New blog I found thanks to Flatswalker. He’s fairly new to bonefishing and that is always fun to see people get hooked on it, as I have.
So many things to write about the past 5 weeks. Where to start? I went to Eleuthera with the idea of staying for 2 weeks. Ended up staying for 5!!
via Make the Cast!!!.
I was looking for bonefishing leader formulas and found this story from MidCurrent which was just a delightful find. Really good stuff if you are interested in tournament fishing or pursuing big bones.
Think chasing giant bonefish is the same as throwing to schools of hundreds on the white sands of the Bahamas? Think again. Renowned tournament fisherman Tim Mahaffey shares some secrets on fly selection, gear choice and mental preparation in pursuing double-digit bonefish.
via Fly Fishing for Giant Bonefish – MidCurrent.
PS – 59 days until Belize.
My ticket is paid for. I’m headed to Belize in November. Sadly, I couldn’t pay for the ticket in Trident Layers.
I’ll be headed to El Pescador where I’ll hope to chat in person with Lori-Ann Murphy.
I still wait to hear if my friend Shane will be able to come along. If not, I’ll be flying solo.
Can’t wait. Started tying some #8’s last night.
Can't wait.
1.
First, the climate for buying and selling houses is crazy… a house that we bought 6 years ago with zero down and no questions asked is now something that lenders are taking a VERY close look at… one walked away from it, another has agreed to do the deal, about a week late. We’ll make about… get ready for it… $500. Luckily we only put in about $30K in improvements. I’m very glad to be getting out of the real-estate game in Silicon Valley where your half-a-million dollars doesn’t go real far.
Depending on the neighborhood, this could be $500,000 - $1,000,000
2.
It takes a long time to get to Aitutaki… I just did a little Kayak search and it figures it would take about 68 hours to get from SFO to the capital of the Cook Islands (and longer to get to Aitutaki). Man… I’d love to fish with Butch, but that one is going to have to go on the “next 10 years” list.
2 1/2.
Turns out there is a glitch with the iPad kayak.com app in that it seemed to add about 45 hours to the trip to get to Aitutaki. It seems entirely possible to get to Aitutaki in something like 15 hours and maybe even less. I had one reader tell me this… which is awesome.
I think your calculations in flying to Aitutaki are a little off…my wife and I have tickets booked in January out of LA on Air New Zealand. We leave LA on a 9.5hr non-stop to Rorotonga, have a short layover and then 55 minutes to Aitutaki. The non stop is only available one day each week each direction, but it is available. Plan on fishing with Butch 4 days while there and the rest on my own. We’re going for two weeks too!
3.
I have started doing a little contract work (non-fly fishing related, very Silicon Valley related). Work, as it turns out, gets in the way of writing this blog a bit. Still, it might actually make it easier for me to enter into negotiations on future trips with the wonderfully beautiful and intelligent woman I conned into marriage I call my wife.
4.
I really like the Trout Underground… especially when I totally agree with him on things like the re-licensing effort on one of my favorite rivers. I have found that my local fly club has signed up with the lunatic fringe and won’t respond to my questions about why the hell we’d do that.
5.
Frequent Flier miles on Alaska don’t do me a whole lot of good. No (as in zero) flights available for my open travel days to either Puerto Rico or Belize. Looks like I’ll be buying my plane ticket with cashish instead of accumulated miles. To this I say “boooooo.” However, on a positive note, the “SkyRider” seat has yet to become a reality… I don’t to take my red-eye on one of these satan seats.
No... no thank you.
Organizing is a good step in efforts to preserve what the Bahamas has to offer. I’m hoping the BFF will be a loud voice advocating to preserve bonefish habitat throughout the Islands.
Several bonefish guides from the islands of Abaco, Andros, Eleuthera, Grand Bahama and New Providence have initiated a proposal to start a Bahamian Flyfishing Federation (BFF) that will support the flyfishing industry by forming a national partnership with all industry stakeholders to promote the conservation of bonefish, tarpon, and permit populations as well as the habitats on which they depend. The vision of the BFF is a Bahamas that is the best fly-fishing destination in the world for current and future generations to enjoy.
via Fishing guides propose to start Bahamian Flyfishing Federation (BFF).
Saw his today… a 16.5 pound bonefish caught in Hawaii. It was caught on bait, so the task was a little bit easier, but when they put the boca (not recommended, encouraged or endorsed) on it, it went to 16.5#, which is really, really frigging large. I’ve seen some big bonefish in Hawaii and I’ve heard of some real pigs. A 16.5 pound bonefish is just a pig.
The report was on the Hull Truth.
That's a really, really big bone.
