Thoughts from the flats....

The tarpon gods giveth and they also taketh away....

2011-12-06T17:36:00.001-08:00

A few weeks ago I was pretty cocksure and spoke of fly fishing for tarpon with a bit of swagger and arrogance. I'd caught three good fish in three days, and a lot of others in the previous months, and was full of myself. I picked up my rod yesterday to try my luck and after hours of fruitless casting and only one small bump my feet, if not my backside, were firmly back on the ground. No matter what fly, however softly presented would tempt a fish to bite and I was confused, frustrated, dejected and plain old angry.

I swapped out my leader for some light gear and a mantis shrimp and went to look for some bonefish, ten minutes later I saw some tails, a five minute quiet stalk into position, one cast and I was into a nice bone. The fish was onto the fly right away and I had set the hook for three or four seconds before he realized, he was part of a fairly sizable school of small to medium sized bonefish. I suspect he was three or four pounds, unfortunately for him he was outgunned by my 10wt rod.

On reflection I am still no wiser why I couldn't get a tarpon to bite, some more thought required there, though I think the fish might be a little spooked out. My recent form with bonefish is very good, I've had quite a few over the summer and I kind of feel like if I see one I have a very good chance of hooking and landing the fish, which is a world of difference to how I used to feel two or three years ago. However, I'm sure this will all change in a brutally frustrating flats session in the near future. There are one or two spots here with some big bonefish, I think I need to get out there again and try for some bigger, older and wiser fish to test my skills again. I just need to get the time.

More fishing, more success

2011-11-01T18:36:00.000-07:00

This morning I got out of bed at 5.15am, just about the same time as low tide. There was little or no wind to speak of and the sun came out at 6am just as I tied on my fly. I was looking for tarpon, I wanted to get in my last fish for a fortnight. Next week I will be playing rugby in Barbados and won't get to fish next week. I had other things to do but I figured if I got in an early start then I could still do my chores and get some fun in.

The fish weren't as active as on previous mornings, but it was only five minutes before I saw some dorsal fins and tails breaking the surface. As I made some casts trying to predict a fishes direction after a roll I saw five to ten pelicans going crazy a little further up so I moved and cast into the melee. I immediately got a bump so I strip set and was on, I was waiting for a breach or a thrashing of the surface, but none came, and five seconds later when I saw my backing disappearing I realized I had hooked a bonefish, definitely a lucky hook up to a feisty little bonefish. He certainly gave a good account of himself, but he was outgunned with my 50lb leader and 10wt rod, so I was soon able to release him.

After I released him I checked my leader and the fly and tried to cast to the rolling poons, but it just wasn't happening. It was a struggle, to be frank, to try and guestimate the direction they were heading after a roll and I decided to change tactics early. I have taken a few friends with me recently and they all think the same thing, once the fly is in the water you have a 50/50 chance of catching a fish. The more experienced readers will know that it is all about bait presentation. If you hit a tarpon on the nose with a fly they don't like, I know this very well, if you cast it three or four feet to their right they will ignore it, sometimes they will come and take a look and then ignore, and sometimes they will touch it with their lips and then spit it out straight away. I firmly believe that almost any cast where they can see the leader will not result in a hook up, if your fly knot is too big or the leader is not tracking straight then they will investigate but not bite.

It is a frustrating process to go through, but you have to learn it by trial and error on your own. These are things you need to learn after you have become good at casting, and reading the body language of the flats species. Its a lot to take in, it takes a while, but it makes you appreciate the good days even more. Some people see the photos and say, "I think that'd be fun, I think I'll buy myself a fly rod and get out there", expecting to be hooking the silver king next week. Good luck to them, but they are not appreciating the years of accumulated torture and torment, standing knee deep surrounded by mosquitoes watching the various species of the flats bolt away from your fly as fast as possible. Stick with it and they will get their just rewards in the end, but it takes a little time.

My second fish came about through a change of tactics and location. I got lucky with the second part, the beachy area I moved to was not more than a two minute walk from where I started, but as I stood up high on the aft deck of a marooned power boat three tarpon were voraciously scanning a small shallow area for prey. One was large, maybe five foot long, the two other were the same size (check the photo). I was patient and I watched the way they were moving around the small flat. Food was in plentiful supply and they could pick and choose what to eat.

So I calculated my variables. There was almost no wind so I could place myself anywhere, the sky was clear so I picked an angle with high vis and low glare and then I waited. The clear water and low winds meant that I would have to present the fly head on and make sure the fish would not see the leader. I waited and picked my cast, a couple of looks and no shows then maybe on the fourth attempt I was in. Sometimes it is crucial not to spook the fish because you know that you will two, three or four shots at them if you don't act too aggressive.

I hooked one of the smaller fish, and was treated to the theatrics early on, after a brief spell of tossing and jumping and twisting through the air I set up my bloggie and went about hooking the fish, I knew he was well hooked and I got down and dirty to bring the fish in. It is all on video, and I have cut some still images to add to the blog, hopefully the video can be uploaded too, but without someone behind the lens it is a little boring if you watch it for too long.

Tarpontastic

2011-10-30T16:40:00.000-07:00

Today was a good day. My order of flies arrived on Thursday, so I was ready for battle. I skipped the gym this morning, as we had some rugby 7's practice matches lined up. After the rugby I was tired but went for a fish anyway, a few hours in salt water being better therapy for my aches and pains than sitting on the sofa.

I saw a few fish rolling early but think I was reacting to rolls too late rather than trying to pick it early. The sun was hidden for the first hour and I struggled to make inroads though I got two follows, which was encouraging in dark conditions with murky water. As the breeze dropped

I got put in a good spot and waited for the sun to light the place up. A short while later I was into a good fish, hooked through its top lip and it kept on cartwheeling through the air. I fought a good sized tarpon for fifteen minutes or so, as I grabbed the leader and tried to lip him he thrashed free, frustrating not to get a hero shot, but happy to see the fish swim strongly away.

A short while later I was into another good fish, very similar in size a strength to the first. I was treated to the same theatrics and a long hard battle. My friend was conveniently on hand to get some photos of the action, these were my biggest fish landed and I am over the moon to have some photos to record my success. One day in years to come I will remember these beasts fondly, I feel so lucky to have access to this kind of fishing, it doesn't cost me anything (except my gear), the locations are mostly beautiful, the water is warm and the fish are fierce and challenging to hook and land.

2011-10-30T16:36:00.000-07:00

Sacrifices

2011-10-13T09:36:00.000-07:00

Last week I was able to get out in the morning on the incoming tide, I expected a good days fishing and got a good one but did finish up a little disappointed. My expectations these days are high, September was my best months fly fishing ever. In what amounted to maybe four or five mornings fishing I landed five bonefish and four tarpon, with many other hook ups, lost fish and some truly big jumped tarpon. I never came away with out a landed fish and two of my bones were the biggest I have landed. Its a run that must come to an end, and compared to this time last year its been great to see fish, let alone catch them. I have found a few new spots that have helped to get into more fish, with some contemplation I also think that my meeting with the Australian Outdoor Sports guys has helped me a lot as well sharing info with the guys from This River is Wild. On the boat trip a few months back I got a few gems of advice that have really helped me. These days I don’t worry too much about casting, in any direction, and I think I use better gear and knots these days as well and I would put that down to advice and the sharing of ideas that I was able to take from the trip.

When I got in the water it looked good, I saw some fish early and instead of casting I tried to get some shots with the Canon Rebel, I’d forgot my polarised lense and as the water was a little high it is very difficult to make the fish out, I can see them but I doubt many others will pick them up. The sacrifices I make for the blog, meant that I missed some good shots at fish whilst I photographed the school of bones.

I ended up hooking one down under a mangrove tree, he took a good run, something didn’t feel right and I was at all surprised when he was lost after a few minutes, probably more like 30 seconds, everything happens in a flash and you get a weird perspective on time when you have a fish on. I was videoed once hooking a bone, I thought I lost it after ten or fifteen seconds, only to replay the video and see that it had lasted all of 2 seconds, if that.

Next up I hit a tarpon spot and within 20 minutes I was into a good one that I lost after a few jumps, fortunately I hooked another small one soon enough and landed it and let it go back to play with its mates, there’s a shot above.

More fun

2011-09-27T12:36:00.000-07:00

The photos I posted recently were taken by a friend of mine who came across to watch me try for some tarpon, he only lived across the bay so it was a short walk for him and good luck for me as he got a couple of good shots worth keeping. That afternoon I rigged my 8wt rod and reel combo and a leader with a 20lb tippet. I put on a small olive colored closer minnow that seemed to havedone the trick with all species recently, considering the volume of bait fish around.

As I stepped through the mangroves I saw some big tails thrashing in shallow water, really big tails. It was the first time I have seen tarpon in really shallow water gobbling up the bait fish. Without a second thought I cast and got an eat from a big tarpon, the biggest I've hooked before. Had I though about it I could have rigged the right rod for the job, it would only have taken two minutes as the car was right there with the gear in it. The fish ate and ran, then did a series of flips and dives a dolphin would have been proud of. If I would have to hazard a guess I would say it was a five foot fish and over 50lb. I was out gunned I couldn't put any pressure on the 20lb tippet and eventually the fish threw the hook in deep water and I had the disappointing chore of reeling my backing and fly line back on to my reel.

Figuring there wouldn't be too many more like that I persevered with my session on the same leader. I cast to a school of bones got a bite but didn't set the hook well and only had the fish on for a few seconds.

As I made my slow stalk along the edge of the mangrove trees I could see large shadows and tails popping through the surface everywhere. In my immediate vicinity I saw three shadows circling under a mangrove branch after I got my eye in a cast landed perfectly in the gap and a juvenile tarpon followed and took the fly, I was then treated to a very acrobatic battle, the rig I had was just right to enjoy the battle. I landed the small tarpon and released it ready for more action.

I had many more eats and a few more jumps from fish like this. I also got into and landed another four foot tarpon, with no hero shot unfortunately. We were waist deep, flat batteries on the camera and videoing the action, as I handled the leader to get a few seconds on film the fish shook its head and swam off, self released!

I also jumped another big fish later on in the day before the action quietened down.

This morning I decided to hit the same spot. I rigged up the 10wt and a heavy leader but after seeing quite a few smaller tarpon and a few good sized ones, it has to be said, they were no where near as active as they had been at the weekend. I was fishing the out going tide this morning, where as at the weekend I was on the incoming, there was also less bait around today. I changed my tippet to a 20lb section and stuck with a small olive clouser, and as I made a second sweep of the flat I saw the sight I have grown to love, four or five cigar shaped shadows and a silver tail trailing behind each of them.

I wasn't very well placed as I was in the trees and the glare was against me. As the fish were tailing I left them to it and did a nice slow horseshoe stalk upwind and then placed myself well, they made a small loop and came back up current and my fly was there waiting for them, two or three strips and a strip set had me into a very powerful fish. It took me deeper into my backing than I have been for a while, seeing as I was rigged with the 10wt rod and large reel this was a feet of strength and stamina I wasn't expecting. When the fish reached the end of its run, which was almost 2/3 the length of the flat I reeled like mad to keep the pressure on a get him in. He tried to make another run, but I turned up the drag on him and kept him close. He was spent and I landed him and posed for a few seconds on my video bloggie.

The fish swam of well enough after it sucked some water through its gills and kept close to the mangroves as it made its escape to find its friends.

Maybe ten minutes later I decided to try the other end of the flat as the water was fairly high. Within minutes I saw a school of bones. I cast but messed it up and then stood absolutely motionless as the school swam round me, fearful of spooking them. Amazingly they didn't bolt and they made a wide circle of the flat and gave me a second chance, I cast and led the school a few feet, it was a long cast into the light breeze and it didn't quite land where I wanted it to, but it was good enough to entice a small bonefish to take the bait and I was into the second bonefish of the morning. This one wasn't as strong as its amigo and, whilst it resisted a quick release, it never got into my backing on the stiff rod. A few circles and a few token thrashes of the tail and I had landed the fish and was able to repeat the video role for the hero shot.

I had one last shot at another school of bones but they did not take the fly and fled in earnest after swimming right at me, I waited a while to see if they would come back but it was not to be, figuring I was pushing my luck I gave it up for the day and headed home for lunch.

Tarpon action

2011-09-24T15:51:00.000-07:00

Bait, lots of bait!

2011-09-19T16:43:00.000-07:00

The weather was good, windy (when isn't it windy down here?) but the sun was out and the tide was on the up, it was going to be a good morning for some salt water fly fishing. I didn't anticipate having as much fun as I did though. Upon arrival at my new hotspot the water was thick with bait, in every direction there was a thick school of small bait fish. This was promising, bait = larger fish every time. The only problem is imitating the bait and tempting fish that already have dinner on a plate, this is not easy and it is often very frustrating watching large tarpon gorge themselves on fry whilst ignoring your offerings.

I found some olive/brown clousers in my fly box, deep down, I've ignored these flies for a year or two now, but they looked just the same as the bait I was seeing. I tied one on and don't regret it at all. I got multiple eats from tarpon, mostly juveniles smaller than 20 pounds, I jumped two fish, which were pretty much landed had I not been trying to film myself at the same time and I landed a nice bonefish too.

I videoed both tarpon that I set the hook to, but the video is very poor and will only give you motion sickness, I was pretty much trying to get the hero shot, the last jump of the fish as I land them. I learned a lesson though, I'm much better to land the fish first and then start to video myself, I haven't yet landed enough of these beasts to be so cocky whilst handling them. Both hands are required and it is pretty critical to concentrate whilst you are bringing them in, apply too much tension and you'll allow them to wrench the hook free, too little and you'll never get them in.

The bone I caught was either me being a genius or a genuine stroke of luck. I thought I had spooked out the tarpon so decided to give them a break, they would still be there an hour or so later. I kept the same leader and fly, figuring the bones would be feeding on the same thing as the poons, as I walked up the road and out through the mangrove trees I looked up as I stripped the line from my reel and saw a group of bones approaching. Where does local knowledge stop and luck start, it is a good spot to spot fish, but it is rare to be so lucky as to have them on a platter when you get there. I must have had my feet in the water for all of 30 seconds, I stripped as I cast and laid a cast in front of the fish. It was breezy so I got away with a heavy presentation, four or five strips and I set the hook on a nice fish that made a couple of energetic runs into the backing. I was able to keep on a lot of pressure as I had a 30lb tip section on my leader. I landed her and got some video, I've taken a still from video that I've attached, not the biggest bonefish, but a beautiful bar of silver.

I kept fishing for a while, I saw a bonefish so big I thought it was a tarpon, but we saw each other at the same time, and this wiley old boy was gone a in a second. I also saw another school of bones at a distance as a cloud flashed over and 5 seconds later when the sun came back the fish were gone, it is amazing how they can vanish like this.

I also got an eat from a tarpon that snapped a 30lb tippet as if it were a 5lb tippet, incredible, one thrash of the head and I was off. It was a good day, I wish I had the next few days off as well as I would be back down there for the morning even day if I could get away with it.

Beach based fun

2011-09-17T16:43:00.000-07:00

Today I was able to sneak away an hour or so early, as I said before we are house sitting, the wife had tried taking the dogs to the beach and couldn't get the front gate to open, a perfect excuse for me to rush home and help a damsel in distress.....and grab my rod and see if there was anything interesting swimming near to shore.

About three miles out out to sea I could see a huge swarm of birds hitting the surface, if I had a dinghy I am certain I would have been into some false albacore or decent jacks and bonito. Nearer to shore I saw a shoal of baitfish dancing across the surface and I new that there must be something worth casting at underneath. Twice they came into range and twice I hooked a small jack each time, I had thought it to be a type of snapper to start with, but I have checked on line and think it was more likely a jack. There were bigger fish breaching but I didn't get much action. These little guys actually fought bravely but they were heavily outgunned by my 10wt rod! The white closer was just the ticket. On Thursday I got a two foot needle fish with the same outfit in the same place, on my first cast.

