It is true… they are awesome. I could try to argue they aren’t, but that’s pointless.
Lets review some of the reasons…
1. They live in places like this…
2. They are different from trout and that means you have to learn a lot… and learning = living.
3. They are often accompanied by beer.
Kalik, the beer of the Bahamas
4. They are kind of cool looking.
5. They are powerful… really, really powerful.
This nugget is from Bonefish Guru, Aaron Adams. Just watch those bones coming along, sticking their nose in the sand… mudding right there for the camera.
There really do seem to be some different sized bonefish in there with the difference between the biggest and smallest being a few pounds.
What a joy just to watch those fish do what they do.
It wasn’t that long ago that Derek was chasing browns in the E. Walker. Derek and I started to get to know each other through facebook and twitter and I followed him online after one trip to Florida when it became that Derek was not going to stay in Tahoe… he was going to head to Florida and make it all happen. Sometime between Florida and Tahoe Derek and I actually went fishing for Surf Perch. We didn’t do awesome, but it was a first for us. Derek sent me some flies, I’ve sent him some flies. He is a good guy and if I make it to FL next year, I’ll fish with Derek for sure.
Glad to say that he’s done that. He now works at Saltwater Exerience in the Keys and just a couple days ago he ran into a big, big bone. Good on ya Derek.
Nice!
So, I wouldn’t have know this if I hadn’t started a job at a software startup recently, but it turns out game mechanics are all the rage. I don’t mean game mechanics in games, I mean the mechanics of games applied to products or life.
It recently occurred to me that fly fishing has a bunch of very, very compelling game mechanics inherent in it. Let me explain.
A game I’ve played a bit (although not recently) is Fall Out. I was pretty much addicted to Fallout 3. In the game the character starts off with a bat and a BB gun and is shooting things like giant cockroaches. You are pretty weak at that point and this is actually a challenge. As you master each weapon and grow in strength something strange happens. Your opposition gets stronger and stronger. You get bigger guns and the monsters get bigger and bigger. As you get stronger you end up finding more difficult challenges. If you got stronger and more powerful and the opposition stayed weak… well… it wouldn’t be much fun. That the game keeps pace with you is vital to the game continuing to be fun.
You can draw a pretty clear comparison to fly fishing. You start off just hoping not to hook yourself. Then you catch one. Then you catch a few. Then you become the master of your little creek or pond and you try bigger waters. Those bigger waters are tough and you start learning them and once you have mastered them, you start looking to find other species. Maybe you move from trout to bass to stripers and then you go find some bonefish somewhere and then you start thinking about tarpon and once you’ve landed a 100 pounder you start thinking about permit and then you start looking at flat spring creeks or Mongolian taiman or whatever.
There is always some bit of growth to be had, always some challenge that will actually be a challenge for you. You are never done, you are just on a path.
If you rocked your little creek and never ventured beyond it, it would lose its appeal. You’d get tired of it. You’d move on. You’d take up golf.
Right now… I’m kind of stuck on the bonefish part. There’s enough to keep me busy there for a long, long time.
photo credit - Andrew Bennett
I’m wrapping up week three of being back in the working world, which is providing interesting rewards and interesting challenges. The blog… it is harder to focus on it because my focus is other places… like enterprise software startups. My time with my daughter is now condensed down to a few minutes in the mornings and a couple of hours in the evening (some of those real quality hours where she screams and writhes on the floor…).
It is a very different life than the one I had back when I took my last bonefishing trip to South Andros.
That trip was the end point of the life I’d had for the last couple years as a stay-at-home dad. I came back to a kind of fecal weather front that propelled me into the workforce. The job didn’t come from Monster or Craigslist, but a guy I played soccer with one a team that was very, very short of winning ways but big on fun… the Knights of Ni.
I think of the last fish I caught there in Andros… that nice Cuda… trolling with Kyle and guide Freddy. It was an unexpected twist and maybe that made it all the more special.
This job is kind of like that, I suppose.
My next trip is some time in 2012, I hope. I may set my sights on Florida since I have yet to fish for bones in Florida. I can’t even really turn my gaze that way yet. I can’t be sure I’ll make it to Florida, really. This phase of life is about knocking the bejeezus out of this job, about helping to make this little startup a success and helping to set up my family toward something like a sustainable future.
Bonefish are in my blood though… I’ll be back after them… that’s for sure.
CUDA!
I really, really, really want to be on a flat right now. Instead, I’m in the office (on Saturday morning) and despite it being June, it is raining outside. Oh bonefish… I miss you.
GREEN TURTLE CAY — “Two fish, 90 feet out. Two o’clock . . . 80 feet . . . 70. Go! Go!’’
I followed Ricky Sawyer’s directions. He was my fly-fishing guide and knows the waters around the cay better than anyone. With a shaking hand I swung progressively larger loops of fat fly line into the air, feeding it out to get my fly closer to the elusive bonefish, our targeted species.
via To the ends of the earth for this? Almost … – The Boston Globe.
The guys over at This River is Wild continue to have fun and interesting fishing… this post is not exception.
Cool.
The wind was howling. As we approached the hole, we could see something weird floating in the water just off of the rocky shoreline. When we got within range, we realized it was the fronds of a palm tree. The whipping winds had snapped a 30ft palm tree off at the base, dumping it smack into the middle of the most reliable spot for tarpon the entire island!
via This River is Wild.: Repeat.
More tarponish postings, this time from Flatswalker, who is always good for a read.
Day I: Late start, low tide, breezy. Oceanside: small groups, singles, and doubles. Second cast: hooked up! Jump, jump. Sweeeet. Drag singing. Fish off. “Uhhhh… popped ‘im off.” Nope: reel in to find the backing broke! Motored around searching for a #10 yellow line zipping through the water but was forced to admit both the fish, line, leader and fly were gone forever.
via Flatswalker: SaltWater Fly Fishing Guide Blog – Flatswalker.
Today is the day that most of us get to not work to observe Memorial Day. I was never in the military and really, very few people in my family have been in the military. My dad had ulcers and didn’t go to Vietnam when his number came up. His father was training to be a gunner on bombers when we dropped the A-Bombs on Japan, so he didn’t get too far out of training before the whole thing was called off. My mom’s father had been in an industrial accident that left his legs scarred, so he we not taken for service in WW II.
Still, I know many veterans and I’m thankful for their service and their sacrifices.
Among those thousands of men and women are scores of anglers and some of the folks in Baghdad even started a fly fishing club. Pretty cool stuff.
Nice fish there soldier.
Thanks for your service.
This is just cool… skeletal bonefish. This is from the folks at Helter Skeletons. They have all manner of fish skeletons, delivered to you in a shadowbox (I have no idea how much they cost).
Cool
