Though I’ve flats fished from Abaco to Tahiti, I was always curious about Roatan as a unique, exotic, yet economically doable destination for most flats fishermen. My research indicated that it had three major features, which made it a one-of-a-kind island.

Before discussing these, let’s back up to the basics. Many of you may not have heard much about Roatan. Well, this island, and a few others, comprise the Bay Islands that lie about forty miles north of the Caribbean coast of Honduras. If you traced a southward-moving line through the more famous islands off Belize, then
traced that line eastward by following the perpendicular shift of the landmass, you’d find Roatan.

The four characteristics that compelled me to visit Roatan were the following. Firstly, unlike most other Mexican and Belizean islands, Roatan’s environment is lush, mountainous, and undeveloped. A
friend told me that you can sleep on the beaches next to the mountains under brilliant starry skies and wake up to little clouds of hummingbirds as a prelude to your day of fishing. Secondly, the waters of Roatan boast coral reefs second to none in the Caribbean,
and the best thing is that this treasure is a mere 50 yards offshore! Imagine what a nice snorkel break this could provide during a day of flats fishing.

Because Roatan has a diver’s emphasis, it has fishing habitat that is relatively unpressured: this is the third big feature. My research yielded stories about flats that offered plenty of tailing permit, bonefish, and ocean tally. Its mangrove-lined bights are said
to house plenty of small snook and tarpon. Last but not least, Roatan’s drop-off is so quick, you can hook tuna and wahoo five minutes from the shoreline.

Homework
In my research, I made a decision to stay away from the more touristy west side of the island that is so frequented by divers. I decided on the Tropical Beach Resort for many reasons. It is located on Calabash bight, which offered tarpon fishing not five minutes from the lodge, with the most substantial flats were only 30 minutes away. The reef was only a minute’s swim from the
shoreline, and I learned the beachside resort was covered with palm, pecan, and noni trees. This would be a great place to kick back when not fishing

The owners, Rod and Jean Christensen, have done an excellent job with amenities at Tropical Beach Resort. Each cabana has air conditioning, cable T.V., hot showers and comfy beds. The meals
are first class with plenty of meat, seafood and vegetables, and can be cooked American or Honduran style. The resort has two excellent pangas: one for the flats and one for the reefs, both with dependable Yamaha motors. I was sold on this perfect combination, and made my reservations.

The airline arrangements were simple with plenty of choices. Solair flies direct from Miami on a weekly basis. Taca Airlines and its partners access Roatan from Houston, New Orleans and Miami through San Pedro Sula on the Honduran mainland, then onto Roatan via a twin-engine plane.

Rod was there at the airport to meet my friend Art and I. An hour later, we hit the sack at the resort in air-conditioned comfort. By next morning we were fishing crunchy reef flats with Kevin for three
days. We also fished the Roatan bights with Perry for tarpon and snook.

How’d we do?
Since our trip was during the rainy season, which corresponds to Florida’s winter season, we encountered showers about half of the time. There was rarely much thunder and the fish seemed not in the least bothered by the rain. I spent three days fishing and the other two sightseeing in the mountains, shooting film and snorkeling. Those three days of fishing provided more than enough action.

I cannot recall seeing more tailing permit ANYWHERE, Belize included. Sometimes I would see six schools of a dozen fish each inside a football-sized field of flats. A properly cast crab style fly or hermit crab was grabbed about half the time.

The flat calm waters of the rainy season made our challenge greater. The biggest permit that I hooked was over 20 pounds and
was lost when the fish frizbeed itself up and over the reef and down the drop-off. The same for an ocean tally of the same size hooked on light spin.

In between the tailing permit were schools of bonefish to six pounds and small pods of tailing ocean tallies to 20 pounds. I caught and released more than enough bonefish and permit on those flats.

All three species of tailing fish were numerous. In the remaining days we explored the mangrove-lined bights, bays and creeks for snook and tarpon. The fish were there, and were especially receptive to bonefish sized bucktails tipped with shrimp fished on a 30 pound fluorocarbon leader.

While Art fished, Rod and I took the big panga out over the reefs for some snorkeling. These reefs are clearly some of the best in the entire Caribbean and offered an incredible diversity of fish and different corals. It was soon clear why Rod and Jean opened Tropical Beach Resort: they are living the good life! I plan to rejoin them soon, and live some good Roatan life myself.

Jan Stephen Maizler is a veteran author specializing
in writing about exciting shallow water destinations.
He is the author of “Flats Fishing II: A Shoalwater
Handbook.” Jan can be reached at www.flatsfishingonline.com .

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