A Flats Fishing Adventure in Roatan

A trip to Roatan offers up some of the best bonefish and permit fishing in the Caribbean. Jon Whittle

It isn’t hard to imagine Capt. Edward Teach, the infamous Blackbeard, standing on the shores of Roatan waiting to raise sails on the Queen Anne’s Revenge and ambush a passing Spanish galleon. Amongst the sordid tales of privateers and colonial struggles, rumors persist of lost treasure buried in the surrounding jungles and mountains. Any remaining gold must be buried alongside the bones of soldiers, scallywags and pirates. Mere feet from the shoreline, a different collection of bones patrols the flats: the silver bullet, the gray ghost, the O’io, the bonefish. And so we descend on Ocean Breeze Lodge in search of silver. 

On Roatan’s quiet east end, Ocean Breeze Lodge offers a respite from the big touristy resorts and crowds. Offering a private dock that doubles as a practice casting platform, a natural swimming pool, and home-cooked Creole meals, it’s the ideal home base for our angling adventure. Jon Whittle With tippet, tackle, nippers and any variation of flies tied to match the hatch, it’s hard to imagine any fly fisherman traveling lightly. It’s a colorful collection of necessary oddities to (hopefully) ensure success on tomorrow morning’s fishing mission. Jon Whittle Ocean Breeze Lodge offers guided trips with great captains like Johnny Boden, who knows this island’s hunting grounds like no other. Born and raised on the east end, he’ll put you where the fish are. The rest is up to you. Jon Whittle Bonefish earn their nickname, “the gray ghost,” for their uncanny ability to disappear into the shallow background. From above, their dark stripes and greenish color give them the perfect camouflage against grassy flats and wave shadows. Jon Whittle Roatan isn’t just pristine beaches and sparkling shallows. Labyrinthine mangrove tunnels work their way inland from the coast, offering angling opportunities different from the flats including snook and juvenile tarpon. Jon Whittle

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Fly fishing can become a long day of missed shots, especially when windy conditions and inexplicably picky fish enter into the equation. But when that last cast of the day ends with a perfect catch, as it did for angler Charlie Levine, it’s hard to feel anything but elation. Jon Whittle While fly fishing is the main attraction at Ocean Breeze Lodge, it also appeals to offshore anglers who come for wahoo, blackfin tuna and mahi. Non-anglers prefer snorkeling and sunset cruises on the tiki boat to wading the flats. Jon Whittle

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