# Ambergris Caye



## Redfish81 (Mar 31, 2009)

I'm heading down to Ambergris Cay in May for a family trip. We will be staying at the Las Terrazas resort and I have booked a guide through them the first day we are there. I'm an experince fly fisher and plan on fishing the other days on my own. Do any of yall have any tips or recomendations?
Thanks!


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## flatscat1 (Jun 2, 2005)

Small flies, size 6 mostly. Tan crazy charlies with medium bead chain eyes work fine. There isn't much wading in Ambergris, so you might look into renting a panga and going to the areas your guide takes you. Bonefish are rather small in Belize but there are lots of small permit and some baby tarpon in the mangrove islands. You can always catch good sized 'cudas on a fly too, if you have trouble finding bones on your own.


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## Trout Laguna (Aug 31, 2007)

flatscat1 said:


> Small flies, size 6 mostly. Tan crazy charlies with medium bead chain eyes work fine. There isn't much wading in Ambergris, so you might look into renting a panga and going to the areas your guide takes you. Bonefish are rather small in Belize but there are lots of small permit and some baby tarpon in the mangrove islands. You can always catch good sized 'cudas on a fly too, if you have trouble finding bones on your own.


I agree with this 100%, I just came back from Ambergris in September and I would have totally not done what flatscat recommends had I not been with someone else with other interests.


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## texasdave (Aug 15, 2005)

My wife and I stayed there several years ago. Fished one day with a guide for bone fish. It would have been easy after that to have gone back out in panga on my own. Basically we motored until we found an area that looked like someone poured milk in the water. This was where a school of bone fish were feeding casting into the mud with a weighted fly usually resulted in hookup. Want to watch the muds and around the edges frequently there is a cuda cruising around looking for a bone for lunch.
If he was there he would more times than not eat a large streamer. Only fished the one day we were their for our anniversary and the incredible diving.

Texasdave


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## Boboe (Feb 11, 2009)

I fished Ambergris with El Pescador Lodge back in March '02. There were plenty of bones, and we saw a few permit. Rumor has it that "El Blacador" is the place to go for permit. I guess that's one of the islands and flats nearby.

We did a small amount of wading when I was there, but most of the fishing was from a poled boat. The resident tarpon are schooling fish around 30#, and they're VERY SMART. I easily made 50 GOOD casts and presentations to these tarpon in one day and had one lackluster take, which I failed to stick. Supposedly the larger, migratory fish come through in the fall and winter. These fish, according to my guide Gilberto, will eat 75% of the time you get a good cast to them. By March, however, these big daddies have gone, and you're left with trying to make the 30# models bite.


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## rwg (Dec 30, 2009)

My wife and I went there for our honeymoon. We stayed at El Pescador and fished with them. It was great. Not sure I have any advise for trying "on your own" but if you want a top notch guide give El Pescador a call. They are an Orvis endorsed outfit.


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## mattyFLY (Apr 5, 2010)

I've been to Ambergris twice and would recommend getting a guide every day you want to fish. The guides aren't that expensive and that's too far to travel not to catch a bunch of fish. I like to think I can see fish pretty well from the casting platform, but I wouldn't have caught a tenth of the fish I've caught down there if I didn't have a guide.


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## jmercer (Sep 29, 2008)

My wife and I went in Sept '08 and had a blast. I just fly fished 1 day with a local guide, and caught a bunch of little bonefish. Saw a few legitimate toads but I spit the bit and didn't come close.

One of the days we were there we had a boat take us to the barrier reef to troll. Caught some reef snapper of some sort, had a shore lunch on some island and then snorkled Hol Chan Marine Reserve in the afternoon. The wifey has snorkled in a lot of places and she said that the coral at Hol Chan was some of the prettiest she'd seen.If you have time for that I'd work that into the itinerary. 

After the reef fishing I wondered about renting jet ski and trolling on my own, but we ran out of time.

On the fly fishing side, some of the places my guide took me would have been very very easy to find on my own. In fact we started right out in front of one of the resorts and there were bonefish all over us. However most of the other places he took me I never could have found on my own again. 

No matter what you end up doing, you'll have a blast.


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## davidb (May 10, 2006)

May is a little early but by the end of the month more big Tarpon will start to show up. If they are in that is what I would Target.

The guides each have specialties and the better ones that work for El Pescador are Tarpon specialist. Some of the resort guides will just park you on mudding banana bones and that's it.

You can fish the Lagoon and Beach front on your own but go with one of the better guides if you can.

I have seen large permit and bonefish and world class Tarpon there. I have jumped but not landed fish of over 160 lbs. so it's not all babies by any means.

Some of the guides work out of the dive shop near the airport.


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## Redfish81 (Mar 31, 2009)

Long over due: Thanks for the help guys! I ended up booking a local guide that came with good recomendation. If anyone is going to Ambergris, Wilber Marin is a great guide and only charges $250 a day. He has a nice boat, a little underpowered with a 50 on a 21 panga, it got the job done though.

Fished 2 days with guide and caught 10-20 bones each day. Any other free time I got I spend in the lagoon behind our hotel in the kayak. Had fun paddling around catching snapper and grunts. Hooked a nice snook but my 15# f was no match for the mangroves!

Didn't take many fishing pictures, sorry.


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