Locations

Locations — 1 Comment
01
Dec 19

Day Saver in Oahu

First off, I didn’t expect that much traffic. I was staying at the Aulani with the fam for Thanksgiving and needed to get to the airport flat to meet Kenny at 7:00 AM. I thought 40 minutes would do it. I was wrong.

The bell staff were also wrong that it would be “about the same cost” for a taxi and a Lyft… it was, in fact, not about the same cost at all. It cost me $128 to get to the flat (vs. $38 to get back) and I got there 15 minutes late. I hate being late.

The flat, when we got out there, was glassy clam. No wind rustled the mangroves or the water and it took about 10 seconds to see my first tail waiving at us to say good morning.

Now, it must be said, these fish are kind of assholes. They are so very, very spooky and they’ve seen some stuff, man… they’ve seen it all. They were super skittish in the sheet of skinny water and Kenny let me know it wasn’t ME they were rejecting, but more an overall disposition. Having an almost teenage daughter, I understand the mentality.

We worked hard and didn’t have too much to show for it. I had maybe 10 shots through lunch and I had maybe another 5 after lunch. The shots decreasing as the wind came up and the tails stayed down with the changing tide. I hooked one nice fish that must have run around one of the many, many coral obstacles and cut me off. It was good to feel the tug, but I was still off the board.

The day was waning. My dinner reservations were on my mind as well as questions about exactly how much traffic I might have on the way back West. I told Kenny that, ya know, if it wasn’t going to happen, we didn’t need to keep after it. Kenny said he wanted to try one more spot.

The breakers weren’t being totally blunted and so the ride out on the last flat was a little wild, a confused jumble of swells from different directions meant everyone had to hold on from time to time. To make it a bit more challenging the water was both a little deeper and the bottom seemed to be the EXACT color green of a bonefish. I was seeing phantom fish everywhere. Luckily, Kenny was seeing actual fish and had me cast toward a fish he had picked out.

“Strip long.”

“Strip long again.”

Tight to a fish and it was lightning, streaking across the flat. Backing exposed and recovered. Smiles all around. When I saw the size of the fish I wondered if I had hooked it in the ass, but it was just a strong, ocean-side fish. Not the 10 pounder, but the right species in the right place and sometimes you just need to take what the fishing gods give you.

What a Day Saver looks like and what a relieved guide looks like.

It was a day saver and we were both pretty relieved.

You can find guide Kenny Karas here, and I recommend a day on the water with him. He’s good people and knows his stuff. This is a solid recommendation, not an ad.

Locations — 2 Comments
07
Oct 19

Deep Water Cay Closes

The first and oldest bonefishing lodge in the Bahamas is a casualty of Dorian. Deep Water Cay is ceasing operations.

Here’s the story.

I got to visit DWC a few years back and can attest to how nice the place was. The facilities and the guides and the boats were all top notch. Such a lot of history has come through that little island on the East End.

Locations — 2 Comments
28
Jun 19

Violence in Belize

You may have seen the story… a fly fishing trip that ends in a double murder. If you had told me that happened in the Keys, I would have thought it was a matter of time. Tell me that happened in Belize and I’d call you a liar.

A 53-year old cardiologist on vacation with his wife and three kids gets caught up in some crazy gangster/drug BS and ends up dead, along with the intended target, his guide.

Here’s the story.

I’ve been to Belize a few times. I love Belize. I’ve been to San Pedro and I’ve fished the same waters where they were killed. It all sounds crazy, but, these are crazy times, I suppose.

The permit. Not a big permit, but a permit.

I had my second honeymoon in Belize. I caught my first (and only) grand slam in Belize. I’ve vacationed on Belize with my daughter for a couple daddy-daughter Spring Break trips.

One of the highlights from Spring Break 2017.

Will this change your travel plans to Belize?

Locations / Uncategorized — 6 Comments
11
Jun 19

Getting to Cuba Just Got Harder

The Trump Administration recently announced some expanded travel restrictions for Cuba, because, ya know… they are super, super, super duper a threat to our way of life and, also, he’d like to keep Florida red in 2020.

I talked with Kristen Tripp, Program Director for Cuba at Yellow Dog Fly Fishing Adventures and I asked her what the impact of this latest news would be on their program.

First, Kristen expressed her frustration and sorrow for the people of Cuba who have been through a lot, make due with very little and are certainly being hurt by some of these very backward looking policies. There’s a shortage of just about everything in Cuba, including chickens, and people really are being put through unnecessary harm.

Second, Kristen explained that things have changes since I went to Cuba back in 2012. The whole operation has worked hard to make their trips legal (read, not just sneaking in from Mexico). This new policy makes that harder, but not impossible and they’ll be trying very hard to maintain above-board Cuban trips this year and into the future. Trips are still being booked to Cuba and any already on the books are grandfathered in. Still, there will be changes and the exact fall-out is a bit still to be worked out.

