Gales Point, Belize
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On The Fly Saltwater
September 2026
Article and photos by Jimmy Jacobs.
One thing a lot of world-class fishing destinations have in common is their remote locations. The fishing remains good there because the difficulty of reaching them translates to less fishing pressure. Often going hand in hand with that situation is the probability that once there, there’s not much to do or see, except fish.
For serious fly casters that’s just fine. But when you fish the coastal region of Belize, the surrounding tropical habitat of mahogany and malady trees, wildlife ranging from crocodiles to howler monkeys, long abandon Mayan sites and vistas of mountains framing a remote lagoon threaten to overwhelm the senses and distract you from the angling.
That’s not to say the fishing isn’t exciting enough to hold your attention. After running at high speed through a jungle on a narrow canal dating from colonial days when the country was called British Honduras, then popping out into a remote lagoon beneath the towering Maya Mountains, the wild aerial antics of hooked juvenile tarpon quickly can supplant any other thoughts.
A juvenile tarpon taking to the air.
A visit a while back to the Belize River Lodge offered the chance to sample that type of fly casting. The lodge is situated on the flow that is often referred to as Belize Olde River or just Old River. That’s 10 miles northwest of downtown Belize City and about 7 miles from the mouth of the stream and the fringe of the Caribbean Sea.
Our first evening at Belize River Lodge set the tone for this tropical adventure. Green iguanas fed leisurely on the manicured lawn, while dusk brought the booming roar of howler monkeys calling at last light. Locally referred to as “baboons,” these critters are the second loudest creatures on Earth, but, thankfully, they kept quiet during the night.
A Belizean howler monkey.
After a couple of days of chasing bonefish and big tarpon, the latter of which proved fruitless when an offshore storm front fouled the fishing, our guide for the week John Moore offered a plan B. We would head south to look for those juvenile tarpon mentioned earlier.
John got his start on the water as a commercial fisherman, then began taking spin-fishing anglers out from the lodge before becoming a proficient fly-fishing guide. Having grown up in and still a resident of Gales Point – a village roughly 90 minutes south of Belize City by car, but closer by boat – he knew the inshore waters and the fish that live there well.
A panga like the one from which we fished.
We met John at the dock early to load up his panga-style boat with our gear. That vessel was ideal for both the flats and river fishing, having a shallow draft and plenty of room for fly casting. The boats at the lodge have poling platforms at the rear and John’s had the added amenity of a leaning bar in the front.
We first headed down the Old River, then turned south in a canal that skirted the western edge of Belize City and into Haulover Creek. From there we entered the Burdon Canal. Between 1920 and 1929, this historic waterway was dredged from the capital city south to connect to the Sibun River and then on through the Northern, Western and Southern Lagoons to Gales Point.
Prior to the country gaining independence from Great Britian, colonial authorities ran regularly schedule ferry traffic between the two towns. Today the canal remains as a neglected waterway used by John Moore and other locals who know the vagaries of its twisted and overgrown course. Racing down it in a panga proved to be one of the more exciting adventures during our trip to Belize.
Running the Burdon Canal to Gales Point.
Once we arrived in the Southern Lagoon, John steered us to the western side into an area called The Bight, just off the mouth of Soldier Creek and north of Primenta Point. To the south the horizon was composed of the peaks of the Maya Mountains. Here our guide’s local knowledge came into play as he quickly located a couple of unmarked depressions in the lagoon bottom.
Sporadically, smaller tarpon would roll on the surface above those depressions. However, once we began casting dark colored Tarpon Toad patterns into the area with our 9-weight rods, it became apparent that the spot was teeming with these fish. It was not unusual to have the fly attacked multiple times during a retrieve before one of the fish finally inhaled it. The “baby” tarpon ranging in size from about 8 up to 20 pounds, immediately took to the air when hooked and put up roughed fights.
John Moore hoisting one of On The Fly South Associate Editor Polly Dean’s catches.
The fishing action continued steadily for several hours, before the tarpon moved out in mid-afternoon. It has been said that tarpon anglers on average only land or boat one in seven fish they hook. We probably did slightly better than that. Still, the five we caught and released, would make the number we hooked to be better than two dozen.
That gave us plenty to talk about on the ride back north through the Burdon Canal at the end of the day.
