Flies — 4 comments
27
Dec 10

The Loot

I posted about the windfall of flies I lucked into… thought I’d share exactly what was included in this treasure trove of sharp, pointy goodness.

Deceivers

  • Red – 24
  • Yellow – 24
  • Blue – 3

Cockroaches

  • Black – 84
  • Brown – 24
  • Red/White – 72

Clousers

  • White/Yellow – 120
  • Chartreuse/Yellow – 50
  • Red/White – 72

Bonefish Critter

  • Green – 48
  • Tan/Black – 192

Half/Half

  • Chartreuse/White – 24

Bendback

  • Green/White – 36
  • Black – 144
  • Blue/White – 48

Crazy Charlie

  • Silver – 24
  • White – 12
  • Pink – 12

And… for some reason… 12 steelhead flies, 10 white mayfly nymphs, 12 small white spinners and 3 deer hair frogs.

I really don’t know what I’m doing with all this just yet, but it is kind of fun to look into that big box and know that there are hundreds of fish that will be caught on those flies… even if I’m not the one that does all the catching.

Conservation — Leave a comment
26
Dec 10

Florida Fly Fishing Magazine Welcomes Dr. Aaron Adams

Hope everyone had a great Christmas.  Mine was lovely.  Here’s some lovely news about Dr. Adams doing some writing for Florida Fly Fishing Magazine.

Awesome.

Marine biologist Dr. Aaron Adams, Bonefish & Tarpon Trust Operations Director and Senior Scientist for Mote Marine Laboratory, joins Florida Fly Fishing Magazine with a focus on marine conservation and environmental issues.

via Florida Fly Fishing Magazine Welcomes Dr. Aaron Adams (this is the press release).

Florida Fly Fishing Magazine – this is the actual website.

All the other stuff — 5 comments
25
Dec 10

What Santa Brought Me (and Santa’s name is Bob)

So… my dad went in to the local fly shop and it turns out someone had come in recently and given Bob (the owner) a big box of saltwater flies.  Bob is more into prince nymphs and BWO’s and he just gave my dad the whole box to give to me.

I did the count last night… 1,048 flies… cockroaches, bendbacks, clousers, bonefish critters, bendbacks… dozens and dozens and dozens.

That there is a lot of flies... a LOT of flies.

I have a feeling I’ll be giving a fair number away to you good folks, but if someone wants a couple hundred flies in exchange for an old Galvan Torque or Nautilus… well… just say’n.

Hope Santa got you some nice gear, or, better yet, some air travel vouchers so you can go visit Butch, or Lori-Ann or Andrew.

All the other stuff — 4 comments
24
Dec 10

Christmas Eve

It’s Christmas Eve… which is a magical time when you have a 3-going-on-4 year old little girl who, more than anything in the whole world, wants a Pillow Pet from Santa (don’t ask me why… I don’t understand it).

I hope you are all with your families and have a wonderful Christmas Eve.

If Santa bonefished.

Hope Santa brings you a Nautilus NV on a Orvis Hydros.  I’ve been pretty bad this year, so I’m getting a treadmill… and I wish that was not the reality of things… but it is.  At least my little girl is going to be STOKED.

Gear — 5 comments
22
Dec 10

My Bonefishing Reels

Since I was talking a bit about reels, I figure I should let you know what I actually am throwing out there…

My primary bonefishing reel is the TFO LA 375.  It is a good, solid reel with a composite disk drag.  I used this on my last trip to the Bahamas (Jan. 2010) and had no complaints (and only compliments) on that reel.  It retails for about $290.

I also have a Ross CLA that I tend to have my 9 wt. line on.  I have not hooked that many fish on this reel and haven’t really given it a real test in the salt.  It retails for about $230.

If I’m going lighter, I tend toward my Okuma Helios.  It is the least expensive of the group and cost me about $173.

I’ve had two spectacular reel meltdowns… the first was a Redington, I don’t even know the model number.  I was on Kauai and the drag just… well… stopped working and I couldn’t figure out  why.  I didn’t even send it back.  This was bought about 8 years ago and wasn’t even a large arbor reel.  I recall it doing well on the Babine River for big steelhead, but after 2 days in the salt it just crapped out.

The other reel implosion was a Cabela’s large arbor something-or-other that chunked out on me down in Mexico with a decent jack on the line.  I landed the jack and tossed the reel.  It was TOAST.

Recently I got to play with a Nautilus NV and Orvis Mirage down in Belize and both are just fantastic pieces of fishing art.

There are so many reels on my wish-list… that Nautilus was just damn sexy.  My friend Shane loves is Galvan Torque 8.

The number one reel I’d like is probably a Zane Ti from Hardy… since it sells for $8,000.  I’d like it so I can sell it and buy a Nautilus and a Galvan, a Sage Xi3 and Orvis Hydros and have enough left over to head to Andros South for a week (and leave a big tip).

Gear — 19 comments
21
Dec 10

The World of Bonefishing Reels

If you have, oh, $24,000 or $25,000 and some free time, I’d like you to spend a few months testing reels. Sound good?  Great.  Here’s what I’m looking for. The world of gear is… well… full… it is full of makers and brands and marketing hype and really, really short on objective comparisons.  If you were to take all the bonefish-ready reels out there right now, I count 69, the price-tag would come to $23,264 (before taxes).  There are reels under $50 and there are reels over $800 and the only thing you have to guide you in purchasing is name-recognition and brand reputation… which, in my mind comes down to marketing.  What kind of performance do you actually get from the $800 reel?  What kind of risk are you running with that $150 reel?