No sign of tarpon or larger horse eyed jacks though, I'm sure with a bit of patience the chance of a northerly swell pressing in a school of bait would be good sport, but time is running out, we only have a week left here, but every morning I wake I look down on the beach to decide weather it is worth bringing the 10wt when I walk the dogs.

I am now on twitter, @adavidson506 and have a link below for that, lets see how that goes.

New fishing spots and tropical storms!

2011-09-10T12:24:00.000-07:00

Last Monday I had the day off so I decided to try out another fishing spot that promised some variety in species and good fishing. A friend of mine had told he'd seen tarpon nearby recently and another had told me he'd seen the biggest bonefish of his life laid up in the mangroves there. I decided to the give it a shot because I had never tried it before, there were light winds and an incoming tide. It was a good idea, within ten minutes I saw two cruising bones of a good size that were slowly stalking the under the overhanging edge of the mangrove trees traveling away from me, swimming upwind.

Patience is the key in this situation, people are often tempted to ping out a cast and try and get one to take a look (I have made this mistake many times) but the best thing to do is stalk and wait. Slowly follow the fish whilst they cruise and eventually they may stop to eat, or inspect the bottom, throwing a cast over the top of the fish often result in you spooking them as the leader drops on their heads. On this occasion the fish kept moving, but I thought I was in a good vantage point and decided to wait where I was and see what happened. About fifteen minutes later, as I slowly (read very slowly, like one step a minute) made my way upwind I saw flashing silver tails under the branches of the mangrove trees maybe a 100 feet upwind, though the breeze was light it was well out of my range. I increased the speed of my walk and as the early morning glare cleared whilst I got closer to the tailing bones I could make out a school of over ten fish, maybe 20, all of a reasonable size. They were slowly feeding in skinny water and coming towards me.

I cast my mantis shrimp pattern to them and let it drop maybe three feet in front of the lead fish. I paused before stripping, trusting the weed guard, as the fish came towards me, tails up and nose down I started to strip when they were barely a foot away and sure enough they followed. I was on within a second, a simple trip set, and the school spooked whilst my fish bolted parallel to the branches. A nerve wracking experience, those mangrove trees have survived countless hurricanes over decades, if not centuries, they would sever my leader with no problems at all. As it turns out they didn't get the chance as the fish thrashed after a short run it threw the hook, I must not have set the hook as well as I thought I had.

Disappointed but full of adrenaline I was determined to sit it out and wait for another opportunity. It looked like a location full of promise (0n this day) and that had been proven in the first half hour with two different casting opportunities, and a 50% hook up ratio. I sat on a rock to let the flat cool down and changed to a borski slider, not wanting to keep moving on a spooked school of fish I took in the beauty of my surroundings and had a good look at the small baitfish that were absolutely everywhere. You could see small crabs and shrimp darting amongst the rocks everywhere.

After a short hiatus I got my feet wet again and made my way as slowly as possible on the edge of the fauna. I'm not sure if it was the same two bones I saw first, but I saw two fish slowly zigzagging along the tree line, by this point the wind was so light there was not a riffle on the surface. Weaker casters might think this is great, but they've never cast to spooky flats species before, imagine trying to lay out 30-50 feet of line, leader and fly on the water without making a splash or disturbance and you'll understand the challenge. I waited patiently for the fish to turn towards me and when they did I threw out a cast that landed just right, the fly dropped a couple of feet in front of both fish and I stripped it in. They may have been cruising like mates, but they both fought hard to eat the fly, the closer fish got it first and I strip set on a very nice fish, they both bolted had and fast from left to right in front of me and along the mangroves. I don't know if I caught a branch or a rock but my delicate tippet snapped.

I was pretty upset at losing two fish. I got to cast at a school of laid up fish, but they showed no interest in several patterns and the amount of bait fish in the water suggested that they may have had their fill, or they were wary from being spooked earlier in the day. I tried, shrimp, crabs and baitfish imitations to no avail.

On the other side of the bay I saw a lot of surface action and decided to take a break from stalking the bushes and fish from the shore. There was a tight bait ball and ten tarpon, mostly juvenile, slowly taking their fill of baitfish. On the outskirts twenty to thirty small barracuda were waiting for the minnows to turn their backs as they were slowly picked off. I put on a gummy minnow, and cast through the school, a juvenile tarpon took my fly immediately and I got a good eat, but it spat the fly out, I think the hook was too small to get a good set. I then went through just about every pattern in box with no success, there was just too much easy food on offer to trick those big boys into taking an alien looking fly.

Since then we have been awaiting Tropical Storm Maria, which has really messed us around, changing shape, intensity, and track on a regular basis. Potentially we expected up to hurricane force winds, now I am sat at a villa (house sitting) over looking glorious sunshine with no wind or rain, yet. I think we'll get a good soaking tonight though, and I'm thankful we're not likely to have to suffer a hurricane.

The villa I'm staying at has a sea kayak that slices through the water nicely, the bay we're in is only a mile or so from a well known tarpon hot spot, so hopefully the next blog will at the very least involve an update on some good tarpon fishing if not successful tarpon fishing.

Returning to salt water

2011-08-30T18:23:00.001-07:00

After a few weeks back on island I decided I could wait no longer and hit a good night spot to try for some tarpon, on Sunday night. I set myself up and had a good look around the 10wt felt very different to the 5/6 I had used in Scotland three weeks previously, the fly was ten times larger and the temperature was about 20 degrees centigrade warmer, the bugs were worse too. However, the lure of those big boys swimming under the lights was massive, there was loads of sargassan weed swirling with the current and the big boys were staying diligently mid channel and rolling over as they fed. Every two or three minutes you would see a slab of silver flash at you as the more mature fish fed. There were a few smaller fish staying closer to the edge and these were my target.

I hooked one within an hour of getting there, I strip set hard and then tried to hold the fish away from the bridge pylons, something had to give and it was the hook, it straightened out and was then worthless.

Another hour later I got a bite from another juvenile, but it took he fly so close to me the leader was almost in the rod and I was unable to set the hook, the fish treated me to 20 feet of jumping and tail walking before spitting back my fly in disdain. After this I spent a good couple of hours trying to get fish to bite, but drew a blank.

Today I borrowed a friends boat, the weather looked great, the tide was okay (high around 9.30am, so I was fishing a big ebb) and the sun was out, less than 1o knots of breeze meant I could walk around to where visibility was best (the least glare from the sun) and cast in any direction without worrying too much, ideal.

The first fish I saw were a school of six or seven tailing permit. I presented the mantis shrimp with a good lead and let it sink, they went straight over the top as I twitched the fly. I recast with another lead, and tired to bring the fly into their view with a slightly more aggressive strip, they just turned away and left it. They did not spook, which I can only take as progress on my part, but they were not interested either. I cast to permit maybe another five times, with three different patterns, varying the lead, presentation and strip in the hope they would take, the results varied from outright fright to total indifference. More research needed there I think, not even a follow.

As I cast to another two permit I saw a school of bones, maybe 20 or so, moving at a reasonable rate across the flats, left to right a long way in front of me. I moved forwards, I had a borski slider on (this is the fly I had used when I landed my only permit a little over a year ago), I bombed out a cast, to the limit of my ability and led the fish perfectly. I stripped quickly, as I always do with bones and the whole school chased down the fly, a few nibbles a strip set and I was on. A good fish the separated itself from the pack pretty quickly and I was able to get some video and land it after a few long runs in to my backing. It was close to the fattest bone I've ever caught.

I could still see the school marauding around the flat as the weather was so good today, they must have been over a 100 meters away and they were clear as anything. From their behavior I thought there would be a good chance of them coming back my way, so I held station and waited for them to come to me. After half an hour they ventured back my way, looking for the food that is so obviously fattening them up. They crossed right to left in front of me and I bombed out a big cast again, with the same result, this boy took a very deep run into my backing and then again and again, but I landed him safely and let him go.

I am burnt to a crisp now, I had loads of sun, and not much food and water, but I will sleep a happy man.

Video and photos to follow.

Something different

2011-08-11T07:21:00.000-07:00

Two days ago, the weather in Scotland cleared, we had sunshine, bright sunshine, but a pretty stiff (relatively) cold breeze persisted throughout the day. My Dad and I had planned to hit a small hill loch, but it was blowing hard up there so we went to another of his favorite spots, The Carron Dam, just half an hour from Stirling. In 2009 they had a world championship trout fly fishing tournament there and the location is really pretty spectacular, especially so close to civilization.

The wife decided to come along and she had a t-shirt, a jumper, a jacket, a windsheeter and a wooly hat on, as well as a pair of jeans over a pair of leggings. Panamanians are not cut out for cold weather. But we also had a lunch box with hot tea and scotch pies to keep us sustained, and the air was so fresh you can feel it cleansing your soul with every breath, any person who can not relax up there (fishing or not) should give up trying.

Armed with a 10 foot leader on a 5/6 rod and a small hopper on end of it I was into a lovely rainbow within three casts. Netted, and kept in the bag to stock up the parents freezer for the winter, once fishing seasons over they will still be eating trout. The next three hours or so were a great experience, with the sun out we on got a shot at a few other rainbows, my dad lost one right next to the boat when the fish got wrapped around a read and then it bumped into the net.

Between us we landed ten browns, Dad getting the lions share of seven, though two of mine were almost a pound and all were truly attractive healthy fish. My wife even tried her hand at fishing, her casting was doing fine, but she wasn't striking well, twice the fish rose at her fly but she wasn't quite in sync with what was going to lift the rod tip and set the hook, a shame as she would have been very pleased with herself.

In all it was a fun day, the conditions weren't ideal for catching fish, the rainbows seemed to be settled on the bottom and not really interested and the blustery conditions meant we both missed a rises that would have added to our good haul. That said we had no complaints at all, every week my dad and I compare fishing stories and it was nice to get to go out together and have some success at the same time.

Fishing buddies

2011-07-10T15:40:00.000-07:00

Fishing update

2011-07-10T04:04:00.000-07:00

I told you last week I was heading out for four or five days pure fishing last week. I have had an amazing time, a real learning experience. There were some very experienced fishermen with me and I was able to soak up some good info, some good tips on tying leaders, flies to use, on improving my casting and tactics for stalking fish. In fact the day after having a good chat over a beer I got my first bonefish, and the next day I got the only fish of the day (though I did get lucky with the location and conditions on my "beat").

I tried to upload a video to the blog page, but it's too big for what the site allows, so I have a youtube link with a video of my time fishing. It includes clips of the guys fishing and casting, and also some nice footage of the locale.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99RYYoGT9sg

The trip has increased my love of the sport, it is always nice to share your passion with people, and when you get to do it with great folks who are willing to share their knowledge with you and help make you better at the sport makes it all the more special. Of the group who went out, only two of us live here, the others will depart to the US and Europe and carry on stalking other species and being very successful at it. Matt and I will stay on here trying to land tarpon and bones as big as possible, and we strive to land the elusive permit.

On the trip I got a look (two feet of follow) from a smallish permit, I think everyone saw one or two permit, but only one serious follow for Stephan. I have had one in my life and I was very happy with it. I didn't realise just how tough it is till one of the pros on our trip started telling us stories about how nervous he got when the street gang of permit followed his fly. This guy has caught fish all over the planet, and a big permit causes his blood pressure to rise!

On the trip we caught; bonefish, yellow tail snapper, black tip reef shark, eagle ray (foul hook), tarpon and box fish. It wasn't as productive in terms of landed fish as we'd hoped in advance, but the fish were all rewarding. Conditions were tough, lots of squalls, high winds and silty seas meant that spotting fish was tough, and we didn't see the fish in numbers that can sometimes be experienced up there. In the end the best tactic was to stalk the shore line to look for the big boys moving in and out of the mangroves, if it got deeper than knee deep the vis got pretty poor.

I've got a few photos to put up on the site after work tonight, but please enjoy the youtube link for now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99RYYoGT9sg

BIG WEEK

2011-07-03T17:36:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow morning very early I will be heading up to the flats for a week, I am very excited. I am going with some excellent fisherman and will be very keen to absorb as much info as I can from these guys. Hopefully I'll be able to weigh in with a few fish of my own as well. I really am very excited, please check out The Fly Fishing Nation web page for a bit more info on the guys I'm fishing with, they've got a great website and a pretty impressive gallery of past fish. Fingers crossed that the next post is going to be full of photos of big fish.

2011-06-21T18:14:00.000-07:00

Tarpon #3

2011-06-21T18:01:00.000-07:00

Here is a photo of my third tarpon, it wasn't a monster, maybe 30 pounds or so, but a game fighter that had really gulped down my fly, I had to go wrist deep to get the fly out of its mouth. I had started out with a tarpon roach pattern that got a good look from a fish that was daisy chaining out from the lights, I thought I'd stick with it for a bit but after a few more uninterested fish I changed up to a white and blue minnow pattern. After a couple of casts and drifts under the bridge I felt the tug that I've learnt to love, I gave a mighty yank on the fly line and was rewarded with a good line burn on my striking hand as the fish shot of through the water and then into the air. Unbelievably he flew away from the main structures, into clear deep water. He jumped and fought hard and I was happy to release him in good spirits to fight another day.

Today I blew a few chances at some bones, of three good shots I lost one to a broken tippet, the fish was on, but I don't know if it was a bad knot or a broken leader on some coral, either way I didn't land a fish. Though it was a nice day, and a stern reminder of how tough it can be to get one of these little ghosts in your hands.

It's an addiction

2011-06-17T18:03:00.000-07:00

I recently read a post on another fly fishing blog describing another addicted fly fishermans hunger to toss flies in the water. When I read it I was amused and didn't think too much of it, but recently I've been too busy at work to get out fishing much, I've only been fishing for bonefish properly once since February and I'm starting to get a little edgy, in fact if you had watched my behaviour you would say I'm addicted.

Last Saturday I crawled home from a long hot day in the sun and turned on the TV, I phoned a friend to see how he was, we chatted he said he'd seen some tarpon down at the beach and I pretty much hung up there and then, changed my clothes (the rod and gear were still in the car, ready to go) and I shot down the beach to shoot some line. No success, not even a whiff.

On Wednesday I woke up, hit the gym very hard (max dead lift to date 355lbs or 161.1kg!!!) had a coffee and went home for a nap. Ten minutes after walking in the door I was getting my fishing gear together to go back to the beach to chase jacks and lady fish a big barracuda with no success.

On Thursday afternoon I had a squash lesson, I took my fishing gear too, in case I fancied heading to a tarpon spot to try for some chrome. I drove all the way to the end of the Island and risked the wrath of the wife who was desperate for me to attend a leaving party for friends of ours who were leaving the island, we have known them for around five years and I almost missed it to fish. The reason I went back to the party was the impending lightening storm, not wanting to risk fishing in a lightening storm with a nine foot carbon lightening wand in my hand, tarpon or not!

This afternoon I was under a boat changing a prop next to a reasonable flat, the one where I landed my first bone, I spent more time examining the bottom, wandering whether the fish hide in the uneven terrain waiting to raid the shallows nearby, than concentrating on changing the prop. I think I dropped my spanners six or seven times!

At night as I lie in bed on a sleepless night my favourite thing to think about is tailing bonefish, and the cigar shaped shadows they cast, not wanting to forget what I'm looking for on the flats.

