Love the stuff coming out of Skinny Water Culture. This sees Chase out in the Bahamas, not in the SWC home waters of Florida, which I’ll be visiting really, really soon, but I love this place too. Hard to argue.
Chase and I do have different musical tastes though.
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Florida approaches… fast.
Time to brush up on Seasons on the Flats, by Bill Horn (and illustrated by Bob White). The book is about the passing seasons in the Keys and how things change and morph from one to the next.
Guess who one of the people is we’ll be fishing with. If you guessed Justin Timberlake, you’d be wrong. If you guessed Bill Horn, well, you win.
I’m going to pay special attention to the bit about Spring.
This could be important to read.
The chapter on spring start off as follows:
The great tarpon bacchanal – a springtime orgy of angling and tarpon reproduction rituals – dominates April, May and June.
Yup… heading there soon.
Well… not a place I would have expected for someone to log a Grand Slam, but one lucky angler did just that on Little Cayman.
A guest at the Southern Cross Club guest achieved something many fly fisherman only dream about last month when he landed a Permit, a bonefish and a tarpon within a 24 hour period to complete the Little Cayman Grand Slam. Considered the world championship of saltwater fly-fishing, this is the stuff of lore in the shallow flats and beach bars of the island. “I’m pretty excited,” said Schofield from his home in Traverse City, Michigan, “but I’m more excited about catching the Permit than the Grand Slam because you can go your whole life and not catch a Permit on fly.”
The Grand Slam. Pretty cool when it happens. I understand that a Grand Slam comes down to luck, in the end. Usually, it comes down to “Will the permit eat?” I was lucky enough to get a Grand Slam in Belize in 2010 and I was on the short side of one in Cuba in 2012 when the permit followed, but didn’t take the fly. Timing. Skill. Luck. The three pillars of the Grand Slam.
I may never get another, but if I do, I hope it comes with a bigger permit.
Permit. Not a world record, but a frigging permit!
In a few weeks I’m going to arrive early into Ft. Lauderdale airport, I’m going to meet Adrienne Comeau for the first time and we are going to pick up a rental car and drive to Miami to meet Martin Carranza. From there we are going to head out on the waters of Biscayne Bay.
I’m already a little bit puckered, it has to be said.
Biscayne Bay is the land of giants. The bones there, as I understand it, are on the large side of above average and if I’m ever to catch a 10 pound fish, this day represents one of my best shots.
I’ve cast at 10 pound fish a few times. I’ve cast at a few in Hawaii, with no luck. I’ve sent casts downrange a couple of times at big fish in Grand Bahama. I cast at one in Cuba that our guide thought was a shark at first. I’ve put nothing on the board when it comes to double digit fish. If this comes as a surprise to you, I’d just remind you, I’m no expert.
I’m hoping I won’t crack under pressure if we see a really big bone. I’m hoping if Adrienne is on the bow when we see a monster I restrain myself from pushing her into the water and I don’t resent her too much if she catches the damn thing.
I’m hoping I can make the cast and that the big piece of meat on the other end (1/0 bonefish fly?) doesn’t spook the fish.
Dear god I better not trout set if I’m lucky enough to get an eat. How bad would that suck to travel a couple thousand miles, find the fish, make the cast, make the presentation, get the grab and the trout set?!
I hope, if that happens, I learn to forgive myself.
Don’t trout set. Don’t trout set. Don’t trout set.
Me, casting in vain for big bones in HI.
I was a fly fishing guide for the blink of an eye. One season, that was it. I was lucky to do that guiding on my home waters and with some really good guys. All of this went down about 14 years ago, so this is not recent history.
Toward the end of that season I got stuck doing a Hat Creek Morning/Pit River Afternoon program and I got a little burned out on the Pit River. Really, I didn’t go back to the Pit after I stopped guiding… until today.
With my dad awaiting heart surgery tomorrow I headed down to visit with him in the hospital, but I took a long route that brought me to the Pit River first. The flow regime has changed dramatically since I last fished it over a decade ago and there is now much more water flowing through the river canyon. While the roads were familiar, the river was like a whole new body of water.
The Pit is notorious for being a horror to wade, but I’ve always managed not to end up ass-over-tea-kettle and today was no different, which was nice.
The river produced. I had my section to myself… well, myself and a family of river otters, which I managed not to get a picture of. Always a highlight to see the otters. They move so fluidly through the water.
