There were a few bonefish to be found on the home flat Monday afternoon.
This flat holds a solid population of bonefish but not too many permit.
The occasional triggerfish can be found cruising and tailing on top of the
reef. Cloudy conditions combined with chop from a northeast wind and the
high tide made it tough to spot fish unless they were deliberately
tailing. More fish were spooked than caught.

Tuesday morning the wind continued and this helped push more water on to
the flat near Helene. The deeper water meant prime conditions for permit!
Before we even landed the boat on the flat, we saw black tails glistening
in the morning sun. There were permit everywhere! Larger schools of
smaller fish (8-10 lbs), schools of 2-3 fish, and larger singles covered
the flat. We had many shots but only managed to hook one fish that
promptly screamed off the flat, wrapped the leader around a coral head and
shredded it. Best flies were Turneffe crabs in cream and olive, size #6
and lightly weighted.

Tarpon fishing was also good around the docks of Helene. Angler Don
Wilkerson jumped three, landing one of about 20-25 lbs on an orange
grizzly Cockroach. Capt. Ted Lund also landed one tarpon of 6-8 lbs on
the flats of Barbaret. We also found agreeable mudding bones in the same
area. We had shots at some smaller snook on one of the beaches of
Barbaret as well.

Wednesday we were off to Guanaja. The winds had calmed which made for a
smooth ride over to the island. As we approached the first flat at the
eastern side of the island, we were greeted by hundreds of waving bonefish
tails! Bonefish populations on the flats of Guanaja are outstanding! The
day's fishing produced a number of bones from 2-4 lbs. Best flies were
Bonefish Bitters of any size or color. Our best shot at permit came mid
morning, two 10-12lb fish were following the Turneffe crab before a Yellow
Jack sped in front of them and mowed it down.

Thursday found us back on the flats near Helene looking for permit. We
found a good school cruising the smaller flat east of Helene. A good cast
in front of them sent them scrambling to find the fly but upon stripping
the fly so the fish could see it, it hooked on some turtlegrass and the
fish quickly lost interest. There were also some tailing bones in the
same area. We moved to the larger flat, where we had good shots at
schooling perms but no takers. There were a host of triggerfish, 3 foot
lemon sharks, barracuda of all sizes and also 3 fully grown(3-4 ft)
Rainbow Parrotfish on the flat as well. Look for permit working behind
the triggerfish. The largest fish we saw that day (20 lbs) was following
one of the larger triggers.

Friday was the day after the full moon. Winds were calm and the tide was
not as high as it had been. We saw one school of fast cruising permit on
the flats that wasn't very interested in eating. There were some larger
bones tailing but the calm conditions made them tough to approach and cast
to. The triggerfish and parrotfish had moved from the flat to on top of
the reef in the fly line snagging coral. We also saw a few lemon sharks
and a four foot cuda crashing bait. This day proved best for a few Port
Royals and rum cocktails and stories about sea monsters and the elusive
Easter leprechaun.

Jason Balogh