In a few weeks I have been promised a boat from work as a treat for some hard yards I've put in recently. Some friends and I are going to head straight to a small island not far from here and hit the flats very hard. It is going to be a serious little fishing break and I am looking forward to it immensely, yet I am still so eager to get fishing I wonder if it is possible to get out earlier for a fish. I totally understand my fellow fishing bloggers addiction now.

Tarpon

2011-06-06T19:49:00.000-07:00

Since uploading some video a few weeks ago I have been witness to a friend of mine landing a very good sized tarpon, at least double the size of this one, probably bigger.

Tonight I decided to try my luck again at a good tarpon spot, my enthusiasm and good organisation were rewarded with a torrential downpour on arrival. However, the rod had been rigged before the storm came in so I sat it out in the car. It was a good move, as I checked out from the bridge above where to fish from I saw there were plenty of tarpon about. I picked a spot, set myself up, pressure free and relaxed, I hooked and landed a tarpon on my first cast, this photo of 36 inches of chrome was the result, a beautiful little tarpon. It didn't take long to get it in, but she jumped and jumped and jumped, I could swear that its first breach was over my head height. The tarpon roach pattern was firmly wedged in the corner of the fishes massive jaw, I made a serious conscious effort to strip set the hook and also to remember to bow to the king as it breached the surface of the sea time and again. I am well aware though that I got real lucky with this guy, on reflection it seems as if the fly almost landed in its mouth!

Later on I got two very close looks from significantly larger fish, but they turned away at the last second. It is unbelievably hard to keep stripping line and not strike in those situations, but I had changed pattern and thought that the lighter fly may have been the problem. Then the rain returned, well it got heavier, it had never really left so I decided to head home satisfied with my second tarpon on the fly.

Tarpon video

2011-05-23T05:33:00.001-07:00

The video below was taken by my wife on my point and shoot Canon camera, it is not the best quality, but if you look closely on full screen you can see the tarpon making a pretty spectacular leap through the air. One day we'll get a decent bit of footage for you to see these fish in action, but this gives you a nice little taste.

2011-05-22T17:43:00.000-07:00

Jumping and spitting

2011-05-22T03:15:00.000-07:00

Last night I decided to head out for a quick fish. I was a little tired, but the wife was out at a friends and I didn't want to sit on my bum watching TV. I headed out to the spot where I hooked and landed my first "poon" and set up my gear. I went with a bright orange tarpon roach pattern, with yellow epoxy eyes. Within ten minutes I had a nice sized tarpon dancing across the surface of the sea. When it bit and ran I thought I set the hook pretty hard, I then got my finger burnt as the fish darted for the bridge pylons and I tried to stop it from wrapping up the line, I managed to halt his run and pull him round in front of me to clear water and I started to enjoy fighting the beauty, every ten seconds he'd be four feet in the air, with his gill plates rattling like mad. It is a sight and sound you will never forget.

It was then a disappointing change in fortunes to have him throw the hook right back at me during one spectacular summersault. This is the reality of tarpon fishing most of the time, my hook was a very sharp size 1 and this fish was still able to rip it out, or its mouth was so hard that it never really set well.

An hour or two went by after this with the tide turning and the fish changing their behavior a bit. It seemed also that the bugs changed their patterns too as they nipped at my ankles and arms and neck and face, any are of exposed flesh was not left untouched, and yet still I waited patiently for a slab of chrome to present itself within casting range.

Eventually I got a really nice drift on a cast and three tarpon followed the fly out from under the shadows, one took it and rolled its shiny belly at me and I tried my best to set the hook with a large yank of the line. The fish bolted, taking a run more like a bone fish than a tarpon and then flew through the air, flipping its head and spitting the hook right back at me! Disappointing again, and tough to bear, but I'll be back in a short while and so will the fish.

2011-05-16T17:28:00.000-07:00

Its a game of inches!

2011-05-16T13:49:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I was fortunate enough to be invited on a 56 foot power boat chartered by friends to captain the boat for them and show some visitors a few of our islands. The boat is a real luxury power boat and we really were traveling in style. I personally jumped at the opportunity to captain the boat, particularly as they wanted to head to an island that is our local salt water fly fishing mecca. For the two days before the trip I spent hours scanning weather reports, studying satellite photos on Google Earth and making sure I new what time the tides were going to rise and fall at. I also must admit I spent time lobbying for a more ideal itinerary to suit fishing, despite the fact it was my wife's birthday on Sunday!

M/Y VIRGIN DANCER

Anyway Friday afternoon we headed out and went straight for a night on the dock at Leverick Bay in Virgin Gorda's North Sound. The weather was terrible, the tide was high and there were bolts of lightening and storm clouds everywhere. Even so, it takes more than that to stop me heading out on to the flats, so whilst my wife and friends went to the bar, I headed straight for a reef that I have been keen to try ever since I took up fly fishing down here. It was a good idea, my first cast was to four or five tailing permit, big black sickle shaped tails flashing furiously, I saw them from almost a 100 metres away. It is hard to continue to "stalk" when you so seldom see this sight. Unfortunately with the weather as it was it was very hard to follow the fish, in knee to waist deep water you would see a tail for two seconds start to double haul and then the tail would disappear, I would then undershoot or line the fish and spook it. That first afternoon I blew a lifetimes worth of chances at wild Atlantic Ocean permit, the only thing seperating me from the Atlantic Ocean breakers was a small ridge of reef where the breakers were smashing and roaring against the rocks.

As the rain came and the chances were blown I learned a lot. I found out my casting was much improved, managing to double haul my 8wt thirty feet upwind if necessary, in the rain. I also learnt that concern for my own safety seems secondary in my pursuit for another permit, as I kept waving around an expensive carbon fibre lightening wand (aka my fishing rod) as the thunder and lightening erupted all around me. There were also a lot of other big "fish" around, I saw a lot of big sting rays and, from a distance, saw an ominous sized dorsal fin patrolling the edge of the reef. However, I did get a lot of time to observe permit feeding and really concentrate hard on their body language, movement and water signature in tough visibility, hopefully in good weather I will see and understand them a lot better.

I called it quits around 6pm, soaked, frustrated and excited. We had a very good BBQ, enjoyed the Moco Jumbies at Leverick Bay and sank a few Heinekens that night. I set the alarm for 5am, and forced myself to get out of bed to try one more time for some permit.

As the alarm rang I headed out in my soaking wet gear, donned my rain coat, collected the 8wt and put on a 20lb tippet, feeling optimistic. Withing half an hour I had hooked the second permit of my life (on a fly), it took a size 4 flats kwabbit (I wish I'd had some bigger ones) and laughed in amazement as it headed straight for the open ocean, through the breakers. Problem was, I knew the hook wasn't set right and I debated whether to strike again and set, or let it run, I decided on the later, believing I had a fifty percent chance of the fishing turning left and burying the hook itself, unfortunately the hook came out and I left with my line floating and tangling in the reef. I got another 10 shots or more at tailing permit, but just couldn't get it right, either spooking them or not getting close enough, and on one cast a stingray came in front of the two permit and the fly foul hooked him, I had to break him off.

Anyway, it was time for breakfast so we ate up and then headed for bonefish mecca. I did my best to force my friends of the boat and down to the beach so I could head out for a fish. I didn't get my feet wet till 12.30pm, not ideal, but as if by magic the clouds parted and I had two hours of perfect conditions. After an hour I was into a nice bonefish, I'd got unlucky with a couple of other cruising bones, but this guy followed persistently, a perfect reminder to never stop stripping your fly, just when I thought he'd lost interest I tugged again and he bolted with the hook perfectly in his jaw. A beautiful 20 inches or so of Caribbean chrome, taken on a flats kwabbit as well. I was about five hundred metres offshore, so a few poor photos and a bit of video are all I've got as a memento of this pretty, shiny fish, he swam away strongly after being promptly released. Almost immediately after he swam off the clouds came back over and the wind picked up and the visibility decreased, I was happy and I had a rendezvous with my friends returning from the beach, so I turned and headed back to the boat for a shower and then treated myself to a cold Heineken at the nearest beach bar. It was a satisfyingly cold beer.

That night I tried for tarpon of the ferry dock, the street lights attract the bait fish and there were some beastly prehistoric tarpon daisy chaining around the limit of the light spread. I tried my tarpon toad and got some interest but no bites, the body language didn't look right so I went for a white pinfish, the first cast got a roll of a good sized tarpon, easily thirty pounds, I was sure it was going to bite, and at that instant the wind went from 10 knots to 25 knots, the rain poured in and I knew my time was up, I headed back to the boat dejected and desperate for the weather to drop off, but it didn't happen.

As I motored back to Peter Island the next day I reminisced about my previous days fishing. In the space of 24 hours I had the opportunity to complete a flats slam, no doubt about it. If I'd had more experience casting to permit I know I'd have done better, though I did get one to take the fly on the next day, it is no coincidence that the fish I landed was a bone, the type of fishing I have done the most, and if the wind had stayed off I could easily have been into another tarpon. The permit could have been landed had I set the hook correctly, I think I may have been an inch from finding a nice soft part of his mouth to bury in, and that first tarpon roll was oh so close, played out under lights within thirty feet of me, following to twenty feet and rolling away at the last moment. Though, two weeks ago I had only just completed my lifetime slam, so be thinking this way a fortnight later shows an extraordinary change in fortunes, that probably more reflects the lack of fishing pressure in the locations I went to last weekend, more than anything else. For sure, I'll be looking to get back up there in the near future.

I have some photos and some video to go up so you can share some of what I experienced. Sorry to go on about things, when I only got one fish.

This photo shows how well camouflaged bonefish are in their habitat, bright sunlight, gin clear water, hooked to a rod, barely 20 feet away and this four pounder is still hard to see!

Enjoy.

Tarpon

2011-05-08T14:09:00.001-07:00

It has been a while since my last post, when I let everyone know that a 10wt rod was in the post and so were the tarpon flies. Since then I've popped out once to get some tarpon knowledge from another keen BVI fly fisherman (check out thisriveriswild.blogspot.com), he loaned me some flies and leader to get me going. Unfortunately I have been busy and didn't get out to go fishing, properly, till last thursday. I'd done an hour or two here and there, but nothing really sufficient to give myself a decent chance of catching anything.

On a whim, and the fact that some new tarpon flies had just arrived in the mail, I decided to head out for a fish at a prime BVI tarpon spot, I even convinced the wife to come along and take some photos. My timing was good because there were a lot of tarpon about, and they were feeding like mad, gulping the surface and even breaching on a regular basis. After about an hour I'd got no interest and decided to change tactics, I went "up stream" and started to cast and mend my line and drift the fly down to the waiting poons and slowly retrieve my purple tarpon toad. I got two follows and figured I was making progress. Just as the wife said it was time to go I cast again and promised her it was the last two minutes. As I slowly pulled in the fly I felt a tug, I gave a mighty strip set and the tarpon went ballistic.

When I say ballistic it feels like and understatement that can only be appreciated by those who have hooked into one of these beasts. The fish was going absolutely bananas. I made a point of dragging it up channel away from the bridge, primarily to reduce the risk of a break off. I had a fifty pound test fluorocarbon leader, so felt confident that the line could handle it. All the while the fish was breeching the water up to three or four feet high, frantically trying to break itself off. After 10-15 minutes I got the fish to a shallow rock and tried to release it, I was pretty unprepared for its reaction, and it went crazy again, unfortunately it knocked a few scales of on the rock, but eventually I got my hand on its lips and released the fly. I was able to release it and it powerfully swam off, giving me a face full of salt water for my troubles.

With hindsight I was super lucky to have the hook hold and set so well, but I'm not complaining. I am definitely a tarpon addict now, this fish might have been 40 pounds or there about. It was by no means the biggest shadow we saw that night, I think there were some tarpon up there that would have been two or three times the size! Easily triple digit tarpon. I'll tell you something for nothing, I'm definitely going to be up there again soon, and will try to get some video footage of the action. To keep you going, here is a photo of my first tarpon on a fly rod. Oh, and that completes my lifetime flats slam on the fly, so next goal is slam in one day, and a super slam (need a snook for that, though I have had a pretty good snook on a spinning rod).

I'm off to fly fishing paradise next weekend, Anegada, there are bones, tarpon and permit. It will be good fun, I hope that I get some good weather and a few shots at some nice bones will make me happy, I'll also be trying for some tarpon at night and desperately hoping to see some permit.

A change of perspective

2011-03-17T18:33:00.000-07:00

This morning I woke up and my plan was, breakfast, gym, quick peek on the north side to do some casting on Long Bay if the swell had abated, super market, rugby practice, dinner bed.

My day in reality went like this, wake up, leisurely breakfast watching cricket, pack fishing gear (leave gym kit) head to Long Bay, skip it, head to Cane Garden Bay, spend three hours chasing tarpon, lunch at Brewers Bay, spend two hours catching pompano, yellow tail and needle fish, home, game of squash, dinner, apply after sun, bed.

I had a great time. I wish I'd taken more photos, at Cane Garden there were dozens of pelicans hitting the water, or sitting there digesting the bait fish and then soaring up to crash land into the black schools of fish again. I stood on the wall by the road saw two tarpon roll and jumped right in, two minutes later I had hooked my first tarpon, it took my fly and half my leader. Ten minutes later, I had to put on a new leader and a new fly as the second tarpon took my fly, this was a pattern that repeated itself for the next few hours. I was hopelessly out gunned, but I don't think I stopped smiling for the whole time. I landed a few flag tail snapper as well, I really thought I was about to complete my lifetime slam on the fly (I have only caught tarpon on spinning gear before). I have since found out I need at least 50lb fluorocarbon leaders to take on these big boys, also my 8wt was a little undersized, and now I'm out of baitfish imitations.

Don't tell the wife, but I've got a new 10wt in the post, and 4 or 5 reels of fluorocarbon of different weights, as well as some tarpon flies to keep me going. I had a real blast and couldn't help myself when I got home, I had to go online and buy new bits of kit. I actually got a good deal on the rod, so I hope the wife lets me off with that one. Should be alright if I behave myself for the rest of the month.

I thought at Brewers I might have better luck and less tourists standing watching. I didn't even see a tarpon, or a bonefish, as I'd hoped, but I did catch loads of pompano, I think my first three cast produced three, several needle fish and a couple of small yellow tail snapper. None were massive or fought hard, but it was impossible not to enjoy it, the water was crystal clear, the sun was out and the fish were biting. Here is one of the little guys I caught and took time to photograph.

Fishing pressure

2011-03-17T04:21:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

After deciding to take a boat up to my favourite fishing spot for a couple of days I ended up calling the trip short after a day and wanting to leave it for another time. I had high hopes of a good write up with loads of photos of fish and me smiling. I had practically written this post in advance of setting up my rod. The omens were good to start with, but by 5pm I was out of there, a very frustrated and concerned individual.

For the last two years or so the BVI has been relatively quite in terms of tourism, in the four or five years prior to the recession business was booming and it seems now there is somewhat of a return to good business as the moorings are all full and the anchorages are bursting at the seems. My favourite flat (near by) is just around the corner from two mooring fields and a marina. It seemed to me over the last few years that "my spot" was being left alone and the fish were there in numbers and unspooked by human interaction.

This was not the case yesterday. As I anchored up I saw a dinghy lifting anchor from the middle of the flat, as their kids stopped running through the mangroves and silting up the flats they waved good bye, obviously happy at having seen such a picturesque spot. Funnily enough I lost my first fish on the first cast cast to a badly set hook, probably a poor strike. So, I thought, they couldn't have done too much spooking.

