Gear

Interview with Lori-Ann Murphy

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!

Gear — 4 Comments
19
Aug 10

Skinny Water Culture Shwag

Soon after I had my religious bonefish experience in Hawaii I started looking for shirts with bonefish. I didn’t find much off the bat. My t-shirts fall into roughly two categories… short sleeved fish-themed shirts and longed sleeved fish-themed t-shirts.

Then… I found Skinny Water Culture.

That's beautiful

This is some good looking art… that’s right… I said it… “art.” That bonefish is beautiful and primal and, well, everything I wanted in a fish-themed shirt.

Now, I just managed to give away a pair of Costa Del Mar sunglasses and that was pretty cool… so, I asked the guys at Skinny Water Culture and they said “sure, we’d love to give away some SWC gear.”

So, there… I’m going to give away something (actually, anything they have in stock in whatever size you might be).

So… here’s what I’m thinking. I’d love to hear about your about your first bonefish. You can put comments here or you can put a comment on the page created for this purpose.

For the record, I own two Skinny Water Culture shirts. Both I paid full retail for. See, I’m giving you a free shirt and I’m paying for them. I try to do well by all you folks that honor me by actually reading what I write.

Conservation / Gear — No Comments
12
Aug 10

Bonefish and Tarpon Trust to auction Borski Abel Reel

Artist Tim Borski and Abel Reels have once again stepped up to the plate in support of BTT. They have donated a bonefish special edition reel to BTT for auction. BTT has Reel #2 of 100 (Tim has Reel #1). This special edition reel will be auctioned by BTT in the near future. We expect a nice donation from this reel – the Redfish special edition reel donated by Tim and Abel Reels last year fetched more than $3,000. Stay tuned for details on the auction. If you are interested in bidding on this reel and would like to be updated when an auction is scheduled, please email us at bonefish@mote.org.

via Bonefish & Tarpon Trust.

This reel is not remotely in my price range, but if I had the money floating around and I was going to choose between a new couch or this reel, I’d choose this reel. The Bonefish and Tarpon Trust is the shiznit… although I’m not cool or urban at all enough to pull of using “shiznit.”

Fish Tails / Gear — 6 Comments
10
Aug 10

Interview with Kristen Mustad – Nautilus Reels

I have not fished a Nautilus Reel… yet… but on my next trip to some warm and beautiful bit of salty water, I just might borrow one of Kristen’s reels and give it a go. I already have one of his reels on my phone.

You have a Norwegian background?

Norwegian born, in Oslo.

So, what’s your strategy for not getting skin cancer being a Norwegian in Miami?

I use Buffs. I was hating them, thinking people looked like fools wearing them and then I wore one and it’s the most amazing product ever. No other product comes close to it. There are a bunch of other guys that make similar products, but they don’t work as well.

You see fishing guides smoking through them, drinking through them, it’s pretty crazy. I’ll tell you something, when you are out there on the flats, I always used to wear long sleeves, cotton, because the soak up a little sweat and they keep you cool, and even when I wear technical stuff, I wear a cotton shirt under it just to get a little cool on it because it gets really hot here in the summer when there’s no wind. But when you wear a Buff you don’t get a hang-over, you get a hang-over from the sun just because you are dehydrated, just like when you drink.

Nice

Tell me a little bit about Nautilus Reels. What makes you guys unique or special, what’s the value proposition?

Right now, it is the lightness of the reel. We hit it big with the CCF line, which, today in my book is a heavy reel, but we still sell a pile of them. That’s an 8.7 ounce 8 wt. reel and when it was first launched was one of the lighter big game reels out there. Now, we’ve got the NV line, which is just way lighter, it’s higher dollar, but not as high dollar as some of the reels out there.

