Fish Tails

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11
Dec 09

Bonefish True or False

I found this Bonefish quiz on Field and Stream.com.  Kind of a fun little bit that includes…

2. Bonefish offspring/juveniles have been located as far north as (or farther than) Long Island, New York…

5. Bonefish can live at least 20 years…

6. A bonefish’s diet changes as it grows; under 16″ fish primarily eat worms and clams; over 16″ fish eat shrimp and crabs; over 24″ fish eat other fish, like toadfish and gobies (choose your fly accordingly!)…

The link at the top will take you to the rest of the quiz.

I kind of forget about Field and Stream since I’m not too interested in the “Field” part of the magazine.  I recall my dad subscribing during my childhood (100% for anything about steelhead).

A search for “bonefish” turns up 210 entries at F&S… whoa.  Who knew.  Might be mining some more gems from them down the road.

Other Updates:

  • I now have water again at the Sierra Bonefish Headquaters and have used that water to wash myself in all the important places (and unimportant ones)…
  • I discovered that I cannot make it up my street in 4×4 High, but can in Low…
  • This guy went to GBI just recently and caught some fish… promising, since I’m going to GBI in just over a month…
  • Coach Duff sent a couple pics of a NOICE bonefish (11.5 pounder) caught by client Luke on Coach’s 1/0 “Plate Lunch” crab pattern… one of those pics is below.
That is some nice HI bonefish that in no way would make a good fish cake

That is some nice HI bonefish that in no way would make a good fish cake

Also, I’ve just hit 7,000 views on this little endeavor of mine (up since August).  Thanks for reading, thanks for sharing and I hope we meet on the water some day (unless you are a total a-hole).

(Field and Stream quote used with permission from F&S)

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08
Dec 09

A first bonefish

Love seeing someone’s first bonefish…

Fish Tails / Locations — 1 Comment
03
Dec 09

The bad with the good

For two days I went out and turned up zeros.  The mud flowing from the river was visible, clearly, from the 4th floor deck.  Darn rain.  Today I went out anyway… back to the river mouth.

It was EPIC.  The gulls and pelicanos were crashing bait and the fishing was amazing.  I must have landed 30-40 fish, mostly Jack Crevalle.  This was on my 8/9 Albright with a 7 wt. sink tip… trying to improvise.  I had my 7 wt. with a clear sink on the shore.  I had many fish on back to back casts.  It was just a crazy, crazy day of fishing.  I was out for three hours, longer than I was supposed to be fishing.  I was bringing some fish back for some of the guys working at the resort and when I had “enough” I headed back.

Went to grab that back up rod… missing… stolen, really.  Well… the fishing will remain amazing, but my estimation of the local fisherman took a bit of a nosedive.  Probably not fair, but, the wound is fresh.

About a 2 pound Jack Crevalle (aka Toro), last fish of a great day of fishing.

I guess the bright side is that I get to do some rod shopping now.  This will be my Christmas present from my wife.  I’ll probably try to fill the gap I have in my rod selection with a solid and pure 8 weight, since I have another 7, although it is a 2 piece and not a 4.

UPDATE: Went out the next day, my last fishing day of the trip.  The fishing was almost as good although the biggest fish was a bit smaller.  I have bruises on the right side of my ribcage from the fighting butt.  Those are good bruises to have.  Caught five species of fish.  I had some really good fishing down from the beach with one big fish and lots and lots of smaller fish.  I do have a strange rash now on my legs that I’m about 95% certain is from the river water, but hey… again… gotta take the bad with the good.

Fish Species caught on this trip:

Fish Tails — 4 Comments
01
Dec 09

Getting Skunked

Now, I’m just on vacation here in Mexico, Vallarta.  This isn’t a fishing vacation, although I’m fishing… nearly every day, for a couple hours while my daughter naps.  I’ve been having some luck, but today… nadda… zero… zilch. I hooked one fish, decent fish.  Got a glimpse of it in the dirty water of the river mouth (rained here yesterday).  The rest of the time I stook there, walked up and down a bit, cast… cast… cast… just not a frigging thing.

Oh, it happens, I know.  I just don’t much like it when it does.  When I’m trout fishing, if I get skunked, it generally puts me in sour mood.  Not today though… this isn’t trout fishing, this isn’t my home water and I’m new enough to saltwater fishing that if I get skunked, it is all OK.

Back in high school and college I LOVED basketball.  I could have magical games and I could go cold.  I’d get so upset when I had a bad game I’d get depressed.  Started playing soccer… it wasn’t my game, so I could give myself permission to have a bad game.  Maybe that’s why I like bonefishing and saltwater fishing… I can give myself permission to have a bad day on the water.

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29
Nov 09

Cajun Fly Fisherman Discovers Bonefish

A nice little story originally from The Courier in 2003.

A good read.

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27
Nov 09

Toro! Toro! Toro!

Another day here in Vallarta, still no bonefish.  However… today I caught a Toro, also known as a Pacific Jack Crevalle, that was 12.8 pounds.  I’ve caught a ton of these down here… but mostly around a pound… this fish was just lovely.  Had me so far in my backing I could see the spool.  Probably broke my 7 wt. reel, actually.  Took about 20 minutes to land. 

I couldn’t be happier at the moment.

Now, normally, I’m a Catch and Release guy all around… but after 20 minutes, I had my doubts if this fish would survive.  I brought it back to the resort and had it prepared for dinner.  It was yummy.  Way more food that we could eat, so we fed many of the staff tonight.  This is my largest saltwater fish to date.

Good times.

Toro!

Fish Tails / Locations — 2 Comments
25
Nov 09

Turks and Caicos Bonefish Heaven

A great story from the Island life blog MyTurksAndCaicosBlog.com featuring some great fishing and nice pics.

One of the bones caught and released that day.

The MyTurksAndCaicosBlog.com has some good stories on it… little bits of the island lifestyle.  It’s on my RSS feed for that bit of the tropical.

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19
Nov 09

Drew Rush Goes Camping

I loved this story when I first read it… thought it needed to be brought back. This particular story appeared in This is Fly (a fly fishing e-zine which, as it happens,  is pretty damn fly) and was experienced and written by Drew Rush.

Drew is a Jackson, WY kind of guy… devastating with a camera and pretty frigging deadly with a fly rod, it appears.  He’s written several pieces for This is Fly and his work is popping up in all sorts of places.  This particular account is from a trip to Acklins with his girlfriend and some camping gear.

Here’s the story.  Enjoy. (That link no longer appears to take you to the original story. Trying to see if that story exists anywhere else)

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18
Nov 09

Islamorada Bonefish Vid

Ah… fish porn… I love fish porn.

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11
Nov 09

A first bonefish

A nice little video of someone’s first bonefish… kind of hard to miss with  a school of that size!  Sweet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9LsMqSy71Y&hl=en&fs=1&

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