Fishing in Roatan

[jimmer]

Has anyone on here ever been to Roatan, Honduras? My wife and I are going over the Christmas break and was wondering if I should be bringing a rod and reel for some shore fishing. We will be in the west end at Henry Morgan's Hotel.

[highdrifter]

Hey Jimmer,

 

Been to the west end a few times.. In fact, if it wasn't for getting hitched and being a new dady, I'd be there again this year.. My folks love the place. The reefs there are in great shape if diving is your sorta thing.

 

If you have fly gear and some permit patterns, bring em! There's some fishing opps along the beach at West End but your best bet is to rent a scooter and head to the flats of Sandy Bay, wade out to a likely spot and wait for the permit to come to you. Rutter cutter crabs are by far the best pattern there, but a well placed shrimp on spinning gear might just do the trick.

 

First thing I'd do when I get there is head on down to Sun Downer's bar and ask for Greg. He's a great dude and a wicked guide!! Last time I was there I met the man and ended chasing permit with him for the entire week.. We'd hit the flats during the day and get totally sauced afterwords.. Tell him Fidel sent you!

 

Good luck and have a great trip.

 

cheers

HD

Edited December 11, 2014 by Highdrifter

[mosquito]

Went to Fantasy Island.... never again. Both my son myself were down most of the trip with food poisoning or bad water something similar along with about half the people I met at the resort. The water from the taps was undrinkable and salty and the drinks often turned salty because the staff was lazy and made the ice with tap water. Sand fleas and mosquitoes chewed you up if you went out early to try some fishing, There was a group of about 20 checking out the one day to go to a west end place so hopefully they are better run.

 

So either the food or the water was bad, I am thnking the water due to how many in our flight were down for about half the week so bring some water bottles with filters.

 

Snorkelling was nice if you weren't driven out of the water by the sea lice/baby jelly fish. (happened on several days.). Bring a wetskin or wear a T-shirt, my wife wore a longsleeve shirt and long sleeve pants the one day.

 

Television didn't work all week, staff kept saying the guy would come and he never did, the staff lied about what was included and tried to charge extra a few times, the room AC couldn't get the moisture out and it smelled moldy and musty but you couldn't leave the doors open or you would end up with a room full of mosquitoes, the beds were a metal frame held up by 2x3s and they felt like they were going to collapse all the time, water and power went off a few times.

 

Bring lots of bug spray... just in case.

 

Roatan is one of the places that if you go you can't give blood for a year afterwards by the way.

 

Going back to Roatan was the threat I used to get help looking for another place to go the next trip south.

 

The fishing off the dock was good after dark, get some glow in the dark spoons and scent ( I used shrimp), caught some nice Jacks and lost a small Tarpon but caught nothing much during the morning or day. A couple of all white Rebel lipless topwater minnows got me a couple small baraccuda.

Edited December 11, 2014 by mosquito

[jimmer]

Thanks Guys. I did read many bad reviews about Fantasy Island, so that's why we chose Henry Morgan's. Sorry that you had such a bad experience Mosquito.

[mosquito]

Hope it is much better than our trip, I believed a couple of the "new management" reviews.... which I noticed reappeared each fall after we got back.

 

If you don't have your Hep shots (Twinrix) get them and just take precaution on the bugs and be cautions with the water and food too for that matter.

 

As for the fishing, for Fly fishing Gotchas, should have some pink on them and epoxy minnows

 

For non-fly fishing get a couple of the white rebel topwater minnows and some wire leader, I lost one when 30 lb Floro leader was cut faster than scisors could, you can see one small baraccuda I caught here.

http://ontariofishingcommunity.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=72312

 

and some lucky strike glow in the dark spoons (and a small strong flashlight to charge them)

http://www.luckystrikebaitworks.com/shopping.php?cPath=2

 

1 1/2" Canadian wigglers and the 2 3/8" Floating Canadian Wigglers have done wonders for me too.

 

Good Luck and make sure to add an update.

[Old Ironmaker]

Best of luck fishing and I hope you don't get antsy about the accommodations.

 

If I've never been and it's not at least 4 star (that system is questionable too)I expect the worse and hope for the best. We never drink any water down south sometimes even here unless it's in sealed bottles. Heck the only thing to drink comes in a bottle that says it's at least 50 proof. Nothing much to be done about the food other than to get your needles ahead of time and never eat the soup. Stay away from any food's sitting on a buffet table, nothing gets tossed, nothing. One of my best trips was a few winters ago and a dozen of us went to Cuba for $600.00 all in except the departure tax, you never know. I bet this ain't your first rodeo just be careful.

 

Have a great trip.