Barjack has made some contributions to one of my favorite blogs out there, Flatswalker. Read his Indian Ocean Chronicles.
So I’ve done a lot of riding my bike around and standing with a 12-weight looking for trevally. Good work if you can get it, but I feel the need for a change. Today I think I’ll get in a boat and blindcast a 12-weight for four hours
via Flatswalker.
Davin, aka Windknot over at the Flatswalker Blog puts out some really quality stuff. His writing has a literary quality about it that I dig. This post came across my RSS feed reader on Easter. I had to share it with as many people as possible. Read this. It is good.
“Yeah, big migratory fish… so deep and fat. Head like a Clydesdale. Imagine that: a horse running, bucking, bleeding from its ears as it leaves a trail of blood on the green grass.
via Flatswalker: SaltWater Fly Fishing Guide Blog – Flatswalker.
Another FIBFest related post from the good folks at Deneki.
Photo by Cameron Miller
Chasing bonefish had never held huge appeal to me… after all, I’m a steelhead angler that thrives on punishment. Give me a river full of fish and I start losing interest – the hunt is what captivates me.
via Hunting for Bonefish and Steelhead | Tom Larimer Guest Post.
Tom Larimer wrote another good piece for the Deneki Blog about the hunting aspects of bonefishing compared to steelheading. I have to say, the hunting aspect of bonefishing is something that really grabs me. That you have to see the fish before you catch it… you have to know where to expect it and when it will be there, then you have to make the cast and get the retrieve right… I love it.
I imagine that it has a lot of parallels to hunting, although I’m not a hunter myself. You have to know where the elk or deer or grouse are going to be. You have to get in the right position. You have to see your target and you have to make the shot.
Of course, you get to let your bonefish go.
On Sunday I was without the ladies and had a day of possibilities. I thought I might as well check out the local reservoir and see if I could find some carp. When I got there, it didn’t look particularly promising, as visibility was just a few inches. I figured I should go see if things were any different in the shallows. It was a good choice.
California at this time of year is really beautiful. In two months time all this green will be brown and the wildflowers will be gone.
Purdy.
I saw a few fish breaching and found a little cove out of the wind. Blind casting produced a mighty impressive hookup… the thing came to the surface and I saw it roll. It was bigger than is reasonable. Sadly, the fly I had on was not up to the task.
We're gonna need a bigger gun...
It wasn’t long before I had my second hook-up… and my second lost fish (although it didn’t bend the hook out). A short time later and… it allllll came together.
First Carp of 2011
This fish was beeg. It was long and it was fat. I figure it was about 30″ long and it had a belly like an offensive lineman.
Some perspective.
GOLD!
I caught two more fish and decided to call it a day. My fishing hunger had been sated.
Of course, people make all sorts of comparisons between carp and bonefish. In my limited experience with carp I can say that I see almost no truth to those comparisons. If any of the fish I caught had been that size and bonefish the run would have been 200 feet. In this case, I only had a little bit of line taken out. Sure, the fish were strong and heavy, but more the latter. This is early days and the water I was fishing might have been too cool to produce a blistering run, but maybe that’s just me rationalizing. Carp are carp and bonefish are bonefish. I don’t need to turn one into the other to enjoy it. I enjoy both, but, as you might expect, I favor the bonefish.
It isn’t a value judgment. It is, like so much in fly fishing, a personal matter.
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Exuma, Bahamas, June 2010. It was our first trip to the island and definitely not our last. When my husband, Todd, asked me how I would like to celebrate my 40th birthday I told him, “Saltwater fly fishing of course!” He asked me “Where?” so I suggested we try the Bahamas since we had yet to fly fish there. It did not disappoint
via Bone Lake Country Living: One More Sweet Song.
I can’t wait to turn 40 so I can get a trip like this.
I usually write the post the night before it goes up… last night I ended up in the ER with a little girl with a temp over 104. Four hours later and I was back home, but I was also ready for bed. The good news is that everything is well with the little girl. I went to the “Draft” folder and found this… no pics, but a link to a good story. Hope you enjoy the read.
The Seychelles look nice… I wanna go there… bad.
Following exhaustive research on a mutually satisfying destination, Meredith quite surprisingly one evening suggested that we look into the Seychelles. As an avid (not skilled, mind) salt water fly fisherman, I already knew that little research would be necessary and immediately attempted to procure a written agreement from her. I jest of course, but for those who don’t engage in piscatorial pursuits, the islands and their surrounding flats make for arguably the best and most species-diverse fly fishing in the world. It was agreed that this seemed a swell locale and I unbegrudgingly began the task of organizing the journey.
via Charleston Mercury > News > Never too Far for Adventure.
Yeah… goodness.
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It is April… APRIL and I just landed my first trout of the year. There is something really weird about that, but there it is. This was also the first time I’ve been trout fishing this year, so, at least I haven’t been skunked.
