Jim lands a nice Palometa at Isla Blanca...
Here is a nice report sent by Jim Christensen who recently fished Isla Blanca for 5 days...
Hello Keith,
As usual we found lots of fish species to keep us busy. I guess the reason I’ve been going to Isla Blanca so often is the fact that with four key fish species to hunt, one is bound to find something that wants to eat. Although it sometimes took some searching, each day we managed to find snook, tarpon, bonefish and/or permit. The snook and tarpon seemed to like both a very drab (brownish grey) seaducer or one with some root beer to burnt orange crystal chenille underbody. The bonefish and permit went for rag head crab patterns, some weighted some only lightly so depending on water depth. The wind, though not bad, kept us in the mangroves for a couple of days. The tarpon were around so no problem. On calmer days we chased bones and permit. As you know one of the neat things about the IB venue is that there are “options”.
A brief note on tarpon: Ed and I had a period of missing hook-ups on tarpon. Sometimes the hook points were rolled but other times, try as we might, we could not get the hook set. We were both using twisted leaders initially but switched to a standard, single strand, leader and had fewer problems. Could be that our rods were too soft. Anyway a leader change solved the problem (or was it just us).
Our guide took us to several spots that I had not fished before………always something new there. I’d not fished with Enrique on any prior trips. His 25 years of experience was evident …. As with the other guides I’ve used at IB Enrique really knows that area.
The accommodations at the Sea Adventures were fine. It appears that management has tightened things up a bit since last year. By-the-way, it seem that if one leaves a relatively modest tip at the Oysters restaurant they will invite you back on subsequent nights even without the one-time-only ticket.
Soooooo I guess we need to take a look at tides/moon phases for next year. I think Ed is also interested so will check with him.
Jim
Jim and his Snook landed in a shallow lagoon...