There were plenty of fish, though they were often out of range, but two more dinghy loads transpired to make things tough for me, one more family charging around and an older couple looking for sea shells, makes life hard for a fly fisherman who has deliberately set aside two days to silently stalk the spookiest fish one can target. At one point, as I was desperately changing over to a crab pattern with my left eye focussing on the knot whilst my right eye was stuck on hree tailing permit (one tail was over a foot tall!) a dinghy shot past the fish and the fish bolted like torpedoes for over three hundred yards, their bow waves were so visible and powerful.

Finally, a very pleasant gentleman came wondering down to the flats with his fly rod. To be fair, he was a real gent and he did a big loop up to the area of the flats that was almost dried out at low tide whilst I patiently staked out the deeper end where the cooler water was. He had no chance up there, but after all the activity I had seen neither did I. All the fish I was spotting were already doing half to three quarter speed trying to stay away from predators, no calm body language at all. I went over to say hello to the other fisherman, he had rented a villa on the island and was a nice old fella. He informed me that he had been trying for the larger fish that cruise on their own and I happily shot the shit with him for a while. I don't think he had done much flats fishing unguided before and we discussed tactics for five minutes or so. After five minutes the penny dropped for me, this guy was staying in a villa five minutes away and he had been coming down to the flats every day for the last week or more throwing flies at fish who were feeding away. Not really a surprise they weren't interested in hanging around when I was there. Maybe on his own he wouldn't have caused a problem, but with all the dinghies coming in to look around and him the pressure has been too great on the fish. There are few fish species or areas of water on the planet that respond well to this sort of pressure.

I am a little upset to know that my favourite go to spot now appears to be very pressurised, the fish have a body language that looks agitated and makes them difficult to catch. They will be remembering fly patterns and the movement of flies in the water and it will become hard to get fish on, if at all. It did frustrate me a bit that someone who claimed to be a big time fly fisherman did not realise the effect he was having on a small population of fish, I tried to let him know he should give the fish a break in as polite a way as possible, highlighting that guides never return to the same spots day after day for fear of ruining their business in the future. More likely though is that he will never return again and will not be too concerned about the future of this flat, maybe I am too cynical.

There are some flats over by Jost Van Dyke, where it is now almost impossible to hook a bonefish. You can see plenty of fish tailing away, but they have learnt to ignore unusual looking food, a great shame. I hope "my spot" is not going that way as well, I would be very upset if that were the case. I think, I may be over reacting to frustrating day, but the signs are there. Hopefully as mid to late season kicks in less tourists will affect this spot and the fish will get their courage back, it is a larger flat (for this area) so hopefully few resident fish are too badly affected.

With all this said, at the end of the day I saw a nice school of relaxed looking bones tailing on a rocky outcrop at the edge of the flats. I cast, got a follow, and, because of the late afternoon glare, mistimed my strike. I didn't spook them, as they were feeding intently, I cast to the next fish and got a long follow, probably thirty feet then set the hook and I was into my second fish of the day. I tried my best to pull the fish to an area with less craggy rocks but after four or five minutes the leader broke of on a piece of coral. I was initially disappointed, but after reassessing my day felt pretty pleased that I'd got two fish to take (ever the optimist). With a little more luck the fish would have stayed clear of the rocks and I'd have landed it, not much more I could have done to avoid this fate.

As I took a late afternoon swim, I made a quick decision. Thursday was to be my last day off and I had chores to do, I decided that even with a very early rise it would be unlikely that the fish would be any less spooky in the morning. I quickly hoisted anchor and sailed home. The hour and half it took me to get home gave me time for serious reflection. With another hours motoring I can reach the local hotspot of fly fishing, getting out of bed an hour earlier means that I could be there by 9am and fishing by 10am, have the whole day there, early the next morning fishing and still have the boat back and cleaned up before dark. Realistically I could get away with making this excursion once every couple of months. If I want to to get in good fly fishing this has to be the way to go. I think, and I have spoken of this before, I need to get a 10wt and start targeting some tarpon, they are more plentiful, no less difficult to catch and less susceptible to the problems I described earlier. It would keep me going, between my bonefishing excursions.

I have taken friends up to "my spot" and it truly is a beautiful place, so much so that people are often happy just to be up there, even if we don't see or catch fish. I used to think I was happy with this, and to a certain extent I am happy to be there. However, I am a fly fisherman at heart, a relatively inexperienced one, but a very keen one nonetheless. Over the last four years I have taken to fly fishing in saltwater and I am always acutely disappointed not to have caught fish when they are there and feeding. So, as always I am learning and making plans to adapt, fishing pressure and human pressure is adapting the fish, so I have to react. I have already checked my diary and am looking to line up my next trip on the boat to do some serious salt water fly fishing.

2011-03-08T16:51:00.000-08:00

practice

2011-03-07T09:37:00.000-08:00

Heres the video I struggled to post, saved in wrong format for blog posting!

2011-03-07T09:16:00.000-08:00

Lost bonefish

2011-03-07T08:51:00.000-08:00

Hello all,

I tried to post a video a few weeks ago and it wouldn't allow me too, not sure why, but I thought that rather than keep trying to post that one I'd just get on with it, it was only a video of my casting badly and not catching anything.

This morning I popped out with the wife to do a little fishing. There were two other groups out fishing on the same spot, fortunately we were first there and we kept our distance up the end of the flats. We saw a few tailing fish, and as I was casting to them Mileibi took out the video camera and got some footage of me stripping and striking on a nice fish. The zoom isn't quite close enough, but you can make out me stripping and then jerking in frustration at one fish turning away, however, without casting again another fish follows and takes for all of two or three seconds. You can see the rod go up and then here my groan as the hook slips from the fishes mouth. I though I'd set it well, but sometimes the point goes into the crushing plates and not the soft corners of the mouth.

After this we didn't see much else so we moved on leaving the others to take their chances on the reef.

Enjoy.

2011-01-26T16:33:00.000-08:00

Bonefish on video

2011-01-26T14:33:00.000-08:00

Hi there,

Here is a video of my first fish of 2011, all caught on video, from cast to strike, fight and release. I was very happy to get it on film, I'm still getting used to operating the camera, and hopefully in the future I'll be able to get better footage of the fish itself at the end. In an ideal world I'd have someone else filming me too whilst I reel it in, but this was a good start.

In general it was a pretty good day and I had a lot of fun, though I was getting a little frustrated after blowing a couple of good early chances. I spotted them from a fair distance and positioned myself nicely upwind then one cast and I was in.

It was good to see plenty of fish there again, as recently we were only seeing two or three worth casting too, though we didn't see any permit. I'm hoping to be out again on Saturday and again on Tuesday, with company, so hopefully more photos and footage to come soon. I didn't bother to photo yesterdays fish as I had it on video and I wanted to release the fish quickly, she had fought pretty hard for around eight minutes and was pretty tired out.

Hopefully next post post will be a similar one. Have a good weekend.

2011-01-25T12:21:00.000-08:00

2011-01-02T09:41:00.000-08:00

Pro Team Loop in action

2011-01-02T03:29:00.000-08:00

More fish, new friends, great times.

2011-01-01T16:36:00.000-08:00

Hello all,

I've managed to finish 2010 on a surprising high note in terms of fishing. After a pretty busy and hectic Christmas schedule at work I didn't expect to get much fishing in. On Wednesday I had the day off and and decided on the spur of the moment to head to Brandywine Bay in the afternoon to, at the very least, work on my casting. I was a bit put out and surprised to see a couple of guys already there when I parked up, and they had a fish on! As I walked over the bonefish broke itself off and I selfishly thought, "Who are these amateurs ruining my fishing spot?"

As it turned out these amateurs were, in fact, professional anglers from Pro Team Loop, Stefan, Stephan and Alex. They travel the world hosting fly fishing trips and retailing Loop products and were in the BVI for a Christmas break. I have to say I have never seen guys who are anywhere near the skill level of these guys, casting, bait presentation, knowledge of species and conditions were all top notch. I had a really nice time chatting to Stefan about fish, then we spotted a good sized snook and the guys tried in vain to get him on. We then saw several jacks and a few fast cruising bones. At this point I didn't have my rod set up and another Austrian, Alex, rose from his slumber under a tree, I said hello he grabbed a rod and five minutes later he landed this beautiful bone. Amazing stuff!

After this I got my rod out but didn't see anymore bones. I agreed with my new friends to try to get a boat for Friday, my next day off, so we could all head up to another island to try for some fish. These guys headed on to another flat neat to Brandywine and hooked another bone, this time Stephan taking the honours.

Anyway, we were all truly excited to wake up on Friday morning and see blue skies and relatively little wind. I went to the gym for a quick session and then met my new fishing buddies and we headed out on the boat. These boys got the cameras out and got some good shots of us blasting up the channel to the prime fishing location, shame I forgot to put a fender away!

As we pulled into the flat we all discussed the variables excitedly and I didn't need to speak much German to understand that my companions were as keen as I was to get out there. It could have been better, but we had three hours of dropping tide left, which was sheltering us from the north swell hammering the outside of the reef. The water was cold and the breeze had stiffened slightly since sunrise, a steady tradewind of 15-20 knots out of the north east making for challenging casting conditions, for me at least. Stefan lent me a Tim Borski "no name shrimp" pattern and promised me it would work. You can imagine my delight when barely ten minutes into the fishing I had the chance to fling the fly upwind to four or five cruising bones. They followed and came at me until a very greedy bar jack took the fly from the bones and then shot out over the reef. Sensing that I would lose the fish I quickly ran after it, with Stephan close behind with his camera ready for the glory shot. Thinking back, I think I still thought I had a bone on, amazingly the fish had wrapped the leader around loads of coral heads and was still on. As Stephan landed this beautiful looking bar jack for me we nicked and sliced our ankles and shins of the reef as waves knocked us to and fro, I think I even got a few urchin spines in my bum for my troubles but, it all made for a good story and some broad smiles, along with this photo, courtesy of Stephan. The only disappointment being my double chin in the photo, even after losing thirty pounds in six months its still there.

After we released this little guy I was pretty happy to let the new guys take the prime wading channels. Stephan headed south to the rockier end and landed several more jacks and decent snapper or two. Stefan (the shorter one with an f) was last of the boat and ended up in the difficult turtle grass, which can be good fishing but tough to spot the fish in, even for anglers of his quality. Alex ended up leading the walk to the north on the inside edge of the reef and was rewarded with this excellent fish, which, amazingly enough he rates as one of his biggest ever (this man has fished for bones all over the planet in the very best locations). I got an amazing view of him spotting the fish, casting forty or fifty feet up wind, varying his retrieve, setting his hook and then fighting for his life to keep a powerful fish out of the rocky outcrops on the edge of the surf. I got it on video and then got some great shots of a very happy man with his latest catch. Really was quality stuff, schon schon, as the Austrians kept saying.

After this we saw a few more, I got to shoot my line at two tailing fish but didn't present very well, and the skinny water made for spooky big fish. It was tough to fish, and the tide kept ebbing all day. We stopped for lunch and had a good laugh chatting away about fly fishing before hitting the flats again, though only Stephan had any luck on the outside edge of the reef, it cost him the skin on his legs though. The other three of us didn't see a thing so we called it quits and headed back to base. We had caught a lot of sun, had a lot of laughs and had really enjoyed ourselves.

It really is what its all about for me, each of us are quite different as individuals, but we share a passion in fly fishing and were able to really enjoy each others company. The Loop guys have known each other for a while and it was fun to see them discussing casting opportunities and the fish. They are off up to Anegada this week, they asked me to come with them, and I really would have loved too, but the new job just wouldn't allow for it, otherwise I'd be there in a heartbeat. You can learn massively from watching and fishing next to these guys, and whilst it was great to spend a day and half with them, I can only imagine what I would have learnt walking the endless flats of Anegada with them. Hopefully in the future they can let me know well in advance of their arrival and I can get a boat sorted out to take these guys up there and hunt down some big salt water gamefish.

It really was a great way to see in the New Year, even if it meant that I was safely tucked up in bed before midnight, though I am sure I drifted off with a smile. Happy New Year to all.

A Good Year

2010-12-23T15:57:00.000-08:00

As this year comes to an end I've been reflecting on my years worth of fly fishing, along with everything else that has gone on. It's been a pretty notable year for me: I got married in August, I've changed jobs, I've lost 30 pounds, I landed my first (and only) permit, I've had a lot of bonefish hook ups and I've landed several really good fish.

I think that my personal favourite experience this year was landing the permit. I was amazed to even see it at the location I was stalking and to cast, hook, untangle from rocks and then land a respectably sized permit made me a very satisfied man. For those who have never tried to catch a permit you have no idea just how formidable an opponent these fish are. They are big and strong, fast and tough, as well as being spooky as hell. I have cast to many permit in the last couple of years, I've had two follows and only one bite, which resulted in a fish. The planets must have lined up when I hooked this one, the only regret is I only had my Blackberry on hand to photograph the fish, what I would have given to have some nearby with a point and shoot for a glory shot. I think that when I landed this fish it was one of my proudest moments. When you have a passion like this and you spend time reading about salt water fly fishing you realise just how difficult it is to hook and land one of these fish, to be stroking one back to full strength with sweat dripping from your brow feels amazing.

A couple of days after I got married my Dad hooked his first bonefish. He had to cast slightly upwind to a school of about fifteen on the inside edge of the reef. One cast didn't hit the mark, but he made the necessary adjustment and a good bone just wolfed it down. The fish then took the longest and most powerful run my Dad has ever experienced in a lifetime of fly fishing. It was great and very exciting, though he was disappointed to lose the fish to a broken leader, but he was happy to have tasted more of the thrill. Next year, hopefully, he'll go one better and we'll land him a nice fat bone.

I had some amazing days fishing this year too. One morning I had five hook ups, all of which I lost, talk about highs and lows. I went for a spell of a few months of hooking up decent bones every time I went fishing, and then losing the fish to broken leaders, I now use the best quality leader material I can get and have reverted back from tying my own to using ready made tapered leaders. I've also managed to video a fish I caught recently and had a friend along with me when I landed a really good fish to get some good shots. I bought myself some video equipment and a good DSLR, I'm happy to have got some shots and video, but as I'm alone a lot of the time on the flats I feel like next year I want to work on the getting more video and shots to improve the blog. I'm hoping my brother will be over next year and we'll get to hit the flats hard when he's over and we can get some more shots and footage then.

I'm looking online now for some one man tents and warm weather sleeping bags. I really want to do more camping, kayaking and hitting the flats very early in the morning. I'd also like to get more time fishing up in Anegada, hopefully when my bro is here we can get up there in some decent weather. Its really special up there and I feel like only having one Anegada bonefish to my name (caught unguided though) is not a fair reflection of my ability. There's also a better chance of me getting another permit up there too. I may also try to get going at the tarpon as well, though I'll need to get some heavier gear.

My casting has really come on this year. The benefit of getting a really good 8wt has helped a lot, and a decent reel has helped too. I still love the feel of my old 5wt rod, but it wasn't really up to the task and was making life tough for me the, the new gear has really helped me to get my fly out there, especially in windy conditions.

I hope everyone has a good Christmas and New Year, I'm hoping to get out fishing once more before 2011, and it'd be great to close out 2010 with another fish. If not I've got big plans for next year and will hopefully have a blog packed full of video and photos of me in the fish.

2010-11-30T15:17:00.000-08:00

A new location for fish, a bigger challenge?

2010-11-30T14:40:00.000-08:00

Hello all,

Above is a photo of a nice little bone I landed this afternoon. I went to a spot I haven't tried for years, but after hearing of a few people having luck there recently I thought I would try it out. As it is on Tortola no boat or kayak is required and you can drive right up to the waters edge and fish.

