International Fishing

Many of you may not have heard much about Roatan. This island and a few others comprise the Bay Islands that lie about 40 miles north of the Caribbean coast of Honduras.

Here are a few pointers that will hopefully help you in your pursuit of Bahamas bonefish.

Since the launch of the Trinidad Tarpon Bash a few years ago, I felt a keen desire to fish for the silver king on this exotic island. The Bash itself lived a short life and was taken over by island locals to be renamed Tarpon Thunder.

There are many exotic angling destinations in the Western Hemisphere, yet there are few that offer the multitude of habitats, geography, fisheries, and broad socio-cultural spectrums that Costa Rica does possess. Where else can you find a country with an Atlantic mangrove jungle coast featuring surf, inlets and rivers with hordes of tarpon, two kinds of snook and a lush mountainous Pacific coast that teems with roosterfish, black snook, snapper, mahi, tuna and marlin along with some of the world's best surfing?

As my first day of fishing Bonaire transitioned into afternoon, I found myself wading the shallow waters of a wonderland that felt unmatched by any other destination. The 180-degree arc in front of me and my guide Thomas set a table spread of visual treats: two wading flocks of mature pink flamingos, a tall beige lighthouse, a row of squat historic slave huts, and most importantly, seven or eight separate schools of bonefish grazing our way.

Thanks, Facebook!

In the last few years, the world has grown profoundly more interrelated and accessible due in no small measure to the social networking web sites. During that span, I refocused my ancillary energies that accompany my writing from blogging to Facebook. My contacts in the fishing world grew larger at an exponential rate that was never possible before that.

It's dawn and the eastern sun hauls up a "Japanese" sunrise with bars of blue, yellow and orange into the darker gray sky aloft. A gentle breeze picks up and sends a welcome surge of cool air around you.

I was onboard a silvery 737 bound for Belize's newest "offshore" flats fishing operation, Long Caye Island Resort. This venue was the most recent offering of the venerable Belize River Lodge, which was akin to the debut of Cadillac's launch of yet another exciting model.

As we poled around the corner of a creek, we came upon a triangular sand flat surrounded by two channels that ran out to the sea. As the skiff eased along, Art Blank spotted some tailing bonefish 50 feet away in the "3 o'clock" position. Simultaneously, I spotted some huge bar jacks slowly swimming away from us in the "12 o'clock" position. After checking with the guide about the hardness of the flat, Art slipped overboard into 2 feet of water to stalk the bonefish. I climbed the bow of the boat as the guide pushed the skiff harder in pursuit of the bar jacks.