Fish Tails

Fish Tails / Locations — 4 Comments
14
Mar 11

Grand Slam Reflections… The Bonefish

After getting there and getting the permit and now…

The Bonefish

The bonefish were easy, at least when we had the light. We were playing a school of bones that really, really wanted to cruise past us. All we had to do was cast a line ahead of the school and they would turn around, head down the beach about 50 feet and then slowly come back to us. They just kept coming back and we just kept catching them, trading off on the bow and having a great time.

 

bonefish... lots of 'em.

As Shane was up on deck things got suddenly very tense as the guide spotted a school of permit just beyond the bones while Shane simultaneously spotted three or four permit mixed right in with the bones. Katchu was saying “Cast! No, not that school, the other ones!” while Shane was saying “I don’t want to cast to that school! I’m going to cast to this school!” The debate was a tad heated and Shane ended up casting to the fish he had found. He made the cast, made the strip and the fish ate. He stood there, relaxed and happy as the fish peeled off line at top speed. Then the pull just stopped. The line went slack. The fish had come off.

Shane... hookset.

Shane didn’t understand it. I didn’t understand it. Katchu said something about “you must have hooked it just a tiny bit,” although I don’t know why you’d say that to an angler who has just lost a decent permit. For whatever reason, Shane’s permit didn’t stay on. Another 20 minutes of looking in vain for more permit and we were ready to get back to the bonefish.

Katchu finally took us to the point of a little cay we were fishing and presented us our opportunity to wade. We could see bonefish milling around over a rare patch of white sand below the point of the cay. This was going to be fun. Shane set off to find his own fish, which really is when he’s the happiest. The guide wanted to reposition him but I told him just to let him fish. He continued on his own and his rod was bent plenty.

We could have stayed there caught bonefish for a good long time. The fish weren’t monsters, but bonefish in Belize don’t tend to be scale tippers. What they lack in size they make up for in numbers and we were finding enough bones to keep us interested. It is this kind of action that really draws me to bonefish. When you are finding the fish and they fish are happy, there are few other things I’d want to do more.

I was told that fish in Belize grow slower than fish in other parts of the Caribbean and the current thinking is that this has to do with the size of their prey. The crabs and shrimp are smaller in Belize when compared with Andros or Abaco and so the fish grow at a slower rate. That four pound bonefish in Belize is probably a bit smarter than the four pound bonefish in Grand Bahama because it is likely a couple years older. The smaller prey phenomena has impacts when you are looking at what flies to pack as you’ll be filling your box with more #6’s and #8’s than you might for other Caribbean destinations.

Bones in Belize are different in another way. They tend to be darker in color and there is no surprise why that would be the case. Turtle grass is almost everywhere down in Belize, waving in the tidal currents and snagging your flies if you don’t have weed guards. If you love wading over hard packed white sand flats… well… you should probably go somewhere else.

The bonefish were really what I had come to Belize to find. Ever since I had seen my first bonefish back in Hawaii a few years earlier, I had been fairly obsessed with them. Coming from a small river/pocket water background, I was enthralled with the hunting and visual nature of flats fishing which was such a departure from what I had come to think of as fly fishing. Going from a thousand casts a day to forty casts a day and from never seeing the target to only targeting those fish you see… it was a revelation and a beautiful one at that.

Next up… The Tarpon.


All the other stuff / Fish Tails — 1 Comment
09
Mar 11

Fly Rod and Reel Magazine 2011 January – Adventures in Art

A piece about Vaughn Cochran and Stu Apte in Fly Rod and Reel Magazine.  I’ve done an interview with Vaughn and am going to be doing one with Stu in the next couple weeks.

Lots of characters and character in the diversity of folks that chase after bones.

 

 

“Now Stu, it may not look like you, or much of anything, right now,” Vaughn said, chuckling, “but it will soon enough.”

via Fly Rod and Reel Magazine 2011 January – Adventures in Art.

 

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Fish Tails / Locations — 2 Comments
08
Mar 11

Grand Slam Reflections… The Permit

Carried over from Grand Slam Reflections… The Getting There.

