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- Jim Scott, El Pescador at Punta Gorda
Belize, Punta Gorda - Condition of Equipment:
Excellent - Quality of Accommodation:
Excellent - Quality of Food:
Excellent - General Fishing Knowledge:
Excellent - Quality of Service:
Excellent - Highlights of the Trip:
This is my third trip to Belize and my second trip to El Pescador Punta Gorda. In 2002, my girlfriend and I were lucky enough to visit El Pescador PG before it was officially open. Jim Scott was still in the process of building all of the cabanas and putting in the landscaping and tram to the river. Despite this, the place was amazing then and like no other fishing lodge that I have seen in Central or South America. It is the only place that I know of where the Howler monkeys serve as your alarm every morning and you can see Toucans and Trogons while you drink coffee before going fishing. It was on the trip in 2002 that I caught my first permit after trying for ten years. My girlfriend also caught plenty of bonefish and had shots at permit. This year's trip was even better. Jim Scott had finished the other cabanas, added onto the lodge, built the tram to the river. Also, the two years since I had been there had allowed the landscaping to mature. ( I will email a picture of the lodge as well as pictures of several of the fish that I caught). The place is even better than it was before as was the fishing. On the prior trip, we had fished with Scully and had arranged our dates around fishing with him again. He is by far the best fishing guide that I have ever had. His knowledge of the fish and their habits, fly selection and ability to put you in the right position is without compare. Scully has grown up for the last 30 years fishing on the same flats that he is guiding and knows each flat like the back of his hand. Finally, his best quality is his absolute patience which was especially important with my girlfriend. She is still working on her cast, and he was happy to spend hours with her on the flats until she got her cast working and caught fish. This is the most important element of the trip as I want my girlfriend to have a great experience and love to fish. Scully has made this possible. As far as the fishing goes, we saw hundreds of tailing permit every day with many well over thirty pounds. During our three days of fishing, I caught one permit on my first day and two on the second day. There is no doubt that if we had not chased a grand slam on the second and third days, that I could have had a chance to catch many more permit. I will not say that permit fishing is easy at Punta Gorda. While this place is amazing, I have to caution people about going down there and thinking that since there are a lot of permit that it is easy to catch a permit. These permit are the same as permit everywhere else and you need to be a good caster, put the fly where the guide tells you to or where you see the fish and have the patience that all flats fishing requires. The difference in the permit fishing here is the overwhelming number of fish that you have a chance to cast to everyday as well as the fact that many of these fish have never seen a fly before. In addition to permit, we saw over a hundred small tarpon (the larger ones arrive in April) and were able to get many good shots. Not catching one was my fault. There is an abundance of bonefish and you can catch as many as you care to. Also, there are chances to go outside the reef and catch schooling tuna and other species. These should be considered a bonus but are definitely around. While we were not there at the right time for fishing in the river that the lodge sits on, during the spring months, I have heard that there are significant numbers of tarpon and snook of all sizes. Besides the fishing, the accommodations are fantastic with A/C in every room. It would get cold enough in the rooms in August that I would have to turn it off. The food is fantastic and much more sophisticated than most other fishing resorts. All in all, Jim Scott does a wonderful job managing the best permit lodge in existence. - Would you recommend this trip to a friend?:
Yes