They guys over at Skinny Water Culture continue to do strong, strong work.  I’m a fan and have been since I first found them a few years back.  I’ve seen more and more folks in their gear.  I even saw a guy in a hotel in Cuba wearing a SWC shirt. Nice to see good things happening to good people.

You can find this bonefish microfiber shirt here.

Yup, I have this one too.

A special day for Matt, who I don’t know at all.  A first bonefish.

Glad to see him sporting the Skinny Water Culture, as well!

The guide is Captain Jeffrey Pinder.

Jacks often are looked down upon.  I’m not sure why that is.  I think they are kind of awesome.  They pull HARD.  They can be taken on poppers and plugs and clousers and pretty much anything else that gets in their way.  My biggest saltwater fish to-date is a Jack and I enjoyed every minute of that fish, including several before it was hooked and a great number of minutes after.

These are some of the reasons I’m happy to see the good folks over at Skinny Water Culture devote a shirt to the good fish… we’ll see how long they sell it before the C&D letter arrives.  My suggestion would be to order soon.

Cool.

I really like Jack’s.

Beeg. Caught out of El Pescador in Belize.

Pretty cool little vid over at the Skinny Water Culture blog.

Needless to say… I like it.

I was a bit skeptical at first but the first flat (and only flat) we pulled up on was loaded with fish, some BIG fish, tailing away happy as could be.

via Skinny Water Culture: Bone on a Big Boat.

Nassau is not known as a bonefishing destination… more for cruise ships and resorts… but there are bones there and the good folks over at SWC caught some.

I’ve been a fan of the folks over at Skinny Water Culture ever since I found their website a couple years back and ordered my first shirt from them.  They’ve continued to up their game as I’ve continued to up mine.

For my trip to South Andros they sent me some shirts to try out and I gladly wore them.  These are micro-fiber, quick-dry, sun-protecting type shirts.  There aren’t the dozens of pockets, back vents and buttons of the standard “uniform” type flats shirt and more and more manufacturers are offering this kind of technical wear for folks that don’t want all that extra “stuff.”

The shirts do what they do very well. I was cool and comfortable and didn’t get a sunburn.  Plus… I looked goooood.

I love that graphic.

Check these guys out and buy some stuff.  They are good peeps at the starting point for building something really fantastic.

So today was the day we tried to head to the west side again. We did make it, and it was a unique experience to say the least. There was an eire feeling that if something happened you would be lost forever. We started on a flat that was about 4′ deep and quickly dropped off to 10′ and more. It looked like prime big bone territory. It wasn’t long before I had a missile cruising at me out of the deep, it was big..and coming fast, I made a nearly perfect 50′ cast that landed about 6′ in front of him and about 2′ to his right. He saw it immediately, charged it, tipped down…..and ate.

via Skinny Water Culture: Andros is where the heart is….

The folks some Skinny Water Culture just had a trip out to Andros (oh Andros, I miss you so).  Goodness ensued.  Check out their report.

The whole blogging thing is interesting, for sure.  I don’t have ads and don’t cash a Bonefish on the Brain paycheck.  This started as a hobby and largely remains that (just one I am kind of ridiculously dedicated to).  However, the distance the blog has come in the last year is pretty obvious to me when I think about all the folks who have helped put some shape to this upcoming trip to Belize.

Thanks to El Pescador for hosting me for this trip.  We are still paying for guides and I’m still paying for a couple of flights, but the lodging… that was huge.

Thanks to Sage for the loaner Xi3 Seven and Ten weights.  Good sticks for Belize, me thinks.  Lori-Ann’s go to is the 7 wt. Xi3, so I’ll be in good company.

Double my pleasure... a 7 and 10 Sage Xi3

Thanks to Orvis for the loaner 8 wt. Helios and the line for the 10 weight. Steve offered and I couldn’t turn down a chance to see exactly how good these new Orvis rods are.

Orvis... nice stick.

Thanks to Nautilus for the loaner NV Ten-Eleven.  This is actually something anyone can do…  you can test drive a Nautilus, just check out the website.

Mr. and Mrs. Tarpon... I'm ready to see you now.

Thanks to Skinny Water Culture for two replacement sun masks (I somehow lost three in the last 6 months), a microfiber shirt and a new hat.

Skin cancer is bad... SWC is good.

Thanks to Patagonia for a sling pack for alllllll those flies I’ll be sporting, plus a sun mask and hat.

Flies go here.

Thanks to Off the Hook Fly Shop, where I bought most of the materials used in the flies I’ll be throwing.

That’s a lot of help… and if you look at my FFSI, you’ll see that I think the help you get has a lot to do with reducing suckiness… so, I have that going for me.

As someone recently wrote to me, “This is the most exciting bonefishing trip I’m not going on.”  I hope to have some good stories to share and hope to be posting from Belize and El Pescador, assuming I have the strength left after milking each day for every ounce of fishing possible.

(First, just a note, you can be entered to win some Skinny Water Culture gear by emailing me the account of your first bonefish. bonefishonthebrain@gmail.com)

As you may have guessed, I dig Skinny Water Culture gear.  So, I was really excited to read on their blog about a bonefishing trip and a re-capture of a bonefish tag.

Nice fish and nice tag.

They got word back about the fish and it’s 658 days between tagging and recapture.  Awesome.

Bonefish tagging… it’s important stuff.  The Bonefish & Tarpon Trust does tagging as does the Bonefish & Tarpon Research Center at the University of Miami.  Keep up the good work guys!

Soon after I had my religious bonefish experience in Hawaii I started looking for shirts with bonefish.  I didn’t find much off the bat.  My t-shirts fall into roughly two categories… short sleeved fish-themed shirts and longed sleeved fish-themed t-shirts.

Then… I found Skinny Water Culture.

That's beautiful

This is some good looking art… that’s right… I said it… “art.”  That bonefish is beautiful and primal and, well, everything I wanted in a fish-themed shirt.

Now, I just managed to give away a pair of Costa Del Mar sunglasses and that was pretty cool… so, I asked the guys at Skinny Water Culture and they said “sure, we’d love to give away some SWC gear.”

So, there… I’m going to give away something (actually, anything they have in stock in whatever size you might be).

So… here’s what I’m thinking.  I’d love to hear about your about your first bonefish.  You can put comments here or you can put a comment on the page created for this purpose.

For the record, I own two Skinny Water Culture shirts.  Both I paid full retail for.  See, I’m giving you a free shirt and I’m paying for them.  I try to do well by all you folks that honor me by actually reading what I write.