Belize DIY Bonefish

This was our first DIY Bonefish Trip as a club. After having great experiences at the Pelican with our members, we knew we needed to put this one on the menu.

For this trip, we partnered up with our friends at Cayo Francis Farm & Fly. The lodge is located in the northern region of Ambergris Caye.

Throw on some music from our Belize Playlist

Cayo Francis is a simple setup. Small cabins, with warm wooden floors, and comfortable beds. AC is replaced by open screened windows. It is calm, charming, and only concerned with the things that really matter.

The camp sits on an old Mayan Pottery site. As you walk around the property you can feel the history spewing from the dark soil, native plants, and full functioning farm.

It is the perfect place to start the morning with a fresh cup of coffee or wrap up an evening with a cold drink. You can learn more about Cayo Francis HERE.

We decided to get into San Pedro a day early. With Drifter, we are trying to accomplish a lot more than just catching fish. When we travel, we want to feel like we have really experienced the place. For this trip, that looked like a short stay at the Sunbreeze Hotel, a nice dinner at Elvis' Kitchen, and some pool time with fresh snook tacos and margaritas.

All of the above are highly recommend.

One of the unique things with Cayo Frances is that it is only accessible by boat. After enjoying some fry jacks and breakfast, we hopped on a water taxi to venture an hour north to the lodge.

The bonefishing in Belize met our expectations. We hed plenty of fish around, and we were grateful to be in such a target righ enviornment. We were dealing with a pretty steep learning curve fishing off paddle boards. In the end, we found the boards to be fun, incredibly stealthy, and extremely gratifying. Catching a bonefish is one thing, catching a bonefish DIY is another. Catching a bonefish DIY on a paddle board while not trying to make a complete fool out of yourself by falling off and scattering the contents from your unzipped waterproof backpack...is another.

Plenty of time was spent in the afternoon discussing strategy, looking at maps, and pretending like we knew what we were doing.

Every day we were shuttled by Edgar to a different zone. We mixed up who was fishing with who, and where each group was going to exploring. Piece by piece, we worked together to better understand the fishy.

Andrew, Trey, and Mike are excited to get on the water and spook some bonefish with their overpriced fly rods.

Andrews' wife, Alyssa joined us on this trip. Her week was filled with snorkeling, reading, and relaxing at Secret Beach.

Trey hooked up with his first DIY bonefish. After working through the learning curve of moving the fly slowly, setting the hook, and not applying too much pressure on the leader, Trey got the hang of catching bonefish. It was his first bonefishing trip, and without a doubt, a huge success.

I actually have a podcast coming out with Trey soon. He is an accomplished chef in San Diego, a lifelong outdoorsmen, and a good hang. Sidenote: Don't try to talk to him about The Bear. I guess if you spent your life working in kitchens and starting resteraunts, a stressful show about the resteraunt industry is not your favorite topic of choice.

Andrew, John, and Bonefish Mike with a few of their fish. Most of the fish were around 2-3 pounds with enough larger fish around to keep things interesting.

Being on paddle boards not only allowed us to get close to fish, but also allowed us to sneak into some shallow lagoons that would have been otherwise inaccessible.

A cocky rooster strolled in to join us for appetizers and a not-so-quick game of darts.

Every day, after a long day of fishing, we were greated by our favorite four-legged friend.

We had a great trip and are excited to hopefully put Cayo Francis on our lineup again.