bonefish, bonefish, bonefish

No, not from a massage parlor… the fishing kind.  Today when the monkey went to sleep I went out for one last round of fishing.  The tide was a little better and the water just looked more… fishy.  I managed my first fish while changing up my retrieve from super fast to super slow… evidently, slow and steady wins more than just the race.  First fish of the day, a Leatherjack, about 12″ or so.  Next, I saw a small log floating 50 feet off shore… fish were attacking it, hitting it over and over again.  I got a cast out, slow retrieve and the smallest fish  of the bunch hammered it… Jack Crevalle, about half a pound, little guy.

As I was standing there, casting, retrieving, casting, retrieving, ya know… “fishing.”  All of a sudden, I saw a tail going in front of me, swimming fast, about 5 feet in front of me… the forked tail was clearly visible and it was… um… massive… I’d guess 20 pounds… maybe more.  Safe to say that my interest was peaked.

Bait were popping, boils were sporadic, butt pretty frequent, but still… cast, retrieve, cast, retrieve.  I was starting to think about heading back, hoping my daughter had slept during her nap and thinking it was a bit of a bummer than my jig clousers had not produced.

Tug, set, bigger tug, line going out, clear the line and it was clear this wasn’t a little guy.  Now, the last nice Jack Crevalle I caught here was on a 7 wt. with a cheap Cabela’s large arbor reel… the reel did not do well (grinding is not a good sound when reeling).  This time I was fishing my TFO Clouser 8 wt., the rod I brought to the Bahamas, and my TFO Large Arbor 357 reel.  This fish didn’t stand a chance.  So nice to have confidence in your gear.

Of course, I have no pictures of any of this, since my waterproof camera took a header yesterday and is not recoverable.

The trip was a good family trip with lots of pool time for the 3 year old.  The fishing mostly s-ucked, but ya know… I didn’t get to fish the best tides, I got to fish the tides when my daughter was sleeping.  The surf was also much rougher this trip than I had seen it before.  As always, I was amazed at home much the river mouth had changed in just a few months.

Now… back to my bonefish fixation.

PS – The “Biggest Doucebag” award goes to the guy I saw this morning walking around in a “The Working Class Can Kiss My Ass” T-Shirt.  If you own one of these you should feel bad about yourself. If you WEAR one of these, you should jump off a really high building.

So sad to announce that my trusty waterproof digital camera, my Olympus Stylus 720 SW, has left the world of functioning electronics.  There i was, taking pictures and shooting video one moment and the next… nothing.  I thought it might be the battery, but when I got back to the room and opened the battery compartment… water.  That’s really not a good thing.  Now I can see condensation on the lens and in the flash… that probably isn’t something that will right itself with a couple days of air drying.

Dearly departed, you were a trusty friend.

A good waterproof camera is a great friend of the angler, allowing us to preserve just a little bit of the experience of the river, lake or flat.  A photo of a fish or river canyon, in a way, is like a print of that great painting you saw at the Musee D’Orsay.  It isn’t the same as being there and seeing it yourself, but it reminds you of the experience.

Now… as long as no one tips off my wife, I need to start plotting a path to a replacement.

Appreciate you breaking me off a little here in Vallarta.  Maybe, just maybe, next time, you could let me catch more than one?

The skunk is broken for the trip.

I should add that this fish was caught with a Chernobyl Clouser… glow in the dark materials.  So, a skunk breaker on two fronts.

Dear Fishing Gods,

I appreciate your efforts to teach me humility.  The two goose-eggs produced the last two days are true examples of your power and my powerlessness.  That trip to the Bahamas was a real show of force as well and we don’t even need to get into the stolen St. Croix, my brush with the Message Board Which Must Not Be Named or my inability to make it to the East Walker for the past six months.

You have clearly been working overtime to show me who’s boss and I admit that it is you, not me and that I have a load to learn… including patience and humility.

Thinking back, I think you might have been behind that big fish I lost on the Metolius last summer.  Boy, that was a good lesson learned there.  You truly are a powerful and spiteful deity.  You must have had a good chuckle about that one… knot in the leader, green drake, 20″+ fish… and spectators… if there is more than one of you, you must have had a good communal giggle on my account there.

Back to present times, I would really appreciate it if you’d just knock it the hell off and let me catch some fish again while I’m down here in Vallarta for a few more days.  I would sacrafice a goat or chicken or something, but I simply don’t have any.  However, when I get back home I’ll run a nail over my Fallout 3 game for my PS3, which should satisfy your wanton desire to inflict pain on the souls of faithful anglers.

Tight Lines,

B-

I’m in Vallarta, Nuevo Vallarta to be specific.  Here for a few days with my daughter and my mother-in-law and her husband.

I’ve had some really enjoyable fishing the past few years from the beach.  This year, I have some glow-in-the-dark flies to try out, so I went out the first night.  No dice.  The flies held their glow for about three casts before needing to be recharged with the headlamp.

I was picking up exactly 0 fish, 0 hits, 0 anything.  As I was walking down the shore I noticed something bobbing just off the beach… a gill net, strung across the whole river mouth.  Well… that pretty much sorted that out.  Now I don’t know if the Chernobyl Flies would have worked or not. Bummer.

