I just posted my “inquiring minds want to know” question and up comes this post, from South Africa, from the last couple days… a real (formerly live) bonefish from South Africa.
Dead Bonefish.
Post says it is from the Riet River area. So, I guess they are still there.
Hawaii is a beautiful place. Really. I love it. For a long, long time it was not thought of as a fly fishing mecca by most of the fly fishing public (as far as I know, any way). While that is starting to change, thanks to the presence of big, huge O’io (bonefish), there are other things that are slower to change.
Hawaii is still primarily a meat fishery. Lots of blue water, lots of dead fish and some tasty fish tacos. Mahi Mahi, Trevally, others.
Ulua
I recently sat next to two native Hawaiians at a wedding reception and we started talking about bonefish (yes, pretty much all I talk about). The woman talked fondly about bonefish fish cakes that marked just about every important event in her childhood. Bonefish are still eaten in Hawaii. It has cultural connotations. The memo about the economic value of a bonefish hasn’t reached the islands.
There are some folks that are doing some good work, however. There is a tagging program at work in the Islands aimed at learning more about Hawaiian O’io. The Oceanic Institute and Hawai’i Pacific University have teamed up to launch the tagging program. I look forward to learning more about their work in the future.
Tag ’em! (but leave the boga grips behind)
I also look forward to a day when bonefish are not made into cakes and the locals are OK with that.
New vid is out from Confluence Films, same folks that did “Drift,” Simms is promoting it, looks fantastic… has some bones mixed in with the rest of the fishing world… tarpon, redfish, trout… I’ want this.
Here is the trailer for Drift, the previous work of Confluence Films…
Two world records come not from the Keys or Andros, but South Africa. I’ve read plenty of reports of 20 pound bonefish taken one place or another, usually written about on message boards without useful things like first-hand accounts or pictures (and none of them widely accepted as truth). However, the IGFA recognizes the largest all-tackle bonefish as coming from South Africa and weighing in around 19 pounds (1962). Yes… 19 pounds… that kind of bends the mind a bit. My largest is 7.5 pounds and I was pretty frigging impressed with power plant that thing had under the hood. I can’t really comprehend a 19 pound fish… the run… the weight. Another fish of 17 pounds was taken from roughly the same area in 1976. Still a monster.
The biggest fly caught bone seems to still be a 15 pound 8 ounce bone caught in Key Biscayne (FL) in 1997. If this has changed, I don’t know about it, but, the amount of things I don’t know could fill countless volumes.
In a few dedicated hours of searching the web for fly fishing (or any fishing) operations around where those fish were taken and I simply couldn’t find one (not one that has a web address anyway). In an email with Aaron Adams from the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust, he said that not much is really known about the S. African bones. They don’t really know exactly which species of bone is down there, the studies have not been conducted and the money to conduct those studies has not landed on their doorstep.
The area (Zululand) may be difficult for fly anglers due to very high tides. The other issue is security, as in there isn’t much of it and wealthy western types make nice targets.
There do appear to be other nice species there… like GT’s… Kosi Bay seems like the place to head for those and I’m guessing this would be where you’d look for those toddler sized bonefish. Before you rush out there, however, check out these fishing reports. The word that comes to mind isn’t “excellent,” but more like “sucky.”
There do seem to some bonefishing opportunities in Mozambique. Looks like a nice place, really.
Mozambique… I’d bet there are some bones here.
Mozambique seems to offer more for the fly angler and doesn’t seem to have the… um… security issues that others have mentioned about S. Africa.
Now, I’d add that I don’t really know what the situation is like in S. Africa. I went to Sarajevo in 1997 and people were suggesting I needed to pack heat… I didn’t (didn’t try to smuggle a gun in and didn’t need it).
So… for me, it all seems like a bit of a mystery. The world’s TWO largest bonefish coming from a place that isn’t targeted for bonefish in any meaningful way. Doesn’t it make you wonder a bit?
Some odds and ends from the Bonefishy side of things.
Hey look… it’s Aaron Adams, from the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust, talking about the goodness that is Pirates on the Flats. Seriously… I can’t wait for this show. High expectations have doomed many a fishing trip, restaurant recommendation and blind date, but I hope this won’t be a case of the let-downs. This is an interview from Fish Schtick (an audio pod cast that’s new to me).
Here’s an audio podcast from the Fish Schtick folks that also includes Brian Bennett (Moldy Chum contributor and Patagonia Fly Fishing rep). Bill Klyn is a big Marketing guy at Patagonia, as well as being involved with the Bonefish and Tarpon Trust. He’s on at about 21:05. Give it a listen.
Pirates
This show is now set for 12/27/2009!
Anglers all over the world do this… doesn’t matter if you are fishing for trout or bonefish… folks do it when the camera gets pulled out… they hold the fish out as close to the camera as possible. This little trick of perspective makes the fish look bigger, of course. Who doesn’t wish the fish they caught was bigger?
Don’t be this guy.
Here’s my issue… I feel like this is disrespecting the fish. Don’t do this. The fish you caught is the fish you caught… you likely worked hard for it, were excited about it and wanted to capture it in all its pixelated glory. So, don’t go and try to get the picture to lie for you. Respect the fish. You don’t have to kiss it, or take it out for coffee or lie to it about those jeans really making its butt look big… just hold up the fish you caught and get the photo and let the thing go.
Or this guy…
Don’t you feel a little more honest when you snap a picture that doesn’t try to stretch the fish through illusion? If you hold that fish up, straining to get it closer to the lens, it calls your word into question. Well, if you were trying to make a 20″ fish look like a 24″ fish, was your 7 fish day really a 5 fish day?
Respect the fish.
Be this guy. Respect the fish.
It is just a simple truth that many of life’s best things start with “B.” Bonefish, of course… bacon, butter, blues, BBQ’s and Beer.
It is also true that some beers can bring a sense of place with them. For me, Moose Drool Brown Ale will transport me back to Montana and Kalik will make me think of the Bahamas.
Belinkin of Belize
I found Captain Keith’s Beer Blog where he draws the connection between a bonefishing trip he took and Belikin Beer, the beer of place of Belize (which also starts with B, reaffirming my initial comment that good things start with B).
I was surprised, upon really looking into it, that there is no Bonefish brand of beer. There are a host of great trout themed beers out there. So, I call on bonefishing brewers to get busy and bring us a Bonefish brand beer.
A short video, post fight, nice big-ish bonefish from the Seychelles. I’d like to go there some day.
The Seychelles on the cheap goes something like this… go to your local beach and start swimming… eventually you’ll either reach the Seychelles or die, and if you die, were good in your life and love bonefish, you may just go to bonefish heaven… the Seychelles. See… cheap.
