April Grand Slam in Belize

Yet another very belated report but well worth logging.


In April 2009 I was lucky enough to accompany Mika , David and Giles to Turneffe Flats Lodge in Belize. Mika and I flew Via Miami as we planned to hit the Florida Keys on route home. David and Giles flew via Atlanta. We were greeted at the Airport and soon sailing out to sea on the Lodges own Boat. Two hours later we arrived at the lodge the professionalism of the operation and warmth of our welcome were apparent. The Lodge was perfect , no less. This is a fishing story so I will save the details of fine dining and accommodation for another day. I will say that Turneffe Lodge sets a standard of customer care that most other lodges should aspire too. A perfect place for any level of fly fisherman.
There is a great deal of luck in fishing, we all know that. I do believe you can bring your own luck. Visualisation, positive thinking all contribute to this . There are philosophies out there, namely ''the Secret’’ . It has worked for me at certain times and never more so than on this trip. I spent a great deal of time imagining my hand around a Permits tail. Just that one thought ,no more. To imagine the whole event would require too much effort and thus water down the effects, so my concentration was all focused on the image of my hand and a Permits Tail .

Turneffe Flats Lodge certainly delivers and within the first hour of the first day Mika and I were facing a shoal of tailing Permit. A Shoal of 30 or 40 fish happily tailing away ,Switching direction back and forth , slowly zig zagging the way that they do.A sight for sore eyes. Our adrenaline levels were peaking almost straight away. Frustration would certainly figure as a keyword when it comes to Permit fly fishing. I had encountered Permit in Cuba and Los Roques prior to Belize both encounters had resulted in much head scratching and questions to ask.
Mika and I took turns at presenting our Crab Flies to the Shoal. Our guide Dubbs has been in this situation countless times before and his relaxed manner was welcome. Eventually myEP Permit fly was taken and for the first time in my life I actually had a Permit stripping line away and onto the backing. Ten minutes later we were tailing the fish. The emotional surge for me was intense. I was almost lost in the moment. It took a deep breath of air and a slight gulp to compose myself. At last I had landed a Permit.



Day Two Grand Slam day
A bonefish before breakfast in front of the lodge, that’s the way our days on Turneffe started. Mika had been presenting flies to a shoal of bonefish for twenty minutes while trying to get a bite. I strolled along and asked if I could have a quick try, One cast a strip of the fly a bump and run and a small bonefish all within a couple of minutes. Perhaps this was going to be my lucky day ?

Craig the owner of Turneffe told me that there were two types of Permit fishermen. The guy who has never landed a Permit and the expert who has landed one. So on that basis I was now an expert more than equipped to tackle this fickle species. Dubbs our guide had explained that there were two styles of Permit fishing at Turneffe, one being the style I had encountered and succeeded with the day before and the second being the more technical version casting at ones and twos on the flats. At around 2pm I took the bow and moments later a Pair of Permit arrived on the scene. One cast and my second Permit was hooked. The fish was landed and Photographed, things were going well. Two days and 2 Permit landed. I said I was an expert !

By now I was starting to feel increasingly guilty. All I wanted from the day was to see Mika land a Permit. Grand slams were of no importance to me or at least I figured there is a limit to ones luck. The next couple of hours were spent in pursuit of Mr Permit, obviously I insisted that Mika should hold the bow. At around 4.30 Pm we started to head back in the direction of home, as we neared the lodge Dubbs suggested that we stop or ten minutes and have a few casts in the channel for Tarpon. I blind cast a Pure Black bunny across and swung the fly back with no action. The sun was starting to turn Gold and the daylight would soon fade, it had been another special day. I cast my line out blindly in order to simply load my fly line back on to the spool. As the line straightened I began to reel the line back while looking at the guys and chatting. Yes you guessed it, a hard tug followed by an explosion on the surface and yes I was playing a Tarpon. No need to get the line back onto the reel obviously! The moment was just incredible and completely hilarious we all laughed while I played the fish. Every time you hook a Tarpon you wonder if it will shake the hook. The Tarpon always had the advantage. This time around I was completely confident we would land that fish . We did and I had done it. A Grand Slam


Some days you fish skilfully , some days you catch nothing ,Other days all you luck comes at once. Who would have it any other way.
Many thanks to Mika and Dubbs both of whom were great people to share that day with.

AG

Cape Cod 2009 Report

In June 2009 I hosted our 5th trip to Cape Cod. I had two groups of 4 guys alongside me for a week at a time. Cape Cod has started to feel like a second home for me these days . Seeing as I am 5 Months behind schedule with this report .I will keep this report short and sweet.


GO TO PHOTO GALLERY

Week 1 I was joined by Ant and Richard who had both fished alongside me the previous year also Stuart and Chris from Ireland our new recruits.

