Never to Early....

          Hello friends and thanks for checking in at the O’Grady Fly Fishing Adventures. A few weeks back I was looking the calendar and I realized how quick this summer was coming to an end. Schools are back in session this week and my Huskers are starting fall practice. In the fishing world, the summer guiding season is coming to an end and it is a perfect time to begin planning next years trips. If you are a long-time reader then you remember me writing a blog about Cody and his Salt-camp a few years back. I didn’t understand the obsession at the time but after a few trips of our own, it all made sense. 
         Two years ago, Cat and I spent two weeks in Hawaii with Cody and Kim and out of the twelve days we spent fishing I only landed two bonefish. Now some may look at that as an utter failure but to Cat and myself, it became the ultimate challenge. We followed it with eight days in the Bahamas and then an incredible week in Belize. Although all our trips were entertaining, nothing really compared to the week in Belize. We found the perfect lodge, www.bluebonefishbelize.com and have decided next years trip we wanted to share with our friends.

          We have the lodge reserved for April 13^th through the 20^th next year. The lodge has a total of six rooms and four are already spoken for. The days at the lodge are as follows; Breakfast and coffee is served at just after six in the morning. When finished eating your guide picks you up in their boat out back at the dock located a one minute walk behind lodge at around seven. After telling your guide what you are looking for, you spend the next several hours on the hunt. When you get back to lodge from a day of fishing you have your choice. You can relax and tell stories in the pool, you can grab a golf cart and head into town or if you didn’t get you fill of fish for the day, you can always grab a paddle board and take a quick paddle to a nearby flat. Dinner is served around seven and then once again, head to town or just sit back and tell stories.

          If you have never spent anytime fishing salt flats I want to now explain why it is so special. There are gobs of species to target on the flats but I wanted to focus on the main three, Bones, Permit and Tarpon. The majority of the fishing in Belize is spent from the front of the boat. Your guide will be on a platform in the back and will slowly inch the boat down the flats and will call out the fish they see. After the guide calls out fish, your heart begins to run about a hundred miles per hour. You dig deep and strain your eyes as hard as you can to see what the guide is seeing, and then out of nowhere they appear. Your heart now is trying to come out of your chest and you cast, if your fly lands where you want, you feel the monkey fall off your back, you take a breath and then you see the fish turn. A quick strip and you see three bones chase it down, a second strip and the line comes tight. You screech YEAHHHHH and your reel begins to scream. Now I would love to tell you how easy it is but that would be a lie, and I think that is why I now get the whole Cody thing, can’t get enough of the salt.

          Now the reason we picked the middle of April is that it is the best of all conditions. If you live in Colorado then you know how the last several winters just never come to an end. Weather here will be anywhere between ten and eighty degrees and when you land in San Pedro, temps will be between eighty-three and eighty-eight degrees, yep perfect. The bones are always in the area and April is the best time for shots at permit. The big tarpon are beginning to move in and if the wind is right, you should definitely get a shot or two. On the lousy weather days there are plenty of other options, snook, snappers and baby tarpon can always be found under the mangroves.

          So here is the reason for this blog write-up. We have two rooms left for next years trip and would love to spend the week with more of our readers. The lodge is very laid back, clean and feels like home. Prices are quite a bit less expensive then other lodges in the area. The time is now to begin planning for next years trip so please get in touch with us if spending the week with Cat and I in Belize sounds fun for you, but I should warn you, it may become your new obsession. As always, Connell, Cat, Winston, The Bluebonefish and the Drift Fly shop want to thank you for reading……