During the months of December thru February, winter time for us, the wind blows from the North and Northwest quite often. The wind from this direction usually causes the Rivers and Creeks that are along the mainland, to run out pretty fast. These are the conditions that Snook like and one of the reasons why there are more Snook seen around this time. Despite the numbers of Snook present this time, there are still a bunch of small to medium Tarpon around along with the bones that are here all year long. The illusive Permit is also found, but not in great numbers. On any given day that you fish out of Belize River Lodge, the angler has a 75% chance to get a shot at the Grand Slam.
As one of our repeat customer said “this is the best December fishing I have ever had” these were his words after having a wonderful 6 days of fishing here at the lodge. The week he was here he released several Snook in the 10 to 15 lb range, hooked several small tarpon and released a few. He also had some great shots at the illusive Permit but none committed to the fly. The winds were very light causing the bones to be very abundant on the flats and also very happy. On one of his days he must have released about 15 bones within 45 minutes. After catching so much in such a short time, most anglers try to go after something else, which he did or he could have caught countless numbers of these Bonefish. The nice weather conditions contributed to a lot of schooling Jacks (Crevalle) who were very aggressive and explosive at any fly or lure that was presented to them.
This January, we had some new customers who had always tried to land a Tarpon, but had not succeeded in the last three years while visiting other destinations. They went up to Black Creek which is about an hour away from the lodge up the Belize River. The entire creek was alive according to these anglers. They had never seen so many juvenile tarpon that were so active and willing to play their game. That day, they jumped about 25 Tarpon and released 5. These juvenile Tarpon were in the 10 to 25 lb range. That day, the guest were in Tarpon heaven; that was how they felt.
The same week they were here, they also tried for bones. They had only heard stories about how difficult it is to see Bones, to be able to catch them, but that week they released over 30 bones. The smallest was 2 lbs and the biggest 5 lbs. What amazed them the most was the variety of fish species that an angler can fish for here at Belize River Lodge. That week between the two anglers, they landed and released a bunch of cudas, jacks, ladyfish and even snappers. Their best day (according to them) was when both anglers each got a Grand Slam. They each released half a dozen bones, one snook and a couple juvenile tarpon.
To wrap things up, December through January was a very productive month for all our repeat and new customers that were here fishing with us at Belize River Lodge.
