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

Abaco Bonefish

The blog, this little thing I do, turns 7 today. I know perfectly when it has a birthday because it also happens to be my own birthday.

This last year has been dominated by the Bahamas regulation debate and has been a bit skinny in most other regards.

There is a lot more going on, both in bonefishing, and in my own life, than is reflected in the pages and posts of the blog, of course. There are bonefish caught around the globe from the Cook Islands to the Gulf of Yemen to the middle of the Indian Ocean and the Florida Keys. There are so many wonderful places and people to experience around the world of bonefishing and we’ve only just scratched the surface.

This next year we’ll hopefully meet a few more of these people and see a few more of these places.

We’ll also hopefully follow me back to the Keys as I look to finally land an adult Keys tarpon. If everything goes really well, we’ll also see me fish for bones (and maybe tarpon) in Mexico for the first time (family trip, but I’m hoping to grab a day).

I don’t have the kind of life where I can just go and fish all the time. Maybe those people exist, but it is a little harder to pull off if you have kids and a wife you’d like to stay married to and fishing isn’t your job.

And… fishing isn’t my job. It is something I love (need?) deeply and something that makes me feel alive. But it isn’t my job. It isn’t a responsibility. It is a joy and I hope to share some of that joy with you in in the blog’s 8th year.

I started the blog on my birthday in 2009. Since I had another birthday on Friday that means the blog had a birthday too. Six years of Bonefish on the Brain.

Nice fish.

As of late it is all about the Bahamas, but bonefishing is something that spans certain latitudes around the globe. The Pacific, the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, even the Gulf of Oman and Persian Gulf have, so I’ve heard, bonefish.

Bonefishing is also about a lot more than just the fish. There are places and people to get acquainted with. There are drinks to be had, meals to be eaten. There are a whole bunch of fish you encounter out there on the flats as well. If you have love of bonefish, you likely also love tarpon and permit and jacks and cudas, I know I do (except permit, permit are jerks). Spoon bills and osprey and sharks, dolphin, turtles… so much to see and experience and I kind of love it all.

When I look on the facebook page for the blog it is very noticeable how many profile pictures have a fish in them (most). That always lets me know “these are my people,” even if my profile pic is of me and my son at the moment.

Bonefishing is about a lot of things to a lot of people. For me it is about the first moment of recognition, when the undulating pattern of water over sand materializes into a bonefish or a string of bonefish and you know you are about to get a shot. I love that moment. It is my favorite fly-rod-related feeling.

Thanks for sharing your moments with me and for allowing me to share mine with you.

Here’s to six more years.