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!!!.
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.
Sandy Moret has been at it for a long time in the US Bonefish Capital, Islamorada, Florida. He runs the Florida Keys Outfitters and some of the biggest names in saltwater fly fishing have come through his shop. If you want to jump-start your saltwater game, you can even sign up for his Florida Keys Fly Fishing School.
It seems like you are heavily associated with Islamorada. What is it that has kept you there for so many years?
I’ve lived here since ’85. It’s a great place to live. Lots of good fishing opportunities, lot of different species. The bonefish… we’ve got some pretty big bonefish here. One thing about this area that is charming to me is that every day you go out fishing, and you don’t see them as often as you used to, but you have a chance to catch an honest 12 pound bonefish.
Not Sandy's fish, but the largest he's seen a pic of from around Islamorada.
I’ve seen that you are associated with a lot of tournaments. As a West Coast trout guy, tournaments are a new concept for me. It seems like the tournament scene is its own little world. What’s the profile of a tournament angler?
Tournaments are an opportunity to get together with like minded people and fish for bonefish and test and compare techniques. The equipment and techniques we use today developed through tournament fishing to a large degree. The rods, reels, better flies and better techniques have come from tournament fishing. I don’t fish any tournaments anymore, although I used to fish quite a few. We run several tournaments here at the shop. We took on the operation of the Inshore World Championship from the IGFA several years ago. They have forty or so qualifying events around the world. If an angler wins one of those events, we’ll send him an invitation to come and fish here in July. That’s a five species tournament; tarpon, redfish, snook, permit and bonefish.
There’s a fall bonefish tournament coming up in a couple weeks in about it’s thirtieth year. I’d venture to say it will have some of the top bonefish anglers around the planet.
There’s really no way to measure the effectiveness of your technique unless you compare it to others. You have a forum with a control group. It’s the same people that win these things because they’ve developed a technique that is superior.
It kind of implies that luck is taken out of the equation if the same people are winning over and over again.
Yes. It means that they know the formulas for the leaders, the sink rates of the flies, they know several presentations and stripping methods that work in different situations. I find it pretty fascinating.
Nice fish Sandy!
Florida Guides have a reputation for being a bit intimidating and demanding. Do you think that is a deserved reputation or is that just part of the lore surrounding Florida fishing?
I think some of it is well deserved and some of it is not. When you have something you have to do in a short amount of time and a limited opportunity to do it… a lot of people misinterpret getting yelled at. The guide is just trying to get you to do something that has to happen in a hurry. I see all the time where people misinterpret that as they are being abused. The guides want you to catch fish. It’s one thing for a guide to point a fish out to you and let you see the fish and catch it. That’s about you catching the fish. It is another for the guide not to care about that and to say “give me a cast over there” and not even try to show you where the fish was. I don’t even care to cast to a fish if I can’t see it. When someone just tells you to cast somewhere, that’s not even bonefishing in my mind
Guides vary all over the world but I’d say they have a very good cadre of guides here.
What do you think the state of the fishery is down there in the keys. Do you feel optimistic or pessimistic about what the future holds.
I don’t feel optimistic about any fishery on the planet. The fishing pressure, the degradation. In the Pacific you’ve got places where they are consistently eating the bonefish and netting them up in some atoll in the South Pacific.
Aitutaki?
Yeah, that’s it. You’ve got that going on all over the world. I don’t know how to be optimistic about it. Bonefishing is great when they are there. Hopefully they’ll be some preservation and people are becoming more aware of the importance of the species, but it’s like pulling teeth. If you win 12 battles and lose 1, you’ve lost the war. There’s a lot of that going on.
If you have someone fairly green coming down to the Keys, what do they need to be successful?
They need casting skills. I find that to be the biggest limiting factor for people. People for some reason are hesitant to put in the time to develop the casting skills to catch these fish. They are demanding and they may be a bit more difficult that others, but some days they are dumb as stumps. You do have to bring the casting skills anywhere you go in the salt.
When you say “casting skills” are you talking 90’ in a bucket, 70’ in a 20 mph wind?
40’-60’ in the wind. I don’t even know if I can cast 80’. There are a lot of great casters in the world. More than there have ever been. Still, a lot of people don’t devote the energy to fine tune it. The cast is a really huge part of catching these fish.
Do you have a favorite rod or reel for bonefish?
Right now I use the Sage Xi3. I think it is a great rod. I’m using a Tibor Everglades for bonefish. I’d say, the reason I use the reel is it is bullet-proof. Being on the flats is not a time to worry about equipment failure. Here at the shop we see a lot equipment and we never, as in never, see issues with Tibor products.
You can tell, Sandy still gets excited about bonefish.
The technology on rod development continues to change and peoples casts continues to change. If I pick up a rod and use it for 4-5 years I pick up a new rod and say “How could I ever have lived without this?”
Thanks Sandy.
A great guest post on the Deneki blog by FIBFester Pete McDonald, who writes the Fishing Jones blog.
