The morning greeted us with much of the same weather, and the crossing over the deeper water to the pancake flats was a little rough. Note to self, if you have a spray jacket, remember to put it into the boat! I partnered up with my American friend Rick Scott, and as this is his first salt water experience I really want him to get stuck into some fish. On any trip the first couple of days can be a little daunting, getting used to all the new tackle, what goes where, and what you really need and what you don´t. After a 30 minutes run in the 28 foot panga we arrived at out destination... One of the keys right on the edge of the archipelago that does not receive much fishing pressure. Incidentaly, many clients asked me why they don´t have flats skiffs here like most fisheries. The answer is very simple, there is a reasonable amount of deep water to cross here in between many islands, cuts, flats and channels. If you try too many of the runs in a flat skiff you would not be able to stand by the time you arrived. The pangas are comfortable, fast and above all safe. All the boats are equipped with biminis allowing shade during the day. Chris has is upgrading all his boats to 100 horse power and four stroke engines as well, which really helps. If we had been fishing from skiffs I don´t think we would have got out today across the channel.
On arrival at our flat we hopped out and began to wade down a long slightly marly flat. Every so often we might sink a little which made going a little slow. Cayito our guide almost immediately put us into fish, and despite the imperfect conditions Rick had four good fish by lunch time. As the fish headed towards us up wind and up tide they almost appeared green in colour which made spotting them considerably easier. I waded a little further away from the two of them and managed to land a couple of nice fish, the second one being about five pounds or so.
At lunchtime I had arranged to meet up with Will, Jamie, Kirsty Nightingale and Alistair Robjent at the old conch shack out on the flats. This is a fantastic little building almost entirely constructed from drift wood and other flotsam and jetsam. It is built on stilts out on one of the flats, and offers a fantastic opportunity to get out of the sun and catch up with the days events. Everyone arrived excited, and as the sun had now appeared for an extended period of time the fishing had improved. We eagerly swapped stories and pics while munching on an fantastic salad and pork escalopes supplied in the cooler along with cold drinks. While we ate I spotted a tailing fish directly out the back waving at us while we ate. Perfect.
Kirsty had just lost 15lb barracuda on a popper, had also landed six bonefish, and Alistair had managed a couple. After lunch they disappeared off with their guide Jesus for more action. The rest of us did a swap, so Jamie joined me, and Rich went off with Will. The next couple of hours fishing were great with Jamie and I landing three apiece before turning our bow for home, a reviving shower and some good food. The rest of the party also had a good day with Liam landing his first five bonefish on fly.
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