March in Belize: Fishing

This past March my dad and I took a fishing trip to Ambergris Caye in Belize. We flew from Boston to Belize City where we then took a ferry across Ambergris bay to the town of San Pedro. The goal of this trip was to dive and fish, primarily targeting Bonefish while looking for any chance at a Permit or Tarpon.

The first day we had a guide to become familiar with the area and get right out on the water. Although I could not land a bonefish, I hooked several and got plenty of chances at reef fish. My dad on the other hand, landed several and managed to land a large Jack Crevalle on the fly which put up a solid 45 minute fight.

On the following day we went to a place called Secret Beach (not so secret) and waded and fished our way up the north of the restaurants. It only took a few hundred yards of wading until we came upon a calm cove with a school of feeding Bonefish. Since I was being a little too careful about spooking the school with my casting, my first couple tries were too far away for any of the fish to see my fly. On my third or fourth cast to the edge of the feeding school, one caught sight of my fly and bit. Strip strip...Set!

Bonefish are known to be the fastest and hardest fighting fish pound for pound. It was a truly idyllic place to land my first bonefish.

Belize is known mainly for being a world class destination for Permit. However, it is an extremely healthy bonefish fishery. Belize holds bonefish in plenty of numbers, however many of the fish that we came across were quite small. The majority of our shots were to 1/2-2 pound fish with an occasional chance at a 3-5 pounder. Although the fish were on the smaller side for bones, it didn't take any away from the fun. Bonefish fight incredibly strong no matter the size.

On day 3 we took a break from the fishing to go diving along the reef which was amazing.

The next day was tough to say the least. We decided to spend most of the day targeting permit. We were with a guide and found several tailing fish in a large cove. They would not eat! They are such a frustrating fish at times considering that you could see a school and land a perfect cast and they just won't eat it or you won't see any at all. The rest of the day continued to go the same. Many chances but no takes. We managed to spend the last bit of the day catching some snappers and barracuda in the mangroves.

We never really took the time to look for Tarpon on the trip however there was a small lagoon where we were staying which we heard had baby tarpon. They did feed these fish sometimes so they weren't totally wild however they were fun to see jump. I hooked a couple and my dad landed one.

The next day along with our last we spent diving.

Our second to last day was in my mind the best. We decided to walk the shore south of secret beach. I caught several snapper and landed 5 bones, some of decent size. One of the fish also happened to be a tagged fish. It was the most beautiful place that we had fished over the trip as well. Plenty of fish.

Belize is such a great place to catch plenty of Bonefish. Next time will be spent in search of a Permit.