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Fishing : Return to Los Roques

We had been to Los Roques before and spent the days negotiating with local fisherman to get us to the flats and spent the hot nights clearing sand out our sleeping bags or hiding from sand flies! This time we vowed to do it in comfort and Fly Fishing Caribe provided exactly what we were looking for.

To further highlight how small the world has become these days, we were all to meet at the small domestic terminal at Caracas airport, Doug and I had just flown in from London, Mark from Tokyo and Keith was joining us from Bermuda (If his plane made it out the triangle!). Once we were all present and accounted for, we loaded our (not insignificant) gear into the small Beechcraft and braced ourself for the take-off...
Now I have flown in small planes before, but taking off on the same runway as arriving and departing Boing aircraft provided a new experience and only served to remind us how small our six seater actualy was!
However, once we were in the air it provided a great viewpoint as we winged our way over the landslide prone city of Caracas and out towards Gran Roque on the Los Roques archipelago that was to be our base for the next week.

We were met on the island by Daniel and Ignacio and before long we were settling in to island life with the first cold cerveca while we (read Kieth) picked Daniel's brain about the many techniques that would help us in our quest to join the small list of people who have caught a "Grand Slam"!
Before long our jet lagged, beer clouded brains where swimming with descriptions of Bimini Twists, Improved Clinches and Bloodless Bloodknots and we retired to our rooms filled with anticipation of the first days fishing...

Refreshed and refueled - thanks to the great breakfasts at Posada La Cigala - we paired up and boarded our skiffs to meet the first days challenge, Los Roques's famed pancake flats.
These turtle grass covered flats rise from the ocean seemingly at random and provide great feeding places for bonefish. If you catch the tide right, as our guides did, you will arrive on the flats to be greeted by the site of tails and fins glinting in the early sunlight. These provided excellent targets for our flies and before long, Doug had landed the first bonefish of the tour. (Since we do not have photos of the first fish you will have to take our word that it was a great fish of at least 8 pounds and was not bettered all week.) For the rest of the morning we continued from flat to flat catching a fair number of bonefish, although admittedly our rusty casting did let us down on occasion. I guess that is the price you pay for only being able to bonefish once every couple of years.
The first afternoon saw us casting at some large Tarpon although they did not seem to be actively feeding it did provide some heart stopping moments when they came close to our flies. Later in the week we were to have somewhat more success with these "Herrings from Hell!"

For the rest of the week the bone-fishing on both the Los Roques signature pancakes flats and mangrove bordered coral flats was excellent. We fished most mornings for bonefish and each landed between 6-10 fish per day in the 3-6 pound range. We did catch a couple of 7-8 pounders and although great in the photos, I believe the 4-5 lb fish give the best account of themselves. In the afternoons we would change tactics and target either schooling Horse-Eye Jacks or Tarpon. We had success landing several Jack up to 10 lbs and although we all jumped large Tarpon (40-70lb) none were landed - Excluding Daniel who landed a nice 80 pounder!

We try not to mention the 10 lb Permit Doug lost too often as the wound is still too raw!

The guides, Pedro and Jose, were great. They managed to put us on top of schooling Jack, rolling Tarpon and tailing Bones on a daily basis and that is all we can ask. They provided expertise and help where needed but once our eyes were more accustomed to the colours and shapes, they allowed us to catch our own fish without the constant "strip stop strip stop" that can take the "hunt" out of the sport.

All in all, the week was a great success and all of us left the island with part of our brain trying to figure out how and when we could plan a return journey, if not to Los Roques then to another great fly fishing destination.