This week brought a full house to Casa Blanca with 5 different couples and a group of 4 buddies. Most of the wives enjoyed some of the non-angling activities that are sometimes possible on the island including kayaking and an ecotour. We hoped to go snorkeling one day but the wind made conditions for that activity particularly difficult. The fishing this week was decent with descent conditions the first couple of days followed by wind. Not only did we have wind, it shifted to the north then back to the south, stirring up much of the good fishing water near the lodge. This happens from time to time and it is a great opportunity to use Santa Rosa for some quality bonefishing, or if you are willing to cross the bay in high winds, the north side of the bay can provide some quality permit, snook, or tarpon fishing. Despite the high winds, there were several first bonefish caught and we even scraped up 2 first permit for the group. Many anglers were dead-set on getting their first tarpon, but had nothing but sad stories of missed hook-sets, bad casts, etc when they got back from the boats.
At Playa we welcomed back the Mackie group from Texas as well as our good friend Mark Holland. The week was tough for permit fishing and the group ended up with 2 in total. Snook and tarpon were found throughout the week but the SE wind was tough for us in E Bay. Brian caught a nice 15-18lb permit on the final flat on Friday afternoon, well deserved!