2013 and onto 2014 – Bright & beautiful

The Bonefish Shuffle and a Challenge
December 31, 2013
2014 Update
February 1, 2014

2013 and onto 2014 – Bright & beautiful

Looking back over the last twelve months, we are thankful for life and that we were able to enjoy the last year with each other and some of you. While busy, we also had some slow times, which makes us realize that for everything that happens, there is the opposite effect. With this in mind, we noticed . . .

1.    Not all days were sunny, not all days were cloudy but we had many days of sunshine and calm.
2.    Some days were great fishing, some days not so great, but any day out fishing is better than a day at the office.
3.    We enjoyed seeing family and friends, we had a new family member born, and thankfully, there were no traumatic events this year.
4.    Large Tarpon were landed, large tarpon were jumped and large tarpon were lost and some large tarpon just snubbed the fly.
5.    We started with rain in early 2013, went to almost draught and have ended the last three months of the year with rain, so flooding in the river. Belize Olde River fishing not so good, but Flats, Sibun and Manatee fishing were good.
6.    With all the rain, the river may be in flood, but the grass, trees and flowers are growing and blooming beautifully.
7.    Permit were permit and some days large schools followed flies and teased anglers, but the joy of seeing a school of 50 to 100 Permit will stay with them forever.
8.    We helped to celebrate an engagement and a few milestone birthdays – 65 and 40 – fun groups and fond memories.
9.    We have approximately 1000 bonefish tagged to date and this fall, landed and re-released two tagged Bones. One Bonefish was initially spaghetti tagged in December 2011 and was 22″, about 6 lbs. Good news, the flats have older, larger bones, the other news is, as studies show in Belize, in two years, there was no significant growth in the Bonefish, as it was still 6 lbs.
10.    There is color and moments everywhere, if you don’t take a moment to look around and enjoy where you are, then that moment is lost forever.

With all things in life, we learn to look ahead, stay positive and know that tomorrow is another day, 2014, another year. We look forward to seeing all of our family, friends and guests in the upcoming year; knowing that any day will present a milestone or challenge, whether large or small, and that we will optimistically focus on tomorrow – a bigger fish, a college graduation, better weather, a new family member, a good day fishing – all are starts with an optimistic future.

We found an Apache Prayer that sums up our wishes for 2014.

May the sun
bring you new energy by day.
May the moon
softly restore you by night.
May the rain
wash away your worries.
May the breeze
blow new strength into your being.
May you walk
gently through the world and know
its beauty all the days of your life.

Warm regards,
Mike & Marguerite