Bonefish Travel Series: Simplicity

On a previous trip, I wrote a travel series prepping for my trip.  I shared various gear and equipment that I use including some of my favorite things.  This time, its been a little bit more difficult to write about gear.  I feel like this time around, I pretty much have what I need and have had it for some time.  This trip has been more about getting old gear up to speed.  Some fresh new Rio Bonefish lines, in an 8 wt and 9 wt on my reels.  A couple new flats shirts so I look like I know what I'm doing.  Finally, a few new leaders, but not a lot of new gear.

I debated getting a new pair of fancy flats boots, and even tried on a pair.  But they felt a bit heavy to me so I'm going to stick with my old Orvis pair.  I think in a perfect world, we could wade barefoot for bonefish.  But the risk of stepping on something sharp like coral or an urchin, or even a stingray, makes a wading boot necessary.

Flies won't be in short supply.  I love to tie and saltwater flies are a lot of fun to create.  They are bigger of course, and use a lot of psychedelic colors which help me picture Margaritaville even if I'm not there.

Here's the goods.  Ready to go.  

I still have some favorite gear.  I wouldn't be caught dead on the flats without my Costa 580's.  And I prefer the smooth cork drag of my Tibor and Abel to that of the new fancy space-age stuff. Gotta have a camera and my little Olympus 850 waterproof has held up pretty good.  I also highly recommend the Orvis carry-it-all .  I've had good results with it.

Who wouldn't want a new fly rod?  Each year one of the companies comes out with a better rod.  I guess this year Sage has the "One."  I still have my eye on an 8 wt Scott S4S, but will probably wait a bit longer to pick one up.  It's a great stick and probably worth the price, but it still costs a pretty penny.

My interview with Brian O'Keefe was pretty inspiring.  He's long been a fly fishing hero of mine, so when I had the chance to interview him, I was a bit nervous because what if he didn't live up to the hype?   But he did and was super cool.  He also seems to have a great philosophy on fishing trips, which is more about enjoying the ride than overloading on gear.

So that's what I'm going to focus on for this travel series.  Me versus the bonefish.  A few days away from the real world to focus on the flats, the bonefish, and the adventure of travel.  Time to enjoy the ride.