The One that Got Away (Part 298)
Losing a big unexpected fish always hurts.
It wasn’t the first time, oh no, and hopefully not the last, but we’ll come back to that later.
This is Chris, reporting on the past few weeks down at Steppingstones, in Southern Belize.
First up Peter and Flick, with Peter's dad, Trevor, guests from England doing a multicentre tour of Belize as they have done several times before. Indeed this was a return visit to our beachside corner of paradise.
As many will know Sue is manager of the local primary school which has recently taken 25 children from a neighbouring farming community. Just to complicate things, she decided to start up a feeding program, providing all the children with a proper meal at lunchtime.
Thanks to many kind gifts from sponsors both in and outside Belize, the project, employing two cooks, has got underway. The plates, cutlery, cooking equipment have all been bought. But the question arises, feed with what?
When you live right beside a sea bulging with prime fish, surrounded by fishermen, the odd idea might spring to mind right? So we thought ok –we use our resources. What we need is a supply of prime eating fish.
And so back to Peter Flick and Trevor On their first day out, we mentioned that apart from having a brilliant days fishing (which is pretty well taken for granted), it would be nice if they could bring back some barracuda or other major species.
So we awaited their return with baited (as it were) breath.
We were not disappointed, neither were they. Peter had caught an early morning permit shortly followed by a bonefish. One away from a grand slam, but the tarpon were nowhere to be found despite a foray into the secret lagoon.
So they had decided to come good on their promise of food fish, and besides a couple of tuna and a nice snapper or two, had brought us back no less than nineteen barracuda! This equates to meals for sixty children for three days. Good nutritious food too, which the children love. As Peter remarked, its not often you can have an excellent days fishing and be able at the same time to make such a worth while contribution to the health of young children. Amen to that.
The dampener was the failure of the tarpon to appear to give Peter his grand slam. But as Peter said, there’s always next time.
Bright and early next morning Peter and Flick were off tarpon hunting (surpise, surprise) not wanting to get defeated. (Trevor decided on a lazy day back at Steppingstones) Sure enough later in the day, in the secret lagoon they found their tarpon and landed two. Honour was satisfied. They did first find time to stop off and have some fun with the ever obliging bone fish.
It’s probably worth mentioning that food fishing apart, we practice catch and release wherever possible, especially with juvenile fish. Not that we catch that many small ones! Barracuda are a resource, and like all resources must be respected. Fortunately, our number one food fish is prolific around here and is not under any pressure. There is virtually no commercial exploitation of barracuda in the region.
So we bade farewell to Peter, Flick and Trevor, but it was only at the last minute we discovered that at their previous stop in Punta Gorda they had entered a fishing competition which Flick had won with the largest fish (a barracuda of 18lbs). I know how Peter must have felt at the weigh in-I too have a more than competent angler as my wife!
Next up, yet another visit from our “lodger” Bryan Denton. As readers will know by now, Bryan can’t keep away from this place. He just loves the kayak fishing around Great Monkey Caye.
With good reason. On his first day out he caught a double figure Horse Eye jack which towed him around for quite a while. Besides that the usual bunch of snappers, grunts, a big needlefish, and a surprise baby bonefish on one of the mini flats.
Next day Bryan came back in the kayak towing a double figure Cubera Snapper which after photographing we put back. This immensely strong fish swam strongly off despite having given a really stubborn fight. Bryan caught it on one of the mini flats on a chunk of ballyhoo (which he had caught earlier on a fly).
Bryan’s third day out in the kayak, resulted in two more jacks and a couple more big needlefish plus an even bigger Cubera Snapper which towed him half way to Rocky Point. All fish were released.
And so to the two promised days boat fishing. Wayne was Bryan’s guide and took him out for a day of trolling off the reef. Bryan came back with more fish for the school including several really good barracuda.
