bonefishing | Bonefish on the Brain

Belize, January, Tournament to benefit BTT

You know where I’d love to be January 23 – 27? I’d love to be back down at El Pescador for a three day tagging tournament, benefiting the Bonefish and Tarpon Trust (ya know, if we put together a group, I probably COULD come down for this… just say’n). This is put on by the good folks at El Pescador and their stable of excellent guides. Here’s the skinny.

Belize, Bonefish… I dig it.

To: 2nd Annual Grand Slam Tagging Invitational to Benefit Bonefish & Tarpon Trust at El Pescador

When: Wednesday, Jan 23 – Sunday, Jan 27, 2013

Where: El Pescador, Ambergris Caye, BelizeWhat: A 3 day tagging event

Why: To raise money for Bonefish and Tarpon Trust whose mission is to support research to help understand, nurture, and enhance healthy bonefish, tarpon, and permit populations.

El Pescador will donate US$250 for every paying angler entering the 2nd Annual Grand Slam Tagging Invitational to benefit BTT. The total sum raised will be donated in the tournament grand champion’s name to BTT. The grand champion with then receive the corresponding benefits associated with that level of membership. The grand champion will also receive one (1) spot, with the entry fee waived, to compete in the 2014 March Merkin invitational permit tournament in the Florida Keys.

El Pescador has worked with BTT and their tagging program since 2009. We tag permit, bonefish and tarpon in order to answer basic questions about population, growth rates and movements.

The tournament requires anglers and guides to not only measure the fish before release, but to tag them and/or genetic test them as well. This is a charity tournament benefitting Bonefish Tarpon Trust. Tournament information is available at
http://www.elpescador.com/fishing/btt-tournament
Information about tagging as well as scientific and conservation issues affecting Bonefish, Tarpon and Permit around the world can be found at www.tarbone.org

—

All the other stuff — 5 Comments
06
Oct 12

Missing tails

The sun is wrong.

The clouds are up.

The glare is in my eyes.

I’m looking for a clue, a sign, a give away. I’m looking for a tail, wagging off in the distance, reflecting light off of blue edged silver, a sign saying “Here I Am.”

There is nervous water and where you see that, fantastic. However, I have likely cast to more schools of mullet or lord-knows-what hoping they were bones, only to find that they were something “else.” Hopeful, I’ve made the cast and crouched down, making the strip, anticipating the pull, only for there to be… well… nothing and seconds later a school of small, nervous fish passing me by, busy not being bonefish.

I know they tail. They tail in photos and in stories and in films and in emails, blog posts, message board posts and casual conversations. They tail in my mind.

Why aren’t they tailing, like, now? When I need them to tail?

They tail or I am just out here for a walk, just out soaking up the sun and the saltwater.

Scanning the water I make one pass trying to look in the water, which hasn’t worked well, and another looking on the water for that nervous water and waving tails. A lifeguard scans the water looking at each face, trying to see individuals instead of a mass of people. You can’t pick out a swimmer in distress by looking at the mass. You have to see the distress on someone’s face. In the same way I try to scan the water without just seeing the expanse of the flat, but trying to focus on each section, each feature, each moving shadow to confirm or reject the question at hand, trying to discern if there is a bonefish there, or there, or there, or there.

A tail. That’s what I need in the failing light, under the grey sky, over the turtle grass, with the glare, without it. A tail is definitive. It won’t be a jack or a mullet or a cormorant.

Sometimes, most of the time, they just aren’t there. These are not my trained monkeys. They do not perform on command.

It happens seldom enough to make it frustratingly and fantastically unpredictably wonderful when they pop up and announce…

Here I Am.

Come and get me. (photo by Jasper Vos)

This is it. (photo by Johan Persson Friberg)

Gear — 3 Comments
01
Oct 12

Gear from Belize – The TNT from T&T

I knew this wasn’t going to be a fish-till-you-drop kind of trip. It was my honeymoon and the fishing would be largely incidental. It might not have been the ideal trip for a gear review. That said, I was excited to get my hands on a new rod from Thomas & Thomas for the trip. T&T, as a company, kind of dropped off my radar for a few years. My go-to #5 is actually a T&T I picked up at a retail show about a decade ago, so I actually own a T&T rod. I hadn’t heard much from that camp in ages, so hearing that they were coming out with a new saltwater rod, the TNT, and that folks were pretty excited about it, well, I was intrigued.

I got the rod a bit early for the trip… like, July, for a September trip. It gave me some time to admire the thing. It is clearly a well made rod. The components appear to be high end and it screams “made with care.”

I finally couldn’t wait any longer and took it out on the grass. I liked what I saw.

In Belize, I think this is pretty much an ideal bonefish rod. I got to cast it a bit both on my one day of bonefish hunting and a few times off the dock. It is a sweet stick, responsive and easy to cast.

I don’t know if I’m the guy to break down exactly what made the rod cast well. I know what I like and I liked it. It was smooth and light and it did all I asked of it. The presentations were light, the casts accurate, but then, I’d bet Joan Wulff could make a good presentation with a broomstick (I still think the caster makes the lion’s share of the difference).

It is at a tough price point, about $800, making it one of the most expensive rods out there for bones ($50 more than the NRX from G. Loomis, $70 more than the Sage One, $25 less than an Orvis Helios, $75 less than the Scott S4S, $35 less than the R.L. Winston Boron III-SX). That would probably put it out of range for me, since I’m a cheap bastard, but it’s a nice rod and if you are looking at the top end of the market, I’d include the TNT in the test pool.

