Friday, December 16, 2011

Belize Report with Pics

No sailfish in Belize, this is a shot that was still on the camera from last week.....this turned out to be a great combo trip, it was easy getting to Belize from Costa Rica. When I arrived, Anna was getting casting lessons from our guide, Willey, and a few shots at bonefish in front of the cabin. Actually, the more I learned, the more I saw. As it turned out, there were A LOT of bonefish in front of our cabin.
Look carefully, you'll see all the permit tails.....and my fly line with my fly in the middle of them.....getting refused. I got a few shots, then was elbowed out of the way.....






Got him on and deep into the backing Finally this guy hooks a fish!






While Willey is showing me the ropes, Anna is wading around taking pictures of life on the flats, all of the following pics without getting her hair wet: What you looking at? I never knew that conch had eyes.....if the bones and permit didn't love their body parts so much.....I'd feel a twinge of guilt













Sunset bite in front of the "house" Willey hard at work: Snappers under the dock Back to Basics....with Willey patiently waiting...he did a lot of waiting around on us for this trip. Very relaxing vacation. Anna's first bonefish Time to get in the water with the fishes. All the following pics were taken while snorkeling, not diving. Anna did go scuba diving and says that the dives are amazing, nothing compared to the diversity below that we saw just a few feet under the surface.





















Even trophy lizard fish in Belize, this joker was about 5 pounds



Stange Sea Creatures Abound: Do Not Touch: Lionfish seem to be taking over the world. They are now prevalent on reefs and wrecks from North Carolina to Belize and are predicted to be in Argentina within 5 years. Some say that they were introduced by aquarium releases, but I think that ballast water from large ships coming from the Indo-Pacific is more likely. Divers are killing as many as they can, but it is laughable to think that lionfish numbers will be controlled this way. They are here to stay. Today was our last day in Belize, I spent a few hours looking for those permit again, no luck, so we hit the flats and played with the bones. After getting back to the lodge, I caught 2 more in front of the cabin, including my biggest of the trip, about 8 pounds......although I did cheat on the last one. My fly had about had it, the hair and legs falling out and picked apart. I picked up an old conch shell and shook out a dime sized crab, put it on the hook and that lasted about 2 seconds......may should have tried that a bit earlier.