I wish Consumer Reports would pick this up and run with it, but I doubt that will happen.  I wish Fly Fishing in Salt Waters or Fly Fisherman would do this, but that’s equally unlikely.

Here are some tests to put these reels through…

Durability –

  • Drops – That 3 foot drop off a table would be good to see tested.
  • Sand – How does it work if you drop it in the sand, just for a second.
  • Salt – Well… there is a lot out there and it is generally bad for gear.
  • Big game pulls – If the thing breaks on a 10 pound bone… that would be good to know ahead of time.
  • Heat – Sitting in the sun… heating up… might be bad for some reels, I’d guess.

Performance –

  • Smoothness of the drag – speaks for itself, really.
  • start-up inertia – this gets talked about a lot… I’m not sure how that is measured though.

I want to see this done.  I do wonder if gear makers would actually want their gear tested in some kind of objective way.  What if the $200 reel and the $700 reel are identical in terms of performance and durability?  Maybe the gap is huge.  Maybe it would be really clear.  Maybe the winners would be clear and the cork vs. carbon fiber debate could be settled.  Of course, Middle East peace could break out too.

Field testing is just never going to do it.  A week or a month or a season with a reel doesn’t really tell you anything because you have no real comparison… what you did in that week or month or year didn’t happen to the other 68… you didn’t put them through the same things.

So… if you find an extra, oh, $25K sitting around… let me know.

Conservation / Fish Tails — Leave a comment
20
Dec 10

Bonefish Release by Aaron Adams

Aaron Adams… Director of Operations for BTT… yeah, the guy knows bonefish.  He put this together, which is just a joy to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_q1QSErsvo?fs=1&hl=en_US

Locations — 5 comments
19
Dec 10

Vallarta – last day and a new species

Had a good three hours out there today before we take off tomorrow.  As is normal, I was the only one fishing the beach.  This is not a fly fishing hot-spot.  The beach is left to the tourists.  I hardly saw a local out there this year, although that may be partly due to the dramatic changes at the river-mouth this year.

Today I picked up some Jack Crevalles, as is normal, and several Pompano.  Usually I get a single pompano if I get any, but today I had 4 or 5.  I also picked up a new fish… likely a young Green Jack.

Green Jack... my first.

It was a good trip, despite a nice cold that sat in the noses of my wife and I for most of the trip.  We had a lot of pool time with the little girl (she wants to stay, forever… just wants me to bring the dog down). We actually got off the resort a tiny bit to get my daughter to see her first wild crocs… which was kind of cool.

Yes... they have crocs in Vallarta... Nuevo Vallarta.

We’ll be back… and next time… I really, really want to get out on the bay… probably with a 10 weight (11?).  I’d like to land a Mahi Mahi… 2011 could be the year.

Good times.

Conservation — Leave a comment
18
Dec 10

Bonefish and Tarpon Trust, Hell’s Bay Boat, Dec. 31

If you want to win a sweet skiff from Hell’s Bay and want to support THE biggest supporter of bonefish (and tarpon and permit) out there… well… your time is running out.  Dec. 31st is the deadline to enter the drawing.  Entering the drawing is the same thing as cutting a check to BTT, which, if you are reading this… you probably should do.  No… really… do it.  Do it because they are doing good work and think of the boat drawing as a possible bonus (cause, ya know… there’s only one and the odds aren’t with you).

Here are the details.

I want this... although I have no idea what I'd actually do with it.

Locations — 2 comments
17
Dec 10

Sometimes it takes me a while

Three days of fishing the new little bay here in Nuevo Vallarta and all I had caught were a bunch of tiny, tiny Jacks.  The water just seemed too shallow.  The big boys weren’t going to come in this far.  I knew it… deep down.  I was wasting my time casting to these little guys in the hopes that a big one might be near.

The doorman said we should push to the weekend to try and head out and then he called this morning, wanting to go out.  Well… my wife has a cold (so do I) and I wasn’t anywhere near ready, so I passed up on that chance.  I paced a bit and then went and did pool time with my daughter.  When my wife offered an opportunity to head back to the little bay this afternoon, I took it.

“I’m going to do something different this time though…” I thought as I headed out there.

For starters, I left the camera with my wife.  I get a little superstitious sometimes.  I wanted things to line up for me, so I wasn’t taking any chances.

I started off as close to the river mouth as I could get… small fish.  I worked my way around the inside of the little bay… small fish.  Not enough current… too shallow.

Then I took a good look at the outside of the little bay.  I could see color change.  That is where I needed to fish.

First cast, first nice little Jack of the trip… 2 pounds or so.  Then came another and another and another.  Biggest was probably about 5 pounds, which ended up on the dinner plate, along with a nice 3 pounder.

Yummers.

Success.  I just needed to listen to myself a little bit.  I knew I needed deeper water.  I knew I needed more current.

I was happy to be able to switch over to my #2’s and #1/0’s from my #4 clousers.  It was a good day.

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