Granny and I had a little friend in the room this morning here at Belize River Lodge. Some type of plump and good looking treefrog. He was hiding in the shower. Unlike the poisonous dart frog I met in the Amazon last November that stung the heck out of my shin, this guy was easy to catch and release at the base of one of the trees.
I’ve always believed in karma and I felt good about my frog rescue. After breakfast when we headed out with our guide Mikey I felt lucky. We didn’t head right back upriver to where we caught the tarpon yesterday but rather directly out the mouth of the Belize River to the flats. I was very confident and Mikey had a plan.
The next thing that happened is hard to believe. Mikey pulled off an extremely heroic Houdini type of guide move.
At the mouth of the Belize River I’ve caught tripletail. Tripletail are unique fish that few anglers ever heard of let alone caught one on a fly rod. The last time I caught one was here in 2012 with Pedro. So naturally, each day this week when we leave the river for the flats I’ve been looking for them. They like structure. It could be weeds, logs of a channel marker. I’ve been scouring all these locations and did so with Mikey yesterday. But there’s been none and word at the lodge is they haven’t been around this year.
After we looked today and didn’t see one, we were racing for the flats, busting through big waves and dealing with high wind. My hunt was done and I was kicking back. The truth is I was bracing myself for the waves we were hitting on the drive trying to preserve my back. When suddenly the boat started a wide turn and Mikey yelled in my ear, “Tripletail!”.
Despite running at 20 mph navigating the waves, Mikey was still looking for fish. And he spotted the unusual fish. Tripletail look like a white/silver trash bag to be exact. Usually they are on their sides like a flounder not moving. Mikey said this one was swimming.
Mikey told me to grab my 10-weight with the intermediate sink tip line. I had a Clouser on this rod and I was thinking as I grabbed it, “If he saw this fish it must be near the surface. This rig will go too deep”. But I always listen to my guide. Most of the time anyway.
The truth is I was wondering if we’d see the fish again at all. Honestly, it was rough out there. The waves were big and the wind was strong. It was nothing I haven’t cast to permit in before but even the water wasn’t exactly clear. But there he was – Mr. Tripletail – and he was on the move.
Mikey cut the engine and I wondered how things would turn out. But it was the perfect move. The bow of the boat caught the wind and sailed us along at the exact speed in which the tripletail was traveling. It was about a 60 foot shot into a crosswind. It was a chore to get the line out and keep it from blowing over the side. The trick is to strip it from in the boat before you take the bow and then its protected. At least for the first cast. It was also hard not lose my balance and actually cast. But I run on adrenalin in these situations and none of the hindrances crossed my mind. After about four tries my chartreuse and white Clouser landed perfectly and the tripletail turned on it and followed.
The problem would be the rig. Tripletail aren’t fast attackers. The odd-looking fish followed and I slowed down so he could catch the fly. But my dumbbell eye fly sank too fast and went out of his sight. He turned away and started taking off again.
I yelled to Granny to reel it in and just handed her my rod. Then I grabbed my 9-weight which had a lightweight chartreuse tarpon fly on it. The fish was creating distance between us. He was at least 70 feet away now. I ripped line off faster than perhaps I ever have in my life and once again it took me about four casts. But I got the fly there and this time I was able to strip slowly and the fly stayed in the zone. Soon it was FISH ON!
Looking back on that chase and hook up I still can’t believe it worked out. Conditions were horrible with wind and waves. But the tripletail was on and these guys can pull. The fish sped off down wind and luckily the boat continued to drift towards him without needing the engine. The fish got just a little ways into my backing and then I was able to start heaving back.
It was a good fight. I hardly remember my last tripletail of more than ten years ago, but when you look at the shape of a tripletail you don’t expect a great fight. But this was and it wasn’t easy to get him back towards the boat. In fact, on his third run, another unexpected thing happened. This tripletail leaped SIX FEET in the air shaking and twisting like a baby tarpon. Luckily when he crashed to the water he was still on.
After about four minutes I had him to boatside. Due to the waves and wind Mikey remained in the back ready to control the boat if needed and let Granny net the fish. She did a great job and I couldn’t wait to hoist the beauty out of the net for pictures.
The tripletail would in fact be our best catch of the day. After we released him we searched the area for more and found none. Then we headed to the flats. It was badly windy so we tucked in behind the keys and mangroves all day. We mustered up a few bonefish and a couple baby mutton snapper. But overall until about 4 pm, it was a slow day. I’d blame a lot of that on the wind.
At 4 pm Mikey liked the level of the low tide for hunting snook. We spent the last hour working the edge of the mangroves with a floating line and the 9-weight. They were around but as usual, tucked back in the mangroves where you could hardly reach with a cast. Hardly that is. Granny brought her sidearm this week and she nailed a couple to end our day.
We’ll spend one more day with Mikey and we requested a peek at the tarpon upriver first thing tomorrow. There’s no way it can be as good as it was yesterday but hopefully we can nail one. Time for the usual amazing Belize River Lodge dinner!
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