Bonefish on the Brain Bonefish and all that relates (maybe a bit about tarpon too).

I’ve caught trout missing an eye and I’ll also admit that I’ve pulled in trout flies to check for moss and found the fly looking back at me… so, it wasn’t surprising to see this from This River is Wild. (of course, this was not intentional… it is a blood sport, after all, these things happen)

Check out the post though… some pure goodness there.

Dinner was more or less a disaster.  Her shoes came off at some point and she proceeded to run around the outside eating area.  She hardly touched her food and didn’t have more than 2 or 3 sips of her $5 chocolate shake.  A FIVE DOLLAR CHOCOLATE SHAKE.  Then, the meltdown fully expanded into writhing on the bench, whines, cries and finally me picking her up, putting her over my shoulder and carrying her off to the car.  Yeah… that was dinner with friend Colin and his daughter over in Santa Cruz tonight.

I explained the things she had lost for that little episode.  Books, songs, bath time… straight to bed when we got home.

We drove past a reservoir and she piped up “Look! Bonefish! Tarpon!”

“Dad, when I’m 5 I get to go with you to the Ba- Hamas wiff you and I get to catch bonefish wiff you and I get to have my own rod and everything.”

Yeah… almost made me forget the bad parts of the evening. Silly girl.

Love that girl

I’ve been without internet for a couple days… I’ll be back live tomorrow, but… in the meantime… Reason #4 that bonefishing is better than trout fishing.  😉

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The angler emerged from the car with the sound of the river playing like his personal theme music.  Eagerly he grabbed his rod, already strung up from fishing earlier in the day and headed off toward new water, fabled water and with is first step into those cool, clear, storied waters… he totally screwed up the entire ecosystem for generations to come… maybe forever. On this prick’s wet wading boots were a cocktail of invasive organisms potent enough to bring low the mightiest of rivers… Rock Snot, New Zealand Mud Snails and Whirling Disease.

There goes the neighborhood and with it another reason why the salt is best.

Reason #4 Invasives Suck.

Uff da, as my dad would say.

PS – if you don’t get that this is tongue in cheek… it is.

OK.  The wife and I have been going to Mexico every year for the past 6.  Our daughter was a direct result of one of those trips.  We’ve gone with the in-laws to Puerto Vallarta and I’ve loved pretty much every minute of it.

The next year, as my wife transitions to my ex-wife and with the in-laws none too keen to have me crashing at their place for a week in Mexico, it has become clear that I’ll need to pivot a bit on this whole vacation idea.  I’m not prepared to cede awesome vacations to my ex, but I also know I’ll be on much more of a budget, since I’ll be picking up the tab.

So… I need some suggestions.  I’m looking for a place that is easy enough to get to that my 4 year old won’t transform into a little puddle of child, maybe a place that my folks could get to easily, somewhere not too expensive, but not too over-crowded. With that list of requirements, I’d love to hear some suggestions.  Of course, it wouldn’t hurt AT ALL if there were bonefish in this mythical paradise as well. Extra points if the fishing can be self-guided and if there is something for a grandma to do.

Keys? Kauai? Exuma? Grand Bahama? Playa del Carmen? Cozumel?  Ambergris was great, but the little plane ride might not go well with the folks.

If it is a great secret, I’d love to get an email. Little cabin’s on the beach are totally in play, so long as the surf wouldn’t drown a little girl.

I’m looking forward to building some real authentic and beautiful memories in the years to come as I get the hang of this single-dad thing. Any places you know of that set the ideal backdrop would be really appreciated.

OK gang. I know there is flooding happening in the US and that a lot of people on the East Coast have been hard done by when it comes to Irene.  If you want to help those people, I suggest giving funds to the Red Cross at this link – Hurricane Irene.

Now, I just have to say that here in the US we are pretty lucky, no matter the fact that we are in a Presidential race and that makes life barely tolerable.  We have functioning (for the most part) governments and institutions like the Red Cross to help us out when the going gets all blown away and floody.

Folks in the Bahamas are a little less fortunate when some total douchebag of a storm rolls up out of the ocean and wrecks havoc on the good Bahamian folk.  I was directed to one organization that is doing a good job and if you want to help, I suggest you visit Bahamas Habitat.

This is a good first step to provide immediate support.

Now… down the line… if anyone is interested in maybe helping me examine the legal, tax and regulatory playing field, I would love examine the possibility of creating a Bahamas wide community foundation.

(Wikipedia) Community foundations (CFs) are instruments of civil society designed to pool donations into a coordinated investment and grant making facility dedicated primarily to the social improvement of a given place. Community foundations are a global phenomenon with 1400 existing around the world of which over 700 are in the United States.

I actually know a thing or two about community foundations, having worked at two of them… one that was brand new and one of the world’s largest.  They are great tools to bettering society and can be particularly useful when it comes to distributing aid to orgs doing good work in times of disaster.  So, that’s just an idea… let me know if you might be able to help me look into that, ya know, after the immediate needs are taken care of.

Sometimes it doesn’t bother me to have a fishless weekend.

Pretty.

This is Lassen National Park (my dog in named Lassen after it) in Northern CA.  Probably not the vision of California you have, but this is part of it I love.

Yes… there is still SNOW up there… in August.

Happy fishing, or not, depending.