This spot also represented a lot of new challenges for me, not in the least the fact that the fish were all located on the western edge of the bay in a very stiff easterly breeze. So casting was an issue. I also had to walk along a reinforced wall that was made from stone caged in chicken wire, so handling the fly line without tangling up around my feet was hard work too. The biggest challenges though, as usual, were the fish themselves. I managed to hook and land one bone, I saw several and a couple that looked very big and fat, but they were nothing compared to the snook that ignored every cast and fly that I threw at it this afternoon. This snook must have been well over two feet long, very, very big and a tail that looked like a shovel. There was another snook that was hiding in the shadows today as well that did take a look at my fly once, but did not bite either. I'm going to have to do some research on how to take one of these on, as I would be delighted to take either of these too, maybe some early morning attempts might help for these fish.

The bones I saw were all cruising, no tailing and feeding on bait fish. The bait fish were all pushed up in a fifty meter stretch of wall that I was stalking along. I attempted a few casts at the cruising bones and had a very close follow that faltered when my fly line hooked on the sea wall and I tripped too, almost falling in the sea. After a couple of hours of changing flies every fifteen minutes to try to get the snook to bite I saw the bones again and double hauled my line as hard as I could and was pretty pleased to present the fly forty feet upwind or so. I was casting from a height of about five feet above the water so I could aim down and cut out the wind a bit. I then got a beautiful view of two bones following my white and chartreuse clouser, one fish (the larger one) turned after a few feet, but the smaller fish followed and took the fly in its mouth and I got a great view of the strike. The fight was on and, though the fish was smaller than what I've caught recently, it was a great little fight. I had to fight hard to control the line as the fish took a long run and headed between two mooring buoys that I thought may sever the line. In the end though, I was able to beach this lovely little fish. As I brought it in to the beach the smaller snook had a go at the bone, and I think it managed to nip of a piece of the bones tail fin, though I can't be certain it wasn't done before.

The snook really frustrated me, I'm going to do some reading up and order some new flies to see if I can have any better luck against this fish.

I really enjoyed the challenge that the new spot set me. Casting to fast cruising bones in windy conditions is hard and you're always going to miss some opportunities in these conditions, which makes it more satisfying hooking and landing a fish. It was also great to stand on the wall and practice launching casts into the wind. The more you practice the better you get at this, and over the afternoon I was pretty happy with casting into the wind.

I took some photos of the snook with a polarised lens on my camera, you can see the fish but also will get some appreciation of how tough it would be to pick it up from a distance.

Take it easy.

2010-11-17T15:40:00.000-08:00

Another bonefish

2010-11-17T15:16:00.001-08:00

Hi there,

Today I headed out to my favourite spot for a morning session on the flats with a friend. I wasn't very confident that we would see much as the tides today looked a little funny, with only one high in the morning and then a long ebb till the evening. There was also still a bit of north swell out there making the water on the flats quite rough, and the visibility a little cloudy. We took Jock's boat up to the flats and had a pretty dry trip up there along the sheltered south side of Tortola, as soon as we rounded Beef Island bluff it got very choppy and then we were in the lee of Scrub Island and things flattened out again for the motor into the bay.

The wind was north of east, which meant that casting was quite tough until we reached the northern end of the flats, where we could turn around and come back down wind. I saw a bone in murky overcast conditions early on and ended up being too aggressive and lined the fish, it shot of quickly and that was the last I saw of that one. I had a sneaky feeling that the fish may be hanging out in the mangroves and turtle grass, there was less wave action there and it just felt right. I saw some movement in the grass and cast to it and whilst false casting I spooked a bone behind me that must have seen my fly line overhead, as it torpedoed across the flats. Bones 2 Alex 0.

As we moved slowly in the silty sand I saw some movement next to the mangrove roots and was sure that I was observing some bones moving in and out of the trees. After focusing hard, and some timely cooperation from the sun and clouds, I saw that the fish were doing exactly that. They were hiding in the roots and then coming out to feed briefly, that behavior is now etched in my memory banks for future reference. I lost the fish for a while but kept scanning the water in front of the tree line, and just when I thought they'd moved on I saw a puff of silt (a telltale sign the fish are feeding) and cast to it. Jock was by my side and watched as two fish came for my fly, one fish wolfed it down and set the hook well enough on its own. Then the fish ripped into my backing immediately like it wasn't even on.

I have some photos to post, you can see that it really was a fine specimen. A good fat bonefish that was reluctant to come in to be released. I was really happy to have a friend there to take photos to get some good shots with the fish.

After this we saw a few more fish but the wind was strong and the fish were upwind of us, to be honest with you I am always satisfied with one and the hunger tends to diminish on the day. I'm not sure when I'm going to get out fishing again either so I was pretty pleased to land a good fish today. Enjoy the photos.

"I said it was simple, not easy"

2010-11-12T15:59:00.000-08:00

This week I've been thinking a lot about fishing. I saw a comment on my blog and followed the writer to the Fly Fishing Addiction website, which led me on to Catch Magazine an online magazine with fantastic photography and some pretty good articles. As I read through it I became more and more jealous of the great shots of, and by, the likes of Brian O'keefe. If only some of my fish were better photographed, with the fish in the foreground looking huge and me smiling eagerly behind it. Or, even better, imagine a magazine paying to fly you to the planets best fishing destinations so you can catch permit and bones just for a magazine shoot.

Over the last week I have also been introduced to some articles by a trainer called Dan John. He writes very well, with an strong element of no-nonsense and a wry sense of humour. I read an article he wrote this week with the following mantra, "I said it was simple, not easy". If you think about this, and the hobbies a lot of us take on then it applies to almost anything you do. Three months ago I weighed 248 pounds, I now weigh 224, losing weight is not easy, but the route to weight loss is simple. Train hard and eat healthy (simple) and you will lose weight, to do this though requires a bit of dedication, some early mornings and some discipline (not easy).

Fly fishing for salt water species is not easy, but it is also simple when you break it down. You have to move around the flats very slowly. You have to test the limits of your patience to scour the water to discern shadows in the sand from fish. You have to wait for the fish to be in the right position. You have to cast and present the bait to the fish at the correct distance for the conditions, on windy days you can be aggressive and get the fly as close as a foot in front of a tailing fish, on calm days in skinny water you have to lead the fish and drop the fly with as little a splash as possible. Then, you have to strip the bait to imitate the food the fish are keen on on that day in particular. If all that works and you get a bite you have to remember to strip strike or set the hook to the side. After this you have to battle with a fish willing to fight to the death, keep it away from the rocks and mangrove shoots that will break your delicate leader, and, if you are on your own, you then have to work out how to grab ahold of a fish with your left hand when it is attached to a 9 foot rod and ten feet of line held by your right hand. Simple right!

It is though, almost everything is simple when you break it down. The problem is that it is not easy to do all these things correctly, it's a lot to remember, and conditions tend to make this harder. However, if you get it right it is very rewarding. It's a point I continue to reiterate, but I do smile when I think about these fish. I'd love to know my accurate hit:miss ratio, I bet it's terrible. I bet that for every fish that I've caught I've missed twenty or thirty, of late, the ratio would be even worse if you count the first year and half I was fly fishing for bonefish over here!

To be able to cast like I can now (which I still feel is a bit inadequate), and see the fish like I can now has taken many hours knee deep in salt water and a lot of frustrated false dawns. After a year of going out at least twice a month I hooked my first bone. It wasn't until six months later that I landed one. Some weeks I'd head out every morning and every night after work and not even recognise the tell tale riffles of a bonefish running in deeper water. Now when I head out, I take some comfort in the fact that if there are some there I'll probably see them. I still feel my casting is weaker than it could be, and I work on it a lot, I focus primarily on being able to cast as accurately as possible over forty to fifty feet and closer. I can cast further but it is hard to keep your accuracy in the wind. I try very hard to log info in my memory banks, what the fish look like in certain conditions, etc.

I have friends, and I have guided for punters, who think that they should be able to get into the fish just because someone taught them to fly cast fifteen years ago. Unfortunately it doesn't work like that. With these types of people I doubt they would see a fish if it wasn't tailing less than twenty feet away. A lot of time spent standing on the flats is time you use to recognise how to spot these supremely well camouflaged fish. Even if they did see the fish you have to then put in motion the thought process that leads to a perfect cast, strip and retrieve. Though, if it you practice hard, dedicate yourself to improving your cast and your knowledge of the prey and focus on what you are doing it is simple, it is not, however, easy.

2010-11-06T18:47:00.000-07:00

Big Bone

2010-11-03T10:53:00.000-07:00

I have been working pretty hard recently, the season is beginning and the change of pace is becoming apparent at work. I did a six day week previously and followed that up with eight days in a row. I've also been hitting the gym pretty hard and trying to shift weight as much as possible, this has left little time for fishing, but after hearing from a few people that the fishing was really good out there recently I set aside today and tomorrow for some serious "bone hunting".

I took my friends Scarab out for a spin, and stopped to fill with gas, first of all the pump had no 2-cycle oil, then the nearest Yamaha outboard dealer had no 2-cylce oil (incredible, its like a supermarket not stocking milk and bread) so I was delayed about an hour going back to get all this sorted. When I eventually got up to my favourite fishing spot the weather was great, the tide was ebbing pretty quickly and the wind was a pretty steady 18 knots or so. I felt bright and confident it was going to be a good morning.

Within then minutes I got a shot at a nice sized permit, my first since I landed one at Hodges Creek and it was back to the old ways, where the fish completely ignored my fly before seeing me and scooting off. Unfazed I carried on and made a very slow and halting stalk from south to north on the inside of the reef. Having not been out for almost a month my eyes were slowly acclimatising and with the sun shining brightly it was less than an hour before I picked up the shadows we bonefishermen love to see. A few hundred feet up I could see four or five dark shapes moving from the grass onto the rocks and back again. I moved up a little quicker and got myself in position as good as I could, unfortunately the wind was conspiring against me and when the fish came close I had to back hand a cast. The fly landed with a light splash and a very hungry bonefish took the fly after only a five or six strips of line. The fish took the fly and turned and I set the hook with a swift strip set, this all happened within 20 feet of me and I swear I could see the fishes expression change from one of confusion to one of anger and fear as the decision was made to flee the scene.

Boy did the fish run, hard and fast and into the turtle grass, this was a real stroke of luck as the grassy areas tend to have fewer rocks for the leader to snag on and I had a relatively easy time to bring the fish in and release it. The new 8wt rod and Lamson reel really help to tire the fish more quickly, my old 5/6 rod was just too light I realise now, it wasn't really fair on the fish and didn't allow me the strength to deal with these powerful creatures.

Fortunately I had my little "bloggie cam" and am in the process of editing some video to put up on the site. I was on my own so the footage isn't amazing, and I was a little disappointed I once again didn't get a good shot of me with the fish. But I was really excited to have caught, landed and videoed this very decent bonefish, this was a fish over 23 inches long and it was really fat, probably a girth of over 16 inches, I could barely get my hand from top to bottom. Most of the decent footage is of the fish whilst I am trying to revive it, you can see that it is totally knackered and I had to spend a good five minutes with the fish making sure it was strong enough to swim away.

After releasing the fish I got one more shot at another fish and was too aggresive and spooked the fish, I saw a few more but not in a casting position and as the tide was bottoming out I decided to call it quits, happy with one decent fish.

For those who have not tried for the spooky fish that stalk the flats with a fly rod it is difficult to appreciate the level of satisfaction you feel after a day like today. I felt more satisfied the day I landed the permit, but I've lost quite a few bones this summer and it is a great feeling to have landed a bone, after stalking it down yourself, casting awkwardly on a breezy day and releasing the fish safely as well. I guess that a lot of satisfaction comes from easing the pain of all those fish that are missed, lost or just scared away. I know that when I think of this fish it will always raise a smile, just like my permit or any of my other bones, they are all truly memorable.

Washed Out and Slow Fishing

2010-10-12T18:23:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

Last week I decided, against my better judgement to head out for a fish on Tuesday morning. The rain had started early and it broke for a few hours in the morning, just long enough for me and my friend, Fourth, to see a couple of tails. Then the heavens opened and we spent the next hour or two getting absolutely soaked. In fact it rained so hard and much it was warmer and safer for us to wait it out stood in the water, rather than on the boat. The visibility (above sea level) was down to less than half a mile and we were stuck, unable to travel as the rain would just pelt into your eyes as you drive the boat in those conditions.

By Thursday, the BVI had been bombarded with over 20 inches of rain, which is roughly three quarters of what they get in the south of England in a year. A lot of the roads were ruined, land slides occurred all over the island. Some people have lost a lot of their possessions and cars were washed of the roads in a lot of areas. By Sunday the weather improved a lot and today the conditions were ideal, if only I'd been able to get going earlier.

I rented a kayak and headed out from Trellis over to Cam Bay. It was flat calm and the wind was less than 10 knots. The tide was rising, if I had been able to set out at six or seven I would have had two or three hours of the early rising tide, however, I didn't leave till 9am and the 45 minute paddle meat that I wasn't fishing till 10am, so only getting the last two hours of the incoming tide. Funnily enough I saw a single bone immediately. I got a cast in but he moved away showing no interest in my fly. About forty minutes later I saw two other cruising bones from a distance of about 100 feet, I was lucky that they moved in my direction and I got a really good cast in, both fish followed intently for probably 20 feet but did not take and then saw me and turned 180 degrees and left, and that was the last I saw of them.

After that I caught a very small barracuda and saw nothing else. It was a very quiet day, I'm really looking forward to December time when the fish seem to return in numbers to the shallower waters. Its a bit frustrating not seeing many fish, even more frustrating to get a follow from the few fish you do see and no strike, but it was the same for the last two summers I have been fly fishing over here, so it is definitely a seasonal thing.

No photos either this week.

Adios.

2010-09-17T11:35:00.000-07:00

2010-09-17T11:18:00.000-07:00

The photo with rod is cool cos it caches the rod label, however it doesn't do the fish justice as the rod ruins the perspective. The fish was probably 20 inches long and the body wash bigger than my 13 inch laptop screen. Beautiful fish, maybe ten pounds or a bit more, I'm not very good at guesstimating fish weights, need to get a tape measure and start measuring then catches.

2010-09-17T11:16:00.000-07:00

Permit Cherry Popped

2010-09-17T10:32:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

What a day, I can't stop smiling right now. Last week, in Chicago, I treated myself to a Sage Xi3 8wt rod and Lamson Guru reel. I bought them at a great store, Chicago Fly Fishing Outfitters, they even threw in a free baseball cap. After purchasing the gear I have been itching to get out and give it a shot.

Low tide this morning was at around 7.30am, I always seem to do well on an incoming tide in the morning. We have a big north swell approaching tonight and for the next few days as a result of Hurricane Igor passing north of us. The breeze was gusty an shifty, mostly it seemed out of the north or north east, which meant a lot of the cast would be up wind, I find it easier to try to cope with the wind and keep the sun over my shoulder so I can see what I'm fishing for better, especially now I have the Xi3 as it is a cannon.

I am certain that I can cast thirty to forty feet up wind with this rod and accurately. I know this because thats what I had to do to bag my permit this morning. The permit though wasn't the first fish caught, I hooked and landed a hungry foot long barracuda with my first couple of casts. I also got to test my new hemostat to remove the hook, which was good as the cuda had some nasty looking teeth.

About fifteen minutes later as I was stalking the edge of the flat I saw the image that makes salt water fly fishermen's pulses race. Two black sickle shaped tails flashing in the air as the bodies beneath forage for food. I've never seen permit at that location before and I got pretty excited. I moved as quickly and quietly as I could to get in a decent casting position, when I was about 35 feet downwind of the fish I cast and they moved off before the fly landed. I thought I'd spooked them but they were just skittish, they were doing these short sharp circles coming on and off the flat looking for food. As they came back on I cast, and it was a thing of beauty, the line shot forward in a straight line, the leader unrolled and the fly landed with barely a splash about a foot in front of the lead fish. I slowly stripped the line in little six inch pulls, the Borski slider must have looked tasty as I felt the fish take the fly in its mouth and I strip striked to the side and new I had set the hook well.