Captain Mike was the guide.
I have yet to fish Alaska. I’ve fished up in BC a couple times and loved it. My dad is a bit confused why I’d rather fish in Andros than the Dean, but I keep telling him that I really, really like flipflops and palm trees.
Still, anglers who pursue Gray Ghosts on the flats of Belize are often the same folks that chase Silver Salmon and monster bows in the wilds of Alaska. A buddy of mine sent along an action alert and I wanted to put it out here for all those world-traveling anglers.
Pebble Mine is a horrible, horrible idea, of course. You can have a say in how things go down… this is how, courtesy of NRDC.
The Obama Administration is inviting input from across America on how to protect our nation’s most cherished wildlands and other outdoor spaces.
Please take a few minutes right now and tell administration officials — in your own words — why they should save Bristol Bay. The deadline for submitting your message is September 30.
I know this action involves more than the usual click of a mouse, but I’m sure you’ll agree it’s time well spent for the sake of stopping the Pebble Mine. A thoughtful and personal message from someone like you can make a big difference!
Here’s how to do it:
Visit the America’s Great Outdoors website and register to participate.
Then, explore the Ideas page:
- Post your own idea.
- Vote to “promote” ideas that call for protecting Bristol Bay.
- Join conversations on ideas that matter to you.
- Share with your friends and encourage them to vote.
Or email your personal message directly to ago@ios.doi.gov
Please keep these talking points in mind as you write:
- Pebble Mine threatens Bristol Bay’s clean waters, wild salmon, wildlife and traditional subsistence ways of life.
- Public lands in the Bristol Bay watershed should be closed to large-scale metallic sulfide mining. Protecting habitat, subsistence and recreation resources should be the top priority.
- The federal government should provide strong oversight of the Pebble Mine permitting process and analysis of cumulative impacts to the Bristol Bay watershed.
- Relationships between federal and tribal governments should be strengthened.
- Standards for mineral development in wetlands should be tighter.
- Clean Water Act standards for large-scale metallic sulfide mining should be more stringent.
You can also refer to our SaveBioGems web page about Bristol Bay if you want more information.
No Pebble Mine
That’s Cat Island in the Bahamas… a bit out of the way, written in Outside Magazine back in 2001.
Outside is a magazine I see at supermarkets and airports and sometimes even buy. I just saw their list of gear “every guy should own” which included a pair of snow shoes… um… what? That’s a reason I don’t subscribe. I don’t need snow shoes. I will never need snow shoes. If “every guy” is needing snow shoes things are going really, really weird, climate-wise.
I don’t climb. I don’t hike (unless it is to or from fishing). I don’t mountain bike (although I do tow my 3 year old, there are no mountains involved). Hell, I don’t even camp. Outside is still where I want to be, although I want a rod in my hand and some water in front of me.
That said, this article about Cat Island is kind of a good read.
The typical tourist is a naked German lady stuck in a cave at high tide, waiting for the police. The typical expat washed up on a sailboat and never left. Cat is the kind of place where on Sunday mornings in the village of Old Bight, the regulars at the Pass Me Not Bar lock the front door out of respect for the Baptist church across the street and play dominoes under the tamarind tree out back as the Baptist ladies holler scripture through megaphones.
via Beaches & Scuba Diving In Bahamas – Cat Island | OutsideOnline.com.
I’m culturally insensitive. I say that because this makes me angry. I know they’ve been taking and eating bones for a long time (probably not with modern nets though). Still, I think it is a sad, sad thing to kill a bunch of bonefish to sell them (I have not heard of them being sold before).
A bonefish is worth more living than dead. These fish are too wonderful to end their lives in a nylon net. If thinking that makes me an a-hole, I’ll just have to live with that.
It was a good catch, they said, and then they drove off to take it to market.
via Food, people, life, stories. » Blog Archive » Pulling bonefish from the sea, Kaua’i style.
Damn.
I got a gifted couple of hours today to hit the local reservoir. I was in search of carp and quickly found them. Sadly, again, I found them under mats of plant matter, totally unfishable (at least to my meager carping skillz). So, I started looking for some bass.
Now, I know bonefish are bass are worlds apart. Still, when the wind picked up I used it as a little time at the practice range. I worked on the timing of my haul, the tightness of my loops, the accuracy of the cast… some were better than others, but it was good to get some stick time.
A bonus… there are fish at the practice range.
Not a bonefish.
I was thinking about Sandy Moret and his comments about people not putting in the time work on their casting. I probably need to actually work with an instructor a bit, something I haven’t done for about a decade. I’m hoping my next trip doesn’t have any forehead smacking casts.
