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Word is Warunta Lodge, that snook fishing place on the Miskito Coast of Honduras, is changing hands. Word is Warunta Lodge, on the Miskito Coast is changing hands. The would-be buyer, we are told, is a fly fisherman who wants to cater more to the longrodder than the lodge has done in the past. By the time you read this, the sale should have been completed. We hope to have more details next month.
In the meantime we contacted Paul Melchior of Angling Escape, who tells us fly fishermen will find this place has come a long way since the last and only report we received from a subscriber who fished there in 2003. That angler was unhappy with his experience, which he says consisted of mostly trolling. He also reported significant netting in the area. Melchior tells us he was at the lodge earlier this year and says the netting problem has been squelched.
As for the fishing, he says Warunta is under the management of an experienced individual who managed peacock bass lodges in Venezuela for many years and is familiar with the needs of fly fishermen. Because there are more than 100 miles of shoreline and a myriad of creeks and hidden lagunas within the mangroves, Melchior says there are almost endless places to fish.
He says the guides have come quite a ways in learning different fishing spots, but there is still a lot to figure out. That said, he reports landing snook on a fly every day, sometimes as many as 25 to 30 fish and says he was not by any means the most successful angler there. The snook averaged two to five pounds, but Melchior says fish of 10-plus pounds are possible, with an 20-plus-pound fish at the very top end.
Melchior also says he and his clients found baby tarpon from 20 to 30 pounds, plus mature silver kings upwards of 75 to 100 pounds. The challenge they encountered was that in some parts of the lagoon the tarpon are so mixed an angler might hook a 20-pounder on one cast and a 100-pounder on the next.
Melchior plans to take another group down to Warunta next season. Currently a five-day package with three full days of fishing runs $1,875 per person. Incidentally, Warunta Lodge was spared any damage from Hurricane Felix.