The drink is called sky juice and it’s a mixture of condensed milk, coconut rum, gin, and whatever other bottles are open at the time. Torrie Bevans mixed it up at the Slack Tide on what happened to be my last night at Andros South and it made the start proper.
via Lessons Learned on South Andros by Pete McDonald.
Thanks Youtube for this little gem. The sound track is disabled (Youtube, that sucks). This is a first bonefish, unguided, after days of effort. That feels about right.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74noKYZ_Uk4?fs=1&hl=en_US
As an aside, my little girl starts pre-school today.
Basically, if you are going to head to Cancun or Cozumel, bring a rod… just bring a rod!
Enrique, hopped out and indicated for me to get my gear ready which I quickly did. Enrique closely inspected all my knots and then wanted to see my fly box. He chose a size 8 tan Crazy Charlie and knotted it on with a non slip loop knot. The speed with which he did this told me I was in good hands.
via Cozumel & Cancun Flats Guiding & Offshore Fishing – A Cozumel Bonefishing Adventure.
The definition of sweetness… a photo essay on the Pine Island Angler blog. Nice, nice, nice. Check out the blog for all the goodness.
Here’s a quick photo essay from my third trip back to the Keys this year. I fished with two of my buddies Capt. Mike Bartlett of Key West and Capt. Rob Kramarz from Cudjoe Key. Both are great guides and will show you an excellent time on the water.
via The Pine Island Angler: More Key West Bonefishing, August 2010.
A sample... go to the blog and check it out.
(First, just a note, you can be entered to win some Skinny Water Culture gear by emailing me the account of your first bonefish. bonefishonthebrain@gmail.com)
As you may have guessed, I dig Skinny Water Culture gear. So, I was really excited to read on their blog about a bonefishing trip and a re-capture of a bonefish tag.
Nice fish and nice tag.
They got word back about the fish and it’s 658 days between tagging and recapture. Awesome.
Bonefish tagging… it’s important stuff. The Bonefish & Tarpon Trust does tagging as does the Bonefish & Tarpon Research Center at the University of Miami. Keep up the good work guys!
Lori-Ann Murphy has a job that I would consider killing for. Not really… well… maybe… depends who is asking I guess. She is the Director of Fishing at El Pescador Lodge in Belize. She didn’t luck into it though (which is the only way I’d get that kind of job). She was the first female Orvis endorsed guide. She’s been a guide for 21 years. She splits time in Montana and Belize… basically places with fish. She founded Reel Women, which I’ll try to tell my wife about in the vain hope she’ll desire to cast a fly some day.
Lori-Ann with Wil Flack and a couple little permit (although one may be a pamoleta). Double Date.
Lori-Ann called all the way from Belize for this interview, which my three year old daughter crashed at least twice. Thanks Lori-Ann.
Your title is “Director of Fishing.” What does that entail there at El Pescador Lodge?
I’m a liaison between the guests and the guides. Today I’m going to do a fishing orientation… I bring a big map and show everyone where we are and I tell everyone about the lagoon in the back and all the fishing they can do around here on their own and what the guided experience is all about and get them ready for that. I look over their flies. We have a full quiver of fly rods here, 8-12 wt, so if they need to be outfitted with one of our fly rods I’ll take care of that. In the morning I introduce everyone to their guides and explain the day. I work with the guides. I have a great team of 11 that I love to pieces. The day before yesterday I had a guide meeting. I’m also a nurse, so when I first came here in November they were asking why we were having all these meetings, and I said “I’m a nurse, we have meetings.” We have monthly meetings with the guides to discuss all the things that come up, guest relations to environment to whatever the current thing we might be doing is.
For the people that come out to El Pescador, where to you think their expectations are compared to the reality of the experience?
I’m amazed that beginner saltwater angles come here and say “I want to get a Permit” and they do. El Pescador is a great place for beginners because we have a bagillion bonefish and while they might not be as big as the Bahamas, but they are all hot fish, 2-6 pounds… a 6-8 fish is huge. I was just reading an evaluation from a beginner and he was fully expecting, as a beginner, to land a grand slam. I think people probably have been reading too many magazines and watching too many TV shows and some people are quickly humbled in the salt. I usually do daily casting lessons at 4:30 on how to have an efficient cast and how to pick it up and shoot it and how to change the speed of your haul and all that stuff. Expectations are all over the map. Generally, people come here with really high expectations and it works, somehow.
It seems Ambergris has become very popular. I’ve seen the Currents of Belize and my overall impression is that there is a lot of development and that over-development is either happening or about to happen. What’s your impression being down there?
