I’m not going fishing today, but I am celebrating the 4th of July. Hope everyone has a fun and safe 4th.
Safe is key.
http://youtu.be/D5jI92Ht99Y
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22
Jun 12
Walking the flats, without the water
Found this story about walking the flats when there isn’t any water on it.
Flats fishermen are by nature hunters. That’s why they pick a form of angling where searching and hunting are core parts of the game plan. One way to improve angling results in shallow water is to put down the rod for a bit and study the characteristics-composition, layout, and currents-of the flats you like to fish. And by far the best way to really study a flat is to get down there in the water on low tide.
It is damn fine advice that my friend Shane gave me a few years back. You want a flat at extreme low tide and you’ll learn a lot about how the fish are coming up and off the flat. If you know that, you’ll know where to be and where to look when the tide starts coming in and the fish start heading in to eat.
This works really well when you have a flat that you are going to be fishing a lot, a place that is your home flat or a place you’ll return to for years and years. It works less well when you are some place for a couple days or one week out of your life. That’s the kind of local knowledge that you tend to build over time… that’s how you actually develop local knowledge.
11
May 12
A Crooked Report
Yeah, not the Crooked River in Oregon, which I fished a long time ago. I’m talking Crooked Island in the Bahamas. This report is courtesy of Fly Paper, the blog by Scott Heywood.
Damn fine picture.
22
Apr 12
When you feel like you need to rush, that’s when you need to slow down.
It has happened t me and I’ve seen it happen to others. The shot is at hand and something isn’t going right. The first cast is bad, there’s a tangle, you stepped on the line, whatever.
The guide’s voice changes to become a bit more urgent, maybe even a little bit past that.
Pressure isn’t building, it is at the climax. It is happening NOW.
The natural impulse is to try and speed up, to hurry. That is the exact time you need to rebel against your natural instincts. That is the precise moment you need to slow down.
Everything works better after a deep breath.
10
Apr 12
Redemption in Cuba
The crossing over the pass at Boca Grande is rough. There is a lot of slamming down of the boat and spraying of the face with saltwater. The run is about 40 minutes and the reason you go there is because there are schools and schools of big, massive tarpon pouring through.
But sometimes, they don’t.
Today… not so much.
We went across the pass and staked out waiting for the tarpon waves to show, but they just didn’t. We had 2 singles to cast to, which we did with no results. It was a lot of sitting around, but I was fishing with Chris Santella and we had some good conversations and the time was certainly not wasted.
We eventually left the tarpon grounds and looked for bonefish. The first flat was just beautiful, but totally devoid of bones. It was picture perfect. Really, I couldn’t have imagined a more perfect flat, but the fish just were not home.
The second flat I was on the bow and I looked over and said, “Man, that looks just like a bunch of bonefish over there.” The guide agreed. It was redemption time. We traded off picking off the bones from that and another school of bonefish for a while and the day was very much saved. The final fish was on a 70 foot cast where the fish ate on the first strip. It felt awesome.
The guide (Leonardo) tagged several of the bonefish, which really underscores the conservation ethic that they have here.
Back at the boat it was Cuba Libres and a great dinner. A good, if challenging day. A good reminder that this stuff isn’t easy and that the fish just don’t give it up, even in a place like this where hardly anyone gets to go. This stuff is hard and challenging and that is why it is rewarding.
Redemption Fish
09
Apr 12
A very good thing happened today in Cuba
Today was the day of the 80-85 pound tarpon. Wow. That was pretty much one of the most amazing tings I’ve encountered.
A fish like this makes you realize the game-stepping up that a big tarpon requires. Things like you backing knot all of a sudden become really important. You start to think about exactly how hard you can crank that drag. You start to really, really regret having 20 pound backing because you couldn’t get to the fly shop before you left and you thought the fish would be… smaller.
Photo by Jim Klug, Tarpon by Cuba
This was the only tarpon landed by me today. I fed 4, jumped 2, landed 1. It was pretty frigging amazing.
For some reason I can’t connect to the internet anymore on my computer, so I’m using another guest’s computer, so I’ll give more photos and more details when I can.
Also caught a couple of bones today, but this tarpon is clearly the highlight of the day (trip?).
Pretty frigging happy right now.
13
Mar 12
Ankle Deep with Sam Root
This is from photog and all-around fishy guy Sam Root. A bone caught it ankle deep water… that’s some real skinny water right there.
I’m still in Austin for SXSW, so you get more YouTube-age until I get more time to post things up.
12
Mar 12
Nice boats – Hell’s Bay
Just say’n. They make some nice boats.
I’m at SXSW, so not a lot of time to get posts up.
05
Jan 12
Bob White does Bonefish
Nice bone Bob.
So, turns out Bob White is doing some pencil illustrations for a book about the Keys called “Seasons on the Flats” and some of those drawings are starting to show up. It was mentioned here a while back by the author of that book, Bill Horn. I mentioned that I’d like to see Bob do his work on a bonefish and Bill commented:
You’ll get to see his bonefish art next summer. Bob is illustrating a book I’ve written, due out next summer, about the Florida Keys’ flats
Yes… this is good news.
16
Dec 11
Bucs and Bones clip
A nice little clip from Buccaneers and Bones, season 1.
http://youtu.be/dE3myaOhbMI
