I was surprised to see a new episode of Buccaneers and Bones record on my DVR last night. I guess there is a new season and that, generally, is a good thing.
This year they are back at Deep Water Cay, a place I got to fish out of for half a day. It is an amazing lodge, definitely on the high end of things. My wife was with me when we toured the private island a couple years ago and even she was impressed.
I love that there is a show about bonefishing and conservation and about the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust. I get to spend a half-hour on the flats of the Bahamas even when I am a couple thousand miles away and it is 39 degrees out (as it is this morning). So… I’m a fan of the show and a fan of the concept.
That said… let me register a few gripes.
- Same old crew. This year there doesn’t appear to be anyone new (or anyone under 60). It is the same folks as years past and while that may be fun for them (I mean… yeah, it would be, wouldn’t it?), it is pretty stale.
- Same old story line. Yes… Lefty is a legend. That was true the first time they said it and the time after that and the time after that and by now… well… I’m kind of over celebrating Lefty every episode.
- “When you make the perfect cast…” On this episode Tom Brokaw says something about “when you make the perfect cast, it is just tremendously gratifying…” or something along those lines. However, here’s the thing… his casting is not exactly much good. I’ve seen really good casters and I have not seen good casting out of most of these guys. Tom… not so much. Huey Lewis? No. Lefty? Sure. Bill? Yeah. But most of the time the casts I see laid out there are absolute turds. The good news is that it demonstrates you do NOT need an excellent cast to catch bones (sometimes).
- Fish fighting editing. They recycle underwater fish fighting footage and none of it captures the actual fight of these fish. The footage is of the very end of the fight when the fish is done and they are pulling the fish in front of the camera. If this is what bonefish fought like no one would be interested in catching them.
- Too familiar. I wasn’t sure if it was even new. They’ve been to DWC before and these same guys have been on the show almost every year. It was difficult to tell if this was, indeed, a new year. That should tell you something.
Still… I’ll watch. Yvon is a personal hero and I love the Bahamas more than is reasonable and BTT is my favorite nonprofit. So, I’ll watch. I’ll watch, but I’ll also be hoping that if they do this again next year there is a new crop of characters, maybe even some folks below 50. Maybe they could go fish Mexico or Cuba or Hawaii or Christmas Island or anywhere they haven’t been before. I’m looking for a little bit of new and maybe we’ll get that in 2017?
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Tags: Bonefish and Tarpon Trust, Buccaneers and Bones, Deep Water Cay
What’s wrong with old guys fishing? I turn 58 in February!
😉
Not enough T&A either. Just the flashback about the lion fish spearing segment. Maybe I got interested in DWC angain and rechecked the prices for a week…. Way out of my league -and they charge $$$ for local transport from Freeport or even if you land your own plane on the island. Love the guides talk about how hard they work to make it happen. Maybe they’ll bring in Jimmie Kimmel again, Will Benson, etc…
They did love Molly, didn’t they? She and her boyfriend/s.o went to manage some dive place, I think. They were nice people.
DWC is out of my league too. Not a place a lot of folks are going to be able to go. This thing could be so much more than it is, but it would be hard to get Tom Brokaw to do the voice-overs.
Mark, you don’t seem a day over 52.
Thinking about joining but need to know if Jimmy Kimmel will be returning. If so, I won’t to joining, donating or watching.
Oh, there’s a lot more to be worried about in the world than if Jimmy Kimmel is on a show. I’d suggest if that was your litmus test for supporting bonefish you may not love bonefish as much as you think. The show supports BTT, but the show is not BTT. Many people of many different political stances can support BTT at the same time.