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Locations — 2 Comments
20
Mar 11

Andros… pics… goodness

A little goodness from Deneki and Andros South.

Dick Pitini is a great guy who loves fly fishing and loves taking pictures. He fishes with us at Andros South, and he’s kind enough to send us some images afterwards!

via Flats Skiff | Fishing on Andros Island.

Photos from Dick Pitini.

I’ll be there this time next week.

 

 

To draw a really clear distinction between where I’m at now, and where I’ll be in a week, I went to the San Jose Earthquakes home opener last night.  It was raining… hard.  It was cold.  It was kind of miserable.  To make it worse, they lost.

I did think (often) about how nice it is going to be in Andros.  Yeah… I’m looking forward to it.

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All the other stuff — 12 Comments
18
Mar 11

Journey Proud

Prior to my Belize trip in November, someone (that’s you Marlow) mentioned the term “journey proud” to me and it has resonated in my head a bit ever since.

With Andros fast approaching I am indeed, again, Journey Proud.

I had trouble getting to sleep last night thinking about flies and rods and leaders and reels.

I spaced on a commitment for my kid’s pre-school… something I just don’t do.

I have a general buzz in my head that certainly won’t cease until my first bonefish is released and swimming away.  There is certainly a lot to do between now and then… I’m still watching for the UPS guy to show up with a couple of packages (one from Redington and one from Skinny Water Culture). I just made sure my Patagonia pants and my Skinny Water Culture shirt were washed.  I want to make sure I have a little ziplock in my flats pack that has some TP in it… to clean my Costa’s (I’ll be taking a new pair of Fantails – not on their site yet – on their first saltwater trip) when they get a little salt spray on them). There are still a few odds and ends to pick up from the store… but I’m getting there.

The rods for the trip are my new Rise 8 wt. (thanks Amanda) and two loaners from Redington, a 7 and 10 (thanks Kara).  The reels and lines are a little more up in the air, but I expect it all to get sorted by the time next Friday rolls around.

The good news is my two Cliff boxes are pretty much full.  I’m still tying, for some reason.  We have a full house all next week involving two adults and three kids as guests, some of whom will be sleeping in the room I use for tying, so… good thing I’m ahead of the curve on filling up those boxes.

No room at the inn (if the inn were my fly boxes)

 

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Get some Rise

Flies — 6 Comments
15
Mar 11

Bonefish Flies for South Andros by Idylwilde

This is from Deneki, of course, as they present 5 Idylwilde patterns for South Andros.  You have to like the Idylwilde blog… the tag line is “Marinated in Awesomeness.”

Nice tie from the Idylwilde folks.

5. Paulson’s Bunky Shrimp: This little pattern, in sizes 4& 6, is a uniquely tied “shrimpy” pattern. I used this last May to great success on the shallower East side flats when we were hammering the bones coming out of the inland mangroves. It turns over delicately at distance and the braid over the top of the body helps to keep it gack-free.

via Bonefish Flies for South Andros by Idylwilde.

These patterns all look pretty interesting to me.  I’ve noticed touches of orange or pink in most all of these, as well as, in general, a generous helping of rubber legs.  This particular fly, the Paulson’s Bunky Shrimp, doesn’t have the rubber legs, but… well… it could, I suppose.  A unique looking offering and I’ve been trying to tie up some approximations.

Voila... legs.

Maybe the legs are a bit long, but I figure it is better to start long and trim.  I once (a LONG time ago) was getting a haircut and was asked if I wanted more or less hair.  Yeah… start with more and trim back, harder to go the other way.

I’m still busy at the vice… still trying to fill up my boxes with goodness and flies I have confidence in throwing.  I figure I pulled 40 flies out of my two bonefish boxes… flies I just wasn’t feeling.

Tying is fun.  What can I say?

Seeing a post over at Michael Gracie’s about the same, exact fly.  His version looks good.

Tactics — 9 Comments
04
Mar 11

Thinking about casting…

Andros South is in… 21 days (until I leave, 22 until I get there) and I’m starting to think about getting that new Rise 8 wt. out on the grass field at the local school.  It is occurring to me that I need a little bit of stick time before I am presented with my first cruising bonefish or 2011.

Hey buddy, I'm not going to go cast myself, ya know!

I found this bit on the Deneki site from Bruce Chard about casting in the wind.  Thought it was worth reading again (as I’m pretty sure I posted this when it first went up back in 2009.

