Anyone fished Turneffe?

[uncle phill]

My wonder wife booked us a week there in late September for my 50th. I'm looking for as many bonefish hookups as I can get. I'm not really interested in pursuing a slam. Any recommedations on fly selection, leader lengths and weights? She took me to Ambergris for my 40th, so I do have a little experience although it was all from a boat, no wading. #8 gotchas seemed to work just fine there, most of the flats I fished were all light colored sandy bottoms (no grasses) and the fish 1-3 lbs or so.

[Salmo trutta]

Dave Sikorski (Sorry for the miss spelling) did a trip there not too long ago (couple years) and wrote a full report on hear. I hear it's one of the better places for a slam even though you mentioned you didn't want one. I think if you saw a permit cruising in inches of water, you may change your mind. Lots of "baby" tarpon too around ~ 20-40 pounds.

Toads, both bonefish toads and tarpon toads I hear are great flies. The bonefish there should hit just about anything. In skinny water you want to go light to not spook them on the drop but in deeper water it doesn't really matter. In Ambergris my wife tore up the bones on a 1/4oz shad dart, red and white with spinning gear in about 4 feet of water. It didn't really matter what we used. I threw some sinking line near a dock one afternoon and caught a dozen bone fish there dragging the crazy charlie through the sand. The bones there weren't very big and were almost trash fish or at least used for bait by all the locals. On the flats they take on a new meaning and are much more rewarding and difficult to catch where I only managed a few on the flats in a day while my wife out fished me hand over fist in the deeper water with stupid shad darts.

I hope you do well, happy birthday and all that and good luck on a slam. Or just good luck period. Take lots of pictures.

Oh.. maybe try for some cuda and lemon sharks on the fly too or with plugs like “Smack Its”. No need to be stealthy with those guys. I had a guide in Cozumel who said, “hit da shark on the head with da rod”? “What the f!” I said… “yes do it”. Okay. I did it while popping the popper extra hard and the shark did a 180 and zeroed in on the fly. I set the hook too soon though. And stepped back a few feet into shallower water for the rest of the day.