Wil Flack and all the guys who did Currents of Belize, those guys are all my friends. Twenty years ago it was a small fishing village. Ten years ago it really changed. The government was able to sell land and when you sell land people were also able to dredge up the flats. So that’s been going on a lot. A lot of my time in Belize was in the 90’s and that wasn’t happening. Allie, the owner here dedicates 20% of her time trying to preserve the land around here so we can keep the mangroves intact, keep the flats intact so we have a sustainable fishery for future generations. That’s a really big discussion down here. There’s Green Reef and other organizations that are trying to do good things. Allie had investors buying land. Leonardo DiCaprio bought a Cay, Black Door Cay, and Allie bought four small keys to preserve and put it in a land trust. We hope to see more of that. The San Pedranos here have seen SO much change in the last 20 years. At first it was wonderful since people went from a small fishing village to actually having some money. The guides here make a lot of money, between $60K and $100K. We’ve all seen a lot of change. There is a huge push to keep Ambergris from just getting sold right off.
BTT’s Aaron Adams scouting out El Pescador
I was a big fan of Pirates of the Flats and have been watching the news coming out about Buccaneers and Bones. What was it like to be part of that project?
I was really flattered. It was a lot of fun. I had that week off my regular responsibilities because I was involved in the fishing and filming end of it. It was great to get to know the whole crew. Of course, Tom Brokaw, Michael Keaton, Tom McGuane, they all have a place up on the Bolder River in Montana and I live close to there (I live here for 9 months and in Montana the other 3). That Montana connection was wonderful and being able to see the passion and commitment from Yvon Chouinard. Tom Brokaw would say something, we were talking about the oil spill and he said “We have to stop calling it an oil spill because it is a catastrophe and it will affect our lives for our future.” All off a sudden you realize that is Tom Brokaw speaking there and he’s had his foot on every place on the planet. Michael Keaton was really passionate and really fun… pumped up and excited to be part of things. We had that tropical depression Alex come in and that was interesting. Everyone bolted out of here a day early.
Lori-Ann with Wil Flack and, on the right, Zach Gilford
Going to Florida, Stu Apte has been a friend of mine but I’ve never been able to fish with him before, so that was quite an honor to be tarpon fishing and hanging out with Stu Apte. I hadn’t met Jerry Alt. Being able to hear those guys talk and be right there at the ground level talking about tarpon migration and data and being a part of tagging fish, both bonefish and tarpon. It was fantastic.
I had a nervous breakdown in Florida over a tarpon, so I can’t wait for that episode.
El Pescador, Ally and the crew really work as a team around here and it was such a big production. We had guests here too… it was a big deal.
What’s your go-to rod and reel right now?
Jerry Siem is one of my very dear friends and I’m very fortunate to fish Sage Rods and Reels. I also fish Hatch Reels, I have a few Tibors and I like those as well.
My favorite rod right now is the Xi3 7 wt.
You throw a 7 because the bones are a little smaller there?
I just love this rod. I just love the action of it. The bonefish are smaller here so you don’t need to throw a whole lot of line. Today I went down to 16 pound because I saw some Permit, didn’t get them, but it sure was fun.
I have Xi3’s in 7, 8, 9 and 11.
When you are out on the water a lot you see things that others just don’t see. Do you have any stories of things you’ve seen by virtue of being out there on the water as much as you are?
Sure, I have two stories right off the bat. One, I was fishing with my friend Wil Flack and we were bonefishing out in the lagoon out back, which is stellar. We canoed out and then got out to wade this little bay. It’s a muddy bay and we were both up to our knees in mud. We were on opposite sides of the bay. We were probably 200 yards apart. I saw a 7 foot long dark thing come right in between us from the mangroves. I’m thinking “Tarpon!” I can’t wait to see the big tarpon back. I’ve seen lots of baby tarpon, but I’m thinking I’m seeing big tarpon. I cast to this thing (I had a bonefish fly on, but my nature instinct is just to cast) I give this thing a cranial and it stops. I’m yelling to Wil and he’s just so focused because he has a ton of bonefish in front of him. He looks up and the thing gets sideways and the tail goes “wahwahwah.” He yells “That’s a Croc!” We didn’t move. At the end of the day we were talking about it and said “I’ve never waded with a Croc before.” At the time we were just in such bonefish fever we didn’t want to give it up. We had waves of bonefish coming at us. This Croc just swam right between us and just left. We continued fishing all day and didn’t really think about it until the end of the day.
Another time we were out there fishing with Wil and Paulie, these guys are steelhead guides up on the Sustut, and Paulie is out there catching his first bonefish. We turn around and this Frigatebird (Frigatebirds can’t land in the water, they can’t take off and die if they land in the water) nearly turns itself inside out and nails about a 3 pound bonefish and flies off with it. I’ve been fishing since ’92 and I’ve never seen that.
Thanks Lori-Ann!
Some goodness from Field and Stream… a place I’m learning to find some really good content.
Today’s fish were spooky, snobby, finicky, and loved to tease. They tracked my flies all day, turning away at the last second. But all that changed when guide Rick Sawyer broke out the sexiest bonefish fly I’ve ever seen.
via Cermele: The Sexiest Fly in the Bahamas | Field & Stream.
Any guesses?
