Bonefish Submission

Captain Darrick Parker sent me this photo of a nice 6-7 Pound bonefish caught in the flats right outside off the coast of the Ocean Reef Club. Shown here is Abbey Kissel Hallingby with her biggest bonefish ever. She looks pretty pumped, but I lets be honest I would too if I caught a huge bonefish like this. 

Bonefish Video

As promised here is the video of all the pictures and couple of short video clips of my trip to the flats the other day with Captain James Koch.

First Bonefish on the Fly

My First Bonefish on the Fly!

Yesterday morning I had the opportunity to go out and fish the flats to chase some tailing bonefish. Okay wait let's preface this story with some details.

I was in the Orvis store this week and one the flats captains walk in, James Koch, he had been out bonefishing the last two days with the same client. They had been seeing tons of tailing fish but were unable to connect with any.. He was a little frustrated so he asked me if I would go with him before work really early in the morning. "Be off the docks at 6:30 at the latest," I told him I would be there at 6:15. 

Of course I wasn't going to hesitate. I haven't had any real opportunities to chase bones yet so I wasn't going to pass. Now the weather just had to cooperate and we were golden. 

5:30 am we check the weather. Confirmed a go I showered and left my house. Arrive at dock 6:17... two minutes late. 



Imagine if you will the sun rising over the ocean. Just enough light to see and barely a breath of wind on the water. Just enough wind to break up the silhouette of the boat without hindering a cast at all. The sun starts peaking up over the horizon and we start poling the flats. I have to fight not to cast at a needle fish I am so excited...

I kid you not we are maybe there for 20 minutes and I see my first tail. James poles over to it slowly and a few more pop up. The next few seconds feel like an eternity I shoot a cast out in front of them it's a short cast really maybe only like 40 feet. I drop it at 30... too short. Recast closer but still too short.. I'm starting to panic a little, I reach back and just drop one in about 3 feet in front of my last cast and right on length wise. "STRIP, STRIP, STRIP!" FISH ON!! BOOOM that thing just explodes line out, I'm doing all I can not to wrap it around the rod, reel, my feet hands, all the experience I have with big fish melts in front of me as this 6 pound bone fish tears off 200 feet of line in 5-6 seconds. It's on, I can celebrate making it through the most difficult part. I look at James and he says to me "I never really do breathe while all of that is going on." Me either. Several minutes later it is such a relief when that fish is up to boat for a good photo opp where I can "Grip and Grin" with the best of them. 

I had two more good shots at bones this morning. The first I spooked, just didn't lead them quite enough. The second which was a way better shot, I hooked into. When it took off I had almost all the line out, it circled and it ran right back at me. I stripped it tight only to have it take off again! I was all but in the clear when I put just a little too much pressure on the last 6 inches of line and it jumped up and wrapped the butt section of my rod. It about broke my heart. But, I guess that's why we get the itch. If you land all of them why would you keep fishing for them. It's the challenge we want. A wise man once told me "If fly fishing was easy, nobody would do it."

Special thanks for Captain James Koch. A fantastic, knowledgable, easy going, experienced flats guide. I highly recommend fishing with him if you get the chance and are down our way. If you want to fish with him you can either ask me or call the charter desk at 305-367-2227 ext. 2! Thanks James!

Patch Man Do Fishing Report

The next couple of pictures are documentation of a few fishing trips while working on the Patch Man Do. I got to give the Nomad Net a good workout hauling up a couple of large Red Grouper. It handled the test. The following pictures are of a small bonefish, a couple of porgy's, red grouper, and a pretty big barracuda. We caught lots of other fish, and some bigger fish, but when you are busy it's hard to get pictures taken of everything. Especially the spotted moray eel we caught... That thing was so ugly looking. 

Patch Man Do Fishing Trip!

Recently, Danielle and I had the opportunity to go out and spend a day on the Patch Man Do together. Captain John had heard that maybe there were some Pompano running through the area and he wanted to check it out to see if we could find them. Of course who am I to turn down a day on the open water... Luckily, Danielle was off from work as well and I could finally get her on a boat! We had a blast out there catching all sorts of fish... unfortunately none of which were pompano. I also happened to land my first bonefish.. Who needs to be in the flats? 

Species the Patch Man Do found for us this trip included:

Bonefish
Hogfish
Black Groupe
Mangrove Snapper
Yellowtail
Lemon Shark
Porgy
Cubera Snapper
Blue Runner
White Grunt

If you want to see more check out this short video and some pictures from our trip on the patch man do!!

 Patch Man Do 
**There is some graphic material in this video


**It should be made clear that in the video Captain John removed the head of the shark to bleed the fish out. If you don't bleed the fish the urine that is in the blood stream will spoil the meat. So since we were keeping the animal for dinner it was essential we didn't allow the meat to spoil. 

Destination: Ascension Bay, Mexico

The Mexican Yucatan Peninsula has been a destination for fisherman for a long time, but until recently fly fisherman have been relatively unaware of just how bountiful their sport fish are. Mexico is probably the location where you the angler have the best chance, right now, to go out and hit the grand slam. That is, go out in one single day and catch a bonefish, a permit, and a tarpon in an outing. That doesn't happen often but in Ascension Bay it can. You aren't going to jump the 150 pound mega tarpon like you would in the Atlantic Ocean during migration, but a 70 pound tarpon is still a hell of a good fight (a 10 pound tarpon would be a welcome challenge for me!)!

There is a lodge right in Punta Allen that has been getting great reviews from anglers as well as non fishing guests and that's not that easy to find right now in Mexico.. The name of the lodge is fitting, "Grand Slam," a title that many anglers search their whole life to obtain. Grand Slam hoists the title several times a year with all kinds of anglers.

Photo by Brian Grossenbacher

grand slam fishing

The area is best known for its permit population (shown in the picture to the right) and it is said to have schools of permit numbering in the 20's and solo permit similar in size to this 35 lb beast pictured here. 


All this talk about destination angling has gotten me excited... I'm thinking about putting a trip together to head down there late this Spring (mid-late May) ideally with about 6-8 other fisherman so let me know if you are interested! 

Yellow Dog Fishing

If you want to get more info on your own check out their site here!

 GRAND SLAM 

Fly Spotlight

Borski's Bonefish Slider

This little pattern is great for bonefish swimming in shallow water. It mimics many things specifically shrimp and craps swimming through the flats. Tan seems to be a reoccurring favorite amongst guides for bonefish and this little slider is no exception! If you get a chance tie up a couple and hit the flats! I know I'm going to!

Recipe:

Hook: #2-4 Mustad 34007.
Thread: White Uni 6/0.
Eyes: Painted hourglass eyes, black on yellow.
Wing: Cream EP Fibers or Neer Hair and Pearl Fire Fly Flashabou.
Collar: Grizzly marabou.
Head: Deer hair, flared and trimmed.

Reefing it in the Keys

Today was my first opportunity to really hit the water since I have been down here and it was through dumb luck and working at Orvis that made it happen. I was working on Saturday and one of the captains came into the store and said his 1st mate never showed up today and was looking for someone to replace him for a trip tomorrow. "I CAN GO!" I'm sure I yelled across the store haha. 

It was an awesome day on the Patch Man Do and captain John really took care of me and our customers. It was a hell of a way to break into mating on the open seas with a near six foot barracuda to start the day... Awesome! The pictures below are what came next for the rest of the morning trip to the reef. 

Leaving the Ocean Reef Club behind

Stepano with a little blue runner

Don't be afraid to wave the jolly roger

Fighting a grouper!

Black grouper

After a morning on the boat I went looking, blindly, for bones... until next time.