Mmmmm….. bacon….

Exuma, Bahamas, June 2010. It was our first trip to the island and definitely not our last. When my husband, Todd, asked me how I would like to celebrate my 40th birthday I told him, “Saltwater fly fishing of course!” He asked me “Where?” so I suggested we try the Bahamas since we had yet to fly fish there. It did not disappoint

via Bone Lake Country Living: One More Sweet Song.

I can’t wait to turn 40 so I can get a trip like this.

OK, it is the very definition of marketing, but I still want to go.

If you want to catch one of those silvery fish called bonefish (also called phantom or gray ghost), and most everyone does when they come to Exuma, there are more wadeable flats here than anywhere else in the Out Islands. Bonefish average about 4 or 5 pounds but it is not uncommon to land a big 10 pounder. They are, pound for pound, probably the strongest and fastest running salt-water fish and highly sought-after by anglers.

via Bonefishing in Exuma : Great Exuma, Bahamas | Vacation Rentals.

Every time I see a plastic bag or bottle, I think of that whale skeleton at Warderick Wells Cay in the Bahamas’ Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park. From a distance, the skeleton looks a little bit like someone misplaced half a brontosaurus on the beach. The 52-foot sperm whale washed ashore in 1995 after it died from — no suspense here — ingesting plastic garbage.

via The Nature Conservancy in the Bahamas – Whale and Plastics.

It seems a little drastic to say if you put your six pack of Newcastle Brown Ale (yummmm) in a plastic bag means you are killing a whale, granted.  Still, it’s a pretty easy step to take to bring those re-usable bags with you and you’ll look all hip and green (a greenster?).

I think back to my last trip in Grand Bahama and the amount of trash on the beach I frequented most (I could tell you the name of the beach but others would likely kill ME, and that would really get in the way of planning my next trip).   There was a lot of trash… bags, bottles, scraps from this thing or that.  Sure, some of it came from the good residents of GBI, but some of it came from parts further East… and I don’t mean Cuba.

So, ditch the plastic bags (although I need some to pick up after my very regular dog, Lassen).  The move to reusable might just make your next flats fishing experience a little less trashy.

My one reason to have a couple of plastic bags around.

Now, that’s just a mess of bonefish… chillax’n… which is odd given the proximity of the shark that swims by.  This is in Exuma.

Saw this on Youtube and had to  pass it along… this is exactly how you land a bonefish… kind of… well, it got the job done in the end, at least.

Luckily, she didn’t break the rod. When you slide your hand up the rod, you are greatly reducing the ability of the rod to absorb the stress of the fish.  More than one angler has seen their rod snap when they shorten their rod like that.

The clip though… that’s just pure awesomeness.  Glad someone didn’t take themselves too seriously and shared that clip.

That’s sans  guide out in Exuma.

The good news is that if the guy casting in this video can catch a bonefish, you can too.

Bits and pieces from around the blogosphere:

• I saw that the Fly Fish Chick made it to Exuma recently… and that seems like a very good place to be.
• Even the Trout Underground is getting in on the action, finding the Louis Cahill photo gallery of Andros South.
• Flatswalker has been talking Tarpon.
• Life on the Cay has a first bonefishing lesson in Belize.

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

Now, that sounds a little bit like a porn title (although the most porn-like sounding bonefish related item would go to Florida bonefishing guide Captain Ann Houlahan and her website www.boneranger.com).  Fly Fish Chick has a great little vid/story about her Exuma trip from April, 2009.

The Fly Fish Chick has a blog full of fishing tales (tails) from all sorts of places you’d like to go to catch fish.  Worth a look.

Fly Fish Chick with an Exuma Bone

As for Exuma, that’s one of those “Out Islands” in the Bahamas that looks more beautiful that is reasonable.  It appeared as though the Island was served by Air Sunshine direct from Ft. Lauderdale, but their website says this service is not available now.  Unclear if this is temporary, or until the end of time.  The bummer about this is it would mean burning a day of travel in  Nassau, a place I have not been and don’t want to go.  From there you can puddle jump to Exuma.

As an alert reader pointed out, there are DIRECT flights from Fort Lauderdale to Exuma on Continental.  Right now that flight is about $250. That is a tad much for a flight that lasts 1:30, but that’s the way it goes.

The Florida Sportsman website offered this fantastic account of bonefishing Exuma written by Mike Conner.  This is worth a read.

Exuma Bone from the Florida Sportsman

Coral Gardens got a mention as a good base for DIY anglers and the $99 a night is a pretty standard budget rate these days.

If you are thinking more “lodge” as opposed to DIY, I’ve heard many times about Peace and Plenty and their rates seem in the ball-park and far from the most expensive I’ve seen.

Yes, I’d like to go there… for the bones, for the beauty.  Sign me up.