Another advantage we have is we are young guys, we are always out there looking for the new stuff; components, materials, cutting tools, software – you name it. Also, it’s our attention to detail: it is not all about functionality: Looks matter a lot, so does ease of assembly and manufacturing time. It is all a balance that affects your costs, so every time we run a part, we make changes to it, every time. Most of them are not visible to the end user, it is all to get better efficiencies in the factory and in the end, to make a better product without impacting the guy who bought one last year and wants to buy a replacement spool. It’s going to fit.

The new NV, the NV-G series are really large arbor. For the NV 11-12, an 8.5 ounce 12 weight reel, which is about half the weight of the next comparable 12 wt. reel (ours or anyone else’s), we make the G-9 spool. It has a huge arbor. We used to call it the Über-Arbors. You can put an 8, 9 or 10 wt. line on it and you’ve got 8.2 ounce 8 wt. reel that picks up line like the devil. A 4.5” 8 wt. reel… it’s a lot of fun

You’ve got to be out there making new products. When we got into this, we looked around and folks were changing their products every 5, 6, 7 years and the changes were cosmetic. We made it a point to bring in a new model every year. People change their cars every 3-4 years, yet keep an outdated reel for 15! People are still fishing cork. Cork was invented generations ago. The main reason we use it in our CCF reel ( it’s cork and carbon fiber, that’s what the CCF stands for) is for marketing purposes. Carbon fiber is way superior to cork, but the whole big game crowd was so into cork because it is “so forgiving, compressible, has memory…” so we said, OK, let’s include cork so the big game guys can see that and say, “Hey, it’s got cork, it’s gotta be OK.”

Kristen with a bone.

Joe said he uses the featherweight.

That’s our little trout reel, and we built it big. The featherweight soon will have a stronger drag and we’ll put cork in there so people will be satisfied, but it is a 4.5 ounce little reel, but that’s what Joe uses all the time. You don’t need more.

I saw your Traveler’s Program (where you lend reels to folks to bring on their next trip). That sounds awesome. Are people taking advantage of that?

They are, but I’ll tell you it’s frustrating. They borrow the reel, and then they don’t send it back for three months and then they don’t send a picture. You tell them, “Guys, can you send a picture of the fish?” They say, “No, we didn’t catch any.” Just tell me a story, tell me about the guy that fell over the case of beer. Tell me anything. You end up with no stories half the time.

That does suck. I’d think there would be so many people that would jump at it.

It’s an awesome program and it is non-threatening to the dealer because there is only one of each (reel model/weight). Each gets engraved with every destination. I’ll tell you, the 10/11 traveler is gone. The 8/9 traveler is gone. They just never returned them. They get charged, but they just don’t return them sometimes. We need to find a way to get this to work better. It’s frustrating to the guys that want the reels and can’t get them. It’s frustrating to us. We need to put a GPS tracker on those things to get them back.

How much do you fish for bones? Biscayne Bay is right there.

I probably get a couple days a month. When I bonefish, I fish in Key Biscayne. Most of my bonefishing I did in Los Roques. I lived in Venezuela for four years. I had some buddies that fished and had little planes and we’d go out there on weekends and fish for two or three days. You go out there on your own and you’ll catch three fish on a weekend, and you go back when you have a little more money and you hire a guide and you catch 15 fish in a morning.

Do you have a most memorable bonefish?

I invented a patentable way to tie a fly that works well in certain applications. I tie a lot with big rabbit strips. I was fishing with some of the guys from Kauffmans down here and we were casting… the way you tie this fly, it’s tied on the weed guard, and what was happening was I was using too light a weedguard and the fish would suck in the rabbit and the hook would stay outside its mouth. We had two different fish eat this fly four times and they’d pick it up, the angler would come tight and clear the line and then the fly would just come out. It happened again and again. The guy said “This fly sucks, can we change it?” I picked up the fly, put the hook right through the rabbit strip and I said “Cast again.” Sure enough, he stuck the fish on the first cast. That concept didn’t work, but it was a very memorable experience.

Another FL bonefish

What rod do you pair with your Nautilus reel?