Cuba was a fantastic experience for me… one of the best trips I’ve ever been on. It was pretty obvious how bad the Cuban people were hurting back then and it hasn’t gotten better since. It is all a travesty and I hope some intelligence seeps into our Cuban policy that doesn’t revolve around Presidential politics.

Photo by Matt Hansen… me, seconds after losing a really, really nice fish.

For the latest developments, there are few people better suited to answer your questions than the folks at Yellow Dog and Kristen in particular.

I’m not the only one who thinks this is a bad idea. So does Foreign Policy (that liberal rag). The Guardian thinks sanctions don’t work. Fortune seems to think it is a bad idea.

It is bad policy… a failed policy that didn’t work for 50 years. Let’s get past this.

Locations — 6 Comments
02
May 19

Oh Bahamas Regulation mess, I didn’t miss you

Sounds like these got dropped off in Eleuthera recently and are being distributed around the island.

Eleuthera is a DIY location for the most part. Guides are scarce and many anglers have been heading there for years to ply the waters on their own.

A permit there would be hard to come by (I guess you go to Tracy Auto Parts?). The process isn’t exactly working, really anywhere, and there’s no real sense of who is enforcing this sort of thing. If there IS enforcement for this, why not for gill-nets?

So many questions… so many questions.

Conservation / Locations — 1 Comment
24
Apr 19

Big bad ideas in South Abaco

Here’s a story you should check out. The Abaconian paper put out a really well done piece about the latest in a LONG parade of bad development proposals for South Abaco.

. The Abaconian paper put out a really well done piece about the latest in a LONG parade of bad development proposals for South Abaco.

Kakona appears to have similar plans to the now-maligned Valencia Group from 2007. Of course, Kakona is just the latest in a string of development companies to attempt a project in South Abaco.
In 2007 it was “Valencia.” In 2012 “The Resorts of South Abaco” came knocking. Followed in 2015 by “The Ranches of South Abaco.” Finally, in 2018, “Kakona” is making a play.

http://www.theabaconian.com/2018/12/12/proposed-south-abaco-development-latest-in-poorly-planned-projects/

It feels a bit like I heard Florida was back in the day… a haven for frauds and con artists selling dreams.

Gear / Locations — 4 Comments
21
Apr 19

Christmas Island Gear Rundown

We fly anglers love our gear. Some (I’m looking at you Aaron) use a trip like this to load up on new rods and reels. I tend to try and make due with what I have, although even I brought in some new tools for this trip.

The Rods

I brought 5 rods with me and used 3. My 12 weight never left the rod tube and my back-up 10 had a similar fate. Both of those rods were the Redington Predators that I’ve been very happy with for years.

I brought one loaner rod with me and that was a Sage Salt 10 wt.. This was my go-to GT rod and the rod I used to horse up Milkies and Bluefin Trevally. It’s a solid rod and it cast well. Fast action and easy casting. Sadly, I have to send that one back, as it was a loaner, but it would earn a place in most saltwater quivers.

My go to bonefishing rod for the past few years has been my Orvis Helios 2. I’m just comfortable with that rod. We’ve seen things together. Just yesterday I cast an H3 and it felt like a totally different rod (which I didn’t love). I’ll keep my H2 until I snap the thing.

I used a “trigger” rod for part of the trip, a rod rigged up with a crab fly and 20# tippet. This was my Redington Predator 8 wt. that I picked up last year. I’ve been pretty pleased with this rod, which is on the lower price-point side of things. The first trigger I landed in Christmas was on this rod and I had to put the stick to the fish to keep it from heading back to his rocky, coral-lined home. This is the fish that then bit the rod. I am happy to say the rod is in fine shape, which is pretty shocking, but is true nonetheless.

Reels

I ended up using two new reels on this trip.

First, I had the Redington Grande, which is a machined version of their Behemoth reel, which I also own and have liked. I had the Grande on the 10 wt. and actually got the larger version of the reel, a 11/12, so I could dump more backing on it. I wish I would have caught more fish on this, but what I saw out of the reel was all positive. I made a mistake with the reel on my reef-lost GT in that I should have locked the drag down, but I didn’t and the line ended up getting a bit roughed up on the reef. That spelled the last action for the Grande as I moved to the back-up reel which had a new line on it.

The back-up reel was the Sage (the SPECTRUM MAX). Solid reel. I had no issues with this reel and it did well when pulling those milkfish up from the depths.

The bonefish reels I used are the ones I’ve been using for years now. There an Orvis Mirage (the earlier version) and a Lamson (a lightspeed, I think) which is similarly no longer in production. I used to really like Lamson as a reel maker, but they’ve made a succession of odd choices in the past few years.

Lines

The only lines I used that were really new to me were the RIO GT lines. I had no complaints about these lines. I had made the decision not to monkey with the factory loops and so I should comment that I did have to swap reels because the factory loop on the first reel got pretty messed up on the coral. I can’t think that is the fault of the loop though. The loop to loop connection seemed to be the place on the coral that the line got stuck and the loop was partially cut through in a couple of places. That said, it still held, it was the leader that ended up getting cut. Also, if I had made my own loop the profile would have been even more pronounced and it would have caught even more. I still stand by my decision to use the factory loop. The factory loop held on the milkfish just fine. People land huge GTs on the factory loop. I’ve seen the pics.

