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Locations — 3 Comments
12
Nov 13

Deneki’s Big News

I read the news last week and I got to talk to Andrew yesterday about the sale of Deneki to the family behind Rapids Camp Lodge. Andrew is going to be sticking around, doing marketing and taking care to get things integrated, but the Deneki operation has indeed been acquired. The brand itself will grow to include the Rapids Camp operation in addition to Chile and Baja options as well.

Me, in a special place.

Me, in a special place.

Andrew’s done a great job with Deneki and has been Mr. Content Marketing, sort of showing the rest of the industry how you take photos, stories and knowledge and build a brand out of it.

Deneki’s Andros South operation has a special place in my heart. Heading there in 2011 was an inflection point in my own life. I clearly had a Pre-Andros South life and a Post-Andros South life. I’ll always be grateful to Andrew for making that trip a possibility.

The idea isn’t to alter Andros South, but to take what Andrew has built and grow the overall operation, grow the brand. I look forward to seeing how it all comes together and what Andrew does from here.

Here is the story from Gink & Gasoline.

Andrew, stalking bones in S. Andros.

Andrew, stalking bones in S. Andros.

Locations — 2 Comments
08
Mar 13

Fish with Andrew

I’ve done it and I enjoyed the experience. You can do it to.

I’m talking about fishing with Andrew Bennett, owner of Deneki Outdoors. He is going to be down there at Andros South and you can head down to be there, in that special place, along with Andrew.

I got to do this very thing, and it was a great day with two perfect moments.

One thing that will be special about this trip is that they are going to do some Permit Recon work. Permit are in the Bahamas, as I heard and saw from Prescott Smith. But if you are looking for bonefish, you go to flats with bonefish and most Androsian (and Bahamian guides) are looking for bonefish. It will be very interesting to see if Andros South can crack the Permit riddle down there.

Andros is a trip of a lifetime, FYI. If you are on the fence, you should get off the fence, and on a plane to Andros to fish with Andrew.

South Andros Bonefish. Photo by Andrew Bennett

South Andros Bonefish. Photo by Andrew Bennett

 

All the other stuff — 1 Comment
23
Mar 12

Fishing Jones interviews Mr. Deneki

His name actually is Andrew Bennett, but he’s the guy behind Deneki Outdoor. Here’s a cool interview that Fishing Jones did.

Here’s a sample question asked…

You’re Ivy League; shouldn’t you be launching a tech start-up or bundling subprime mortgages?

Check out the interview to see the answer.

Fishing Jones, is, of course, Pete McDonald, who is part of the Pulp Fly writing project. A great number of the writers for the project came out of FIBFest (Bruce Smithhammer, Pete McDonald, Michael Gracie and myself). A lot of good things have happened there at Andros South. Good job Andrew.

 

All the other stuff — 2 Comments
01
Feb 12

Andros – Give Norman some help

I got an email from Andrew at Deneki today.  His outfit owns and operates Andros South and it turns out one of his guides, Norman, has encountered a tragedy. Norman’s young daughter Nala died last week in an accident on South Andros. I’m pretty sure I talked to Norman about Nala when I fished with him during FIBFest last year.

Norman is a really nice and quiet guy. He comes across as professional, honest and knowledgeable in his guiding and I got the sense from him that he was a pretty solid all around guy.

Norman tagging a bonefish for BTT

Norman could use some help right now to cover the costs for the funeral.  If you’d like to help out, you can contribute to this fund, set up by Deneki. You won’t get a tax deduction, but it is still worth doing.

Sending good thoughts to Norman. I can’t imagine what he’s going through.

Locations / Tactics — No Comments
14
Apr 11

Deneki and the Red Shirt of Doom

On day 1 of Deneki FIBFest at Andros South last month, your fearless editor decided to sport a nice new red shirt that was really going to look good in hero shots. The problem? You have to catch a fish before you can take a hero shot.

via Fly Fishing Lodges | Deneki Outdoors — Blog | Bahamas | Chile | BC | Alaska.

 

I saw that shirt in the morning and thought to myself “Interesting choice.”  Red is supposed to pop in pictures though… you go through some fly fishing photos and you’ll find some strangely bright colors.

I sometimes wonder if it is a bad thing being tall… 6’3″.  Do the fish see me more?  Do I see the fish more?  There are so many factors to consider… but do yourself a favor… leave the red shirt at home!

Locations — 6 Comments
28
Mar 11

South South Andros – Fishing Day 2

Today… it was a tougher weather day, but still had two perfect moments.  I was paired up with guide Josie and Andros South (and Deneki Outdoors) owner, Andrew Bennett.  So, I knew I was going to have to reduce the number of botched jobs today.

Andrew Bennet, hooked up.

We went down south, which turns out is a very, very bumpy ride.  It is totally worth it though.

When we got where Josie wanted to go we set up.  Andrew gave me the bow first and I stepped up.  Soon Josie called out “Bonefish, 11 O’Clock, 60 feet” and I got to work.  Oddly, I delivered on the very first cast of the day. 60′. Right in front of the fish.  It ate on the first strip.  I didn’t get a picture of that fish but it was a nice 2-3 pound fish or so.  Andrew was then up and so were the clouds.

Clouds… I know we kind of need them, but I wish there were fewer of them around… really.  They turned the lights out on the flats for large periods of time today, which was kind of a bummer.

We reeled in and headed off to find better fishing grounds.  After a short run we stopped to see if we could see any more fish.  A school happened to be about 100′ off the boat.  Now… this was not a little school of fish.  Josie estimated it was about 10,000 fish.  TEN THOUSAND BONEFISH!

Yeah… I love this place.

I got out and started wading with just my bare feet.  White sand bottom, 10K bones in front of me… this does not suck.  I caught up to the school and cast into it and quickly caught a little 2 pounder.  I managed to pull it out of the school so it didn’t spook the rest of the fish.

I cast right back into that school and pulled out a nicer fish.  It had me in my backing a couple of times and was just beautiful.

photo credit – Andrew Bennett

The first fish and the big school… two perfect moments.

I didn’t catch a lot today, but I experienced a really beautiful place and I got to fish with Andrew, something I’ve wanted to do for a while now.  A good, solid time was had by all and now… now I’m going to the Slack Tide… yeah… I know… I suck.

I kind of love this place.

PS – I have fished my new Rise 8 wt. for the past two days, with shark fishing taken over by the Redington 10 wt..  I am liking what I’m seeing from both.