Archives

Locations — 2 Comments
15
Oct 09

Fly Fish Chick and the Bones of Exuma

Now, that sounds a little bit like a porn title (although the most porn-like sounding bonefish related item would go to Florida bonefishing guide Captain Ann Houlahan and her website www.boneranger.com).  Fly Fish Chick has a great little vid/story about her Exuma trip from April, 2009.

The Fly Fish Chick has a blog full of fishing tales (tails) from all sorts of places you’d like to go to catch fish.  Worth a look.

As for Exuma, that’s one of those “Out Islands” in the Bahamas that looks more beautiful that is reasonable.  It appeared as though the Island was served by Air Sunshine direct from Ft. Lauderdale, but their website says this service is not available now.  Unclear if this is temporary, or until the end of time. 

As an alert reader pointed out, there are DIRECT flights from Fort Lauderdale to Exuma on Continental.  Right now that flight is about $250. That is a tad much for a flight that lasts 1:30, but that’s the way it goes.

Fly Fish Chick with an Exuma Bone

The Florida Sportsman website offered this fantastic account of bonefishing Exuma written by Mike Conner.  This is worth a read.

Coral Gardens got a mention as a good base for DIY anglers and the $99 a night is a pretty standard budget rate these days.

If you are thinking more “lodge” as opposed to DIY, I’ve heard many times about Peace and Plenty and their rates seem in the ball-park and far from the most expensive I’ve seen.

Yes, I’d like to go there… for the bones, for the beauty.  Sign me up.

Locations — No Comments
14
Oct 09

Florida Bonefish

(UPDATE – May-June 2013, I fished Biscayne Bay and the Keys… mostly for Tarpon. I did manage to land one small bonefish and got shots at two others on foot. I’m less intimidated and can’t wait to go back.)

As a kid growing up in a small mountain town in Northern California (the State of Jefferson, as it is called by some), I wanted to be Mel Fisher.  This seemed a rather dreamy prospect… we had rivers but no oceans, a gold rush past, but no sunken Spanish treasure.  My family drove from Dunsmuir to Key West (that’s about 3,500 miles) one summer and I went to the Mel Fisher Museum and got to touch a Spanish gold bar.  At the aquarium in Key West I had a horse shoe crab put on my head.  I was about 10 and this was simply awesome.

Today, I live in a different small Northern CA town with a history of Gold (Sutter’s Mill is about 20 minutes away). I am  still haunted by Florida, but now the object of my desire is the Grey Ghost, the bonefish.

Florida intimidates me when it comes to bonefish.  I’ve talked to too many folks who have gone for glory and produced goose eggs.  Days without even seeing a bonefish have been recounted.  Stories like this one from Florida Fly Fishing Magazine, make it all seem like a pursuit for only the top tier, the elite.  I just want to have a good day on the water.  I’m devoid of the need to prove myself as some expert bonefish master I know I’m not.

I’m absolutely positive that more than one horrible angler has caught a bonefish in Florida, but it does not sound like a common occurrence.  Maybe some day I will have caught enough “dumb” bonefish and I’ll get off the plane in Miami and exit the airport instead of flying on to the Bahamas.

I’d love to hear your words of either encouragement or discouragement.  What’s your Florida experience been?

Locations — No Comments
13
Oct 09

Want to go Bonefishing for FREE??

UPDATE: This promotion is over.  I didn’t win… which makes me think it was totally fixed!  How could I have not been drawn out of the hundreds or thousands that entered???

That’s a silly question isn’t it?  Kind of like “would you like to be happy?” or “would you like a Newcastle?”  Silly questions indeed.

Well, Deneki Outdoors has a give away going on and all you have to do is sign up for their blog newsletter.  Um… that’s easy.

In the interests of both telling folks about cool bonefishing news and thining out the competition, I should tell you that the blog updates each are 28 MB and clog your in-box and are full of naked pictures of Janet Reno.  Yeah, you may not want to  sign up… ya know… I’ll take one for the team and let you know if anything interesting is in there.  😉

Their lodge  is on South Andros and, sadly, looks fantastic.  I say sadly because, sadly, I’m not there and likely won’t win.  I know I should be happy for whoever wins… but I won’t be.  I’ll be bitter and angry, probably for months/years.

I seem to write a lot about Deneki Outdoors and that is for one simple reason… they (really, he) consistently put out interesting/informative content about bonefish.

Locations — 4 Comments
13
Oct 09

Bonefishing – Brotrip?

I was surprised to see the title “Brotrip in the Islands” of the Bahamas pop up from the Bahamas Media Center yesterday.  Not sure if they meant Brocation, but they do seem to be trying really hard to get to a younger American demographic, God bless ’em.

Basically, this is a trip for you and your “bros” to head to the Bahamas and go bonefishing.  This is the “Acklins and Crooked Island Bonefishing Adventure” and INCLUDES a case of Kalik per room (not per person!!!!! Booooooo!).

Kalik, the beer of the Bahamas

Of course, there is more…

  • Three full days of bonefishing
  • Four nights in a air-conditioned, double occupancy room
  • Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily
  • Complimentary use of kayaks, bicycles and other non-motorized water sports equipment
  • Airport transfers

All this for $500 a day.  It’s not a horrible rate, although I wouldn’t call  it deal of the century either.  All the details can be found here.

