It’s good to be back in Belize. This is where my love for world travel kicked off and also where my saltwater fly fishing addiction started. My first trip to Belize was in 1989 and after that I came back twice a year for a while. I hosted trips to Belize River Lodge and Turneffe Flats Lodge. Both places are still favorites but a few years ago my friend Wil Flack from Canada started the Belize Permit Club (BPC) way down south in Hopkins. Wil specializes in permit.
I was here at BPC in December of 2017 with Wil. We had godawful weather for a solid week. We broke cold temperature records and although we saw plenty of permit and hooked three, we couldn’t catch one. Honestly, at that time permit were a nemesis for me but I learned a ton from Wil and thanks to his tips, over the last few years I’ve caught some nice ones.
After a good night sleep Wil woke friend Tim Brune and I at 5 AM with a fresh pot of coffee. We boarded Wil’s skiff in the dark and eased our way down the river. 20 minutes later we hit the open ocean and it was light enough to cross the channel to the flats and keys of southern Belize.
It was a cool cloudy morning. Belize is tropical but its winter here just like in the states. Instead of being the usual upper 70°s our temp was in the low 60°s. All three of us were decked out in fleeces.
Once we arrived at Wil’s first flat Tim took the bow. It wasn’t long after that the rain started and soon we had big wind. Noon came fast and Tim and I had switched off many times and seen very few fish thanks to the awful fish spotting conditions.
Let’s just say today was a wash – literally. After the challenging morning of spotting only a couple permit, the afternoon got tougher. We had torrential rain (so hard I couldn’t take a photo) and the wind got stronger. We packed it in and made a tough crossing from the flats back to the river mouth and home. We might be stuck with this front a few days. Hard to tell the weather down here. Tonight we relaxed with a few beers, great company and a delicious dinner. We will try again tomorrow.
A special thanks for this trip to my friend Wil Flack and the Belize Permit Club.