Here is a little except from a piece I wrote about my Grand Slam down at El Pescador.  It highlights a couple of really, really bad casts I put out after some bonefish…

As I stood on the deck, thinking back just a few minutes to me botching a good permit shot, the guide spotted two bonefish cruising the mangroves. I was very conscience that I had a 10 weight in my hand and I was thinking that the presentation would be too heavy. It is a dangerous thing, thinking. I made the first cast to the bones and tried to ease up on the power so the line wouldn’t smack on the water. Totally underpowered, the cast landed in a heap. I cast again, but my head was too much in the game and the result was the same.

My friend Shane, who is a certified casting instructor, couldn’t hold his tongue. “Those are the two worst casts I’ve ever seen you make.” he said. It was pure truth. Those casts were just horrible. I couldn’t help but give a little laugh at the ridiculousness of the casting and the degree to which I could rain on my own parade. It was also glad that Shane had just shown that he wouldn’t hold back the truth and when you are out there to learn, you need the truth.

Yeah… maybe I should get out sooner rather than later to chip off the rust.

Fish Tails / Locations — 2 Comments
23
Feb 11

Sparkles – Andros South

The truth is that when I look at the picture, I see the person that made the catch possible and the stories he shared with me…

via Deneki Outdoors.

I’m looking forward to meeting Sparkles myself and hearing some stories.

Andros… I’m coming for ya.

Tactics — No Comments
18
Feb 11

Deneki Outdoors – the Moon and Bonefish

So… maybe I shouldn’t worry about the moon phase on my trip to Andros South.

There are many variables in bonefishing much more important than the phase of the moon – weather being the biggest. We think planning your bonefishing trip to avoid a full moon is a little bit silly.

via Deneki – Andros South.

Good… cuz… We Like The Moon… just say’n.

Tactics — No Comments
11
Jan 11

Deneki give casting tips for fishing the flats

Deneki continues to put out really, really solid content if you love bonefishing.  Check out this post from the guys at Andros South.

If we had to pick our top 3 casting tips for anglers chasing bonefish on the flats, this would be the list.

via Casting on the Flats | Top 3 Tips | Bonefishing.

PS – Happy Birthday to my brother, who is the best and only brother I have ever had.

Gear / Tactics — 2 Comments
08
Dec 10

Bonefish Leaders, Bruce Chard and Deneki

Some great stuff from Deneki’s Bonefish School, run by Bruce Chard.

A conversation with Bruce Chard at Andros South a couple weeks back got us thinking that there’s a really a lot to saltwater leader design and construction, so we asked Bruce to sit down and talk us through how and why he makes the leaders that he uses for bonefish.

via Bonefish Leaders | Design and Construction by Bruce Chard.

All the other stuff — 2 Comments
25
Oct 10

Bonefishing Week on GoFISHN.com – Wanna win a trip to Andros?

Yeah… you should probably pay close attention to this… you could win a trip to Andros South.

Starting today, Andros South is hosting Bonefishing Week on GoFISHn.com!

We’ll be posting a whole bunch of content related to bonefishing on GoFISHn, including tips, gear reviews, Q&A sessions and more. Oh yeah – we’re also giving away a Sage 890-4 Xi3, a Sage 6080 reel, some Andros South logo gear, and…a trip to Andros South. That’s right, a trip to Andros South.

via Bonefishing Week on GoFISHN.com.

All the other stuff / Fish Tails / Locations — 2 Comments
25
Sep 10

Saturday Grab Bag

First, I thought the blog post by Fishing Jones about his most recent foray into the land of bonefish.  As Michael Gracie says in the comments… this is the standard by which future fishing reports will be judged.

We’re the People’s Front of Bud’s Lounge.

It is a great report and I like the Life of Brian reference.  I had an indoor soccer team at one point named The People’s Front of Judea.

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On another front, I’ve been sitting down to tie again with Belize on my mind… 55 days, I believe at this point.  I got some advice to tie up some Legless Merkins… I like the look of these guys… wish my Un-Legless Merkins looked as good.

Sans Legs, the Merk looks yummy.

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I dug the most recent Deneki post about Andros South that highlighted some local color of a Junkanoo band.  When I was in Grand Bahama last, someone mentioned that the traffic was for a Junkanoo festival and they nearly fell down when I told them I didn’t know what that was.

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