Other Key Bits of Gear

I ended up getting a pair of Simms flats boots because I was told the booties would not stand up. The boots worked well. I got a pair that were a previous year’s model so they were fairly cheap. That said, a guy on our trip had a pair of the booties, same Simms booties I have, and they stood up to the coral just fine.

The Patagonia sun hoodies are all I wear these days. They are just hard to beat. I now have three pairs of that shirt.

The Simms sun mask is my go to now. Love the holes which reduce the feeling of breathing through someones hand on my mouth and it also reduces the fogging up of sunglasses.

Yes, you can drink a beer through your sun mask.

Earplugs. My roommate for the trip very much suffers from un-diagnosed sleep apnea. I never got a solid night’s sleep. Someone on the trip gave me a pair. That was very, very important for how the whole trip went down for me.

Body Glide. Nothing would mess up your trip faster than your inner thighs being rubbed raw. Body glide is the answer. I use it proactively pretty much any time I’m spending time in the salt.

Antibiotics. Turns out my health plan has a travel clinic. You tell them where you are going and they’ll write you a prescription for what you might need and they’ll also look and see if you need any vaccines. I didn’t get sick on this trip, but I would have been in good shape if I had.

I needed a big, waterproof bag and I didn’t want to break the bank. Enter the Outcast AK Duffle. This thing is HUGE (no, I was not over weight). I could fit my rods IN the bag. Really pleased with this thing.

Locations — 2 Comments
14
Apr 19

No bonefish were harmed in the making of these memories

Anini… a pretty cool place and one of very few places in Kauai where folks target bonefish. I’m not hot-spotting here. If you couldn’t put those particular topics together your Google is broken.

So, yeah, my 12 year old daughter and I made our way to camp at Anini for her Spring Break. We’ve been doing these Dad/Daughter trips for the past couple years and it has been some top shelf memory making.

A few things to know:

Roosters. Roosters start doing their thing about 3:15 AM. Ear plugs are mandatory equipment.
It is cheap… $3/day per adult. Cost us $9 to camp.
There can be a lot of people there. There were, roughly, all the people when we were there.
The North Short of Kauai means rain. Sometimes, that could mean 50″ in 24 hours. On this trip it meant some rain at night and on and off during the day.
Mixed in with the rain and the wind will be stretches of wonderful beautifulness.
The bones there are, ya know, kind of scarce. I saw one on foot and I saw a few while paddle boarding.
You’ll need a car to get around.
The Bubba’s in Hanalei is now a salad place.

Camping means bringing camping stuff. For the two of us it was 4 bags. I’m sure if you are a really awesome camper you can do this with less stuff. We tend to bring a lot of stuff and that meant four bags.

The BEST thing we brought with us was an inflatable SUP. Worked very well and the beach at Anini is such that I had no worries about letting my girl take it out and paddle around. There is a coral head that takes all the oomph out of the waves and you are left with a pretty calm flat.

I managed to catch some trumpet fish in the cuts. Trumpet fish are dumb. Simple as that. I caught a couple on gear and three on flies. I didn’t catch anything else. It wasn’t really a fishing trip. It was a trip with the girl and in that regard it was pretty wonderful.

If you are looking to go catch a Hawaiian bonefish, well… go to Oahu and go out with Kenny. If you are looking for a pretty awesome place to do some very unique camping, check out Anini.

Finished Tiamat’s Wrath in the Expanse series… looking for my next book now.

Locations — No Comments
11
Mar 19

So, the Seychelles look OK

Here’s a video trip report someone put together (Joe… Joe put it together) and it looks kind of stunning. Hope you enjoy.

All the other stuff / Locations — 2 Comments
16
Feb 19

On not getting the runs

I had heard pretty much everyone who goes to Xmas gets the runs at some point. I’m here to tell you this is not the case.

The risk is certainly on Christmas Island, however, and caution is your friend.

The Villages provides purified water in a pitcher in your room. Use it. Use it to brush your teeth. Use it to rise your toothbrush. Use it for anything.

Don’t put water in your mouth in the shower. Just don’t.

I had a phone appointment before I left with the Kaiser Travel Clinic and they got me a 3 pill prescription for antibiotics specific to what I might encounter there. I didn’t need to use them.

It was frequently the case that guides missed days because of GI bugs. Water borne disease is pretty rampant on Christmas and the locals are very much not immune. Many guides powered through their days even with their stomach bugs and would simply excuse themselves to take care of business. It’s life on the island and that guiding money isn’t going to come from anywhere else.

Only one guy out of our 16-17 anglers had any issues and that was minor, treatable with Imodium (which is NOT how you treat sever diarrhea). Caution and prevention is where it is at.

Bonefish on the Brain Bonefish and all that relates (maybe a bit about tarpon too).