the sound of my Penn LD245 screaming its head off. This was a heavy fish moving slowly away. Guessing this would be a grouper (as we were over a mainly rocky bottom) I tried to pile on the pressure. At first it seemed I was making progress. Then came that horrible moment. Transmitted up the line from a hundred yards away, I felt the unmistakable feel of the swivel breaking. A sickening moment. This was a quality swivel, American-made, but I guess the pressure was just too much. I have yet to land a big grouper in Belize, despite hooking several, and my jinx had continued.

After that little episode, our day was over. Something of an anti climax, but none the less an interesting day, in the most breathtaking crystal clear waters of our little bit of paradise. As we left the area, a pod of dolphins popped up to wish us goodbye, always a cheerful sight. We can’t wait to get back.

This is an account of Day 1 of our 2 day fishing bash with Ian our head guide, written by Chris.

I can’t say that Day 1 was the best organized days fishing, but after a long summer of painting, decorating, plumbing, electrical messing about, it takes a little while to get back into gear. However we managed to get away by 7am and roared off into the rising sun towards Ranguana, some 50 minutes run, which would be our starting off point. From there the plan was to cross over the reef and scout the deep blue water for tuna.

We had only been there about ten minutes before Ian spotted a few birds circling in the distance. When we got there, we found an area probably three hundred yards long, by about fifty yards wide boiling with what looked like small bonita flying out of the water in all directions. An amazing, if quite common sight out here. What was even more amazing is that there were only about half a dozen terns flying over the area feeding. Usually the birds gather in uncountable flocks, until the air is almost like a cloud. The water was full of fish scales, testament to the carnage going on below.

Carefully, Ian ran the boat around the outside of the school, so as not to spook anything. The idea is to turn sharply across in front of the school and skate your lures across in front of them. Naturally we had been feverishly tackling up with top water tuna lures in anticipation of a quick hook up. Well the Williamson Sea Witch I was using proved to be what they wanted, and I brought in a blackfin tuna about 4lbs shortly followed by a blue bonito (aka false albacore) about 6lbs . Two hits in quick succession and suddenly the shoal just went deep and disappeared.

We moved into a nearby channel just off the reef and soon started finding the ubiquitous barracuda. We picked up half a dozen all around the ten pound mark, which gave us good sport, plus a couple of yellowtail snappers in the shallow water around the reef.
By this time the sun was at its height and blazing down. The channel we were in seemed suddenly devoid of fish despite us trying very deep divers and all sorts of colours. Suddenly a cold beer on our verandah back home sounded an irresistible proposition. So we decided as we had a long day planned for tomorrow we would head back early. Our fish box was full, so tuna and barracuda for the freezer, plus plenty to take into the village where fresh fish is always appreciated.