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

Saw this segment on 60 Minutes about the Bahamas going solar. Great idea. While in Christmas Island (about a million years ago, although actually just about a year ago) I talked with a couple of guys looking to instal solar on small Pacific islands to replace diesel generators. It was part of a World Bank or government project. Tons of sense… inspiring, even.

Then there is the Bahamas… they don’t have an Australia or New Zealand to fund those projects and passing the costs down to the consumers isn’t really that realistic in a place where the median household income is officially about $33K in many places and probably well below that number in reality.

The solar array they are putting in Ragged is supposed to cost $3,000,000 to get power to about 100 people. That’s awful math. That doesn’t scale particularly well. I don’t think the 100 people of Ragged Island are going to be able to actually buy that power.

I’d love for this story to be real, but it has the feeling of a lot of window dressing. Still a long, long haul for the people of the Bahamas to recover from Dorian. The housing situation seems poor, at best, and the government seems to be all red-tape and sound bites. I’ll be there in a couple months and I’ll be curious if my impressions change after being there and hearing from the people directly.

The airfare is purchased. The lodging is secured. Now… two months of overthinking gear and fly selection.

Right now there are three of us. Four makes a good, round number. Let me know if you are interested.

While part of Abaco looks like this…

Other parts look like this…

I can’t say I’m “looking forward” to seeing the destruction Dorian brought to the Bahamas, but I’d like to see it for myself and to contribute to the economy in a direct way. That’s what we’ll be doing.

I was at drop-off this morning taking my kindergartner to school and another dad saw my Patagonia tarpon hat and asked if I fished. I told him I was more than a little into it and he asked me “Are you a huge fly fisherman?”

Of course, he was talking about Ben, who has been pounding out funny and informative videos for a while now. We talked about the videos a bit and I told him I had to once email Ben to apologize for not understanding his whole thing and having a wrong hot-take. I’ve since come around and look forward to seeing Ben’s sense of humor address many of the how-to’s and why’s of the fly fishing world.

Huge Fly Fisherman just hit 10K subscribers and he’s giving away an Orvis rod in celebration. I thought for sure it would be a line straightener, but, I guess a rod is more practical.

Here’s his video about the give-away. Just comment on the video (on Youtube, not here) and you’ll be entered to win.

I’ve been watching photos pop up from Abaco and things look pretty bad there. You see less coming out of the East End of Grand Bahama, but this video gives you a glimpse of what things are like. No power on the last 35 miles of the island.

With the lodges not working and no power… I’m not sure how things are going to come back.

Consider donating to the East End fund to help the people out there.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/dorian-relief-effort-east-end-grand-bahama

So, you love Grand Bahama and/or Abaco and are bummed you won’t be able to fish there and you are wondering where you should go?

How about Grand Bahama or Abaco?

As the Waypoints podcast pointed out, there are still guides and lodges operating on both islands. While some of the major names are either down for the count (Deep Water Cay) or down for a while (East End Lodge, Abaco Lodge), other options still exist.

H2O Bonefishing is going to be up and running pretty soon, North Riding Point is aiming for Dec. 1 and Delphi and Black Fly are still intact and accepting bookings.

I think travel options are a little light right now, but that will change soon.

Give it a thought.

I didn’t even know they had a podcast. Good stuff. Here’s an episode about the impact on the Bahamas from Dorian.

https://www.buzzsprout.com/582856/1838608-10-checking-in-on-abaco-and-grand-bahama-october-2019-updates-post-hurricane-dorian

A message from Rob and Cecile.

To give, go here.

This is the place I’ve spent the most time bonefishing. My first fish came from right near McLeans Town on a trip with my dad. I caught my first DIY bonefish on a little flat on the East End. My last vacation with my mom was on Grand Bahama, which is also when my wife and I began to suspect she might be pregnant. I fished out of Deep Water Cay and visited Water Cay Lodge. After my mom passed we went on a family trip to Abaco and got to see Abaco Lodge. I took my daughter down to fish with the only female guide in the Bahamas. I fished out of Abaco Lodge again before heading up to Little Abaco. I fished for a week out of East End Lodge and enjoyed rum and fishing with Rob and Cecile.

Damn… a lot of good times in that area just leveled by Dorian. Abaco Lodge was destroyed. No word on status of East End Lodge, but I’m not optimistic. Deep Water Cay appears heavily damaged. I understand that just about all the guides and staff are accounted for in most of the fishing lodges, so, that’s good, but they’ve all lost so, so much.

Go Fund Me for Little Abaco.

Go Fund Me for Abaco/Abaco Lodge folks.

Go Fund Me for the East End folks.

It is bad… real bad… and the people of the Bahamas are going to need a lot of help.

Abaco Lodge is destroyed (Oliver says they’ll rebuild and most of their crew is accounted for).

No idea yet if East End Lodge is standing (seems highly unlikely) and Rob is in the same camp as Oliver re: rebuilding, but has less clear info on the fate of many of his people.

Cameron over at TFM has a good page going of ways you can help. Here’s a link to that page.

Only thing I’d add is the GoFundMe for the East End Lodge folks, which is here.

Some of the best moments of my fly fishing life have been on the waters around Grand Bahama and Abaco. Heartbreaking to see the destruction.