It was with an element of uncertainty that I hit week one. All the reports from the internet and friends were indicating that the Stripers were running early this year. The sheer volume of fish running North along the coast is collosal . I figured there would still be fish around. The weather forecast was pretty good . I have found that the better the weather the better the fishing on the Cape. Happy weather equals happy fish. Week one was certainly not up to the standard that I have become accustomed too over the years. The shore fishing was pretty tough at times. I remember a couple of days where the wind blew pretty hard. There’s always somewhere to fish on the cape and tuck out of the wind. The tough days on foot were counterbalanced by great fishing from the boat. I joined the gang for a session on the boat one day and witnessed a very large shoal of BIG stripers cruising around on the surface and desperate to hit a fly the moment it hit the water. This created chaos upon the boat as all of us played 37 - 40 inch fish . Some would hit the fly with 2 feet of the boat. I barely cast the fly more than 5 yards at times, more a case of slapping the fly down in the water next to the boat. (Highly technical stuff!!)

Week 2

Mike Russ Jamie and Ryan
Week 2 found the fish in better spirits and willing to feed closer to shore. The weather turned warmer . I have fond memories of shore fishing at dawn around Race point. I also remember a great session on my own flats fishing in P Town harbour. All the guys were afloat leaving me to fish alone , sight fishing the flats of Cape Cod represents the best shore based striper has to offer, over the years this has replaced the chuck and duck fishing that I first experienced. This is always weather dependant so if the sun comes out head to the flats with your Polaroid’s. As usual the boat fishing was excellent. I would not consider a trip to the Cape that did not involve a couple of days out on a Centre Consul boat.



This definatly provided far better shore fishing than week one. I managed to catch several keepers from the shoreline. I also bumped into a few old faces as usual. Those charecters are as much a part of the appeal as the landscapes , wonderful architecture and those big Striped Bass.

This trip has become a big part of my life. I hope to be wading the flats and beaches of the Cape Cod for many years to come.


GO TO PHOTO GALLERY

Surfing

Surfing
In 1999 Cally and I travelled around the globe I carried a surfboard to Indonesia , South Africa, Australia, California and Fiji . It was during our time in Austaralia that I found saltwater fly fishing. The fishing overtook everything else and surfing and kitesurfing vanished. Lets be honest . Fly fishing doesn’t exactly burn off the calories and during this period my waistline increased. I had gone from slim surfer to fat fly fishermen over the course of 8 years . This winter it suddenly hit me . I moved to Cornwall for Surfing . I live less than a mile from the Uk’s most respected wave and I have been living like a old man. This summer I managed to address this. Most days I run along the beach or surf. This has provided essential balance and im packing 10 kilos less to date.

Bass fishing in the UK 2009
This has been a strange year . The bass fishing was great in May with blitzing bass everywhere on every visit. Then I spent two weeks striper fishing on Cape Cod in June. When I returned the weather had turned terrible the baitfish had vanished and the bass with them. My guided bass fishing bookings were down on the last couple of seasons. So the summer was somewhat of a non event. I did have the pleasure of sharing a few great days with clients during early September. I missed the best tides of the prime month due to the Tarpon fishing trip to Costa Rica in September and here we are now , its October and once again I will miss some great tides while we are in Los Roques Venezuela .

Saltwaterflyfisher is born

Globetrotting has been my passion all my life. The travel side of my business has been expanding all the time , while retail side contracted in 2009 . The URL Saltwaterflyfisher.com has been registered with us for several years and the concept has finally come to life . The new website should reach completion sometime soon. The ethos is simple and pretty much a case of back to roots. To provide a personalised service built upon on visitor experience. It’s easy to stock pile destinations to send your clients too, download a few images of fish, bedrooms and scenery . Assimilating a portfolio of destinations that you or your colleges have been to that you can offer ‘’hands on advise’’ about takes time. The concept goes further and runs deeper and there are other elements besides travel.

This Blog needs an enema !!

Its been almost a year since I last made an entry, thats shameful. Its been an eventful year with plenty of highs and a couple of lows. Its certainly been a year of change and reflection.
The business
After 4 years of obsessive hard work I came into the year on a high. Despite the recession business had never been busier. This coincided with the launch of the long overdue upgrade to the retail website along with the development of the new Logo. A total overhaul of our accountancy systems was also called for. The business had grown and we had no database or decent data management in place. When you run a tiny business from a bedroom then you can afford to be inefficient, as the business grows these weaknesses’s start to cause havoc. Add the birth of my daughter in January and I had my hands full , looking back , no wonder I was so stressed out!
Then it went thud ! Just when I thought I couldn’t take any more it went worryingly quiet! After re investing all of the profits from the last couple of years that came as an un welcome change. Five months later I feel I know what needs to be done. Its a case of going back to our roots . I have switched the investment back into new flies and fly tying products.