16
Dec 17

2017 – A review

What an odd year it’s been.

I got out, I went some new places, I had some different experiences, I caught some new species, I met some new people.

It was another year where my days fishing for trout diminished. I think I fished for trout exactly three days… all with my daughter and a bit with my son (who landed his first trout), and for fewer combined hours than I’d normally fish in a single day. It just gets harder and harder to get away and make the drive North or East to find trout water. Kids. Work. Wife. It just isn’t fitting into an increasingly full life. I can’t really even complain about that, it’s just an observation.

I continued to find some time around the edges to get to the Bay and fish for stripers. I didn’t do this as much as I would have liked to, but I caught some, even the odd halibut. I saw plenty of seals and pelicans and very few other anglers.

My first trip of the year was to Ft. Lauderdale/Miami. It is a trip I’ll look back on with sadness, given the later actions of my fishing partner, but the fishing itself was pretty interesting. I caught my first Peacock Bass, which was pretty fun, as well as my first Mayan. I went night tarpon fishing in Biscayne Bay (remember, my son’s middle name is Biscayne) on a night of high winds and low expectations. We didn’t catch anything more than a single jack, but we did have tarpon rolling on the shadow line of the bridge and it is something I really want to do again. I got to fish with David as well, who showed me one of his spots.

Just a fun, fun fish to catch on a fly rod.

A Mayan on David’s water

My second trip of the year was to Belize for Spring Break with my girl. We went to Caye Caulker and stayed at Sea Dreams. It was a pretty awesome trip, full of bonefish caught from the dock and very little time wearing shoes of any kind. The day of fly fishing resulted in one nice snook and a really good soaking from the rain. Lots of great memories from that trip.

My Belize Snook

One of the highlights from Spring Break 2017.

Awesome

Nice cuda.

My third trip of the year was to Oahu for a family vacation. I had a day to fish and I managed to break my O’io curse, landing three, hooking seven and seeing my first adult Giant Trevally and my first ever milkfish. It was a pretty good day on the water… opened my eyes a bit to the Hawaii bonefish game.

My fourth trip was to Mexico, Mahahual, with my dad in July. I think it was maybe a bit too late in the year as it was HOT. This was, in retrospect, not the best trip for my dad. The heat and unsteady footing were not his friends. Still, he caught his first tarpon (baby) and had his first grabs from adult tarpon. I caught some babies, had more than one eat from the big guys and caught my first trigger fish. It was a good trip that would have been made better by maybe 8 degrees less heat.

Nick with my trigger

Dad’s First Sabalito

My fifth trip was down to the marshes of Louisiana, DIY kayaking for redfish with a group largely from Alabama. This was a great experience. I had never fished out of a kayak like that and was a bit shaky, but managed to catch three reds and my first speckled trout. I met James, another blog reader, and enjoyed our day on the water.

My first DIY redfish

Don’t you love the hazey GoPro pictures?

That rounded out my fishing for the year. It is now approaching mid-December and I might, might get another day or two of throwing for stripers in the Bay, but beyond that, my fishing is pretty much wrapped up for 2017.

New species: Peacock Bass, Trigger Fish, Speckled Trout
New guides fished with:
New fishing friends made:

 


31
Dec 13

2013 Year in Review

Well… what a year that was, eh?I had two trips this last year and a bunch of other life events making for a rather entertaining rollercoaster from start to finish.

Bahamas for Spring Break – This was a trip I wanted to do for a long time. I got my wife and daughter (along with my folks and brother) out to Grand Bahama and got to show them what I love out there. I also got to fish out of Deep Water Cay and Water Cay Lodges and got to see the sharks get fed at Pier One Restaurant. It was great.

Fish on at Deep Water Cay

Fish on at Deep Water Cay

Florida for Tarpon and Rain – I got to go fishing in Florida with a whole cast of characters. The fishing was tough due to rain, rain and more rain, but I got an introduction to a place I plan on coming back to periodically over the remaining decades of my life. I got to fish Biscayne Bay, an important point that features later.

Shooting the shit... and learning.

Pregnancy – I didn’t so much get pregnant as my wife did, but still, there was that. She dealt really well with it all, it has to be said.

Work ups and downs – I got laid off from my high-tech sales job (might have had something to do with there not being a product to actually sell… hard to sell if the product is never in a state it can be sold, right?). That was stressful, but was also an opportunity. I started doing some work for Angling Destinations and eventually, I landed a fantastic job as Director of Client Services for Machaon Diagnostics, a clinical reference lab in Oakland specialized in coagulation testing. I’ve landed well.

Oliver Biscayne – Just as the year was drawing to a close we added a new family member in Oliver Biscayne Stromsness. He’s doing great and after a bit of a false start, his sister eventually rated having a brother at “a gazillion” on a 1-10 scale. I’m a happy man.

Welcome, Oliver.

Looking Forward

2014 will most likely have a fishing trip in it. It looks like the Ragged Island Trip is suffering from cancellations and it is very likely we’ll shift to another island at a lower price point for the March trip. Beyond that, we will have burned up my wife’s PTO with maternity leave, so we likely won’t be back in the Caribbean this year, but I have high hopes of getting the family either to the Bahamas or the Keys in 2015 once again.

I’m going to keep on posting on the blog, although I’ve had some difficulty getting posts up these last few weeks. I intended to write this post last night, but my son was asleep on my chest for about 2.5 hours and I figured that was more important. I’ll find a balance in there somewhere and I continue to look for and share interesting stories about bonefish and the people and places related to them.

All the best to you in 2014!