I use whatever the newest Nautilus reel is. Right now, I’m fishing the G9’s. That’s the one I like best. For rods, I’ll use pretty much anything US Made. I use a lot of different rods. On my last trip, I used a Scott S4S in a 9 weight.

I saw you actually have a section on your website called “pipeline.” Is there anything coming down the pipeline you are particularly excited about?

The Featherweight’s are changing to a spool that looks like the G spool. The G spool, when it has line on it, the backing sits higher than it looks like it should sit, so it looks like it floats. It promotes backing drying faster, but they also look really good.

Do you have any parting thoughts?

Here’s my message… take a buddy fishing. That’s the best thing you can do. Every day we lose kids and adults from this sport. When I go out fishing, I don’t take the hard core guy, I take the guy that doesn’t get out, the guy who hasn’t done this before. The guy finds a new hobby he loves, the guide gets a new client, everyone wins. There are so many guys that just do offshore fishing, but the flats fishing, its full contact… you are there in 12 inches of water and there’s a 200 pound shark that comes up and noses the propeller. You can’t beat that. I take my kid out, he’s 9, I’ve been taking him out since he was 1 ½ and he’ll spend the whole day on a flats boat soaking a crab and he just loves it. It doesn’t have to be fly fishing. Just take someone out there.

Thanks Kristen!

Fish Tails / Gear / Locations — 14 Comments
03
Aug 10

Interview with Butch Leone

How about living on a remote atoll in the middle of the South Pacific? Sounds intriguing, no? That’s exactly what Butch Leone does on the atoll of Aitutaki in the Cook Islands where he guides anglers to some really big bonefish. Atoll life sounds pretty interesting.

Butch with a nice Aitutaki Bonefish

Aitataki is a long way from anything. How did you find yourself living there pursuing bonefish?

I first came to Aitutaki 13 years ago and just fell in love with the place. How I decided to come to the Cook Islands is a bit funny. I was just a kid and just spun the globe and put my finger down. It landed on the Cook Islands so I figured that someday I would go there. It took 30 some years to make the trip but it was certainly worth the wait. When I was planning my trip here for the first time I saw all the sand flats and thought there must be bonefish in the lagoon. I tried to do some research on the subject but nothing was written about bonefishing on Aitutaki at that time. I just came down with a 9wt rod and started throwing flies at everything with fins. I loved it. Once I got back to where I lived in Bend, Oregon I booked another trip and was back on Aitutaki 6 months later.

What’s the most difficult part of living somewhere that is so isolated?

People ask me all the time what I miss most while I am down here. I have to tell them honestly, “nothing.” My lovely wife and little daughter supply everything I could want in life on the island. With modern technology and the internet I can stay in close contact with my family and friends in the US.

Do you have a particularly memorable bonefish?

If I had to choose a memorable bonefish I would have to say “my last one.” They are all just so much fun to have run my backing out that it is hard to choose which would be my most memorable. I guess if I had to pick one it would be my 37 inch bonefish caught in the main channel in town while I was fishing for trevally. It was quite a surprise to hook a big bonefish on a fly that was just under the surface of the water while stripping as fast as I could. All I saw when it hit the fly was a slab of silver and I figured it was just a big trevally. As soon as it started to come back at me after the first massive run I had an idea it wasn’t a trevally. The size of the thing had me shaking in wading sandals. I haven’t landed another one that large but seen them plenty of times.

I would imagine that you don’t have a lot of fly shops there, how do you get gear and flies? Does the remoteness of your circumstances force you to be more careful with your gear?

If you lose gear here you better have back ups because you can’t just run down to your local fly shop and restock. I have most of my fly tying materials sent in from The Patient Angler Fly Shop in Bend. Peter Bowers, the owner has been more than accommodating sending my supplies. For my leaders I just get big spools of the stuff as I go thru so much of it. I use the RIO Saltwater F/I lines and order right from RIO. They also have been great and have taken care of me on numerous occasions. No I am not cautious with my gear. I’ll toss to anything. If you get cautious you don’t take the chances that can land a great fish. My gear is meant to be used and I use it and put it to the test as often as I can.

