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Be Pampered in Paradise
- Recorded:
- 0 ° F
- Fishing: Good
As a matter of policy to ensure privacy,
Week of July 26-Aug. 2
Weather Conditions: Fantastic weather all week.
Winds: Sun and Monday hardly no wind. Light chop on Wed, and averaged 5-10 for the rest of the week.
Air Temp.: 80s most of the week.
Water Temp.: 80s with moderate visibility all week.
Tides: Start out the week with high tides in the mornings with falling tides most of the day. (Tue High Tide: 6:30 AM, Low Tide:
CST / 0.56 ft)
Moon Phase: New Moon Aug. 1
We met father and son anglers Bob and Rob at the Marlboro, Mass.
Having never seen a permit tailing before, Bob (the father) said as calm as the mirror-like flat in front of them, that he “noticed what he thought was a permit tailing about 40 feet away when they first stepped into the water.” Not a second later did that black dorsal fin poke right up on the flat about 50 feet from them. Kevin quickly bit off the tiny bonefish flies, tied on a couple hefty crab patterns and switched to second gear as they chased the permit down the flat away from the lodge. With the permit just one step ahead of them every time they tried to get a cast off, Kevin and Rob (the son) decided to break off and loop around on the reef and cut them off as Bob kept pushing him towards them. Rob and Kevin walked out onto a small, shallow point that the permit had to go around, and ended up getting a 10-foot cast at a slowly cursing permit.
Wow! It looked at the fly and kept going as Bob watched from afar, he noticed more permit tailing further down the flat. Making a long story short, they ended up seeing about 10 different tailing permit on the flat that first morning. They did not land any, but as permit anglers know, it was special to see that many and get a couple shots at them.
Who needs coffee when you have tailing permit for a wake up?
The rest of the week Bob and Rob learned the ins and outs of bonefishing on the flats, woke up early to cast at rolling tarpon, and worked the inner lagoon for permit. They caught 4-15 bonefish a day; Bob hooked two tarpon, and both Rob and Bob caught their first permit on the inner lagoon (Rob's permit came unbuttoned right at the boat). It was a true pleasure having these guys at
Our Fall Special is here. If you’ve been waiting for the right time to book a trip our way, your timing is perfect for our Fall Special season, which runs August 3 to December 20. You’ve got just enough time to tie some flies and book some reservations. Our Fishing Package is a 2-for-1 at the Single Supplement Package price of $2,444.21 per angler, a savings of about $1,000 per person.
Ask about our Atoll Adventure Special and Dive Special, too.
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An e-mail to
The permit that I caught July 29 was hooked on a large olive Raghead. It was the 5th or 6th spot we had tried and I was really starting to be impressed by Willy. To tell you the truth, I liked him a lot. He answered all my questions very direct and expanded on them. He has been in the game for as long as anyone else and knows his stuff! He said all the right things at the right time.
We pulled up next to a point by Long Bogue that is about halfway down the atoll (a little more south) on the east side. It was not on the reef and it was not on the lagoon, kind of in the middle. Anyway, Willie was pulling up to spots and polling as he talked about his past clients and how he once saw permit here or how someone messed up a cast a couple weeks ago to a couple permit tailing there. As we went from spot to spot, I had faith that I would get a shot since the conditions were "spot on" and he was talking like I remember talking on the Alagnak [river in
He pulled up to the mangroves on the base of a sandy point that stretched maybe 50 yards and he said straight up and real matter of fact that this was one of the best spots for a small group of large permit to show themselves as they work from the deep water onto this point. I had never fished this spot yet. He said he often just digs his pole in and waits for them to come by and if they did, it would be about seven big permit that looked black.
Not a second later here comes a school of 15 big permit tailing their way onto this point about 80 feet and working closer! They were coming right at me so he did not need to pole but maybe 10 feet to give him room to scoot back if we had to make a second cast and for me to have room to cast.