I caught fish and got a feeling for the river again. It is a river that plays to my strengths and I think I’ll be back again before I let another decade slip by.
A Pit River Trout. I’m no longer burned out on the Pit.
I’ve been listening to a lot of Carl Hiaasen as of late on my commutes and long drives (I love Audible). There is a very clear theme in his writing regarding the pillaging, diminishing, thievery and general douchebaggery involved in developing and over-developing Florida. He writes about the destruction of the Everglades without each book being about the destruction of the Everglades. It is really well done stuff.
I was struck today by how this over-development is pretty much the opposite thing happening where I grew up in Northern California. On my home river of the Upper Sacramento you will see abandoned homes and washed out bridge footings. You won’t see new development. There are no condos being built here… heck, there aren’t even any stoplights.
I think this sort of reverse-development is happening in a lot of places as small towns empty and the migration to urban centers increases. While there certainly in development in sometimes sprawling suburbs, the places all those people came from shrink. There have been a couple big development booms connected with the rise of railroad travel and the rise of car travel, but those train stop or road stop towns are either gone or going.
I’m really curious to see how much wilderness is left there in Florida, how much has been bulldozed and paved over. I’m really hoping there is plenty of the wild left. If it is there, I’m hoping to see it.
I’ve certainly seen videos and photos of the beautiful side of Florida, and from a couple thousand miles away, it is easy to assume it is all like that. It is just as easy to read Hiaasen and assume it is all gone.
About a month ago I got to go to the Bahamas with my family. It was fantastic. We opted for Grand Bahama since it had some things for the grandparents and was really easy to get to. The math made it work in terms of finding good accommodations, decent flights and me knowing where to find at least a few bonefish.
Gink and Gasoline recently went to the Bahamas on a family trip too. They went more off the beaten path, DIY and to Cat Island.
They have a really good write up about their trip. If you have kids and are thinking about including them in your next trip instead of leaving them at home, you should check it out.
A favorite flat, even if I’ve never hooked a fish there.
Captain Morgan used to lurk in the waters of the Caribbean, but those days have long since passed and the main piracy threat today is off the horn of Africa. So, it is probably a very safe thing to go on a live-aboard trip to the Bahamas, which is just what Scott Heywood with Angling Destinations just did. There were no reports of piracy (I went to a 6 year old’s pirate birthday party today, so maybe that’s why I’m thinking of pirates) and from what I hear, the trip was a good one.
When in Cuba we stayed on a stationary barge, so it didn’t feel like a Mother Ship trip, although it certainly was free floating. Beyond that, I haven’t been on a live-aboard type of operation, but I can understand the appeal. You are where the fish are (or damn close) and if the fishing tanks, you can kind of pick up your lodging and follow the fish. Sounds good, no?
On the trip, Doug Jeffries, frequent commenter here on the blog.
I have to say… I am intrigued.
The Sea Hunter… looks big enough to live on.
Have you fished a mother ship trip? If so, how was it?
If you’ve been around the blog for a while you know that I have a lot of respect for the Flatswalker blog. I dig his work and his writing. Davin was one of the writers in the first Pulp Fly and he’s a guy I’ve been in touch with over the last few years. So, it was great to find that he could make the Florida trip happen. I’ve never met him, although we’ve talked on the phone a few times.
That’s one of the great things about this trip… getting to fish with folks I’ve wanted to fish with. Davin is one of those guys and don’t worry Davin, I’ll bring a rain jacket.
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There have been some changes to the upcoming Florida trip, but the trip is still on (and coming up). We went down a man when Jason Pirus had to pull out, but we were back to full strength when we added Adrienne Comeau. Adrienne works for IF4 and Fly Fusion Magazine, not to mention she’s a steelhead guide so she’s got some cred.
We decided to go with diversity. Yup. That’s right. She’s Canadian.
Ms. Comeau with a fair bit of steelhead
She’s been to the salt before and is pumped about the trip.
Speaking of the trip. One of the guys we’ll be fishing with is Eric Estrada. Eric is an artist and pretty damn good at his craft.
Art by Eric
He does some solid work and he obviously has a sense of “place” firmly rooted in Florida. I’m very much looking forward to hearing him talk about his Florida in person.
Eric is part of the Skinny Water Culture crew and contributes to their blog, which is just full of awesome.
Florida… very much looking forward to this.