Do you have a favorite rod/reel these days?

Right now my rod of choice is a 9wt Pieroway rod from Pieroway Rod Company of Calgary Canada. It is probably the smoothest casting rod I have ever used. It offers great finesse on short shots and has plenty of power for the long shots. I would put it up against any of the top rated rods that are much more expensive. It has helped me land many bonefish in all kinds of conditions. I also use a 9wt TFO TiCrX that I like and have landed plenty of great fish on.

A Pieroway rod and Cook Bonefish

When you are out on the water a lot you get the opportunity to see things that other people simply will never see. You see unique things, funny things, frightening things. Is there something you’ve seen out on the flats that is memorable like that?

I guess the strangest thing I have ever seen out here on the lagoon has to do with a bonefish that we saw one day. As we were poling along the edge of one of the little islands in the lagoon looking for bonefish, we saw this fish snapping at the tail of an eel. We poled up close and saw that it was a bonefish and it was just nipping at the eel’s tail end. This was up on the surface of the water. My friend Mark and I just kind of looked at each other not sure what we were seeing. We kept trying to put a fly between the bonefish and the eel but the fish wanted nothing but the eel. Finally the eel got under a rock and that was the end of it. These bonefish here are a different fish not only are they big but they just don’t act like normal bonefish, what ever that is. I know people here that have picked up bonefish trolling. These fish have the brain the size of a breadcrumb but they still outsmart me all the time.

Butch poling along the atoll.

Thanks Butch. Hope you enjoy Aitutaki. Sounds like a special place.

Gear — 1 Comment
02
Aug 10

Need a reel? Borrow one!

Do you need a reel for your next bonefishing (or bill fishing) trip but don’t want to go drop $700 on a reel you haven’t played with at all?

Here’s an idea… borrow one… from the reel maker!

No, I haven’t been indulging in the 420 lifestyle, I am not currently drunk and have not been using potent glues in confined spaces. I simply was looking around the website of Nautilus Reels.

Turns out Nautilus has a program they call “Travelers” that lets you borrow one of their reels, take it on your trip and return it. Upon your returning the reel the location of your trip gets engraved on the reel for the next user to enjoy.

Seriously… that sounds pretty sweet and is something I plan on taking advantage of.

Here’s the thing though… return the reel. A few of these reels have not been returned. It means you get charged for it, but it also means it is out of rotation. Basically, you screw the next guy/gal who might want to use it.

This could be the reel for your next trip…

You can borrow this reel.

Gear — No Comments
01
Aug 10

Skinny Water Culture — Chase Hancock “Bonefish Ghost” Shirt

$15.00 – On Sale

1st Series Signature Bonefish from Chase Hancock (SICK!)

via Skinny Water Culture — Chase Hancock “Bonefish Ghost” T Shirt (Short Sleeve).

This shirt is on sale… $15.00… I love this shirt. You should buy this shirt.

All the other stuff / Gear — 2 Comments
29
Jul 10

Free Nautilus Reels Ringtones

My wife has a special ringtone, Oh, Mexico (we love Mexico) and while James Taylor is nice, I’ve really wanted the singing of a reel for other ringtones. I even tried to make my own reel screaming ringtone, it didn’t work out, although we are still friends.

I was pointed to the website of Nautilus Reels (favorite reel of Joe Gonzalez) by company owner Kristen Mustad (yes, as in the hooks).

Low and behold, there they are… three to choose from.

Free Nautilus Reels Ringtones – Nautilus Reels.

Hear it sing.

For the iPhone you might need to know how to make any MP3 into a ringtone, and how to change file extensions.