I’m up in Dunsmuir while my daughter is on Spring Break (from Pre-School). I actually had to go and buy a 2011 Fishing License. Yes… I didn’t even have a fishing license yet and it is APRIL. Uff da.
I have to say… I’m pretty disappointed in Union Pacific. The railroad that nearly killed off the whole river thanks to a train derailment (back in 1991) has decided to cut off the parking access that folks use to get up to Mossbrae Falls. This is douchebaggery.
Note: My folks have lived in Dunsmuir for 42 years and they cannot recall anyone ever being injured by a train along the tracks to get to Mossbrae. That has got to be tens of thousands of people that have made that short hike in those years. I think that is a pretty good testament to common sense. Union Pacific seems to think that we’ve run out of common sense to the point that we are now in danger of falling asleep on the tracks and suing them. This is a good example of everything that is wrong with the mentality of “better safe than sorry.” It kind of pisses me off.
Keep it classy, UP... keep it classy.
The river is beautiful. It’s high, sure, but the color is good and the Upper Sac can be fished at very high flows so long as the color is good. You just need a good supply of tin shot and, presto, you are fishing.
The gateway to awesomeness.
My batting average wasn’t too hot. I hooked three very, very, very nice trout but was 0/3 before I got one fish to cooperate enough to actually come and shake hands. Not a big fish, but, a wild, beautiful trout. That will do wonders for your mood.
Officially on the board for 2011 in the category of "Trout"
Ah… that’s nice.
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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.
They said it couldn’t be done.
They said it was impossible.
They called me crazy… or worse.
“You need bait” they said.
I had something they lacked… I had belief.
I knew it could be done.
I knew it was possible.
In fact, I knew it was inevitable.
Once I had focused in on the task it was going to make it happen. There was no doubt.
Behold…
Behold...
Photos by Cameron Miller…
OK… maybe it wasn’t the best fish of the trip, but I am the only FIBFester that caught one! Hand-lined that mo-fo! Yeah!
Thankfully, I still had a few #8’s on my box from the last trip. No way those fish could fit a #6 in their mouths.
Bonefish are really fantastic. I love the stalking, I love the precision, I love the speed of the fish.
Sometimes, though, you want violence and big, pointy teeth.
Enter the Cuda.
While down at Andros South I got a tiny bit fixated on catching a barracuda. I went out every day after we got back from fishing in the hopes of finding and catching one. I largely succeeded on the first part of that (the finding) and utterly failed in the second (a few flies attacked, but nothing even hooked).
After a few days it was starting to get to me.
I kept after it and I kept mentioning to the guides that I was hoping to catch a cuda. I had the 10 wt. rigged with 45 lbs. wire leader and either a gurgler or needle fish fly ready for action. The opportunities just didn’t come or, one day when I had a good shot I put the fly right on the fish’s head and spooked it.
The last day Kyle Perkins and I were teamed up with guide Freddie. Freddie is the biggest guide at Andros South and has the smallest boat. He likes getting in the skinnier water. He also likes to sing and laugh and overall he was a fantastic guide to fish with both in terms of his knowledge of the water, but also his mentality that put a smile on your face even after you blew the cast.
Freddie = fun
That last day we ended up having some prop trouble deep into Deep Creek and when it was clear we weren’t going to get up on plane for the ride home, Freddie told me I might as well break out the cuda rod. This was very, very welcome news for me. It meant an extra HOUR of fishing. Awesome.
Now, there are probably people that say trolling isn’t really fly fishing and that this was cheating and that it doesn’t count. I… don’t… care.
Fishing with a fly, even if you don't call it fly fishing
I took all the fly line off so I had half a wrap of fly line left and we started the slow troll back to the dock. It wasn’t long before I got a first grab. Then I got a second. The third stayed on for four good jumps and a couple nice runs and then it came unbuttoned. The fifth strike didn’t stick and I missed the sixth.
“Foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds” goes the saying. I reeled up, saw that the tail end of the fly was destroyed and decided to cut the fly in half. It was a long, bright yellow superhair fly with no trailing hook. The fish were obviously biting the tail and nothing pointy. With half this fly left I threw it back out. About 10 minutes later I connected and the fish stayed on.
It jumped in anger. It made vicious runs. The rod throbbed from the power of the fish. This is not bonefishing, but this was pretty much distilled awesomeness.
"Why don't you come home and meet the wife."
The fish got invited home to meet Freddie’s wife. Androsians will eat a Cuda so long as it isn’t caught off a reef.
Blissed Out
I got a cuda tooth pulled from the fish to give to my daughter, who at four years old has a passion for dangerous and deadly creatures (I love that girl something fierce).
Note to self… next time use more glue… lots and lots of glue.
Glue! I need glue!
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