The Permit

On the third day of the trip Shane and I were in the boat of Katchu, a guide from El Pescador, headed up to the Bacalar Chico Marine Reserve. We were looking for more action than we’d had the previous day on the tarpon flats of Savannah Cay. We wanted to catch fish, which is sometimes not what happens when you are hunting permit or tarpon.

Chillax'n on the boat ride north.

We set up on the inside of the lagoon, drifting silently over turtle grass, Katchu on the poling platform with his long, wooden push poll in his hand and his eyes scanning the distance. We were looking for permit. Shane and I didn’t really want to look for permit. We wanted to wade for bonefish. Katchu wanted us to look for permit and it was his boat. Katchu told us that the bonefishing would get better later in the day and we should drift along the permit flat first. I think, largely, the line about the bonefishing getting better later was fiction, but Katchu had a plan and he was going to execute on it no matter what we told him we wanted to do. So… we were on a permit flat looking for big black tails and not silver or blue ones.

I was up on deck first with a ten weight in my right hand, the fly in my left and fifty feet of fly line on the deck. I was scanning the water, looking for tails or nervous water. Now, a tail is a damn hard thing to miss on a wide open flat, but the stirring of the fish below the surface that creates “nervous water…” well… I have a hard time spotting that. My brain just isn’t trained that way. Every breeze that came up looked like fish. Every current that ran into a clump of turtle grass looked like fish. What doesn’t look like nervous water, though, is the flash of permit in the sun and that is exactly what I saw.

“Permit, 12:00!” We had found them and they were on the move. I had one shot and, well, it was the first cast of the day. It didn’t all come together and the fish passed out of range, heading up wind and away. There would be more, I was told. I didn’t really believe it.

Katchu.

As I stood on the deck, thinking back just a few minutes to me botching a good permit shot, the guide spotted two bonefish cruising the mangroves. I was very conscience that I had a 10 weight in my hand and I was thinking that the presentation would be too heavy. It is a dangerous thing, thinking. I made the first cast to the bones and tried to ease up on the power so the line wouldn’t smack on the water. Totally underpowered, the cast landed in a heap. I cast again, but my head was too much in the game and the result was the same.

My friend Shane, who is a certified casting instructor couldn’t hold his tongue. “Those are the two worst casts I’ve ever seen you make.” he said. It was pure truth. Those casts were just horrible. I couldn’t help but give a little laugh at the ridiculousness of the casting and the degree to which I could rain on my own parade. It was also glad that Shane had just shown that he wouldn’t hold back the truth and when you are out there to learn, you need the truth.

There wasn’t too much time to dwell on things. Permit were again spotted. “Permit, 1:00!” said Katchu. I pointed my rod. “More right! More right!” The rod passed 1:00 to 2:00. “More right! More right!” I was pointing at 3:00 now. We joked that Katchu’s clock went something like 12, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 6, 11, 11, 11, 11, 11. I pointed my rod at 3:00, but saw nothing. “Where?” I asked. “Nervous water, don’t you see it?” I didn’t… I didn’t see anything. “There, 800 feet, do you see it?”

“WHAT? Of course I don’t see it!” Again, I could do little but laugh. I might not be catching fish, but at least I was seeing the humor in it.

Just as I was about to step down and give the bow up to Shane we saw more nervous water, permit, moving at speed. Downwind. Moving our way. Katchu said “Cast Now!” and I did. The fly, a Christmas Island Special, landed in the middle of the school and the school parted. I let the fly sit for a second and then started stripping as if I were casting to Jacks. The school came back together and balled up around the fly. As the fly swam fast out of the school one permit broke off and followed it. The fish chased the fly down just an inch below the surface, water sheeting over it’s face as it opened its mouth and ate the fly. I saw every detail. I set the hook. The fish was on, the line was cleared and the reel began to sing its beautiful song. Soon the permit was in.

Per Mit. Not a big one, but an honest to god Permit.

This was my first permit ever. Someone later told me that there are two kinds of permit. There are “permit” and “big permit.” I had caught the former and I had done so pretty much completely to the contrary to almost anything you will ever read about how you cast to and catch permit. There was no crab pattern. There was no leading the fish and letting the fly sink or settle. I cast on top of the fish and stripped as if I were trying to keep a strip of bacon from a hungry dog.

