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Conservation / Locations — No Comments
27
Jun 14

Argonite Mining Doesn’t Add Up

In case you missed it.. there is a proposal floating around Grand Bahama (yes, THAT Grand Bahama) to allow some Argonite Mining… that’s ripping up of the sea floor. It is a really bad idea.

The locals seem to agree.

Shervin Tate, deputy chairman of the Sweeting’s Cay township, said the proposed project is slated to create a mere 60 jobs but will destroy more than 300 – some of them very lucrative – and devastate one of the country’s most beautiful and bountiful marine habitats.

“Once you start to dredge, the conch will disappear, the lobster will disappear, and then you will see a disaster in our community,” Tate said, explaining that silt from the mine will suffocate all marine life for miles around.

This is a really bad idea.

This does not seem like a good place for a mine.

This does not seem like a good place for a mine.

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Locations — 1 Comment
03
Apr 14

Deep Water Cay Monster

Normally, I’d be doing some sort of measurement to dispute the weight, but I don’t think I need to here. Meeko, guide out of Deep Water Cay, put this fish at 14.6 pounds and it certainly looks it. That is a beast.

Big, big bonefish.

Big, big bonefish.

This is why I kind of have a crush on Grand Bahama. There is no overnighting anywhere, no flight out of Nassau and a day burned in transit.

You are very unlikely to find a fish bigger than this anywhere. You’d be fortunate to cast to a fish this big in your whole life. Congrats to Jim Easterling of Houston, who landed the Beast of Deep Water Cay.

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Fish Tails — 6 Comments
08
Apr 13

Perfect Moments

Perfect moments. That is what trips are about. There are a few every trip… those things that remain when everything else is jumbled together in the fog of memory and you can’t pick out one day from another, or one trip from another. There are crystal clear moments that remain. This trip to Grand Bahama had several such moments.

Dinner at Pier One was one such event and another was the first bonefish I caught while wading the day I fished with my dad.

That fish was just so classic.

I had stepped out of the boat to reduce the weight to allow the guide to get a little bit skinnier. He had just told me to wade around the point and he’d pick me up again. I had to look for fish though and I found them. I saw fish moving along the shoreline, coming toward me. What a beautiful sight. I love the moment you realize you are looking at fish, when you identify them and the math comes out in your favor. You are going to get the shot. Now you have to make it happen.

I love those moments and this is one such moment, captured on the ContourROAM camera. This was the Contour’s first trip and my first time playing with it. Clearly, I need to figure a couple things out, but it is fun to actually get something like this on video.

 

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Locations — 3 Comments
20
May 11

Deep Water Cay, GBI

I found this little video about Grand Bahama Island’s Deep Water Cay.  I’ve never fished at the lodge, but I’ve fished the waters around DWC and I’ve been past the lodge.

A storied lodge in a place that is kind of awesome.

 

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Conservation — 3 Comments
14
Aug 10

The Future is Not Plastics

Every time I see a plastic bag or bottle, I think of that whale skeleton at Warderick Wells Cay in the Bahamas’ Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park. From a distance, the skeleton looks a little bit like someone misplaced half a brontosaurus on the beach. The 52-foot sperm whale washed ashore in 1995 after it died from — no suspense here — ingesting plastic garbage.

via The Nature Conservancy in the Bahamas – Whale and Plastics.

It seems a little drastic to say if you put your six pack of Newcastle Brown Ale (yummmm) in a plastic bag means you are killing a whale, granted.  Still, it’s a pretty easy step to take to bring those re-usable bags with you and you’ll look all hip and green (a greenster?).

I think back to my last trip in Grand Bahama and the amount of trash on the beach I frequented most (I could tell you the name of the beach but others would likely kill ME, and that would really get in the way of planning my next trip).   There was a lot of trash… bags, bottles, scraps from this thing or that.  Sure, some of it came from the good residents of GBI, but some of it came from parts further East… and I don’t mean Cuba.

So, ditch the plastic bags (although I need some to pick up after my very regular dog, Lassen).  The move to reusable might just make your next flats fishing experience a little less trashy.

My one reason to have a couple of plastic bags around.

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Fish Tails / Locations — 2 Comments
22
May 10

Bonefish Flat goes Bonefishing

There’s a blog called The Bonefish Flat.  He and I have a couple things in common… one, we really like bonefish and two, we don’t get fishing as much as we’d like.

He recently made a trip to Grand Bahama with his dad to do some bonefishing.  Fish were caught, memories made.

Check it out.  The trip report is in three parts.  You can start at part 1 and go on from there.

Bonefish Flat gets a bonefish

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All the other stuff — No Comments
18
Feb 10

Tag Ends – 2/18/10

Some bits and pieces floating around.

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All the other stuff — No Comments
15
Dec 09

A Tour of Grand Bahama

I found this little written tour through the history and present of Grand Bahama.  It makes for an interesting read and I’m really glad I get to absorb all this before I head to GBI for the second time in January because lord knows when I’m there I won’t be looking or thinking of anything but bonefish.

Some interesting cultural, social and political context for what might be your next bonefish adventure.

This is from Bahama Pundit and author Larry Smith.

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All the other stuff / Fish Tails — No Comments
11
Dec 09

Bonefish True or False

I found this Bonefish quiz on Field and Stream.com.  Kind of a fun little bit that includes…

2. Bonefish offspring/juveniles have been located as far north as (or farther than) Long Island, New York…

5. Bonefish can live at least 20 years…

6. A bonefish’s diet changes as it grows; under 16″ fish primarily eat worms and clams; over 16″ fish eat shrimp and crabs; over 24″ fish eat other fish, like toadfish and gobies (choose your fly accordingly!)…

The link at the top will take you to the rest of the quiz.

I kind of forget about Field and Stream since I’m not too interested in the “Field” part of the magazine.  I recall my dad subscribing during my childhood (100% for anything about steelhead).

A search for “bonefish” turns up 210 entries at F&S… whoa.  Who knew.  Might be mining some more gems from them down the road.

Other Updates:

  • I now have water again at the Sierra Bonefish Headquaters and have used that water to wash myself in all the important places (and unimportant ones)…
  • I discovered that I cannot make it up my street in 4×4 High, but can in Low…
  • This guy went to GBI just recently and caught some fish… promising, since I’m going to GBI in just over a month…
  • Coach Duff sent a couple pics of a NOICE bonefish (11.5 pounder) caught by client Luke on Coach’s 1/0 “Plate Lunch” crab pattern… one of those pics is below.
That is some nice HI bonefish that in no way would make a good fish cake

That is some nice HI bonefish that in no way would make a good fish cake

Also, I’ve just hit 7,000 views on this little endeavor of mine (up since August).  Thanks for reading, thanks for sharing and I hope we meet on the water some day (unless you are a total a-hole).

(Field and Stream quote used with permission from F&S)

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Fish Tails — No Comments
22
Oct 09

Flight Booked/Hotel Booked – Bahamas, T-61 Days

Booked my trip to Grand Bahama today… January 13-18.  Oh… I can almost taste the Kalik.

UPDATE: I’ve now booked my hotel… for $58/night.  Used Kayak.com.  On the hotel’s website the rate was $89/night.  The whole stay will be about $250 for lodging.  The countdown is 61 days!

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