Fishing Overview
The South Water Caye Marine Reserve, locally known as Permit Alley, is home to prime pancake flats and many schools of permit, bonefish, and cruising tarpon. The nearby Meso-American Reef is home to many permit and tarpon, as well as jacks, snapper, barracudas, and some other species. Tarpon are present year round and found on nearby cayes, channels, and in the large Placencia lagoon, which is also home to healthy populations of snook. From late April through the month of August, anglers can cast their flies at the larger migratory tarpon. These fish can reach to 150+ pounds.
Besides the vast experience of our talented guide staff, the next best reason to come fishing with Blue Horizon Lodge is the proximity to the most productive permit flats in Belize. It is very common to travel less than 10 minutes from the lodge and be casting to tailing permit. Occasionally, our guides will make longer runs, but only if they are 100% confident they will find un-pressured fishing. From the mainland, you should expect to have 30-45 minute boat rides before and after fishing. From the lodge, you will hardly have to travel at all.
Permit
The vast majority of anglers come to Southern Belize to pursue permit. Permit are plentiful and are found on the pancake flats and the outer cayes of “Permit Alley”. You can expect plenty of shots at 5-20 pound permit on any given day. There are few places in the world you can expect to have more shots at permit. What makes Permit Alley so unique, is the number of tailing permit you will encounter in a given week. The majority of the permit shots will be to tailing fish. A tailing permit is a feeding permit. And you should expect to have 80% or more of the permit you see to be tailing.
Bonefish
While the area is most well known for the permit, there are impressive numbers of bonefish. The most common place to see bonefish is on the flats near the cayes or on select reef flats. On an average day on the flats, any time of year, you will see and fish to schools of bonefish in the 2-5 pound range. These fish tend to be in large schools; however, there are singles and doubles if you are interested in more challenging casting. Our guides can consistently find schools of bonefish, even during low tides and weather conditions that limit the encounters with permit.
Tarpon
Tarpon are present in the fishery throughout the year, in select channels and protected island lagoons. The tarpon migration is generally from late April through August in this part of Belize, with the channels and cayes in the South Water Caye Marine Reserve getting robust schools of tarpon during the migration. There is considerably less pressure in these waters then in the more famous reaches of Northern Belize. The tarpon in this fishery tend to be ‘eaters’ not ‘lookers’.
Other Game Fish
Barracuda, jacks, snapper, sharks, jacks and trigger fish are all available and add to the angling experience. We recommend that you come prepared to at least try for some of these other species during your stay.