This is where the guide shines and local knowledge burst to the fore. On my own I never would have selected that fly. On my own I never would have made that cast. On my own I never would have made that retrieve. On my own I never would have caught that fish. Katchu knew. I think Katchu has been down this road more than once and also knew that first permit and first tarpon tend to come with first big tips. He may not be able to read a clock, but he knows his waters and he knows how to catch fish and thank god for that.

Next up… the Bonefish.

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06
Mar 11

Bonefishing with a Living Legend | Field & Stream

Sometimes things fall through the cracks… not sure how I missed this video up at Field and Stream, but there it is… Check it.

Last Friday marked the 40th anniversary of the day Ansil Saunders led a client to the 16-pound bonefish in Bimini, Bahamas, that still stands as the all tackle world record. As luck would have it, my good friend and editor of Fly Fishing In Salt Waters John Frazier and I were chosen from a group of writers to fish with Ansil on the anniversary.

via Bonefishing with a Living Legend | Field & Stream.

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Conservation / Fish Tails / Locations — 1 Comment
05
Mar 11

Grand Slam Reflections… The Getting There

I’m going to do this in parts… a look back at my Grand Slam down in Belize at El Pescador.

My Highly Improbably, Practically Impossible and Totally Ridiculous Grand Slam

 

First off, I need to say that I didn’t deserve it. It was way more than I expected, a feat for an angler who has put in some serious time in the salt. My casting isn’t good enough, my knots are sometimes suspect, my tarpon flies are “not there” yet and I was fishing with a buddy who can outfish me blindfolded. I may not have deserved my Inshore Grand Slam, my fish may not have been too large and I may have nearly squandered it all, but I’ll tell you what… I’ll take it.

An Inshore Grand Slam is a big deal because it is difficult. Permit are damn hard to find and nearly impossible to catch. Tarpon, with their boney mouths are notorious hook spitters. Bonefish are, by some distance, the easiest of the three. When bonefish, the gray ghost, is the easiest accomplishment… well… like I was saying… a Grand Slam is difficult.

As the plane crossed from Mexican airspace to Belizean airspace rain started to streak my window. As the plane touched down I could see giant puddles… the kind of puddles that don’t come from a passing thunderstorm. This was rain. Hard rain. Cats and dogs rain.

I hung my head and wished I had thrown back a couple of cocktails in the air. “It is what it is,” I told myself. “You just have to make the best of it” I repeated in my head. “The worst day fishing is better than the best day at work.” I thought, but I knew what I really meant was “Shit. Shit. Shit.”

This wasn’t a long trip, three full days, book-ended by a couple of half-days. If the storm lingered I could end up spending a lot of time in the bar and little time on the flats. I spent enough of my 20’s in bars and there are no bonefish flats in the SF Bay. I wanted to fish. I’d just have to see how things went.

The tiny plane that took me from Belize City to San Pedro on Ambergris Cay never got more than about 300 feet off the ground. It gave a great vantage of the endless flats in the lagoon between Ambergris and the mainland. I didn’t see fish from that high, but I did see muds… lots and lots of muds. There were fish down there on those flats… light green mottled flats with clumps of turtle grass and long prop scars. The flats… beautiful and abused and still alive.

I met up with my fishing companion, Shane, at the San Pedro airport and when I saw him, all we could do was just shrug and say “What can ya do?” Shane is about 5x the angler I am (and that’s probably being kind to myself in this particular bit of math). He’s a fly fishing guide working 200+ days a year and has 350+ days of bonefishing under his belt. He’s seen a hell of a lot more than I have, his casting is an order of magnitude better and he had a Grand Slam under his belt from Ascension Bay back in 1999. He’s been there and done that. I’ve just thought a lot about it, which is in no way the same thing.

We met Lori-Ann Murphy, Director of Fishing at El Pescador Lodge, at the dock in San Pedro. She has one of those jobs you dream about while desk-bound or snow-bound. She was standing on the dock in the rain and quickly offered a beer, which was quickly accepted and quickly drained. The boat ride up to El Pescador took about 10 minutes and was my first real look at Ambergris. The thin strip of solid land that separates the Caribbean from Chetumal Bay is covered with developments… resorts, condos, private homes… one after another squeezed along side each other. Most are beautiful places, some are not, but they all face the Caribbean, sheltered by the normal waves of the sea by the barrier reef just a couple hundred feet off-shore. Between the reef and the land is a solid blanket of turtle grass swaying in the tides.