The fish new it had set well too. It shot off, with its partner in tow and then the partner said so long and the hooked fish swam back onto the flats. I thought I had lost the fish as I realised my fly line had wrapped around two or three different rocks, amazingly though the leader held and the fish was still on. I had to wrestle the fish for a good half hour or forty five minutes with out any other major incidents, I was very glad for the heavier rod and the Lamson reel was great, really robust. I have to say that I set my drag a bit stronger for the permit and even still I have a pretty good bruise on thumb due to one of the permits powerful runs. I would compare the permit to trying to reel in a ten pound dead weight with a 20 horse power outboard attached to it. It got especially hairy to land the fish (whilst I tried to get a few photos) on my own, as you can imagine they don't like being handled and every time I tried to bring it in on the leader and then drop the rod and grab the tail. Anyone who's landed a decent salt water fish on their own will know how awkward this bit is. I really wanted to lay the fish next to my rod and get some perspective for a good photo but it wasn't fair on the fish, who was tired and needed to be released to recover sooner rather later.

I had come from the gym to the flats and my arms were pretty tired out, by the time the fish was making a second or third run my right arm was dying. It was a very satisfying experience to hook, play, land and release that fish and I wonder if the extra endorphins released through the graft of reeling it in made it all the more pleasurable.

After that I had a look round and saw a couple of large bones tailing, but I was over eager and cast to them when they were turned away slightly, consequently the leader was very obvious to the fish and they spooked and shot of across the flats like a couple of torpedoes. I decided to give up then and grab a roti for lunch. I was tired, satisfied and happy to get out of the sun.

What and awesome morning and it marks the completion of my lifetime slam on the fly, I'm hoping to get out again the this weekend and try for some bones as well, we'll see the weather will dictate my plans his weekend, though the tides will be good. I'm pretty motivated right now so I suspect I'll be out there at some point over the weekend.

Sorry about the quality of the photos, taken with my cell phone whilst trying to keep the fish from bolting.

Lost bonefish and very spooky permit

2010-08-28T13:18:00.000-07:00

Afternoon all,

On a very calm and hot BVI morning I convinced the wife to come with me to Cam Bay, we rented a kayak and paddled our way from Trellis to Camanoe. It was about a 45 minute paddle for us in a two man kayak and the shoulders were a little tired by the time the fishing started.

Mileibi had my new Canon EOS Rebel camera and took some great shots, we messed about with camera angles etc, but the reality is the camera is very clever and takes good shots, regardless of how we try to mess them up!

Almost immediately I saw a nice permit that spooked before I'd even cast. It was high tide and very light winds and we didn't see a bonefish till two and a half hours after we started out. Just before seeing the bonefish I got two casts at two different permit, I switched to a white crab pattern and the first cast was poor, the second cast was good but the fish spooked anyway and that was that!

Then on the way back to the kayak only ten feet from the missus, who was looking at me and taking photos, I saw a huge bone, at least 8 pounds. I cast about a foot to the right of Mileibi and ten fee further and the fish took the fly right away. I set the hook and the fish ran so hard and fast I really didn't know what else to do. It ran straight over the reef and out to see and the leader went as it crossed the reef. It really was an incredibly powerful fish and a third lost fish in three sessions means the frustration is building. I hope that bad luck has run its course and now I'm due a good fish, I really hope so. Its hard to reconcile losing three fish in a row (well two for me and one for my Dad), its also hard to know what to do to get these permit to play ball, though I think the calm conditions today meant catching any flats fish would have difficult. In fact, I'm delighted that I only saw one bonefish, only cast once and hooked it, I'd take that ratio every time I went out.

It was a funny day up there, several spooky permit, which are not common up there. Only one bonefish, though it was a very high tide, no sharks, lots of boxfish and a large spotted eagle ray as well as quite a few small turtles. Normally, even if the fish are spooky you can expect to see a few schools and a few cruising bones, and you almost always see small nurse sharks swimming about but we saw none.

I enjoyed the kayaking and am now looking to get myself a reasonably priced second hand kayak to take out fishing. Exercise and fishing all in one, and may help to target some schooling fish as well, further down the line. I'm also really please with the camera as we got some great shots.

Not sure when the next post will be. Job hunting in earnest next week, honeymoon next weekend and a tropical storm watch coming into effect tonight and a possible hurricane in the BVI for Monday or Tuesday. Fingers crossed we stay safe, the summer weather is really kicking in, as it always does at this time of year. Lets hope Earle goes north a bit and the BVI dodges the bullet again.

Ciao.

2010-08-26T05:42:00.000-07:00

Dad taking time out for a photo on the flats.

2010-08-26T05:19:00.000-07:00

This is my first post as a married man! We had a great weekend last weekend and a superb wedding on a bright sunny day in the Caribbean. We also managed to fit in two days fishing, last Friday and Tuesday.

Friday was very hot, we started at low tide and the water was so warm it felt like a bath tub up at Cam Bay. Consequently the fish were very spooky. I was surprised that we saw so many fish in shallow, calm spooky conditions but my Dad managed to get a bite early on, unfortunately he didn't hook the fish. A summer spent fishing for rainbows and browns up in Scotland meant he tried a "trout strike" (directly up, instead of a strip strike or to the side) and pulled the fly out of the fishes mouth. A shame, and the half bottle of 23 year old Guatemalan rum the night before can't have helped his concentration either! I had a few follows and hooked and landed a reasonable barracuda but it was hard work, the sun was very hot and the fish were there and did want to play ball. I changed flies, leaders and tried different speeds of retrieve but couldn't convince the fish to bite. Eventually we saw a large school of bones, I cast as they were staying slightly out of range for my dad, and managed to hook a fish. Unfortunately we were in a very rocky area and the leader broke after less than 30 seconds. It was disappointing, but due to the tough conditions we gave up after that and had a very nice lunch at Scrub Island.

We went back up the Cam Bay on Tuesday at high tide, just before full moon. The fish were there and conditions were noticeably windier, and the water was a lot cooler. Within five minutes we saw a school of fish sitting inside the reef hanging out, they weren't feeding, just sitting in the cooler current. My Dad hadn't yet hooked a bone and had the sensation of the screaming reel so, as tempting as it was, I let him cast to the school. One cast to test the distance was a little short but didn't affect the fish, his second cast was a bit to far to the right of the school and his third cast was perfect. Three fish turned and chased the fly in, one took a big bite and he set the hook with a great strip strike. The fish immediately started to zig zag in front of us. The school then bolted parallel to the reef and kept going till several hundred feet of backing were taken from the reel . Sadly, the tension "popped" from the line and the fish had taken the leader over a rock. It must have been a good fish as it had not stopped its run and was running like a freight train. Dad was very excited, I'm not sure he'd felt a fish do that to him before.

We saw a few more fish that day, I had a few casts but couldn't get them to bite, and nor could my dad, it is a shame, but sometimes that is how it goes. In the summer the water is very warm and it is harder to get the the fish to bite, in my opinion, so it is frustrating to lose two fish in two days to leaders broken on rocks. It is a harsh reality of the conditions we fish in, neither of us did anything wrong and both of us lost good fish last week.

The main thing is that we had fun and it was great for my Dad to experience the thrill of his first bonefish run. I explained that had that one stayed on he probably would have had four or five runs like that just with that one fish. Great stuff, hopefully there will be more fishing stories from me up soon. I keep saying this, but I plan to try for some different species this summer and some new locations as well.

Thanks.

Empty handed

2010-07-13T05:24:00.000-07:00

Hell again,

Last Saturday we were out for a fish again, Thorpeys last chance to hook a bone before flying to the UK to reunite with his family. I'd checked the tides earlier in the week and it was always going to be tough going, there was a big range with low tide at midday, or thereabouts. Meaning that it was going to be low water for the majority of the morning and into the afternoon, either side of low tide. There was no moon on Sunday and I wasn't really sure if the fish would bite, they can be fussy when the tides are a bit funny.

We had some good opportunity's early on but couldn't take advantage and the fish were very agitated in the extremely skinny water. After lunch I'd managed to hook a bone but it went straight round a rock and broke the leader, I could see what was going to happen as soon as the fish decided to run towards the reef rather than into the flats, shame, but it felt like it was going to be one of those days.

We tried to trawl for a little while prior to a lunch break and we hooked a king fish just north of Guana Island. Poor thing must have tried to head butt the hook as the lure had gone through its eye and down into the mouth, very unusual. It was only a little guy so we threw him back to fights another day, though we all felt that he may end up as shark food after seeing the damage to its eye. It was good fun for an hour or so, I'm not sure that I'm the biggest fan of trawling these days. I used to love it on the big sports fishing boats carrying six or eight rods, but on a smaller unstable boat with only one rod it felt a little pointless. With only one lure you are really dragging a needle in a haystack in attempting to catch fish. I got some fun footage of the frigate birds trying to take the lure and of the north shore of Tortola.

Next week is full moon and I am very keen to get out fishing at the weekend. I'm hoping it will be good weather and good conditions, I getting better with the cam corders now too so I hope to get some footage of tailing fish, as well as, fingers crossed, hook ups and the amazing runs the bones can take. I also want to try and get into some tarpon and hope to do so with the cameras there as well.

Here is a shot of the small king fish before we let it loose.

Cheers,

Alex.

2010-07-02T17:26:00.000-07:00

The bone collector strikes again!

2010-07-02T16:31:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

I think I've picked up a few more readers so thats great, please pass the link on to any of your friends who are keen fly fisherman, or even interested in nature and the sights and sounds of the Caribbean. I've got lots of photos this week and will post a few on here for you to see today.

I actually went for a fish with my mate Thorpey last Sunday evening, he was christening his new reel and celebrating a brief period of bachelorhood after his wife and kids went back to the UK for a few weeks. We saw a few tailing fish but they didn't seem to be biting, there was lot of glare and we didn't have much luck. I got to try out my new video equipment and was really impressed with the waterproof cameras, I hope to get a bit better using them before posting videos, though I got a cool close up of a sting ray feeding.

It was Territory Day here in the BVI today, our one bank holiday Friday of the year, so there was only one thing I was going to end up doing today. I woke up with a bit of a hangover after a night at Bombas with the former British and Irish Lions hooker Shane Byrne, who was over for our annual rugby dinner. I stuffed a banana and gatorade down my throat and drank my latte on the way to Cam Bay with Thorpey, and was almost sick on the way up there I was so dehydrated, the latte was not sitting well in my stomach.

There is not much tidal range at the moment, maybe 20 cm, and high tide was around midday. We started fishing around 9.15 am and set up with a couple of Borski sliders on our leaders. Thorpey started at the the southern end and didn't see much and I went North and saw loads and loads of fish. Dozens of them were cruising about in the coral and then hanging out over a sandy patch for a breather. I cast and changed flies without much luck at all really, I had four or five very close follows but the fish didn't bite for some reason.

Thorpey joined me and we started wading together and the sky started to become less overcast and the flats were well illuminated, thought there was a strong wind from the East to contend with. My fishing partner has not yet landed a bonefish on the fly, so I was keen to get him into fish and I was trying to spot for him as his eyes aren't quite used to the spotting process, which is really down to time on the water. After a short while we saw a good school of fish and I asked Thorpey to cast to them and start to strip the line in. He took several attempts and didn't quite get there and I started to sense the school were going to move on so I cast my self, and hooked a strong bone. It took a really good run, I'd had a spawning tan shrimp pattern on at the time and I was fighting the fish for a good five minutes if not more, I'd reeled it in and it was on its second run and then the tippet snapped. It had just clipped a rock or a branch and was unavoidable really but it is still hard to accept, especially when you've got a mate there with a camera.

Not long after this we went for lunch at Scrub Island and I had a very nice blackened chicken sandwich and a couple of cold Heinekens. We had a good chat and did some reminiscing about lost fish. We then decided that as high tide had been at midday, and Thorpeys family were still in England, why not head back to Cam Bay for another hour or so to try our luck again.

What a decision it was. I changed my tippet section for three feet of ten pound test mirage line, due to the number of fish I've lost recently, and tied on a Borski slider again. We approached the northern corner and I spotted a good sized school of fish right at the end sitting nose into the wind and waves and their were tailings flapping everywhere. This time I set Thorpey up in position and let him cast to the fish, unfortunately his casts were dropping three to four feet short of the fish, and, in my experience, you have to present the fly within two feet of the fishes nose and do it gently without spooking the fish, no mean feat if you aren't out casting regularly to specific targets. After four casts I got agitated myself and couldn't help tossing a fly at the far edge of the school, and I hooked my second fish of the day. I'm not sure Thorpey was too happy about that, but I couldn't help myself.

This time the stronger leader felt good and the fish was brought in safely, it was a good fight and was pretty exciting. The fish took three runs into my backing and the first one was a really good, strong, long run. It also took a shorter fourth run that didn't quite get more than 100 feet or so. As I played the fish closer in the small nurse sharks started to circle the fish and we had to intervene to save the fish from a bite on the tail from a hungry shark. When I landed the fish the hook has set really well in the side of its mouth. I got a few photos and then revived and released the fish without the sharks getting to it. I was very happy.

Unfortunately in my hungover state I forgot to bring my video cameras this morning, which is a shame as some video footage of reeling in this beauty would have been great, but you can't have everything. We saw loads of turtles, some must have been only weeks old, a large spotted eagle ray, lots of sharks, a big barracuda and plenty of box fish and yellow tail reef snapper and it would have been good to get some footage of them too. I hope you enjoy the photos, check out the rod bend and a photo of the circling sharks as well.

One small tip, towards the end of the day I swapped sunnies with Thorpey, he had turned up without his polarised lenses (lawyers eh? turning up to go fishing Bulgari sunglasses, unbelievable!) as the cleaner had moved them. I could not see a thing. Polarised sunglasses of good quality are essential, there are specific fishing glasses that are meant to be better, but I find my Ray Bans to be perfectly good. You WILL NOT be able to see fish from a distance without good sunnies.

Cheers,

Alex.

LOST FISH!

2010-06-13T05:39:00.000-07:00

Hi there,

I know I've picked up a few followers over recent months so thanks for reading and I'll try to get back fishing a bit more now that the quiet moths of summer are here.

Since my last blog I've been fishing three times, one quick session at Cam Bay, one lost fish to a broken tippet. As well as a very overcast session on the small flat between Jost Van Dyke and Little Jost, where I saw lots of very spooky fish. Or rather after I cast to nervous water I saw lots of spooked fish haring away at 30 miles per hour.

Yesterday was quite an amazing three hours of fishing. I went up to Cam Bay at 6 am, and was set up and in the water by 7 am. It was a beautiful morning, clear skies, a bit of breeze filling in, maybe 15 knots out of the East and very clear water on a receding tide. Its been very calm here for the last fortnight, which has meant the water visibility is great at the moment, probably a good time to be out scuba diving.

Anyhow, I set myself up with a ten foot leader tied in three sections of twelve pound, ten pound and eight pound test, all mirage line and a Borksi Slider fly. At five minutes past seven I had my first bonefish on. There were tails everywhere, so much so I was actually contemplating holding back on casting to pick the biggest fish rather than the nearest available fish. In the end it was a fairly simple decision, I picked the nearest fish and cast as a small bone is always a joy to have on. One cast, one hooked fish and boy did it run, the smile spread across my face and the hook was well set. Thirty seconds later the fish had taken half of my backing and was starting to thrash around several hundred feet away. All around me there were still bones feeding, so I was trying my best to tip toe through the schools of six or even fish to get into the soft bottomed area and start to play my fish. Unfortunately after ten minutes or so the tippet broke on a rock or a branch.

