bonefish, bonefish, bonefish

My blog here is changing to be a self-hosted blog… that means I’ll have a little more control over things and can do things like offer advertising… in this case, I’m going to promote some of the people and companies that I like… BTT, Skinny Water Culture, Deneki, Off the Hook Fly Shop, etc.

Things will have a new look and you’ll see some new things.  Thanks for reading.

The most recent issue of This is Fly is out and not only is it their longest yet, all full of fishy goodness, but it has two, COUNT ‘EM, TWO, stories on bonefish.

This, of course, meets with my approval.

The first story is about Coach Duff and those big, huge, massive, unreasonably large bones of the Aloha State.  You can find that story here.

The second story was by one of the guys behind This is Fly, Paris Fleezanis.  This story takes the TIF crew to Andros and Kamalame Cay.

Kamalame is a place that has shown up on Bones on the Brain before.

TIF, I salute you.  Keep putting out the good stuff.  They remain the leading edge of the e-zine revolution.  A lot was made of the fact that Catch Magazine came out on the same day, but they really are different fish, even if they are both fly fishing-centric.  TIF is for those who read the stories and Catch is for those that like the pictures more than the text (I like Catch, even saw some places I’ve fished in this recent episode).   TIF adds the crazy art… none of which I’d want in my home, in the homes of my friends, on the walls of my friends’ friends, but, ya know… different strokes.

To keep the paper still circulating, I recently subscribed to two magazines… physical magazines… Fly Fishing in Salt Waters and Fly Rod and Reel.  I’m doing my part… ya know, mostly.

I was at the Pleasanton Fly Fishing Show and I saw a book I had heard about a few times, but had not seen close up… Fly Fisherman’s Guide to Saltwater Prey by the Grand Poobah of bonefish knowledge, Aaron Adams.

Hot Damn.  What a book.

Want to see what a “Depressed Mud Crab” looks like (no, I’m not making that up and I don’t know why he’s so down in the dumps)?  There are two pictures and comments like this…

This species is the most abundant on intertidal and shallow sub-tidal oyster bars of the Gulf of Mexico and southeastern U.S. Atlantic coast.

See… good to know.

Not only does the book have just about every bit of bonefish (or, for that matter, tarpon, permit, snook, etc.) food possible, but it also has flies tied by some of the greats that mimic those food sources.  Fly tiers like Dr. Adams, the late Jack Gartside, Marshall Cutchin, Tony Petrella and Oscar Feliu do a damn good job of tying up the flies and giving tips.

Just simply a fantastic book with the information you need to show up wherever your next trip takes you with a fly box or two full of the right flies.

MAN!  I hadn’t checked the Flatwalker blog in a while… he’s been hard at work putting all sorts of choice bonefishness up.

Check it out.

The idea of fishing competitions/tournaments is met with utter disdain not universally embraced by the fly fishing community… at least the trouting part of it anyway.  In the salt, it seems there is a whole different attitude… one that includes lots of tournaments for lots of species, including bonefish.

I saw the results of the Redbone Deep Water Cay Celebrity Classic.  I couldn’t find a list of folks that entered, or what makes them “celebrities,” maybe they don’t wear panties, I don’t know.  Deep Water Cay is the uber-exclusive lodge/operation on the far, far end of Grand Bahama… actually, just off shore on their own cay… Deep Water Cay… they have their own airport.

I caught my first bonefish right behind Deep Water Cay, although I was with an independent guide.  I don’t begin to have the the kind of obscene wealth resources it would take to  have bought in at DWC.

The story can be found on the ESPN site here.  The winner was Cal Collier Jr. who posted 22 fish over two days.  Points were given for Permit too, but no one caught one (no one caught one the year before either).   Sounds like he had to battle some difficult conditions (like a 57 degree morning and 20 mile per hour winds).  He got 16 in the final day to end up on the podium (do they use podiums?).  The guide was Cecil Leathen… can’t find too much about him.  I’m guessing he should have won half of whatever was won if he’s like any of the many, many guides I know.

The biggest fish of the tournament went to David Collier (yes, related) with a 28.5 inch fish.  Um… that is frigging massive, by the way… 12-13 pounds according to the chart I looked at.  TWELVE PLUS POUNDS.  I would have liked to have seen that fish.

Maybe people don’t actually GO to Mexico to fish for Jack Crevalle, but I’m going for a little 2/3 family trip to Vallarta and I’m going to bring a couple rods.  Tying up a few patterns to complete my beach box.  Last year I got a nice Torro from the beach, so I’m bringing some bigger flies this year.  We’ll see.

Great little video about the 2010 winter kill in Florida put out by the Snook Foundation (found on Hell’s Bay facebook page).

Sportsman’s Alliance For Alaska.

A great article on the Mantis Shrimp from creator of  the fly, Bob Veverka, is up at Deneki Outdoors.  Check it out.

There were a lot of great things to look at during the Fly Fishing Show… reels, rods, locations, excellent fly tiers doing their thing and fly fishing art.  There were some less than wonderful sights, however, and I think the most disturbing of all was a show-goer walking around in a “Man Boobs Are Sexy” shirt.

No… no they aren’t.

I was not surprised to see that this shirt comes in XXX-L.

This is certainly not part of the fly show uniform… I think they should institute a dress-code next year just to keep this guy out.