Belize is a popular place these days. Retirees are moving down in droves from the States and in the booming days of the US Real Estate bubble the bulldozers and dredgers were doing heavy work down in Belize clearing mangroves and digging channels for all that US Cheese that was coming down. Developments moved from solid land to infilling the tidal flats and mangrove swamps. Belize remains a breathtakingly beautiful place, but when the US economy recovers (it is going to recover, isn’t it?) the bulldozers will be close behind. It is a fight that is going on right now… in Ambergris, in Turneffe, in Placencia. It’ll be a damn shame if we lose all that… a damn shame indeed.

Next up… The Permit

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Conservation / Fish Tails — 2 Comments
01
Mar 11

Interview with Jim Klug, Yellow Dog Fly Fishing Adventures

It isn’t often that I actually sit down with someone to do an interview, but in this case, it just made good sense.  I planned to attend The Fly Fishing Show in Pleasanton this past weekend and Yellow Dog Fly Fishing Adventures was going to be there with co-owner Jim Klug.  I had seen that Jim Klug was also on the board of the Turneffe Atoll Trust, which is an organization I’m just learning more about (and I like what I am hearing).  Jim took a bit of time on Sunday at the show to sit down with me for this interview.

Jim, at the show

Yellow Dog, as an outfitter, has been around for about 11 years. How did you get started with that?

It started, I don’t want to say as an accident, but it wasn’t the game plan at the time. At the time I was working at Scientific Anglers as their National Sales Manager and I was spending an awful lot of time down south in Belize. Pretty much every chance I got and some pretty good chunks of time. Ever time I’d make these trips I’d either bring friends with me or meet people down there who had questions about fishing other places in Belize and it really started taking on a life of its own. I’d have buddies calling me up saying “Hey, I understand you go down quite a bit. Where do you think I should go? What can you recommend? They’d have friends that would call and someone’s dad would call and you’d have a group of four people and we started helping people and directing them throughout Belize. One trip trip I had a good friend down there named Logan Gentry, who had just bought El Pescador at that time. Logan sat me down at one point and he said “I’ve been going through the numbers for the past year and you’ve really sent us a lot of people. You ought to think about formalizing this thing and starting a booking company.” My thoughts were, immediately, “Hell no… the fly fishing industry needs another booking company like it needs another reel manufacturer… just a horrible idea.” But, the more I started thinking about it and the more I started looking at it, I realized that while there were a lot of people doing it, I didn’t see a lot of people that were doing it to the level that I thought it could be done. There are certainly some good players in the game, no doubt about it, and there were some players that had been in it a long time, but I saw some opportunity and some room for improvement, just as anybody who starts a business arrives at it from that angle. I made the decision that I wanted to go full bore on this thing and I left my job at SA and started Yellow Dog and about two months after I left what was a really phenomenal job working for 3M Corp and making quite a bit of money for the fly fishing industry and hung out the shingle with Yellow Dog, all we did was Belize. The first year we did four destinations all in Belize. Two months after we started this thing the planes hit the buildings and everyone decided not to travel for a year. I was thinking “Well, that might be a really big mistake.” The good thing about it is that during that time it allowed me to really put things together and build the infrastructure over that first year so that when things did ramp back up, we were ready for it and had our act together, so it ended up working out just fine. Since then, we’ve grown Yellow Dog and expanded it. We have a philosophy that we try to stay very true to in that we won’t book something that we don’t know. If we have something in our line-up it is because we’ve been there, it is because someone from Yellow Dog has made those visits and normally we’ll go there on a regular basis. For instance, we don’t book Christmas Island because we don’t know Christmas Island. We don’t want to try and BS people and pretend that we do. So, over the years, as our staff has grown and we’ve built the company, we’ve brought on people that typically come in to manage a particular region. John Hudgens, who you met in there (referring to The Fly Fishing Show in Pleasanton), is our South America Program Manager and he comes from that background. He’s managed lodges in that area and he’s spent 5-6 years guiding down in Chile, so we bring him on to run and direct that program down there and it allows us to grow and expand but still stay true to the philosophies we have about how we do business.