Devastated but still feeling the adrenaline coursing through me I quickly set a new section of eight pound tippet and tied on another fly. I repositioned myself and cast to the next school of bones I saw at around 7.30 am. Fish on again, two casts two fish. It took a good run but it didn't feel quite right and the fish didn't bolt quite as hard as they usually do, much more of a stop and start, I think it wasn't sure if it was hooked and several seconds later it had dislodged the fly. I checked the barb and it was sharp so I can only assume my strike didn't set the hook in the side well enough, maybe it just nipped its top lip where they have a very hard crushing pad, the flies never set well in that spot and the fish can usually throw the fly from there. No harm done.

After the second fish the bones had spooked a bit more so it took some time to find more fish (some time, relatively it was nothing I have spent hours looking for them). At 8 am I saw my next school of fish, tailing on the edge of the mangrove grass and the coral. There were a couple of small lemon sharks there too, they are starting to hatch at this time of year, so the fish were a little spooky, but I cast and hooked another fish. For those of you have never tried bonefishing before this really is a phenomenal hours fishing, to hook three bonefish in an hour is incredible. I had this fish on for another ten minutes or so over a nice soft bottomed area, but the fish managed to find the only rock in the grass and broke the tippet again. I was really upset this time, but still confident of catching more fish.

A new fly was put on and I waited where I was for another half hour or so and didn't see anything, so started to stalk up by the reef again. Where the waves funnel through gaps in the reef causes nervous water and riffles that can sometimes flash in the distance like tailing fish. It is always worth inspecting these areas as the food for the fish is also funneled through, and you will often find cruising fish coming by to reccy these spots. Sure enough after half an hour or so of checking out these spots I cast to and hooked another bone fish, with the same results as before, a well set hook and a ten minute play of the fish before the tippet being broken on a rock. Its frustrating but there isn't much you can do except for go up a size in the leader strength. The eight pound tippet is good because the fish struggle to see it, but it is light so I am seriously thinking about using the ten pound test on my tippet section next time. If you are playing 5-9 pound fish over rocky surfaces it may be the adjustment I need to turn good fishing into really successful fishing, I'm just not sure if the fish will pick up the heavier tippet more easily, and consequently I may struggle to hook up as many fish, its a bit of a tight rope.

Anyway, just before 10 am I hooked another bonefish that threw the hook after its first run. this time I thought I would lose as I had done more of a trout strike (vertical), rather than a strip set to the side. Maybe I was frustrated and not really concentrating but it was a bit disappointing.

After this I gave up, wanting to give myself time to get home, eat and get ready to watch the football. As I've said before perspective is what you need when you are fishing on the flats. Three and a bit years ago when I started flats fishing, I could barely see the fish, let alone cast and hook one. In fact it took about six months to hook a bonefish, it took another six months to land one, so seldom did I cast well enough to present the bait in the correct fashion. Yesterday I cast five times and hooked five fish. Its massively different to any other kind of fishing. I liken it to being a sniper as opposed to being a machine gunner, trout fishing on a loch you can spend the whole day casting to areas that look good, your trying to catch fish by volume of casts. Bonefishing requires patient stalking, and very accurate casts that let the fly drop as gently as possible within a couple of feet of the fishes nose. Too heavy a landing and you've spooked them, too far away and they don't see it. Its a infuriating process that is intensely addictive. To hook five fish is as rewarding as it is irritating to land none of them, and it only fuels your appetite to go out again. Obviously yesterday my hook ups were aided by the fact that the fish were feeding very aggressively, this is not always the case and next week may be totally different.

This week I have also bought some new toys, three different types of video camera. My plan is to make a video of the fly fishing scene in the BVI. Primarily for my own amusement, but hopefully other people will enjoy it. I have a handycam, a waterproof "bloggie" (basically a cell phone sized video camera for the youtube generation) and a helmet cam. Between the three I hope to start getting footage of the locations I fish at and also some of the action as well. Then maybe those who have never seen a bone fish take a run will get to enjoy it as well, fingers crossed.

Thanks for tuning in and please feel free to leave comments or questions on the site as well.

2010-05-02T14:08:00.000-07:00

Reality bites! Another good days fishing, two fish on, two fish lost!

On Friday night I was in the pub and got a call from owner of Caribbean Fly Fishing asking if I was fishing on Saturday, I hadn't planned on it, but I thought it sounded good and I agreed to to take out his close friend and an old business acquaintance of mine. Pick up at 9am to go fishing. Anyway, I stayed in the pub till I couldn't drink anymore and consequently woke up very dehydrated, with a splitting headache and a dodgy stomach.

It was a beautiful day and Johnny and I made our way up to the flats to start fishing just after hight tide. Johnny really is good company and he has been fly fishing in salt and fresh water since before I was born, and as a avid boat owner we had a lot in common. We anchored up, got our gear together slowly over a long catch up, had a drink of water and headed out onto the flats to fish.

Well, within ten minutes of getting to a good spot upwind of the flats I had a bonefish on. I'd cast to a school of ten good sized fish, the first fish took the fly and ran, probably a good 200 feet before checking its run. My adrenalin immediately started to flow and I was grinning from ear to ear. Then, I saw a large piece of Sea Fan coral roll over as the fish changed direction and my leader had snagged, ten seconds later the leader snapped and I was no longer smiling.

Still there were plenty of fish around so I took my time to get my new leader tied up and a new fly on the tippet. Johnny decided he was going to take a look up the other end of the flats and left him to his own devices, funnily enough, Ian (the owner of Caribbean Fly Fishing) had told Johnny if he wants to catch fish to stay no further than three feet from my left shoulder. He decided against it and didn't cast to any fish! Though it didn't change his enjoyment in anyway.

Anyway, fifteen minutes later I hooked another bonefish. Thats two in the space of half an hour, this one had two shots at the fly before the hook set. I barely had to cast twenty feet, and as the other sixty feet of fly line swimming round my legs shot out I started to grin again. This time though, the fly line tied itself in a perfect clove hitch around the but of my rod. As the fish set of at thirty miles an hour the eight pound leader snapped instantly. Gutted!

So, there are two bones up on the flats with my flies and leaders hanging out of their mouths. Luckily for the fish the hooks are designed to rust out, so they'll end up with a bit of a fat lip and an a mouth ulcer, eventually the hook will drop out, probably already have.

What did I learn? Probably nothing I didn't already know. Your attention to detail, concentration and motivation are massively increased when you're not hungover. I could never have stopped the first fish from swimming past that piece of coral. The second fish was lost because I didn't keep the fly line away from the rod but, a schoolboy error that could easily be avoided. After the second fish was lost, I tied a leader too long and lost concentration, even though I saw more fish. My casting was inaccurate and too aggressive, I spooked a plenty of fish. this was purely down to a lack of concentration and patience.

It was a frustrating end to a day that started pretty well (if we discount that horrible feeling of shock when you wake up the morning after being in the pub and realising how bad you feel), but it could have been a really good day had I had a good nights sleep on Friday night. I have to say though that my fishing companion, Johnny, was great company and we had a nice late lunch and a couple of cold ones whilst sharing fishing stories, which is really what its all about. I have to say that I enjoy my time on the water, and catching fish is only a small part of that enjoyment. A lot of the pleasure is derived from the company, the beautiful locations, the gin clear water and watching the wildlife around you. Maybe if I had spent less time in the pub last week telling people what a legend of a flats fisherman I was, the bonefish karma wouldn't have come back to haunt me in such a frustrating fashion.

2010-04-27T18:10:00.000-07:00

Since my last few entries that included caught bonefish I have sat at home wondering about the missed permit. Its really got me thinking to be honest. I dug out my book, "Fly Fishing for Permit" and reread it (in two days) to try and rediscover any tips or information of any kind to help me out. It is interesting that the last line of the Introductory chapter says that it is likely that the permit the fisherman will see will try their hardest to ignore any advice you've been given.

Permit have a reputation as being much more fussy about what they eat than bonefish. It would seem that this may be down to very short sightedness, as well as being fussy eaters. The book says, as well as several web sources, that the fish can barely see clearly beyond two feet. With a bone fish you can probably get away with casting a couple of feet from a tailing fish's snout. I now think that this may be the reason that I have felt that the permit I have been casting to have been ignoring my flies, maybe they haven't seen them. I am going to try very hard, if I see permit, to cast as close as possible to the fish to see if they'll strike. Though I'm sure there's a lot more to it than that.

I have dug out all my permit crab patterns, brushed up on tactics, surfed the net and watched the numerous videos on youtube of permit fishing and feel good now. Fingers crossed the fishing gods are with me and I can get the bait presented well, this fishing is all about bait presentation, and snag a permit. You'll be the first to hear about it! I believe if I can get a permit, there is also a good chance I can get a bone, and then I can go to another spot where the tarpon swarm in the afternoons and get myself a "flats grand slam".

I'm getting ahead of myself, I need to catch a permit first, and after learning (some of ) the dark arts of bonefishing I realise that hooking a fish is still a significant difference to landing one. Since Christmas this year I have lost at least five bonefish to leaders snagged on rocks (in 10-12 fishing days), it is very frustrating as it is almost entirely out of the anglers control, if a bonefish is doing 25mph along the bottom and an 8 pound leader catches on a rock there is only going to be one result. Permit apparently like to go over the reef and out to sea, so I can only assume that a the chances of losing one will be increased.

I was digging through my old photos and found this one of my lovely fiance, Mileibi, with a decent bonefish caught last summer. I love this photo, she looks like she is so happy in it and it always makes me smile. She enjoys coming along, but doesn't quite have the patience to stick it out when the going is tough.

Hopefully there will be another successful update this weekend.

2010-04-24T11:12:00.000-07:00

Here's the fish again. The conditions today were not amazing, though the cloud cover meant it was a lot cooler than last week and I consequently got less sun. The wind was very northerly and the tide was ebbing pretty quickly, moving tides seem to be the best to fish on. By the time I hooked this one I'd made several very poor attempts at some other fish. I think the Northerly wind hand thrown me a bit, and a change to my usual tactics was needed, this basically involves walking up to the northern end of Cam Bay and stalking from north to south.

This worked pretty well as I was only in the turtle grass near the mangroves for five minutes before I cast to a good school of bones, the first fish followed and ignored it but on the same retrieve the photographed fish took the fly, and boy did he run. I've just checked the scales and found that this fish was probably over six pounds, it was almost 25 inches from nose to tail and 14- 18 inches in girth, so this puts it between six and eight pounds, I think it would be at the lighter end of the spectrum. Still, a very nice fish.

It makes me wonder how good the one I lost was. It took a very fast powerful run, I'd changed fly a few times at a school at the southern end of Cam Bay and it took the white charlie and went like a rocket. It is very rocky at this end and I was praying it would run in the other direction, but it didn't and I was amazed I had it on for more than a minute or two really. But it was exhilarating, maybe my frustration had been offset by the fact I'd already had a fish landed this morning, but I wasn't too upset. Incidentally, the first fish took a Borski Slider.

Might try Hodges Creek tomorrow afternoon, though I am tempted to head back to Cam Bay in the morning, we'll see. Fishing is good at the moment so I want to make the most of it.

2010-04-24T10:59:00.000-07:00

Here's todays fish recovering its strength. I stayed with it and moved it around for five minutes before letting him go. They give everything they've got in the fight so you have to take care to let the fish recover fully. This one shot off with a bolt after a few minutes in the shallow water.

2010-04-24T09:49:00.000-07:00

Another day another bone, check out this beauty. Thats my six weight and the reel is four inches in diameter. This one took four separate runs into my backing each time, and the first two just kep going and going.

Will give more details later, but I lost another fish to a snagged leader that had taken a longer and harder run that I can only assume was a better fish. Still pleased though.

2010-04-17T12:12:00.000-07:00

You can make out the fish in the middle of this shot, see the fish and the shadow beneath it. Most times the shadow betrays its owner and thats what we look for.

2010-04-17T12:11:00.001-07:00

2010-04-17T11:53:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I've been absent for a while, but thats only because I haven't managed to get out fishing for a month or so now. I went up to Cam Bay this morning very early, out of bed at 6am, motored up and started fishing around 7.45am. The tide was coming in fast and the sun was just starting to break through the cloud cover. I could probably have caught four or five fish today with a bit of luck going my way. I changed fly four times, I changed my leader once, I had two very close follows when I made a strike to early, I saw lots of bones, sharks, permit and sting rays. It was a really good day. After four and a bit hours on the flats I caught a very nice bonefish, probably between three and four pounds. It fought very hard, took three really good runs and just didn't want to be landed. The problem when you're on your own is that it's very difficult to photograph a nice fish like this without hurting it. Had I been nearer the boat I may have tried to lay it down next to the rod, but it would have been nice to have a friend photograph me with this beauty. I took a few shots of the fish on the end of the line, the photo above, has the fish only six feet in front and you can see that it is almost invisible, now imagine trying to pick up this image from a distance of forty feet or more. It just shows you how good the guides eyes are! I'll also put up a photo of the fish at my feet. I really worked hard for this fish, if I'd been fishing more recently I may have packed up and gone home earlier in the morning, but I persevered and in the end found a large school of fish who weren't feeding but they weren't spooking either. I had to change to one of Enrico Pugilisi's mangrove shrimp patterns and the fish went for in on the third cast at the school. The thumb on my left hand is pretty sore after the fish took off and the reel handle hit it a few times, very exciting and I'm very tired, but satisfied this afternoon.

2010-03-15T08:49:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning, Cam Bay, big permit!!! This was the last session for my old man to try and get himself a salt water fish on the fly. End of the morning no fish on (for him) and he has returned to trout season in Scotland empty handed.

Yesterday the tide was high before we got there, the wind was relatively minimal, certainly less than 12 knots and quite a low tidal range. We got there at around 10am and it may have paid to try and get there a bit earlier, but Mum and the missus were being dropped of at Marina Cay and not interested in getting up early.

The first fish I saw was a good permit, I got a cast but it wasn't quite right the fish saw it and bolted, disappointing but almost expected for a first cast. The permit up there are very spooky and seem genuinely uninterested in my shrimp patterns, had I know we were going to see more I would have swapped to a crab!

Five minutes later a school of bones hanging out on the edge of the grass and the coral were there for the taking, the old man was closest but he blew his first cast as well and the fish moved off. As the conditions were light it looked like it was going to be easy to spook them! Then... twenty minutes later as I was pointing out a large bone out to my old man I spotted a nice bone about thirty feet upwind, a quick reverse cast cast landed the fly right in front of it and it took the fly and ran straight away, and boy did it run. I hadn't thought it that big, but it took off like a bolt of lightening, there is nothing more exciting as far as I'm concerned, however, there is also nothing more upsetting for the fish to then throw the hook at the end of its first run! Gutted!

After recovering from the heart ache of losing a good fish we then spotted some permit tailing right up in the northern corner of the flats. I stalked up and walked into position to get a good cast. I was amazed that my old man hadn't spotted them yet, then I cast in front of the fish started to slowly retrieve and drop the shrimp, I had two permit following my fly, then, unbelievably the old man cast his line right over the top of them and they spooked and ran. I was sooooo angry I had couldn't talk for forty five minutes! I was livid. This was the first time the permit have even been interested in my fly in the last three years.