The first cast they swam up to it, but turned around and did a small 10 foot circle away from us. Then they started back working this point right back at us. I was cool on the outside but inside my heart was racing. Willy moved back so he could see them develop and cool down a bit and asked if I wanted to change the fly and I said no because they started coming towards us again. I put the fly about two feet in front of them with a soft 45-foot cast. They were in about four feet of water if that, and maybe 40 feet away by the time the cast landed. To me, it looked like they were five feet away and moving slow’mo. I was in the permit ZONE. They all parted (about two feet apart with the fly in the middle) around my fly and I put SLOW long strips of about four feet each; I thought that they where going around it and leave again, but this time they did not turn they kept coming towards the fly. Actually, they were not coming towards it at this time – they were to both sides of it and not turning. I kept stripping because I was afraid they would see my line. Half of them on one side and the other half on the other. I then let it sit in the sand and two of them came about a foot closer to investigate. I think the reason they split up or parted around the crab (or line) was because they were deciding who was going to eat it. When I let it drop and made slower strips just to keep the slack out I ducked down a bit on the deck of the flats boat, felt that unforgettable take, and strip-set.
By the way, I caught it on an Orvis 7-weight Zero Gravity because I forgot my 9-weight.
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- Recorded:
-
- 85 ° F
- Fishing: Good
Fishing Report: May 24-31
Weather Conditions: Sunny with scattered clouds: Some spread out big lumpy clouds that gave us 2-3 short rain showers early in the week, but great sun in between. Rain all day Friday.
Winds: 5-15 mph
Air Temp: Mid-80s all week.
Water Temp.: 80s and good visibility all week until rain on Friday.
Tides: Quality fishing tides this week with high tides being mid-day pushing later every day throughout the week.
Moon Phase: Tues. 27th Last Quarter
We had an “almost Grand Slam” by Dan B. from Nevada with a permit and bonefish caught one day and a tarpon by 1:00 the next afternoon; and a “for real” Grand Slam. Chuck S. from Kansas, landing a permit, tarpon, and bonefish with his guide Dion. The bite seemed to be turned on right before the rain came through on Friday and John B from Nevada took advantage of this by hooking and landing his first permit on a fly.
Bob O. from Calif. asked his son where he wanted a fishing trip this year and Eddie said “flats fishing.” Both Bob and Eddie, new to saltwater fly-fishing, but accomplished at fishing the technical tailwaters of the American west, had a smooth transition into angling for tailing bonefish. They both had their share of spooked and broken-off bonefish; but they landed enough to get them hooked on the sport of flats fishing.
Another father son combo, Todd and Don from Florida were with us, but this time it was the son asking the father where he wanted to go. Todd and Don fished for permit most of the week with Don hooking three and Todd one, but neither getting a fish to the boat. They both caught bones every day and even landed seven on Friday in the rain … on the flat in front of the lodge. Every night Todd could be found casting off the dock with TF’s general manager Kevin Bonasera and guest Chris L. judging who could cast further and tell bigger fish lies then the other. Chris, from Virginia also targeted permit all week with Dubs and had numerous good “shots,” but never didn’t get one to the boat. Ah, the agony and ecstasy of permit fishing!
“I didn’t strip-set hard enough,” “the fly just came unbuttoned on his third jump,” “he was too big to land” are typical reasons for not getting a tarpon all the way to the boat. Joe U. and David V. from New York targeted all species and ended up jumping several tarpon; with David landing two. They both caught bonefish and hooked a couple permit, two big snapper, and a big jack crevalle on their last day. Mark, their guide, told us that they jumped a tarpon as big as he had ever seen, “close to 200 pounds” on their last day.
There are not many other angler challenges that can compare to hooking and fighting a tarpon. We are starting to see more of them around the atoll. Most anglers that did not land a tarpon still hooked at least one. Hank B from Nevada just walked into the office and said he hooked a tarpon again this morning; and walked out to fish the flat in front of the main lodge to look for bonefish or maybe a cruising permit.
John M had “excellent bonefishing” and some “exiting shots at permit, but no cigar until now” as he puffed on his Cuban rolled stogie. John also jumped a couple tarpon.
All in all, it was a good week of fishing and great camaraderie.
We are offering a Fall Special you might want to consider for yourself and, well, someone special. Our Fishing Package is a 2-for-1 at the Single Supplement Package price of $2,444.21 per angler.
Both Fall Specials are valid August 30 to December 20.
Phone Turneffe Flats direct toll-free at 888 512 8812