You are on the Board for the Turneffe Atoll Trust and it seems like there are some opportunities on the horizon. What are the prospects for Turneffe Atoll right now?

I think one of the neat things about Turneffe Atoll is that it is a massive marine ecosystem in a very prime part of the Caribbean that is still untouched, untapped and undeveloped. It is getting harder and harder to find places like that. They are pretty much still off the charts and have been left alone. Frankly, I’m surprised the Four Seasons hasn’t come in and bought up the atoll and made it into their next mega resort. The neatest thing about the opportunities out at Turneffe Atoll is that right now we have a chance to address this in the near future and moving things forward to be in the preservations realm instead of 10 years from now being in the restoration and recovery realm. So we can spend the time and the energy now to protect it, or we can wait until everything has been abused, over-developed, over-built and then try and figure out a way to restore it to what it was. We are still very much out in front on this thing, but the clock is ticking, as it is for a lot of places in the Caribbean. Turneffe is incredibly important for being one of the largest nurseries in the Caribbean for bonefish and permit and possibly tarpon, but certainly bonefish and permit. It is such a crucial area that has such an impact from the Keys to probably the Bahamas and certainly the rest of the Central American coastline down there. It is an important place and once that needs to be protected now as opposed to recovered in 10 or 20 years.

Turneffe... looks kind of nice

So many times in our fishing lives there are people we come into contact with who are particularly influential to advancing our proficiency or understanding. Is there someone like that in your bonefishing life?

I was really fortunate in that back when I first discovered saltwater fishing, it was about 20 years ago, down on Andros Island and we were young and we were broke and we were basically tying all winter and guiding all summer and saving up all of our tip money so we could go down there and basically dirtbag it on Andros for four week stints. We had a buddy who lived down there and worked at the AUTEC base, he’s still there, actually, almost 20 years later. He’d find us a little rental house down there and we’d go to the AUTEC base and he’d get us passes to get on the base and we’d go to the chow hall and eat meals for like a buck and we’d go to the beach house and have $.50 beers, it was just perfect for the dirtbag lifestyle. We were really fortunate in that Andy Smith and Charlie Neymour, who are two of the really well established guides down in Andros we weren’t just fishing with these guys but they were also young and just getting going and we became great friends. Over the years, that relationship has continued and it is kind of fun that we’ve all remained in the business and kind of grown up together in the business and to see them at the top of their game and really at the forefront with Prescott and the issues he’s dealing with down in the Bahamas. Ian Davis, my business partner, was there in those early Andros days and now he’s co-owner of Yellow Dog. To see everyone still working together and being successful is pretty neat. I’d say definitely Andy Smith, Charlie Neymour, Prescott Smith, that Andros contingent of guides had a real influence in my formative saltwater years.

Jim down in Andros

When you spend time on the water you see things that other folks just don’t see. Is there something that you’ve seen out there on the flats that is particularly odd or fascinating?

There’s a phenomenon that happens sometimes down in the Bahamas where you’ll get hundreds, sometimes thousands of bonefish up on the surface, feeding on, as I understand it, it is jellyfish larva. The guides down there call it “bibbling.” It can be a massive area, the size of half a football field, and you just quietly pole right through them. That’s a pretty phenomenal sight.

“Connect” is coming out, the follow-on to the great fly fishing films “Rise” and “Drift.” Are there any bonefish in there?

Yeah, we have a pretty fantastic segment we are going to have in there that we’ll be filming in May in Cuba. We are going down for about 20 days and fishing with the Avalon Crew. Going to be a phenomenal bonefish segment and something we really get excited about filming, one because it’s a pretty easy place to go and fish and secondly because it is just so beautiful down there. It should be a great segment and we are excited about the whole movie. The premier is October 7th and the release is November 4th. In the past, we made the movie available to all kinds of nonprofits for them to do screenings, but we also had the dvd out at that time. This year we are creating a one month period where the only way to see the movie is to go to one of these conservation screenings. We are making the film available to any groups that are legitimate and want to do this.