Fish Tails / Flies / Gear / Locations — 2 Comments
27
Jul 10

Interview with Scott Heywood

Scott Heywood is one of the founders of Angling Destinations, a fishing travel company that books trips to just about every place I want to go, including a few places they don’t even advertise. It is nice to see that Scott still gets excited about fishing, whether that is chasing a bonefish in the Bahamas or fishing his home waters around Sheridan, WY.

Nice

Being in Sheridan, Wyoming, did you start your company to get away from the winters?

No, you know, I always tell people we started this company purely legitimately, we started booking trips for one little resort on Abaco in order to get a free week of bonefishing every year, so we started with the purest of motivations.

It kind of blossomed from there. We’ve been doing this a long time since the late 80’s, early 90’s and there wasn’t a lot going on with bonefishing then. It became quickly apparent that there was a real need for people with good information about where to go and the company grew very quickly and has grown every year and it has been a really interesting thing. We haven’t gone “mainstream,” we don’t do the glossy brochures and all that stuff, we just deal with a very dedicated group of anglers and we are kind of like your blog, we are for the dedicated.

We have four customers in Wyoming. There are 400,000 people that live in the State and we don’t have that many bonefisherman in Wyoming. We love living here, its great fishing and a beautiful place, but it does mean you have to take longer flights to get to the bonefishing, but we all bonefish 6, 7, 8 times a year, so we are traveling a lot.

Do you have one bonefish that really stands out in your mind?

I was thinking about that and it’s a really difficult question because there has been so many weird and strange moments in bonefishing. I’ve actually been bonefishing since my early teens, so almost 50 years of bonefishing and when you get to fish some of these places when there has never been anyone fish it you get some weird things happen. The place that comes to mind immediately is the Seychelles because I was lucky enough to get to go there in the mid 90’s before anyone had really been there and I got to go to St. Francoise when we were the 6^th, 7^th and 8^th people ever to get out there to bonefish. This was before Larry Dahlberg did his TV shows and we were lucky to get out there to see it. We had so many strange things happen with bonefish… we could get close enough to bonefish to tap them on the tail with our rods, we could catch them on grasshopper flies, but one series of fish really stands out. We were walking around the island and the bonefish would tail up into the surf to chase crabs and you could actually cast your fly on dry land in the surf and you could pull bonefish up out of the water, up to about their anal fin, they would chase these crabs up out of the water and get them. That just sticks in my mind. When you do anything long enough in fishing you see some truly odd behavior and if you’ve ever seen the nature shows where you see the Orcas surf in to get the seal pups, that’s what it was like to see these bonefish come in, charge in, and try and get these crabs right off the beach. Our goal was to catch a bonefish without ever getting the fly in the water and we were actually able to do it. The bonefish would sort of nip at the crab and they would grab a little section of it and they would pull it back into the water and then they’d pin it and eat it. That was a pretty cool experience.

That could also be the second question too, which is something odd or unique that you’ve seen out there.

I don’t even have to go that far back for that one. I spent a week doing one of our DX trips and we had two very, very strange things happen. You know, I’ve watched bonefish on the backs of just about every conceivable animal from dolphins to rays to sharks, bonefish I think are prone to follow other animals around because they can turn around and veer of if something turns around to try and eat them. In one day I watched bonefish do two really weird things. One was, we saw a cormorant colony and the bonefish would wait below the colony and when the cormorants would fly off their nests and swim on the flats the bonefish would follow the birds and when they’d put their big webbed feet would puff up a bunch of marl on the bottom the bonefish would get in there and see if anything came out. So when we found a cormorant that day we’d follow the cormorant and without having to wait very long, we’d find a bonefish on the cormorant’s tail. They’d follow the cormorants and we’d just cast off the tail of the cormorant and the bonefish, often 8, 9, 10 pound bonefish, would eat our flies in a heartbeat, just suck them right up and we caught a few fish right on the backs of these cormorants, which was really cool. The only thing that the bonefish would veer off the cormorants to do would be to follow a mangrove leaf. We’d watch them leave the cormorants and go over to these leaves and eat them and we were very confused as to what was happening, why a bonefish was eating a leaf. You’d see the leaf go in the mouth of the bonefish and a second later it would be spit back out and we finally went over and picked up some of these mangrove leaves and there were little tiny crabs that were clinging to the leaves as they got blown out of the mangroves and these little crabs were just hanging on. These bonefish had learned to pick up the leaves, crush the little crabs, swallow the crabs and spit out the leaves. That’s pretty memorable. You don’t forget that soon.

