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Ever since May, when I was in Kauai and finally, after three days of fishing, started to SEE bones, I've been able to think of nothing else (well, at least for about 5-10 minutes a day). I set out to find a place that I might be able to fish for them again, maybe some place where the odds are a little better. Those Kauai fish were big and appeared in singles and doubles in a very small space.
My first thought was Florida. It's a domestic flight, you can camp in the keys, there are bonefish down there... it seemed like a good idea and I started trying to make it happen. I started reading about bones in Flordia and Florida fly fishing in general and the picture didn't sound too good. The Keys bones, as I heard from many folks, are kind of like the Kauai fish in that they are bigger than average, not prone to show up in schools of 20, but more like singles and doubles, you really needed a boat and you really needed a guide. Basically, everyone I talked to or heard from said that Florida was a fine place to fish, but not so much on the catching if what I wanted to catch were bonefish.
So, I started looking at the Bahamas. Airfare... that's the major roadblock. I found a guy that would take me out on an island and drop me off and pick me up a few days later. That sounded like something I'd like to do... except I would probably need to spend a hell of a lot of money on the gear I'd need so as not to die alone on some tiny Bahamian island... and the cost of even getting there was a bit high.
Then property taxes hit and the wife hit the red, glass-sealed, Self-Destruct button for this little fantasy of mine... and hey, can't really argue with that... I like our house and if we didn't have it, I wouldn't have anywhere to daydream about bonefishing.
However, my wife decided that the only way I was going to shut up about bonefishing was to go (she doens't know I'll probably talk MORE about it after going)... she told me to carve out 4 days after Christmas and make it happen. Airfare is much cheaper these days and I found a deal to go to Grand Bahama... not the best island, but certainly a good one. I then managed to talk my dad into going along too (I said he could never see his granddaughter again if he didn't join me). Of course, with my dad along I'll have to do things I wasn't planning on, like eating... but we'll also split a guide (Bernard Bevens) on our first full day there. Now I'm busy getting reports, finding flats I can walk onto and trying to cram as much of other peoples' knowledge into my head as possible before the plane leaves SFO on Dec. 26. I'm really, really looking forward to this. I'll report on the trip after I return on Dec. 30.
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