What’s your favorite rod and reel at the moment?

I’ve grown up as a Scott guy. I’m pretty enamored with the S4S. I think that’s a phenomenal saltwater rod, although I’m still a disciple of the HP’s, the 888 3. I think that is just the sweetest bonefish rod ever made. I love it. The don’t even really make it anymore. Sometimes they’ll re-release the classics. I’ve got a quiver of them and I love them. For the reel… I’d say Hatch. I’ve been fishing Hatch since the company evolved and we are good friends with the owners. Love their products in the saltwater and love their drag.

Is there one bonefish in your memory that stands out?

I remember some of my early fish when I was down in Andros and I was just getting into it. You’d just get so excited when you’d be able to get that cast out there and they’d eat just like they were supposed to. Everything would just fall into place. It was probably some of the most enjoyable fishing I’ve ever done, some of those early saltwater trips. You just couldn’t believe how hard these fish fought and how often you got in your backing, and ya know, growing up as a trout fisherman, it was just a whole new world. It redefined everything for me. One particular fish, fishing with Andy Smith in the North Bight we tracked and poled for it must have been a half hour as this fish worked down a flat and Andy just followed it, working it and working it until I got the shot and we got the fish. It was probably about a 7 pound fish, but still one of my favorite bonefish of all time.

Jim down in Andros with his Hatch

Thanks Jim. By the way, all photos here were taken (with permission) from Jim’s photo site,

Fish Tails / Locations — 2 Comments
23
Feb 11

Sparkles – Andros South

The truth is that when I look at the picture, I see the person that made the catch possible and the stories he shared with me…

via Deneki Outdoors.

I’m looking forward to meeting Sparkles myself and hearing some stories.

Andros… I’m coming for ya.

Fish Tails / Locations — 6 Comments
15
Feb 11

The Return of FIBFest – Andros South

I don’t really know how many people have been reading the blog consistently over the past year, but I’d bet not that many of you.  Last year, when FIBFest was going on down at Andros South I was only getting about 90 readers a day.  These days I get about 225 or so.  For new readers all you need to know is that I got the invite to Andros South last year as part of a fly fishing blogger boondoggle and couldn’t do it… life got in the way… a move, a home sale, a 3 year old.  I just couldn’t make it happen, which was kind of crushing.

This year, things have fallen in my favor.  Deneki is announcing today the official line-up for FIBFest II down in South Andros and I’ll be there.

My mug will be in these shots soon.

One aspect I’m particularly excited about is the prospect of tagging some bonefish for the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust.  I asked Andrew if that were a possibility and he said “Hell yeah!”

This is going to be one heck of a trip and I’ll take readers along as much as is possible (which is through the blog, in case anyone was reaching for a passport there).

The hunting grounds of Andros South.

The other FIBers (Fly Industry Bloggers) are chiming in as well…

Like Michael Gracie…

And… Kyle Perkins over at Complete Thought…

Fish Tails / Locations — 1 Comment
14
Feb 11

Bonefishing Honeymoon

Happy Valentine’s Day.  Trying to play on that theme I found a story about a bonefishing honeymoon.

The Fall issue of the Times of the Island is now available with a great article “If You Love Me, Let Me Fish….A newley wed’s quest for Provo bonefish.”

via Times of the Island Bonefishing Honeymoon « MyTurksAndCaicosBlog.com.

Now, it turns out my first wife and I honeymooned in a location that also has bonefish.  I didn’t know that at the time and bonefish hadn’t camped out in my waking thoughts back then.  I used to be glad that I didn’t know bones back then, but now… I wish I knew. Could have saved some time.

Cool island.

Fish Tails / Locations — 1 Comment
12
Feb 11

Fly Fish Chick – Seeing is Beliezing

All sight casting, tails tails tails tails. Thousands and gazillions of bonefish tails. Saw a massive snook, no shot. Spooky spooky spooky bones. Shallow water. Damn wind. But managed to catch 3 on first day, 8 on the second day. Loved it.

via Fly Fish Chick » Blog Archive » Don’t Stop Beliezing.

The Fly Fish Chick went to Belize (hey, I’ve been there!) and fish were caught. She has a slide show on her site.  Get ye there and commence viewing.

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