After less than a year, a tagged bonefish has been re-captured off Abaco.
That’s the work of the Bonefish and Tarpon Trust for ya.
You should be a member… if you are reading this you probably want to catch bonefish in the future and the folks that are doing the science to figure out what areas even need to be protected are the Bonefish and Tarpon Trust.
Join.
I couldn’t make FIBFest, it is true… but I sent some flies to Pete over at Fishing Jones so at least my flies could make it there and hopefully end up in the jaw of an Androsian bonefish or two.
Success!
At least I know my flies would have worked...
That’s one of my ties in that South Andros bonefish, caught by Pete today as he fished with Michael Gracie out of Andros South.
There is some good stuff trickling out of FIBFest and the place to see it is Michael Gracie’s blog.
Another FIBFest participant is Deeter from the Fly Talk blog over at Field and Stream. In that latest installment he makes the claim that bonefish are the perfect species for a fly rod. Now, that may be overstating somewhat, although the number of folks in the comments section that think carp are actually the finest fly rod species tells me that his readers and I probably don’t share too many rivers together.
Bonefish are a fantastic fly rodding species to be sure. Perfect? I’d think the trout is still the species most suited for fly rods… from a 2 wt. on a mountain stream to a 20 pound steelhead, the trout covers a lot of bases… dries, nymphs, streamers… rivers, lakes, creeks, lagoons.
No, I’d say the bonefish is more of a niche species. It is for folks that like the hunt, the visual search for the fish. It has way more to do with the stalking than the rod, in my totally BS opinion.
I’d still trade 100 trout for a single bonefish and a dozen days on my mountain rivers for a day on the flats. Just say’n.
This is not the perfect species for the fly rod.
I saw a new e-zine called “Destination” today. Nice little magazine with a LOT of flats and back country boats in it. I also noticed some art and followed the link back to see more. Abbey Nichols-Callaway is the artist.
My objective is to create excitement over single subjects using vivid colors and three dimensional textures, complimenting or blending them into the watercolor image. I tend to make my fish animated but use realistic details to capture specific species of which the work is based. My finished work exhibits lifelike, fluid motion due to the optical illusion created by the abstract colors and textured canvas. This personified approach results in unique pieces that represent my passion and respect for all aquatic life.
Some good looking stuff.
So, I’m sick… just a nasty cold that came on yesterday. This is the insult part. The injury part is that I had to miss out on FIBFest due to selling our foothills home, moving, child care cover issues.
You can follow the action on the FIBFest twitter feed here.
You can check out Michael Gracie’s blog to see the line-up of folks. You’ll notice gold medalist Johnny Spillane there. Nice.
Nice.
Joe Doggett has a plea to Mother Ocean and Father Time for another trip to Christmas Island. The story is in the Houston Chronicle and it is a good read.
Christmas Island sure does seem like a wonderful, fantastic bonefishing destination and I hope to write my own story about the place and the fish one of these days… probably not any time soon, sadly.
Read Brian Gies’ interview about Christmas Island.
Looks nice.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the mom’s out there… really, there are probably very, very few moms reading this, but, still… cheers.
My mother lured my father into thinking she was going to fish, but after the wedding, she never fished again, or so goes the local folklore.
My wife, mother of my 3 year old, tried fishing very, very briefly on a trip to Montana/Yellowstone. She saw a big snake in the grass along the Firehole and also rather forcefully declines my assistance with her casting while at a high mountain lake going after Yellowstone Cutts… those two episodes concluded her short-lived and undistinguished fishing career.
Still, there are some great angling women/mothers out there for my little girl to take as role models on the water.
A few other bits from around the web, non-mom related:
Well… look at that… a bonefish vid from Puerto Penasco in the Sea of Cortez… You don’t see anything ever a lot of reports about bones in the Sea of Cortez, tucked in there behind Baja California. Really, I tend to think of Rooster Fish and trips put together by Gary Bulla.
This fish is hardly a bruiser… not even close to really even an 8 wt. class fish, but it does show that they can turn up in some places you might not expect them.
Pacific Coast bones are a scarce commodity, really. While they get massive in the South Pacific and around Hawaii, the bones of San Diego are rather smallish and the bones of Puerto Penasco (or really, THE bonefish of Puerto Penasco) seem similarly diminutive. Probably still a place to pack your 8 wt., but probably for other species.
I have, for the most part, lost the ability to have simple conversations. Parenthood doesn’t help and being a stay-at-home dad helps even less. My bonefish fixation is another nail in the coffin of conversation.
I’m either talking about pre-schools/swim lessons/nap-time routines or bonefish.
Tonight, waiting in line at Uhaul I was sporting my “I bonefish” t-shirt. A guy in line said “Do you mind if I as what a bonefish is?”
Oh boy… here it goes…
I primed him first, telling him that I was going to try and limit myself, as I could rattle on wayyyyy too long. I gave him the generalities… inshore game species found on the flats in tropical places… no, they were not good eating.
I tried to explain the stalking aspect, the hunt, the wagging tails, the camouflaged nature of the fish, the beauty of the setting.
Well… after about 10 minutes (slowest Uhaul line EVER) they had learned a great deal, more than they had anticipated and MUCH more than they were hoping to.
I did notice that they moved on the other side of the display of moving boxes.
Thank god they didn’t ask about potty training.
This and my pre-schooler's play-date schedule are all I can think about.
The Mad Trouter lists out his “Bucket List” and a couple of bonefish locations… Seychelles and South Andros make the list.
Those locations are certainly on my list… I can think of a few others… basically, almost every place that holds bonefish. Los Roques, Belize, Mexico, Crooked, Long, Hawaii, Exuma, Abaco, New Caledonia, South Pacific, Xmas Island… man… how can you even come up with a bucket list? There are too many places… too many fish out there… too many perfect flats, too many imperfect casts.
Still… I wouldn’t mind fishing all those places that the Mad Trouter laid out.