Some of those DX trips seem not for the faint of heart… off the grid, off the map… away from room service and gourmet meals. What are some of the trade offs when you head out there.

We do so many types of DX trips, everything from nice hotel accommodations to camping on the beach, but generally the two things you sacrifice doing a DX trip, you lose the amenities, be it good food or nice accommodations, especially if you are doing a camping trip where you are sleeping in a tent and cooking on the beach, and there can be bugs and it can be hot. We always try to have a cooler of cold beer, because who can live without that, but generally, that’s what you give up. Second, and this isn’t always true, but when you go to really remote places, places where there isn’t a lot of mainstream bonefish activity, there often aren’t qualified guides and the guides that are there are often just local fisherman and they don’t have the skills to be bonefishing guides. Guides get good by guiding and if they aren’t guiding, they are just local fisherman. I’ve always said I’d trade good guides for stupid bonefish any day. That’s generally the trade off.

Camping + Bonefishing

Those DX trips sound so fascinating. Are there really that many places out there left to be discovered? In this age of Google Earth it feels like everything that can be discovered has been. Are there places out there truly off the map?

There are places that are still very hard to get to, or they are not serviced by existing operations. Let’s say there’s an area 30 miles from an existing lodge, that’s not a realistic place to fish every day for those lodges and it might be a small area, it might be a small fishery, it might not take the impact well of a full season of bonefishing, but a couple of weeks a year it can be a fantastic fishery. The logistics of getting to it can be difficult. That’s what we do with our DX trips, we either go to areas that are tough to get to or smaller areas that aren’t often fished and couldn’t handle consistent lodge pressure and do them only for a short period of time. For the people that are the real die-hard bonefisherman, they are willing to make that sacrifice to get into those areas. This isn’t to denigrate anyone that does the traditional bonefish trips, I do them myself, everyone does them, but there are limitations to traditional trips. Often times, traditional trips just can’t get into those remote areas.

We don’t really do our DX trips as money makers. They are a labor of love. We do them with people we know and clients we’ve had for a long time and they are just a lot of fun. They are really invigorating and very cool. They are for hardy souls. If you don’t like bugs and like air conditioning, they probably aren’t for you. But if you live and breathe wild places, they are really fun trips.

Do you have one fly that you never leave without? When you go some place that is seldom fished, does it even matter what you throw?

No, probably not. I have to admit, a Crazy Legged Gotcha is probably my number one fly. I’ve caught bonefish all over the world on that fly. You can tie it more flashy or less flashy, but it is a pretty good pattern. Sometimes I tie it reversed with the eyes in back because most of the prey species face the animal they are trying to get away from. If I had to have one fly, it would probably be a light, small crab, just a generic tan crab, or a silly legs Gotcha. If you asked about Los Roques, I’d give you a different answer. Then you get to those islands in the South Pacific where all the fish eat is worms and you can throw a Gotcha all day and it won’t work.

Are you personally looking for big fish or do you like days with a lot of fish?

I think the answer to that question is that I love the classic bonefishing moments. Certainly, big fish get your heart going much more than a 3 pound bonefish. When you start to see fish in singles and doubles… that is certainly a lot more enthralling that throwing to a lot of school fish. What I like is when you tier the skills you’ve worked so hard to acquire, from finding the fish and hunting them to making a good cast and then good presentation, making a good enticing strip and then a good strip set. That’s what I seek are those moments. You can go and catch 20 fish in a day and then you catch one and you think “That was cool,” and you know, that is what you are going to remember. That’s what I look for. Many times I’ve walked away from schooling fish to head to a place that looked promising for a bigger tailing fish, but a bigger fish isn’t the end result I’m looking for, it’s those really cool moments.