The second day Bryan invited Sue and I to accompany him. So off we went out to the Sapodillas which are a group of cayes right at the southerly end of the reef which stretches the entire length of the Belize coastline (and beyond up to Yucatan in the north)
We started off livebaiting with sardines (actually pilchards) caught easily with a cast net. This produced a slow and steady stream of barracuda plus a surprise small Amberjack (my first). We later ate this fish and pronounced it as good as British mackerel.
Later in the morning we decided to troll one of the deep channels between the cayes, but despite using the very best in deep diving Rapala X-Raps and Yo Zuri Magnums, we were unable to raise anything from the deep. So we cut our losses, and headed for the nearby cayes for a bite to eat.
The cayes have nice sandy flats surrounding them, but, as on our last visit, no sign of bonefish. Wayne’s incredible eyesight however soon located the bones in deeper water. So while Bryan tried his luck with a fly, I opted for a chunk of deadbait. This resulted in two screaming runs both of which turned out to be needlefish which seem to delight in getting you all excited then spitting the bait out. Looking across to Bryan I could see he was deep in battle with yet another bone, so reluctantly I agreed to tie a fly on.
After a couple of false starts, I hooked a couple of small bones thus proving the point that when bones are up for it, they are not a big challenge. I suppose that’s true of most species though.
Eventually however the school of bonefish got fed up and moved off. Wayne advised we should move too. He took us to a gin clear rocky bottomed flat, with a tree fringed shoreline not far away, probably 250 yards across where he (!) had seen bonefish moving.
Sue opted to stay on the shoreline and try to get some good shots with her new camera.
The flat turned out to be ankle deep, with small coral outcrops studding the surface. But well populated with bonefish. Wayne found us a conch and cut it up for bait. A lump of free-lined conch was just what the bones wanted. Lobbed into the middle of the shoal , or in my case, roughly in that area, the shoal first scatters in spectacular fashion with spray flying in all directions. A short wait while the bonefish calm down and then WHACK! And off we go.
Or not. I quickly discovered that unless you kept your rod high, the bones just wrapped you round the first coral head they came to. Bryan was having the same experience although he duly landed the first fish, probably a couple of pounds. He went on to catch several more some closer to three pounds.
My attempts were proving less successful but eventually after going through goodness knows how many hooks I got a decent bone to stay hooked and despite it running through water barely deep enough to cover its back, and touring every coral head within a hundred yards, Wayne got a hand on it and out it came. By no means my biggest bone, but I got huge satisfaction out of catching it in a really hostile environment.
We then both got turns at stalking an Ocean Triggerfish which came up onto the flat, and despite having to cast a free-lined bait twenty yards straight into a stiff breeze, neither of us could induce the fish to take the bait. As Bryan said, if Wayne had not been there neither of us would have known the triggerfish was there anyway!
At that point I decided enough was enough. Wading that flat in blazing sunshine, Wayne insisting on the most difficult and accurate casting, and then being repeatedly smashed up by bones had all taken its toll. I was exhausted. Bryan is made of stronger stuff, but he too finally admitted that the triggerfish was just too smart, and we agreed to call it a day.
Seldom have I enjoyed a day out so much. Good company, all sorts of fish caught and nearly caught, challenges to overcome, and a top top guide to put us on the fish. We returned a happy boat.
And so to last night, when I sat on the dock as I do often as the sun drops behind Steppingstones, hoping (expecting?) a snapper or two for supper. Sue had fried chicken on standby, but a fresh whole snapper was much more attractive. It all started well with two hand sized pinfish both on conch. Things went a little quiet as night fell.
Then I hooked dinner. A decent sized snapper was on its way in when from nowhere, a large black shadow appeared, dinner vanished and my little spinning rod bent double. On a very short line, the fish surged straight towards me and under the dock straight round one of the piles and that was that. Irresistible unstoppable power, and all over in 5 seconds. As I said earlier not the first and not the last.
We speculated it was likely to have been a shark, following the snapper in. Who knows? I baited up and tried again, but now an invasion of catfish had occurred, and after pulling out a succession of fish cast after cast , I got bored, and the thought occurred to me that maybe fried chicken wouldn’t be so bad after all.