Imagine sitting at your desk, tending to the business of the day, when you receive a call from an unknown number. You let it go to voicemail. When you finally check it, you learn that you’ve won the Trip of a Lifetime – you are the lucky BTT member who gets a free trip to fish at Belize River Lodge! That’s what happened to Brent Nash in early 2016. After taking some time to digest the news, Brent and his wife Jean booked their trip for September of this year.
They joined BTT’s Director of Science and Conservation, Aaron Adams, and BTT board member Mick Kolassa for three days of great fishing and hospitality at Belize River Lodge. Their timing was pretty good. The trip came three weeks after hurricane Earl blasted through Belize – long enough for the lodge to get back to normal operations and for the fish to shake off the storm’s impacts.
The main targets for the trip were tarpon, snook, and bonefish. Because of the large amount of rain that fell on interior Belize, the rivers were running high. This pushed small tarpon and snook onto the outer mangrove islands and channels. Mixed with blue skies and light winds on two of the three fishing days, this made for perfect sight-fishing conditions. Even on the third day that threatened precipitation early, the rain showers were avoided, and the clouds parted to open blue skies by lunchtime.
Wouldn’t you know it – Brent recorded a Flats Slam on fly on his first day flats fishing in Belize! He caught a nice snook, tarpon, and bonefish. And Jean caught her first bonefish on fly. Not a bad way to introduce themselves to the flats of Belize! On the second and third day, no more slams were recorded, but everyone caught multiple fish of two species on each day. The intrepid anglers spent a little bit of time chasing and casting to the always moody permit, but only got a few follows and close looks.
As always, the guides and the folks at Belize River Lodge were fantastic. The guides always had the anglers on fish, the food was authentic Belizean goodness, and everyone felt at home in the comfortable lodge in the jungle.
Winning a fishing trip, dodging the impacts of a hurricane, getting a flats slam, and having great weather is a pretty good streak. We hope that Brent and Jean’s winning streak continues! If you are interested in learning more or visiting Belize River Lodge, click here.
From Brent:
Well you were right. Jean and I had a great time. Aaron and Mick we easy going traveling companions. Mike, Marguerite, and the staff at Belize River Lodge were just great. The service, attention, and food were all top notch. And of course our guide Pedro and the fishing were great as well – it did not hurt that I caught my first slam on the first day!
We saw a crocodile out on the flats, another first for me. In addition to my first snook we caught many bonefish, lost a nice tarpon after multiple jumps, caught a small tarpon and visited several Mayan sites. That doesn’t cover the rejections we had on other tarpon and permit, which just makes me want to go back!
It was a fantastic trip. Jean and I send our sincerest appreciation to everyone involved, both for this trip and for the work BTT is doing. We learned a bunch on this trip with Aaron and Mick.
Don’t miss out! If you want to be entered to win next year’s Trip of a Lifetime to the Palometa Club in Mexico make sure to join BTT or renew your membership today! The drawing will take place January 1st.
