I usually write the post the night before it goes up… last night I ended up in the ER with a little girl with a temp over 104.  Four hours later and I was back home, but I was also ready for bed.  The good news is that everything is well with the little girl.  I went to the “Draft” folder and found this… no pics, but a link to a good story.  Hope you enjoy the read.

The Seychelles look nice… I wanna go there… bad.

Following exhaustive research on a mutually satisfying destination, Meredith quite surprisingly one evening suggested that we look into the Seychelles. As an avid (not skilled, mind) salt water fly fisherman, I already knew that little research would be necessary and immediately attempted to procure a written agreement from her. I jest of course, but for those who don’t engage in piscatorial pursuits, the islands and their surrounding flats make for arguably the best and most species-diverse fly fishing in the world. It was agreed that this seemed a swell locale and I unbegrudgingly began the task of organizing the journey.

via Charleston Mercury > News > Never too Far for Adventure.

Yeah… goodness.

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There is a reason why I keep posting stuff about Deneki Outdoors and it isn’t because I’m going to FIBFest 2.  Deneki posts up great content all the time.  Some of it is educational, like their newly released Bonefishing 101 guide.  Other posts are about the guides, the Androsian people, the experience.  Day, after day… great stuff.  Makes ya want to go there.

More about Bonefishing 101…

What is Bonefishing 101? It’s a .pdf file that you can download to your computer, and it covers the fundamentals of bonefishing.

* The Ready Position

* Casting on the Flats

* Spotting Bonefish

* Setting the Hook

* Fighting Bonefish

via Bonefishing Tips | Free Download | Bonefishing 101.

If this is Bonefishing 101, surely the week I’ll be spending down at Andros South will be something along the lines of graduate work.

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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OK… I’m really curious… where do you want to go?  There are so many places out there you COULD go.

I want the next five places you are going to try and check out.  Make these places you think you are actually going to try and get to in the next… well… however many years it is going to take you to get to these places.

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The truth is that when I look at the picture, I see the person that made the catch possible and the stories he shared with me…

via Deneki Outdoors.

I’m looking forward to meeting Sparkles myself and hearing some stories.

Andros… I’m coming for ya.

So many places look soooooo good.  Here’s another…

Maybe you want to head to the Bahamas but want less than a lodge experience but more than a dirt-bag-esque DIY trip.

Well… there are options.

One of those options is Acklins and Salina Point. The deal is this… you won’t be guided, but you will get pointed toward the right, un-pressured flats at the right tides. You’ll get set up for success, you’ll just have to spot your own fish.  Some people prefer it that way.

If you want a guide, you can get one for about $300 (which is pretty awesome).

You can book through Reel Action Fly Fishing, a week of fishing, unguided, for $1,600 (with a special running right now for $1,460).

The fishing seems… inspired.

I’ve heard about Salina Point for a while now and the prices are right.  Once I run through some of the other places I want to fish (Andros, Aitutaki, Culebra, Florida), I may just make this the next trip.

Flatswalker muses on C&R.  Truth seems to be that most folks aren’t doing it right.  Look around the web and see the number of grip and grin photos.  I have some from my first trip before I knew any better and now I try really hard to make sure the fish I catch have a fighting chance.

For the longest time I’ve lauded fly fishing for it’s low-impact on the species we chase in our silly little obsession. On the face of it there’s something to such a notion: fly fishing is often catch-and-release, the mechanics of it usually prevent gut-hooking fish, and (frankly) we often catch far less fish than other techniques, which limits the impact further.

Read the Flatswalker story here Flatswalker.

Um… you are doing it wrong…

Before I knew better

You are doing it right…

Good on ya.

What info do you need?  Bonefish & Tarpon Trust has it all.  Check out their C&R page.

All sight casting, tails tails tails tails. Thousands and gazillions of bonefish tails. Saw a massive snook, no shot. Spooky spooky spooky bones. Shallow water. Damn wind. But managed to catch 3 on first day, 8 on the second day. Loved it.

via Fly Fish Chick » Blog Archive » Don’t Stop Beliezing.

The Fly Fish Chick went to Belize (hey, I’ve been there!) and fish were caught. She has a slide show on her site.  Get ye there and commence viewing.

If it isn’t guides getting fired, it is gill nets wiping out fish populations… Grand Bahama seems to have a number of things working against it these days.  Thomas Rolle is quoted below.

“I know that one time ago there were maybe one or two guys netting but now it’s out of control now. We have about 15, 16 or 17 boats – they’re netting the same areas every day and we’re in trouble now but before long there isn’t going to be anything there,” he lamented.

via The Freeport News – Gill nets concern West End fishermen.

Nets are bad for bonefish, and, oddly enough, bad for fisherman since they wipe out damn near everything they come into contact with.