What’s your favorite reel/rod right now?

I use an Able Super 8, that I really like. My rod of choice is a Loomis GLX. Loomis was kind enough to give me a new GLX after my old GLX kept breaking and they gave me a Crosscurrent, the same one that Shane had in his interview. That’s my rod of choice and I love my Able. It’s so easy to service, you can take some parts with you and totally repair them in the field. You don’t have that issue with the closed drag that starts to squeak where you have to come back and send it in, but you can’t fix it in the field, so that would be my choice. The old standard, heavy weight Able Super 8. I’ve taken it all over. Take a couple springs and a couple spare parts and you can fix it and make it work anywhere in the world. The Loomis GLX is a great rod as well.

The Super

Since you travel so much… what are some things folks should consider when it comes to what to put in their luggage?

Here are some things I think are critical to have. I first look at e things you can’t afford not to have. Those are, beyond the obvious, you’ve got to have good sunglasses and you’ve got to have good wading shoes that are broken in and you know will not chew your feet up. If you are going to do trips where there’s a lot of wading and your are going to be on your feet all day, I’ve watched people get a new pair of boots and their feet are just a little different and they end up with horrible blisters and they are in pain the whole time, so I’d say that is the number one thing you’ve got to have. Other than that, the things I’ve seen people forget are a good day pack or fanny pack and a rain coat. I’m amazed how many people I’ve seen go fishing on the flats without a rain coat. You’ve never been so cold and you’ve been in a good thunderstorm if you don’t have a rain coat. It’s really important.

The one thing I thought of that I’ve watched more people ruin trips over is when you get that little chaffing between your legs. The number one thing I’d recommend to people would be to get some anti-chaffing cream, I think Vaseline makes some, and to put it on the first day of your trip so you don’t ever get that started. I’ve literally watched people walk frog style across flats where they have to put their legs about four feet apart because they have that chaffing from the salt water between their legs. That is what first came to mind. If I can give someone a good hint, if you are going to do a trip with a lot of wading, put it on early, before you have a problem, and you’ll never have to deal with it.

Ya know, I’ve had that experience down in Mexico and what I found that works, because I travel with a small child, is Desitin, for diaper rash. It works well.

Being that you’ve traveled all over the world in search of bonefish… what’s the craziest thing you’ve had to eat?

Oh man… I have had some odd, odd things. I was on one atoll in French Polynesia that they served a mollusk that was kind of like a cross between blubber and petroleum jelly. It wasn’t so much that the taste was horrible as much as the consistency and they literally gave me a serving that was the size of a 20 ounce porterhouse steak. There was a huge amount to eat and of course it is bad form not to clean your plate and… I am not a finicky eater, but honestly, I couldn’t eat it. It was like eating floor wax. I tried… but it is the only thing that has made me gag.

Kalik, beer of the Bahamas.

Great interview Scott. Thanks.

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19
Jul 10

Abel Sales Rep

Abel Factory Sales Representative

Abel Automatics, Inc., a leading manufacturer in the fly fishing industry for over 20 years, is seeking an experienced sales representative. The position will require 8 – 12 weeks of travel per year both domestically and internationally visiting authorized Abel dealers, prospective dealers, and trade shows in an assigned territory. In additional to a passion for fly-fishing the individual must have 2-3 years experience in the fly fishing industry.

via Employment Opportunities.

Do you LOVE your Able Super 8? Have some experience in the industry and with sales? Well… there might just be a job available for you at Able.

The good stuff.

Bonefish on the Brain Bonefish and all that relates (maybe a bit about tarpon too).