As I was walking back I noticed something in the foam line and a few steps further and I saw it was a sea turtle.  The turtle was struggling to get over a little sand berm that had been formed.  I watched as it finally struggled over the berm, made its way 20 or so feet up the beach and began digging a whole.

It occurred to me that this stretch of beach is just about the only bit of sand this turtle could have laid her eggs.  This is the most natural bit of beach for probably 15 miles in either direction with resort upon resort upon resort.  I watched her for a while as she started dropping her eggs and I left her in peace to finish her work.

Vallarta Sea Turtle

While I was bummed about the gill net and lack of fish, I felt pretty fortunate to see the sea turtle.

Today I went down to the river mouth to try my luck again.  Got skunked, which doesn’t happen often here.  On the walk back I looked for the spot the turtle had laid her eggs.

I found it… there was a hole and a couple dozen eaten turtle eggs.  Something had gotten to them and all her effort was wasted.

Well… that sucks.  C’est la vie.

Saw a story on Moldy Chum about a mangrove-crushing, environment-destroying developments in New Providence.  It isn’t pretty and the good folks at Secret Soul Fly Fishing Adventures (Aaron Bain and Clint Kemp) are pretty pissed about it… and you should be too.

You can read the whole story here from The Tribune.

It seems like over-development is a real emerging issue all throughout the Caribbean.  I would have thought that this little economic blip we are coming out of would have stopped a few thousand bulldozers and chain saws, but it continues.  I’ve read stories about development threatening Bimini and fears about development in Belize.

This makes me grumpy.

I'm guessing Seychelles with the GT stick.

Thanks for the compliment I appreciate it.  When readers write in and say they love the magazine it charges me to make each issue better and better.  I started fly fishing in 2007 and became absolutely fanatical about saltwater fly fishing.  I searched for information and media about the sport and culture but I couldn’t find the type of material that I craved.  I’ve always related to the skate, surf and snowboard culture and was searching for a similar progressive voice.  I think This is Fly filled a void that was missing in the industry.  Most importantly I feel it speaks to a wider demographic and even attracts non-anglers and introduces them to the sport.

I enjoyed Coach Duff’s recent story in issue 22.  Duffer is intense and takes his hunting very seriously.  I love that type of focus and passion especially since the fish he’s targeting are monsters.  It was also great to see that you can catch big bones in populated areas in front of hotels and condos on the beach.

Zee Bone

In the last 3 years I have covered the globe pretty well and hit most of the popular bonefish destinations.  I have been fortunate enough to visit most of the Bahamas, Mexico, Florida, Kiribati and the Seychelles.  I’m heading to Los Roques this month and excited to experience that fishery.  It will be bizarre to see bones crashing the surface eating minnows.  Future trips that I’m hoping to take are Hawaii, St Brandon’s Mauritius and western Australia.  These places hold huge fish.

The cold front we experienced on our recent trip to Kamalame Cay made the fish very peculiar.  We had to down-size our patterns and ended up fishing gotchas and pink puffs.  My favorite fly right now is Borski’s fur shrimp.  I fish Grand Bahama often and have had awesome results.  Others would be McKnight’s Crimp and a Bonefish Deep Minnow.

A slower pace and lifestyle.  I live in New York City and the pace is both invigorating and exhausting.  The pace keeps you alive and sharp but you do need a break.  Everyone is frantically headed somewhere and that focus can wear you down.  I cherish each trip that I take when I can escape my rigorous cycle.

G Loomis GLX 8wt and Abel 7-8 QC, the ultimate bonefish outfit.

Just your typical New Yorker.

Found this little nugget… the guy who plays Sawyer (Josh Holloway) on Lost out fishing in Hawaii with the Familiar Waters crew… nice.

Hawaii doesn’t suck.  I love Hawaii, although we go to Mexico these days when we are looking for tropical climes… but we’ll be back to Hawaii… and I’ll bring along a 9 wt. and some heavy tippet and at least a day carved out in the schedule to allow me to go get humiliated by those big, educated bones of the Aloha State.

Lost... is that still on?

I have no idea if this emerging concept in fly tying carries over to the world of bonefishing.  I have some reason to think it doesn’t, but the idea of a fly that works when nature turns the lights out has me intrigued.  At my local fly shop I saw some glow-in-the-dark materials… flashabou and EP fibers.  I bought them, having no idea what I’d actually do with them, but powerless to resist.

Just as I’m trying to wrap my mind around the possibilities I get the new issue of Flyfishing in Saltwaters which has has the Neon Knight highlighted, a glowing saltwater fly.  Looking around the intertubes I found more materials and even glow in the dark head cement.

I’m headed to Mexico soon, Pacific side, no bones, but some Jack Crevalle, maybe some snook and precious few fishing hours (family trip, not fishing trip).  However… if I can fish after my daughter goes to sleep… well… this would be good news.  How much sleep do I really need… really?

Just in case it might work for bones… here’s what it might look like…

In the light...

Chernobyl Gotcha

Now… non-bonefish applications are probably the most reasonable…

White Clouser in the light

See… now this is where it  gets interesting…

Chernobyl Clouser

If anyone wants to TRY that Chernobyl Gotcha… let me know… I’ll send one to you, but you have to promise to try it and let me/us know how it goes.

I’ll bet you’ll want to after seeing this…