Locations

Mikey Wier and Adam Barker – Belize

I was checking in on fishing friend and Patagonia Fly Fishing Ambassador Mikey Wier’s blog, Burl Fish, and was happy to see some pics from his recent trip to Belize. He was down there with a group of anglers doing a mother ship trip. One of those anglers was Adam Barker, a photographer from Salt Lake City. Some gooooood looking shots.

Nice shot Adam!

You can see more of the shots on Mikey’s blog here. You can read more about his trip here.

You can find more photos by Adam Barker at his website. He does a lot of skiing/outdoors type photography, but has a gallery devoted to fly fishing as well.

Locations — No Comments
01
Apr 10

Santella Bonefish

Chris Santella has put together a few books on fly fishing, including “Fifty Places to Fly Fish Before You Die.” He also has some books about a hobby called “golf,” which I don’t care for in the slightest.

You may have gathered that I’m kind of interested in bonefish, so I was happy to see my Google Alert pop up with a Chris Santella story about bonefish… this time from the Aloha State.

Chris was out with Mike Hennessy and managed a very nice bone.

Chris with an O'io

Locations — No Comments
29
Mar 10

NYT Travel Writer Sam Sifton and Los Roques

I knew Sam Sifton had made a journey to Los Roques and I had been patiently waiting for his article to appear in the e-pages of the New York Times travel section. Sam, as you will see, has a knack for writing, which may answer the question you may ask “How does someone get a gig writing for the NYT?” While he normally is writing about food and the culinary intrigue of the Big Apple, we are fortunate that Sam also happens to love bonefish.

A little sample…

It was warm enough to pad shirtless up to the tiled roof of a little hotel in the middle of the village, and to see the view there stretch out to box the compass. It came up against, in turn, the sea, the sea, the blackened sea and the rise of a bare and sandy hill, steep and amazing so far from other land. As I gazed up from a wooden deck chair, sleepiness fell upon me like a rug.

What can I say? I’m a fan of writing like that.

This isn’t Sam’s first piece on bonefishing. I spotted his previous article about fishing Acklins with beloved guide Fidel.

Photo by Chris Ramirez, NYT

You can follow Sam’s twitter feed (about 1% fishing, 99% food stuff).

Fish Tails / Locations — No Comments
26
Mar 10

Another TIF Bonefish Gem

TIF = This is Fly… a great e-zine full of fly fishy goodness.

One story that has stuck in the dark recesses of my brain was a story by Kevin Perry called Ninjas and a Saltwater Dragon. The trip was to Los Roques, a brothers and wives fly fishing trip.

Of the fishing Kevin said:

It’s bonefishing is notorious for both quantity and quality but ends up on more people’s to do lists than on their biography.

I love that line. That line has driven me on a bit towards my own personal pursuit of bonefish/saltwater flyfishing. I like the idea of moving the stuff that is really important from the to-do to the biography.

Hope you enjoy it.

Locations — No Comments
25
Mar 10

Join Orvis and the Bonefish and Tarpon Trust – April 4, 2010

Have you been wanting to go on an Orvis trip? Have you been wanting to go to Belize? Have you been wanting to be a part of the Bonefish and Tarpon Trust‘s Traveling Angler Program? If you answered “yes” to, well, any of the above question, I may have the skinny on just the trip for you. Right now there are only TWO spots left.

April 4th is the date for an Orvis trip as part of BTT’s Traveling Angler Program. Details can be found here.

You’ll even get some new gear out of it…

To make the experience even more fun, Orvis will provide each angler with a brand new Helios rod and Battenkill Large Arbor reel to help them catch as many “research subjects” as possible.

The lodge is El Pescador, which seems like a pretty fantastic operation, and you can expect Dr. Aaron Adams to be there as well. Here is what they say about the trip:

Proceeds from this trip will go to help Bonefish & Tarpon Trust conduct valuable research and education programs, ensuring that bonefish and tarpon will be on the flats for many years to come. An important part of BTT’s research includes collecting fin clippings for genetic analysis and tagging fish to learn more about their life cycle and migration patterns. Participating anglers will work closely with Aaron J. Adams, Ph.D., Director of Operations and Research, Bonefish & Tarpon Trust. You will help conduct valuable research while at the same time enjoying a fantastic bonefishing vacation. We chose El Pescador Lodge because it is the perfect place to experience quality bonefishing at this time of year and there is something for everyone in the family to enjoy.

