From October 17th through 23rd, Bonefish Tarpon Trust worked with guides from the Abaco Fly Fishing Guides Association, Black Fly Lodge, Abaco Lodge, Delphi Lodge, and Pete & Gay’s Guesthouse to tag 339 bonefish on Abaco. We also surgically implanted sonic tags in 25 bonefish and placed sonic receivers at a suspected spawning location as part of a study to identify important spawning sites.

via Bonefish & Tarpon Trust.

That sounds like it was probably a lot of fun to be a part of, no?

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Billy was an innovator, unsurpassed as a fly fisherman, knowledgeable, a true sportsman.

via IGFA | The IGFA Remembers Fly Fishing Legend Billy Pate.

Billy Pate was a founding member of the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust.  Never met him.  Never even talked to him, but he sounds like a pretty fascinating guy.

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This is my guest post for Deneki Outdoors, the owners of Andros South.  Love that place.

Photo by Andrew Bennett, fish catching by me.

While out stalking the phantom of the flats, it turns out you can do more than just catch and release. You can fish for science!

via Bonefish Science | Tagging and Fin Clipping Bonefish.

Tagging and fin clips… two great ways to help the folks at the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust.

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At their April 6 meeting, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted unanimously to put in place new regulations that will make bonefish a catch and release species in Florida. The new regulations take effect July 1, 2011.

via Bonefish & Tarpon Trust.

Yeah, I didn’t miss this, but I didn’t really post about it either.  This is good news and the folks at the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust are the folks who you should thank.

Awesome.

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A solid congrats needs to be sent out to the folks at the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust for their work to preserve and protect Bonefish in Florida (and other places, but for this post, Florida) with a boatload of irrefutable science (see, that’s what they do).

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission decided Wednesday to move forward on a new rule that would declare bonefish a catch-and-release species, with no harvest of them allowed.

via Bonefish getting permanent protection.

Love it.  Gotta get over there… have not fished in Florida, which seems a little silly now.  Well, thinking about it, I actually did fish Florida… but it was a long, long, long time ago.  I was 10.  There was spin fishing off some beach… I caught a crab.

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Just saw this over at Chi Wulff and it was timely, as I just got the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust Journal and have been reading it as well.  Good stuff… I mean, really, really good.  It’s glossy, but I think that gloss is ad-supported.

While perhaps overly laden with advertising, BTT’s Bonefish and Tarpon Journal 2011 is worth a look today, if just to read Chico’s Looking for Bonefish:  A Beginner’s Guide.

via Chi Wulff — Lying About Fly Fishing Since 2007.

Something they pointed out that I didn’t know is that the journal is available on-line!  Go to their post to get the link.

I’m kind of sad it is available for free… you should support BTT to get to see this thing.  It is pure bonefishy goodness.

I’ll be headed to Andros South here in, oh about 2 months and I BTT is going to send me with a dozen copies of the Jornal to hopefully entice future guests into becoming members.

If you love bonefish, you should join BTT.

How cool… tagging bonefish for the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust in CUBA!  That sounds kind of awesome.

In mid November I had the opportunity to tag bonefish in Southern Cuba for the Bonefish and Tarpon Trust.

via Slipstreamangling :: Extraordinary Waters Worldwide.

Rich French, from Slipstream Angling is the lucky SOB who got to do the trip… see… he’s Canadian, so he gets health care, sensible gun control AND gets to go to Cuba.  I hope they have as many Canada Geese as we have… that would at least be a mark in the negative box.

Canada doesn’t have any of their own bonefish… I guess that’s a pretty good negative too.  So, maybe it all balances out.

Good on ya Rich

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Well, I was happy to see Episode 1 of the Outdoor Channel’s series Buccaneers and Bones on the DVR for my (I’m trying to make it) daily stint on the new treadmill (the show also has a Facebook Page).

It was like a return home as the location for the premier episode was El Pescador Lodge on Ambergris Cay in Belize.  It is a joy to see this show back on the air after ESPN dumped all their fishing and outdoor shows this year.

On the show we get to see Zach Gilford catching bonefish with Lori-Ann Murphy out in the lagoon behind the lodge where my buddy Shane and I fished.  There are tarpon and snook caught as well by other members of the Buccaneers.

This show is aimed to support the Bonefish and Tarpon Trust, an organization I support and I urge you all to support too.  Really… if you aren’t a member and you like to fish for bonefish, tarpon or permit… well… you should be.  You can be a better person in 2011 by signing up now.

I really liked the show.  The only criticism I’d have was some outbound clicks put onto the soundtrack in a place where Michael Keaton had about 20 feet of line on the deck while landing a tarpon.  Still… beautiful scenery, some interesting anglers, some magnificent fish and all with a conservation message.

I’m a fan.

A nice place to be.

Aaron Adams… Director of Operations for BTT… yeah, the guy knows bonefish.  He put this together, which is just a joy to watch.

If you want to win a sweet skiff from Hell’s Bay and want to support THE biggest supporter of bonefish (and tarpon and permit) out there… well… your time is running out.  Dec. 31st is the deadline to enter the drawing.  Entering the drawing is the same thing as cutting a check to BTT, which, if you are reading this… you probably should do.  No… really… do it.  Do it because they are doing good work and think of the boat drawing as a possible bonus (cause, ya know… there’s only one and the odds aren’t with you).

Here are the details.

I want this... although I have no idea what I'd actually do with it.