Yup. That’s it.

—

Gear — 9 Comments
30
Sep 12

My Deneki Hat… then and now

Back when I couldn’t make the first FIBFest down in South Andros, I got this lovely “wish you were here” gift.

New… brand new and bright orange.

Since then, this hat has been through a lot with me. A couple of magical years of parenting and a couple of crappy years of marriage, a couple of moves, a new job, a new girlfriend and a new wife.

The hat has been places and seen things.

I love this hat.

Faded, and comfortable

Gear — No Comments
23
Sep 12

SWC Blog

I’m a fan of Skinny Water Culture. They make some of my favorite gear and they are a young company, trying to make it in the big game of apparel.

Did you know they have a blog? They do. Here it is, and some familiar faces in there for me as well. Derek, who went out there from Tahoe, and Chris, who I met in the Miami airport. Awesome.

Nice.

Flies — No Comments
22
Sep 12

The DD Shrimp from Maarten Bruinenberg

Cool looking little shrimp pattern.

—

Locations — 1 Comment
17
Sep 12

Back to reality

OK all… I’m back after a wonderful week at El Pescador down in Belize for my honeymoon. We had a lot of really great experiences down there and I’ll run though the more fishy of those here over the next week. I also managed to do a little fishing. The new Mrs. went out with me one day and we had a good time on the flats, which was kind of a big deal. Other times she got a massage and I’d go out in the lagoon in back. Hard to complain.

One thing I was really very proud of was that I managed to catch a couple of dock fish. Dock fish are kind of hard, in my limited experience. Not big, but a good dock fish.

My first fish of the trip, from the El Pescador dock!

—

Gear — 4 Comments
28
Aug 12

Full Speed Ahead, Saracione Islamorada Reel

At the show I ran into Andrew Bennett, owner of Deneki Outdoors. He told me about a reel maker in a back corner with some really interesting, old-school reels. He was into them. He also mentioned the prices, $1,200. I saw the booth, but knowing the price acted like some sort of BOTB Force-field.

Deneki put up a post about the reel. It’s a beautiful thing.

Classic

It does have a certain nautical look to me. Where have I seen this before?

Hmmm… looks familiar.

What do you guys think? Would you want one of those Saracione reels? They are probably pretty amazing to handle, maybe a tad heavier than I’d want to fish with and certainly more expensive than I’m likely to ever plop down for (excluding inflation).

Would you buy one?

Gear — 6 Comments
27
Aug 12

Boron III SX

At the show I got to cast the rod that won the award for Best Saltwater Rod, the Winston Boron III SX. It is a nice rod and it hits all the high notes for premium rods.

Super Fast Winston

The folks that like Winston Rods for their saltwater fishing have not told me that they liked super fast action rods, but they liked the little bit of moderation, the feel and touch you get with a slightly slower rod. I wonder if this rod is going to hit all the right notes for the anglers that already love Winston rods.

It casts well, it looks nice.

Now, while this is a really nice rod, I don wonder what makes it “the best” from the show’s perspective. I’m pretty sure I’d rather cast a Helios 2 or a Sage One over the Winston, having cast all three of those rods now. I guess it comes down to personal taste and how you like to cast.

Evaluating a rod comes down to so much personal bias. For me, it is a good rod, but it isn’t going to get the “Bjorn’s Top Saltwater Rod” award. Anyone have one and think it is the bee’s knees?

Gear — 2 Comments
23
Aug 12

From the Show – Ross, SA and Cheeky

It is hard not to feel like a “kid in a candy store” at the show. All the gear is there for you to drool over. It doesn’t suck. I tried to get some of the gear makers to let me help them out when they packed up by taking some of the gear home, but, alas, that didn’t come to pass.

I got around to talk to folks and here is a little of what I saw.

Ross

Ross, at the show.

As you probably know, Ross got a bit bigger in the last year as they were acquired by 3M. 3M owns the Scientific Angler brand and most of the news was coming from SA. Ross has taken a step back and is re-engineering a lot of their reels to bring them more in line with the F1 series, meaning sealed drags. I’m really curious to see what they come up with.

One interesting thing is that the SA System 4 reel has seen some big changes. It looks a LOT like the Ross CLA (I own one) and is now made in the USA (good on ya 3M).

System 4 – Made in the USA

Another product coming out of the SA side of thing is a new tippet holder with a build in cutter. They have really put some thought into tippet, coming up with a color coding system that will make it easy for you to figure out what you have your hand on. Interesting stuff. I got a couple spools, both for my fresh and saltwater fishing and I’m looking forward to trying it out.

There is a little razor blade to cut your line sans nippers. Interesting.

Cheeky

3M is a pretty large company and at the other end of the spectrum are newcomers Cheeky. I’ve covered Cheeky because I like the little guys. This was the first time I’ve actually held one of the reels in my hand. The styling is something you either like or you don’t. I liked it. They now have a full lineup that will handle the 4 wt. to the 14 wt..

They had me at the sign.

I’m sure that fish was taken right from the water and wasn’t exposed to the air for too long.

Kind of crappy cell phone camera, but you get the point. Sealed drag, btw.

There’s even more and I’ll eventually get that up for y’all.

—

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

Archives