Gongrats, Mel. Sounds like you had a great trip- wow, 10 days... :o) And a slam to boot! Did you wade or have a flats boat poled by a guide?
It's an $expensive$ decision to make- 'How much back-up gear do I bring?' I always take an extra reel in each class, each with an extra loaded spool, and an extra rod for each class. I don't have an extra 14wt, but I do have a 17wt as a back-up for it. It's expensive to pack spares, but if you spend your vacation and savings to be there, and didn't get to fish because of equipment failure, which is more expensive? Fortunately, you had your 8-wt for back-up, and it must have been a thrill to catch a 40lb tarpon on an 8wt, not counting the skill required. Truly awesome. What was the make/mod. of the broken rod? Winston replaced my 12wt, even though it broke resulting from a reel malfunction (Teton drag froze up) and on a sailfish. On one trip, just for fun, we used out light inshore gear (trout gear for me) for dorado- 6wt to 9wt, and caught 20-30# dorado on them. It was fun, but a lot of wear and tear on the light gear (besides the saltwater use). We wouldn't have even considerd it had we not been in Loreto, as there are few sharks there to eat your catch during an extendid fight (from locals fishing and Humbolt squids). In Pensacola, I love to use my 5wt on green jacks, as they are like bluegills on steroids, and readily take small poppers. Excellent on the permit. I've been wanting to catch one of those for a decade, but nary so far. OK, now you have to tell us what flies you used, and post pics of your catches. Thanks for posting. DonO ----- Original Message ----- From: mel hocken To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, August 05, 2007 12:22 PM Subject: [VFB] Belize Fishing Report Hi Everyone Just got back from Belize. Had ten days of great fishing on the flats. On my first cast of the trip I hooked a permit, the fight did not last long as I broke him off. Caught lots of bonefish, some jacks and on the first day I went for tarpon I hooked and landed a 40 pound tarpon on an 8 wt. rod. You may ask why was I using an eight weight? I was practicing a couple of casts with my 10 wt to get my range established and the tip broke during a cast. From the looks of the break I think there must have been a flaw in the rod as it was brand new and had never been cast. From now on I will always try any new rod out in the back yard before I take it on a long trip. I eventually landed a permit so I ended up having a slam trip. Mel ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.476 / Virus Database: 269.11.4/936 - Release Date: 8/4/2007 2:42 PM
