Chassahowitzka Guide Fishes Belize!!!

Amigos: Belize, the only English-speaking country in Central America, disappeared off the map for the past week and almost no one noticed. The day after we arrived Friday, April 15, the telephone company, Belize Telecommunications Ltd., went on strike and brought the country to a complete stand still. No phones, no internet, no banking, no credit card transactions, no ATM’s. As anyone that has traveled to Belize or read about the country knows they’re popular saying is “No shirts, no shoes , no problem!”, well during our visit we changed that saying to “No phones, no power, no planes, no problem!” As we were on an island, San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, off the coast the unrest really didn’t affect us until we tried to leave. As international flights in to and out of the country were being cancelled due to the lack of communication and violence it became questionable, at best, if we were going to be able to leave. Now anyone that knows me, would have never believed that I couldn’t leave this fishing paradise because my flight was cancelled. Plus, I couldn’t call anyone to tell them!
The three days we spent “flats fishing” were outstanding! I never thought these words would come out of my mouth but the Bonefish were so THICK they actually became a pain in the, you know what! I say that mainly because I was in pursuit of the elusive Permit. I did have a Permit on last Sunday for about 10 minutes but the 8 pound test line broke during the battle, so I’m still in pursuit! The first day on the “flats” you couldn’t ask for worse conditions, it was windy, cloudy and the water was murky. That didn’t stop us from seeing and CATCHING fish, Blaine Louder said he caught 12 Bonefish, (the Captain said it was more), and jumped a Tarpon. My first Bonefish turned out to be the largest of the week and I also jumped a Tarpon. Even with the conditions as bad as they were it was amazing how many schools of Permit, Bonefish, (tailing), and Tarpon we had shots at. The second day on the “flats”, Sunday, not only did I have the Permit on but we wound up catching over 50 Bonefish!! It was hard not to catch Bonefish!! We also had many shots at Tarpon as the cruised in and out of the mangrove lined shoreline. The third day on the “flats” started with hooking and jumping Tarpon along the mangroves and then with a nice Spanish Mackerel (released), and ended with another 15 Bonefish!! On our only day fishing offshore, Blaine from Chicago did invite a nice 20 pound Dorado aboard for dinner, and our total catch for the off-shore day’s was, 4 Barracudas, 1 Horse-eyed Jack and the Dorado. Let’s go CATCHING!!! Captain Red ED