Welcome to The Bonefish Flat

There's a stiff wind in your face as you squint in the sun trying to see what the guide sees. "Bonefish at 12 o'clock about 90 feet, do you see it, mon?" You don't and keep squinting, your hat pulled low to keep the sun out of your eyes. "Bonefish at 11 o'clock 70 feet out. Come on man, do you see it?" As the guide is calmly shifting the skiff into position, this time you spot the fish, "I got, it," you reply.

"OK, Mon, Bonefish 50 feet at 10 o'clock. Cast when you're ready."

Cast when you're ready. And with that you drop your fly, roll out a cast, false cast once, and then...

Welcome to the bonefish flat.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

2012: The Year of the Fish

Well, 2011 has come and gone.  I tried to spare everyone a recap and a "look forward" addition of the Bonefish Flat because I know that was the talk of the web right after the New Year.  But alas, it's good for the soul to reflect on the year gone by and what lies ahead.

To put it simply, 2011 was not real fishy.  Seemed like mostly a lot of work.  The Mrs. and I bought a new house and that seemed to take up most of the year. As a result, my yearly bonefishing trip got put off.  You don't realize how much you miss bonefishing until you don't get to go (OK, maybe you do.  Maybe we think about it all the time, but that's one for another blog post).

You might remember that I declared 2011 the year of the redfish.  Unfortunately, I never got my redfish to hand but that will change.  Maybe even this year.  My one trip was to the outer banks of North Carolina and apparently there are no redfish there.  There may be no fish there, at least none that were eating my flies.  I had a good time nonetheless hanging out and spending time with my dad.

Should be Red's in there, right?  Wrong.

Pops and I at the OBX.


I did spend some time around the holidays and got into some trout fishing and some fishing the Chesapeake Bay.  I managed to land a Thanksgiving trout on the famous Gunpowder River of Maryland, and that was a good thing.  The bay "was angry that day, my friend" and we didn't land any fish.  But it's always good to get out on the water.

The target ship in the bay. 

So what does 2012 have in store for the Bonefish Flat?  I have a trip planned to the Keys for Tarpon and whatever else is biting down there.  So am I ready to declare 2012 the year of the Tarpon?  That didn't work so well with the redfish, so let's just all say that 2012 is the year of the fish, and let's all try to find our way out on the water for a few more trips and a few more trips.  I'm also working on a special mystery trip that hopefully will come together soon, so be sure to stay tuned for more on that.

Other than that, I will try to put together another trip down south for redfish with my trusty old kayak.  That might have to wait until later in the year.  
Posted by at 10:04 PM

1 comment:

  1. FishbaydocJanuary 6, 2012 at 8:56 PM

    Good luck this new year. Enjoyed your posts even though there was precious little nervous water in them! I have seen people fish the mid Chesapeake target ships... not so bad if you don't mind a little strafing from A-10 Warthogs with depleted uranium shells! I suppose they are more dense than tungsten!

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