The jacks have saved us

• The fact that the jacks have been obligingly hitting the flies have saved us big time - there is nothing you can do when you get the kind of weather we have been getting out here in Belize, but you might as well go and nail a few hard fighting jacks when the tarpon and permit are keeping their heads down. It has been that (comparatively) cold here today that any self-respecting flats fish has long run for deeper water.

• The weather we have been getting out here sounds like nothing when compared to all the snow and cold I keep reading about back home, but for a place like this it has been pretty extreme. Wednesday was really bright, perfect for photography, but the wind was literally hurtling down the coast and causing the flats to go all milky and cold. Tarpon, bones and permit hate this !! We tried really hard but could not find the fish, so on the way back to the lodge we stopped to smash a few jacks - they were somewhat obliging. Nothing huge, but a blast. I even picked up a fly rod and (very badly) cast a Clouser Minnow out and nailed a few fish. James and I had a competition to see who could give the least amount of line to a hooked fish, and I am proud to say that I won - not one jack took a single millimetre of line off me. Very silly, but great fun.

• The wind was pumping even harder this morning, so our guide elected to run us miles south to try and find clearer water and the fish, but by the time we got there the rain was lashing down in a huge way - not great for flats fishing !! In fact I have never felt so cold in the tropics, and although that might be hard to believe, put a howling wind and lashing rain together and it was feeling more like fishing back at home. Granted, there was no snow, but with our luck I would not have been that surprised if James and I had got a dumping of the first ever snow they have had here !! This place chucks up some seriously good fish, but we have just been dealt a bum hand with the weather. In the bar there is a photo of a 197lb tarpon taken on the fly in 2002 - that is how good it can be here, and when the weather behaves, anglers get multiple shots at tarpon, permit and bonefish. I will be coming back to nail this stuff properly on camera......

• James and I are flying back to the UK tomorrow and if all goes to plan we should be landing at Heathrow just after 9am on Saturday morning. I am really hoping that the adverse weather at home does not prevent me getting back home to see my girls and of course make the 3pm kick-off for England v Italy in the opening match of the Six Nations rugby. With Saturday being my birthday, surely a good result might be on the cards ?

Tricky fishing conditions

• OK, so it's not snowing out here in Belize like it is back home, but at first light this morning the wind was really pumping the clouds through - if there is one thing you need for flats fishing, it's decent light to help spot the fish. James nailed this nice mutton snapper early on, but it was tough fishing for most of the day. We saw a few nice permit tailing, plus some spooky tarpon and bonefish, but it was not easy to see fish moving.

• The weather gradually improved all day though, and this allowed me to start nailing some proper photos - I do really love photographing flats based fishing when the sun gets high in the sky and starts lighting the sand up. There is hardly a breath of wind at the moment, so we are hoping that it stays like this for tomorrow, and then we are in with a proper chance of nailing tarpon and possibly permit. It's lovely and warm out here, but a part of me wished I could see all that snow that is falling in the UK - we see it so rarely and it is a bit of a shame to be away when it is all happening.

• Isn't fly fishing awesome ? Isn't fishing in general just plain awesome ? I love photographing fly fishing virtually anywhere, but it really works well for casting shots when the light allows me to frame the angler against big blue skies and try for something that little bit different. James happens to be a seriously good fly angler, and he can chuck a proper line.

• We finished the day off by drifting a channel that lay between a couple of small islands, and James smashed the jacks in a big way. We could see hundreds and hundreds of jacks of all sizes swimming around below the boat, and a fair few were taken on fast sinking lines and a Clouser Minnow. Both James and I are big fans of the jacks, and they never cease to amaze me at just how insanely hard they fight. Pound for pound I reckon they are one of the hardest fighting fish there is. Anyway, time to hit the sack and recharge the batteries for another day tomorrow.