Now… doesn’t that sound like a good time? It is about $5K, putting not on the cheap side of things (I could do about 5 trips for that much cashish), but the experience is bound to be very special.

Orvis + El Pescador + BTT

Locations — 5 Comments
22
Mar 10

Xcalak Bonefishing

Xcalak (I have no idea how to pronounce that) is waaaay down there in Mexico… past Cancun, past Ascencion Bay, almost to Belize. On spectrum of cost, Xcalak is on the low end for lodges and guides, although its location makes it a little difficult to get to. I found this video fresh off the internets.

This trip was with Bahia Blanca.

Locations — 2 Comments
19
Mar 10

Want to Explore?

The Google Alert brought up an interesting story about a fishing exploration trip to the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal. Yeah… I had never heard of them either. The blog is saltwaterflyfisher.com. Not sure if it is my browser or what, but the blog comes out all crazy looking and doesn’t load well.

They didn’t even go bonefishing… but here’s what he said:

Bonefish??

The first time I wondered down to the beach on Havelock , my jaw dropped. I was greeted with miles of electric blue flats. I actually said out loud ‘’ Theres got to be’. I had a brief chance to wade the flats before the fever and temperature had me limping back to base to lie down. I made enquires and it was confirmed to me that divers see bonefish close to Havelock all the time. The Andamans are 11 degrees north of the equator and well within the Bonefish band that circles the globe. The flats on Havelock do become rather deep on the high tide with that in mind I would be inclined to fish early into flooding spring tides. I found this fascinating and sufficient reason to return. Anyone visiting Havelock would do well to pack an 8 weight rod and wade those flats. There must be a couple of big shoals of Bonefish that visit those flats most days. Im not saying that this is a new bonefish mecca as yet undiscovered but I would gladly take a bet and devote a few days out of a trip to investigate further.

So… that sounds interesting enough.

Looks nice enough too.

Locations — No Comments
18
Mar 10

Black Fly in Abaco

Black Fly Bonefish Club in Abaco looks like a place I’d like to visit. One of the handful of places that has really embraced social/on-line media, Blackfly also has a blog, a Facebook page and a Twitter account… not including Youtube efforts like the one below.

Abaco, the Bahamian island just north east of Grand Bahama, was the site of Pirates of the Flats, so if you’ve watched that (and I have), you have an idea of what the water looks like there. It doesn’t suck.

Locations — No Comments
16
Mar 10

Andros South

Well… it is 12:30 AM, I am home from a long journey back from Vallarta. My 3 year old let loose with a full fledged ninja barf attack on the Bay Bridge around 9:00, which is just about as much fun as that sounds (actually, much, much less fun). I’m going to put “Daughter barfing in car while driving on the Bay Bridge” on that list of “Things That Suck.”

So, with barely two firing synapses working in my otherwise bonefish-ful brain, I’m going to direct you today to Andros South and a trip report put up by the good folks over at Deneki Outdoors.

I’m a fan of Deneki although I’ve never been to Andros South and likely won’t for the next few years at least. Looks like a great operation though and the Deneki website is all full of bonefishing goodies and tid bits. You can follow them on Twitter, sign up for their newsletter or just make them a regular stop.

Conservation / Locations — 5 Comments
11
Mar 10

Development Trumps Bonefish

Saw a story on Moldy Chum about a mangrove-crushing, environment-destroying developments in New Providence. It isn’t pretty and the good folks at Secret Soul Fly Fishing Adventures (Aaron Bain and Clint Kemp) are pretty pissed about it… and you should be too.

You can read the whole story here from The Tribune.

It seems like over-development is a real emerging issue all throughout the Caribbean. I would have thought that this little economic blip we are coming out of would have stopped a few thousand bulldozers and chain saws, but it continues. I’ve read stories about development threatening Bimini and fears about development in Belize.

This makes me grumpy.

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