It took me about the same amount of time to realise that he hadn't seen the permit and this was the problem and it is what separates trout fishermen from salt water flats fishermen. I had noticed that when I was spotting fish for him he was willing to cast when he couldn't see the fish, this is not the right thing to do. I would have this as my the cardinal rule in flats fishing, DO NOT CAST IF YOU CAN'T SEE THE FISH, one good cast is much better than a million bad ones. The nature of flats fishing, often referred to as sight (its in the name) fishing, is such that you should only ever cast to fish when you can see them and the direction they are facing, if a fly lands on their nose (permit, tarpon or bones all react the same to this) they bolt, if a leader lands over their back and a fly appears in front of them they bolt. It is absolutely crucial to spot the fish, study their habits and then cast to the right spot a foot and half in front of their nose. There are times when you may resort to blind casting but this is usually in vain, or to large schools of fish "mudding" away in low visibility.

Anyway we saw plenty of fish after that in a large very agitated school but with no luck really. I think that my Dad was very happy to have had so many good chances, but frustrated to have not been able to land a bonefish. I think he realises just how tough it is and what the average fly fisherman is up against. He should be back in the summer for my wedding so hopefully we'll get him a fish then.

2010-03-07T06:02:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we were back up at Cam Bay in the morning on a very overcast and wet morning. We got there about 10.30 am and knew it was going to be tough with no sunlight to give us a clue where the fish were hiding. I was in a strictly guiding role with my left handed Dad on my left and my mate, Thorpy, on the right of me. We were very lucky to have the rain stay off for the two hours we were on the flats.

The tide was rising and the wind was very light and out of the north, which is fairly unusual. Fortunately the fish were tailing a lot. When you're guiding it's very much a case of mixed emotions when it is like this. You can see the fish, typically, quite a while before those fishing can pick them up and I always have a selfish streak that takes over and wants to grab a rod and have a go myself. People who don't get out regularly struggle with their first five or six casts every time, and even people who trout fish a lot in windy conditions tend not to shoot the line hard enough at the fish so it can be frustrating to watch. So it can be a little frustrating to stand and watch when there are good opportunities right there. I always calm myself, and the people fishing, by pointing out that, if the fish are tailing, then we are going to get plenty of shots at them. So, it is important not to get annoyed or frustrated and, crucially, to concentrate on a nice slow and deliberate cast to your target, bone fishing is all about the presentation of the bait.

Saturday morning though was very exciting, we saw and stalked some very, very good bones. Both fishermen got several good opportunities to cast at fish that were very focused on what they were eating. Both fishermen had a some follows and my dad had a large bone, possibly six pounds maybe more, follow right up to within 15 feet of him before seeing him and shooting off like a torpedo.

When these fish don't bite I must admit I am a little confused as to what else needs to be done to get them to bite. In my own experience the hard part is finding the fish, especially in conditions such as yesterday, and getting yourself in position to present the fly well enough to get them to bite. I'd like to think, had I had a rod, we'd have been dining on the hot wings at lunch discussing what a beautiful fish I'd taken. The reality more likely is that we were very close to high tide, the fish were full and consequently a bit more spooky than they would have been at the bottom of the tide. Maybe the shrimp and crabs they were feeding on were a slightly different hue, due to the cloud cover, and consequently my tried and tested flies were ringing some alarm bells. Who knows? There are a lot of variables and I think that it is part of the addiction that keeps bringing you back, what do you need to do differently to get them to bite?

What ever the reason it all made for a very exciting mornings fishing.

2010-03-04T13:29:00.000-08:00

What an afternoon fishing, Cam Bay, Camanoe. I took my Dad up there after lunch for a session on impulse really, I noticed an increased tidal range yesterday afternoon so I thought it would be good to get out there today. It proved to be an inspired choice. As I dropped anchor we saw a BIG permit tailing in sand, very jittery but it was feeding. Then as we rushed to set up the rods and get in the water I stupidly didn't check the leaders for flaws!!! After two minutes of walking we saw two schools of five to ten fish each tailing 40 feet upwind. We tried a few casts upwind but couldn't be accurate, so in the interest of not spooking the whole flat we made our way around the fish in a big arc to get upwind. Dad then had a good shot at another couple of cruising fish and got a great follow till they were barely fifteen feet away then they moved off. Then I got a cast to a really nice bone, it followed, it bit, it ran and my tippet broke, then I cried! A lost fish to bad tackle, not good and very hard to take. So a new leader was put on and we had more casts at more fish, I had a follow from four fish without them biting and Dad had a really good fish follow the line all the way in with no luck. Unbelievable really, a real shame to lose one to bad tackle, but we'll be back up there again this weekend, we're getting closer and closer and its starting to look very good.

2010-03-01T12:37:00.000-08:00

2010-03-01T11:44:00.000-08:00

Anegada Bonefish 2 Davidsons 0. On Friday morning we took a boat up to Anegada for the first session of bonefishing for my Dad, over from Scotland. Weather was beautiful, flat calm, less than 15 knots of wind, clear skies, full moon (Sunday night) but a very high high tide and a very high low tide as well. Unfortunately the fish tend not to bite in these conditions, they love a moving tide with a decent tidal range.

After picking up out mooring in imaginatively named "The Anchorage" we dropped the ladies of at the dock so they could go to Loblolly beach (not to be missed if you do make the journey to Anegada) and Dad and I headed up to the flats. This was the old mans first ride in a 10 foot inflatable dinghy was a pretty funny affair really. To say he was not exactly elegant during the boarding/unboarding process would be an understatement of mammoth proportions.

Anyway, the first session was very uneventful, didn't see any bones saw lots of box fish who even followed the flies a few times and sharks and some good sized sting rays but nothing was happening. I think it was the quietest I have seen it up in Anegada in terms of seeing bones, even when they haven't been biting up there they are pretty plentiful. So empty handed we headed over to Loblolly to meet our better halves, who were both filled with lunch and nicely toasting in the sun. A few drinks latter at the beach bar (try the Diane Rum Punch) we were headed back to the boat to get ready for our lobster dinner at the Anegada Reef Hotel, which was excellent as usual, and the drinks all made for watching Dad get in and out of the dinghy even more enjoyable.

Saturday morning was nothing short of a disaster. Up at 6am, before the sun was up, we started to make our way up to the flats again, hoping an early start would compensate for the high tides. It was cloudy, rough and in general a pretty nasty start to the day. We headed of diligently only for my not so diligent captains checks on the dinghy to bite me in the ass. Half way to the east end of Anegada we ran out of gas! Fortunately the sun was up and the wind was in our favour so a slow drift and paddle back (for about 3 miles) to the boat for 8am so I could refuel, it meant no fishing was done on Saturday (what an idiot). I did, however, bump into Garfield on the way to gas station and booked his number two for a sunday morning fish, so all was not lost.

The rest of the day was spent at Cow Wreck Bay, very relaxing indeed. If you're ever up that way you should try the hot wings and the conch fritters, being something of a fried bar snacks connoisseur (I am from Scotland) they rank pretty highly. For dinner we went to the beach restaurant just east of the Reef Hotel (I forget the name) and had excellent prawn dishes and the catch of the day wahoo went down very well as well, the service was excellent and we were very happy. Back to the boat and bed early after our disastrous early start.

Sunday was a really tough mornings fishing, wind was out of the south east again(20-25 knots), tide was really high (maybe a foot higher than usual) and the water was a little murky. Sly, our guide belted us out there in his boat and we had a few shots at some mudding schools with no luck, then we stalked on the flats for a bit and didn't see much. Then we saw some good fish whilst my old man was up on the bow, unfortunately the fish were always moving away from us and at an awkward wind angle for a lefty, after he'd whipped himself on the back once he was not keen to push it again (neither would anyone else be, we've all done it and it hurts a lot).

Very frustrating, but the fish weren't feeding and I'm not sure if we got close whether they'd have bitten. I'm really glad we went even if the fishing was tough, its a totally different game to fresh water trout stuff so I'm glad my dad got to try it. In the afternoon we headed from Anegada to the North Sound, Virgin Gorda and a late lunch at Saba Rock, we saw dolphins on the way there that was pretty cool.

This morning we went up to Oil Nut Bay for my first time up there on the flats and FIRST CAST I WAS INTO A FISH, all of ten seconds after getting out of the dinghy, up to my armpits in water. My first ever bonito on the fly, he was pretty small, maybe only ten inches but he fought hard and looked very nice in silver and blue, he was safely released and lives to fight another day. I saw some huge permit up there moving around very nervously but we could get close to them, but I'd have them at at least two feet long and three of them moving fast. Pretty exciting. The tide was still high and the going was tough, then, disaster I tripped on a rock and got a sea urchin spine jabbed under my big toe nail, absolute agony. Worst of all the zip lock bag holding the camera was submerged and wasn't fully shut resulting in my Dad's camera giving up the ghost.

We then tried the next mangrove flat between Deep Bay and Oil Nut, which looked really good. Very similar to Cam Bay and the tide had ebbed a bit. We saw a big ray and few sharks early on. My toe was still throbbing like mad and I was doing everything I could to think about something other than how much my foot hurt. I got a few nibbles from small snapper and lost a nice chartreuse and white clouser to a cuda. Then..... some bones appeared 12 o'clock down wind maybe sixty feet. I had my first cast right at them, a white clouser and they didn't even flinch, not even interested in it. My Dad had a borski slider (a good pattern for mangroves) so I got him to cast to his 1 o'clock and about fifty feet and they looked and just turned away and swam off. Very frustrating, but thats how it goes some times.

I then found out the old man hadn't been able to see anything and his sunnies were pretty much useless, so another item for the checklist in the future. It was time to head back to the boat and then come home and tidy up. A real shame no bones were caught, the conditions didn't help but they can't be totally blamed. Fortunately the old man is a purest and he'd still be up there if I hadn't dragged him home, so coming home empty handed isn't the end of the world.

Right now I am brown as I have ever been, totally toasted in the sun this weekend, next weekend is going to be Cam Bay for a session and after checking the tides and weather I think we could be in for a good one. My dads got two more weekends for me to get him a bone and I think we'll do a couple of sessions on Cam Bay at the weekends and a few early morning (pre-work) sessions at Hodges Creek, have to get him into one before he goes, or at least some more decent shots at them, now that I've got him a decent set of sunglasses he might even be able to see what he's casting at.

Very long post, a lot of fishing was done this weekend and I am ready for my bed. I am really keen to try the flats up in VG when conditions will be a little better, on a shallower tide perhaps so will be monitoring the conditions closely.

Heres a photo of the old man learning to stand on the bow of a flats boat for the first time, he was like Bambi on ice for the first 45 minutes!

2010-02-23T14:13:00.001-08:00

Sorry to anyone expecting an update on Sunday, but it poured down here on Sunday and we decided against the fishing. Looks like we will now be saving it for Friday in Anegada, although I think that we've run out of time on that one already.

On Sunday morning we were at Brewers Bay and saw some big tarpon rolling after some baitfish had been pushed into the bay in the large north swell, unfortunately this was the first day in a month when I'd left my rod at home, gutted. Will make sure to keep the gear close at hand in the future, seen some good sized tarpon at West End as well recently, and a barracuda that must have been five feet long!

Getting some good feedback now on the blog so feeling more motivated to keep this up and get fishing. Good stuff keep spreading the word. Hopefully we'll be posting on Monday night with a flats slam from Anegada, ha ha, that would be amazing, might retire if that happened. Might even try for some snook in the mangroves up there as well.

Cheers

2010-02-20T08:57:00.000-08:00

This was three years and twenty five pounds ago, on my way to the flats in Anegada, and Stanners with his awful hat!

2010-02-20T08:18:00.000-08:00

Fishing tomorrow, Hodges Creek, high tide at midday and low range for the full week through the day, and frustratingly large tidal ranges at night. Big north swells and force two or three winds so it should be a good afternoon to fish in terms of conditions on the south side, maybe not the best tidal conditions, but not much can be done about that. I'm quite excited to be honest, my parents get here tomorrow and its the first time for a over a year I've seen them, Dad is very excited to be leaving the cold and fishing for bones in shorts and t-shirt, and for me it will be nice to be out fishing with the man who taught me to cast and not some punter. Fingers crossed for a good session, just need some cloud cover to disperse by then and it'll be perfect.

Next weekend we're going to Anegada, going to book a day with Garfield Faulkner, the excellent local guide up there, and then two or three mornings or afternoons by ourselves. I can't tell you how excited I am about that right now, a long weekend break from work and fishing on beautiful sandy flats, excellent! Not wanting to tempt fate but I'm hoping to be posting some photos of our success stories in the next two weeks. Here's hoping!

I'm also planning on doing some exploring in the North Sound, Oil Nut Bay and Mosquito Island on the Sunday and Monday next weekend on the way back from Anegada, I've heard a lot of good things about Oil Nut Bay so I'm excited to get tucked into up there.

Got all my flies, chartreuse and white charlies (great on the sand in Anegada), borski sliders (Hodges Creek bones love 'em), tailing shrimp, gotchas, charlies and clousers all ready to go, new monofilament tippet (8, 10 and 15 pound test), should be awesome. Even had the foresight to book the spa at Peter Island for mum and the fiance, so we've stocked up on brownie points as well to ensure the time to fish will be granted.

I'll definitely be posting tomorrow evening, hopefully with good news.

2010-02-14T15:46:00.000-08:00

Hi there, first entry from me after a very quiet weekend fishing here. Whether that is a good omen or not I'm not sure. I've been keen to get some thoughts down and had started writing my own diary but a few friends have convinced me to go with a blog instead and I liked the idea. I hope people read this and enjoy the updates, please feel free to fill me in with your thoughts.

To the fishing...

Friday afternoon I spent on the flat at Hodges Creek. I had a bit of time to spare. The weather has been really good recently, light winds (less than 10 knots) and the wind out of the south making for very calm conditions. So I have been using my six weight and the new Orvis Battenkill reel. As I walked out the local guide (Ian Bachelor, Caribbean Fly Fishing) was finishing a session with a punter, they seemed happy, had seen plenty of fish but had come home empty handed. I had a terrible time out there, saw no bones at all. After an hour burning up in the sun I used the time to work at my casting, working my casts all round the clock. Pretty easy in the light winds, but it means that the time on the water isn't wasted when there aren't many fish around. I even ended up taking two barracudas and small snapper. It was pretty unusual not see any bones at all on HC, its a small flat but there are usually some good fish doing a lot of tailing. Maybe I was a little late in the day and the tide was ebbing so that could have been the problem too. With the flat being so small it probably didn't help that I was going out after a couple of people had been casting at the fish for the morning. Still I enjoyed getting the lighter rod going again after having used my eight weight for the last year or so. Its very light and well balanced, flicks from the tip nicely and loads up well when you get a rhythm going. I have to say I'm pretty pleased with the new Orvis Battenkill reel as well.

Sunday (this morning) my fiance and I went for an impromptu visit to Well Bay to go to the beach mainly, fortunately the rod was in the truck, ha ha. After a quick swim and sunbathe I got the rod set up and hit the very small sandy flat. It really is a beautiful spot, I didn't hold a lot of hope of seeing much, though at the outer edge of the reef it looks a great spot for some permit and if people didn't swim there so much I bet it would be good for bones. I spent a half hour or so scouring the shadows and didn't see much in the way of bones, but I saw quite a few baby reef sharks swimming around and checking out the intruder. I then lost a clouser to a cuda which is a little frustrating and caught a couple of small snapper again, funny how hard they strike for little fellas. I realised pretty early on we weren't going to get any serious fish so I spent the next hour or so teaching my better half how to cast and its was a good fun session.

Next week my old man gets here from Scotland and I'm hoping to get back to some serious fishing sessions. Hopefully we'll be out at Cam Bay on Sunday, which is always good for the fishing. I'm hoping that I'll get a bit better at this as things go, we'll see. I think that as the conditions change and the fish come and go these posts will have a better flow and bit more thought, please bear with me on that one. Thanks for reading.