This is only good through the end of December, which makes it a bit of a rush job.  I guess the Bro’s in question don’t have wive or children to negotiate with.  Flyfishing is dominated by males, although there are certainly many women in the sport.  It is equally true that flyfishing is not, primarily, a young man’s pursuit.  Just walk through a Fly Fishing Show, or ISE and you’ll soon get a feel for the greying of our sport.  Visit a fly club and you’ll be convinced no one under 40 owns a fly rod.

I hope they succeed and that hundreds of guys descend on the Bahamas to drink their case of Kalik and catch some bonefish.  I’m in that group that think the survival of anything rests in the number of people who care about that thing.

Gear — No Comments
10
Oct 09

Deneki on filling your pack

What to bring with you on that day on the flats… it is an eternal question (not really, but that makes it sound grandiose).   Deneki Outdoors has some thoughts on this question and they put together a list here.

One thing I’d add to this list is a pair of ceramic nippers.  The nippers you have on your trout vest/pack are likely going to rust with amazing speed.  Ceramic and plastic, as of this writing, do not rust,  and so are a good thing to have along.

Orvis makes these… don’t think anyone else does (not sure if they still do).

Locations — No Comments
08
Oct 09

Los Roques DIY Bonefishing

One of the most common searches I’ve seen landing folks here on Bonefish on the Brain is  “Los Roques DIY.”  So, I decided to look into it.

Los Roques is hard to get to, that seems clear.  I found a great little story from the NYT about Los Roques, complete with a quote from a Maine Game Warden who bonefishes there every year.  The article says you can hire a boat, find an island and be alone with your thoughts (and bonefish).  The details on how one does that, of course, is where the real questions have to be asked.

Los Roques… looks nice. Wish it cost more like $140 to get there instead of $1,400.

I have read at least one account of folks catching bones in the harbor and also read that flats around the main town get hammered.  You need a license, there are prohibited areas… sounds like you can certainly get yourself into trouble.

Oscar Shop, according to the NYT, can take you out to uninhabited islands, that sounds like the best bet to me (but what the hell do I know?).

There are tourist “posada” on Los Roques that range from $45 to $400 a night, I’m sure they very dramatically in quality, as you’d expect.

Now, it’s great to get a room for $45, get a boat to take you to some isolated island for $20-80 a person, but the real problem seems like the transportation there… Kayak puts a flight to Caracas from SFO at about $1,200.  The puddle jumper is about $220.  The budget angler might need to re-think Los Roques as a DIY location if just getting there will cost you $1,400… you end up at $2,000 pretty fast and if you are going to drop $2,000, you might as well get a guide.

Uncategorized — No Comments
07
Oct 09

Tag Ends, 10/7/2009

Some bits and pieces for your Wednesday.

Locations — 10 Comments
06
Oct 09

Horduras Bonefish

It makes sense from a Google Earth perspective that Honduras would have bonefish.  Turns out it does.

One place that seems to be booking for your Honduran Bonefish get away is Mango Creek Lodge, located on the island of Roatan.  One thing I found interesting in reading Mango Creek’s list of what to bring were the fly sizes… up to #10.  That’s a trout fly!  The fish seem to be on the smaller end of the spectrum, that 3-5 pound size that lets you know you’ll probably see schools, but won’t need to break out the 9 weight.

As far as lodges go, Mango Creek is far from the most expensive.  A 7 night, 6 fishing-day stay is $2,200 (double occupancy).  That’s not too bad, really.  Oh, but it will cost about $900 to fly there and back.  Details.

Home to your Honduran Bonefish Odyssey

You can also catch bones on the Honduran Island of Guanaja, according to the Fish Guanaja Honduras blog.  The author says he fishes for world class bones, but no pictures or sizes are actually mentioned… so, who knows.  Emerald Waters offers a trip to Guanaja and talks in glowing terms about the fishery.  A week with them will cost you about $3,200 per angler.

It seems Hurricane Mitch did some real damage  to the island and the island’s mangroves back in 1998.  The island and the fishery are still recovering, but are doing so in relative isolation.

A Honduran Bone from Emerald Waters

See… now that’s a good looking fish right there.

When you’ve done the Bahamas, the Keys and the Seychelles, you may have to check out Honduras at some point too.

Locations — No Comments
05
Oct 09

Say Seychelles! A little vid

For your Monday enjoyment… a little Seychelles fly fishing action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmHubxZWc9o&hl=en&fs=1&

Locations — 2 Comments
03
Oct 09

Panama for Bonefish?

I recalled seeing something about bonefishing in Panama, so I asked my good friend, Google, to pull together some information about the chasing bones in the sail-through Republic.

Tranquilo Bay Eco Lodge has a page about tarpon, but mentions Bonefish as something that can be a pleasing distraction… there is a bit about the fish not being large, but being 3-5 pounds with non-stop action a possibility (um, I’d take that).  The follow that up by saying that they don’t recommend traveling there to target bones.  Seems like more information is required.  The photo gallery shows lots of nice Jack Crevelle and some small bones caught off the beach… small being in the 1 pound range, not the 3 pound range.

If you like fishing reports devoid of  anything useful at all, I found this.

The 3-5 pound range seems overstated from the fish that I’ve seen in the few galleries or google image pics I’ve seen.  Why so small?  I don’t know.  It does seem like Panama is likely off the books as a bonefish destination, although the tarpon and snook look large and in charge.  If you head to Panama for those other game species, you might just want to throw in a few gotchas while you are at it.

If you have better intel on the Bone sitch in Panama, please, let me know.

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →