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

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.

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.

Just say’n.  They make some nice boats.

I’m at SXSW, so not a lot of time to get posts up.

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.

A nice little clip from Buccaneers and Bones, season 1.

http://youtu.be/dE3myaOhbMI

He blinked and the town was silent again—sea-air and bottles in the sandy gutters—at rest, as if God had finally stopped the carnival.

Yeah… he’s pretty good with words.  I’m a fan. Check out Flatswalker here.

At the airport and awaiting the flight. I’ll write and post pics when I can.

Aloha!

Enjoy…

Man… my trip is sneaking up on me and I have to say, I’ve hardly had a chance to think about it.  Normally at this time I would have tied up about 3 dozen flies and this time I’ve only tied about 6.  Now, there is almost no room in my boxes for new flies since I tied so many for Andros, so maybe that is playing in.

I’m getting gear together (including a demo rod from Redington, a pack from Fishpond and a fly line from Rio). Might have some gear coming from Orvis.

I have a new tent (one that can withstand the rain, which seems like a 100% chance of falling) and a pad that will pack down tight.

Childcare is sorted (thank you to my ex for picking up a couple of days) and the trip is totally clear on the home front (thanks to my ex for being my ex and making me not have to beg for this opportunity to go).

Soon… soon I’ll be on the plane and on my way and I’m very much looking forward to a little time in the salt.

Me, exactly where I'm going to be.

Yeah… it is kind of awesome there.