MidCurrent | Bonefish on the Brain

Locations — No Comments
12
Mar 15

Tarpon Fishing in the Keys

MidCurrent has a great piece up on helping you have a good Keys tarpon trip. You should read it.

One point the article makes is that the weather is often pretty bad in those most tarpony of times, May and June. On my one previous June tarpon expedition I experienced this firsthand. It rained, hard. There were brief respites, but mostly, it was wet.

I wrote a piece up for that trip. It didn’t get published, as these things usually don’t. One of the criticisms was my insistence that the Sunshine State wasn’t too sunny. I had a line like “It was wet, even for Florida…” that struck a reviewer as nonsensical. Even if it smacks of cognitive dissonance, the Sunshine State IS wet and June is particularly so.

Typical

I got that line wrong though… it wasn’t “wet, even for Florida,” it was as wet AS Florida in June. It is the fool who heads for Tarpon in the Keys during the peak migration with nothing but flipflops and sunscreen. Bring a light rain jacket, and your patience and your optimism. The latter two items are sometimes difficult to fit in the same bag.

I’m heading back to Florida this June. I expect to be rained on, hard, because it is the Keys in June. I hope also to get shots at some fish bigger than my 4’8″ 8 year old.

Taking a page out of that MidCurrent article… anyone have suggestions for cheap digs in Marathon around June?

Locations — 1 Comment
17
Jan 14

Your first trip in the salt

Midcurrent has some ideas about where you should go for your first bonefishing trip.

Total Crap! (< attempt at sensationalism)

Actually… spot on.

Bone in GBI

Basically… go to the Bahamas.

That’s where I went when I for sure, needed to catch a bonefish. I did. I’ve had it in my head ever since.

The Bahamas makes it easy. The flights are many, as are the fish. There are a lot of price points, the fish are there to be caught. It can sometimes be a crap shoot finding an independent guide, although the lodges usually have top talent.

So… head to the Bahamas.

All the other stuff — 2 Comments
01
Nov 12

Bonefish by Dan Sharley

I dig on bonefish art. I have some art up in my house. Really, my new wife had no idea that I would want to put so much fish-related art up and she’s been a very good sport about it all.

I have no found artistic abilities and maybe that is why I gravitate toward the artistic. There is some school of psychology that says we are drawn toward those traits we lack in ourselves. I tend to subscribe to that idea and I can see how that may have played out in my own life.

I saw the art of Dan Sharley over at Midcurrent and I got in touch with Dan to see if I could post up one of his paintings. He responded and consented, which was very nice of him. One of these might make a very nice Christmas gift, don’t you think?

I’d like to drop a gotcha right in there.

I asked Dan what he used as a model for these bonefish and here is what he said:

The Bonefish painting, like most of my work, is based on an imagined scene or composition. It’s probably a result of watching way too many fishing shows and reading way too many fishing magazines. Basically, I suffer from fish on the brain. I’ll use photos simply for reference (i.e., fins in the right places, scale shapes, eye color, etc.). The rest is pretty much my imagination at work.

Great stuff Dan.

Conservation / Tactics — No Comments
27
May 11

Chico doing it right at MidCurrent

With some practice and experience, all the questions and answers will become second nature so that you are simply “doing” as much as thinking about what you are doing. And when you finally slip your hand over that big fat bonefish, the feeling of accomplishment is great. After taking a few thousand bonefish myself over many years, I still don’t take any part of the pursuit for granted.

via “Close to the Bone” | MidCurrent.

This photo was in a post about bonefishing written by good ole’ Chico. I’m glad (and I bet Aaron is glad) that when it came time to select a photo of Chico with a bonefish they picked this one… the fish in the water, the release likely to be a good one, the fish probably surviving.

Gear — 3 Comments
01
Jan 11

Fly Fishing Reels: Drag Systems – MidCurrent

This is helpful… a lot of knowledge dropped about drag systems over at MidCurrent.

When manufacturers proclaim the virtues of their drag systems in advertisements and catalogs, they toss around terms such as “startup inertia,” and “cork to Rulon,” and “fully sealed,” often without fully explaining what these things are and why they are beneficial to anglers. If you stop to think about it, these terms raise a lot of questions about how reels are built and how they work. I set out to address these questions and more. What I learned may help you the next time you peer into that glass case at the fly shop — you’ll have a better grip on why objects with such a simple purpose vary so much in complexity … and price.

via Fly Fishing Reels: Drag Systems – MidCurrent.

Flies / Gear / Tactics — 2 Comments
20
Sep 10

Fly Fishing for Giant Bonefish – MidCurrent

I was looking for bonefishing leader formulas and found this story from MidCurrent which was just a delightful find. Really good stuff if you are interested in tournament fishing or pursuing big bones.

Think chasing giant bonefish is the same as throwing to schools of hundreds on the white sands of the Bahamas? Think again. Renowned tournament fisherman Tim Mahaffey shares some secrets on fly selection, gear choice and mental preparation in pursuing double-digit bonefish.

via Fly Fishing for Giant Bonefish – MidCurrent.

PS – 59 days until Belize.

Fish Tails / Locations — 1 Comment
13
Aug 10

Turks & Caicos Bonefishing Trip via MidCurrent

IN ALL DIRECTIONS around me I can see nothing but an endless world of blue and green — water, mangroves, sky. There are no other boats or people, nothing but the wind blowing notes through my rod guides.

via Fly Fishing Trip: Turks & Caicos Bonefish – MidCurrent.

Sounds good doesn’t it? Check out the whole story on the MidCurrent site.

Gear — No Comments
24
Nov 09

Chico Dishes on Tippet

Oh Midcurrent, you give and give and give. The lastest tid-bit I found on the Midcurrent.com site was Chico Fernandez dishing out advice on tippets for Saltwater. Nice.

Wisdom. Check it out.

Thanks Midcurrent and Chico.

Thanks Chico!

Tactics — No Comments
02
Sep 09

MidCurrent + Chico Fernandez = Ruling

MidCurrent, as a fly fishing blog, is pretty ruling. Chico Fernandez, as a bonefishing angler, is near deity status. The two coming together can only result is some good, tasty, crunchy, sweet and salty (man, I’m hungry) bonefishing goodness… and, so it is.

Chico’s book is near my bed so I can grab it and read a few lines if (really always) my wife is taking a bit too long to get ready for bed.

This little blog entry at MidCurrent should be at your fingertips as you head off to the bonefishy destination. Seriously… a great read to remind you of all that stuff you can do wrong so you can try to avoid those mistakes.

Check out Chico’s book at Google Books here. You can’t read the whole thing, but you can read enough of it to go buy it at Amazon.

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

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