Mayaguana 2007 - Usual (flats) Suspects

There are other players on the flats. Lots of them, like these lemon sharks, are also hunting bonefish. We were fortunate that they didn't swipe any of our hooked fish.



Mayaguana has a healthy population of Ospreys. I'm sure bonefish isn't on their every day menu, but I'm sure they pluck them from the water every now and then. These were much more approachable than the ones I encounter kayaking on Jordan Lake here in NC.



You can't write about flats players without mentioning Barracuda. Meet Mr. Teeth. He would like to steal all or a neatly cut part (sometimes all but the head) of your bonefish. We were fortunate, and I caught several Barracuda after the bonefishing tide passed. They're great sport on a fly rod and take handsome photos.


This is what's left of a Lefty's Deceiver after several barracuda thrashed it. They were still chasing it when it looked like this - voracious predators! Note the wire tippet. It is nearly impossible to catch them without it.

Mayaguana - Bahamas Air

I finally got my luggage back late last night - nearly a week after returning. Here are a couple of photos of the Mayaguana Airstrip. Yes, that's it. I can't remember ever boarding a plane without security before. The best part about traveling with Bahamas Air was not crashing. That's all I can say for them.

Bonefishing in Mayaguana - 2007 - Blackwood Point

This is the fly that all of my fish took. It doesn't look like much out of the water. To a bonefish underwater, it looks like a shrimp. The rabbit fur undulates in the water and gives it the look of swimming legs. We were told that we needed pink. I lost my best fly with the right amount of pink on the first fish I hooked. Natural colors always work.


Here's a really big bonefish right before it was landed. You can see mangrove trees in the background. Also notice how hard it is to see the fish even though it is up close and breaking the surface. They don't do that when they're not hooked.


This big fellow was the big fish of the week. It pains me to give credit to my dad for this one (I will take credit for the landing assist), but he deserves it. It was his first bonefish on a fly rod, and really his first real fish on a fly rod period. I think he's hooked a convert now. Nice!


The same fish again. What a beauty! We fished the Blackwood Point flat again on our last day of bonefishing. They were all bunched up into one huge paranoid school as they were chased by baracuda. I got the fly to them a few times, but ended up leaving them alone. They were concentrating on not becoming baracuda breakfast. Hooking one would have surely ended in half of a fish or less. It's no wonder why they're so wary.

Link to previous bonefishing post

Bonefishing in Mayaguana - 2007

I've decided to blog some highlights of my trip to Mayaguana. I am creating an annotated gallery to include all photography. When that's done, I'll post a link. Until then, I'll start with what this trip was all about: bonefish!


This fine specimen ate my #4 deep water shrimp fly, which is a variation of a Gotcha. Notice how it matches it's habitat, and it's hydrodynamic shape. They're like underwater cruise missiles. They race away with your fly at up to 32 feet per second. On the first run, that can be hundreds of yards. That is only part of the thrill.


Bonefishing is hunting. There are no blind casts. You have to find the fish and present the fly in a way that does not spook this extremely wary fish. It takes nothing to spook them right off of the shallow water flats where they feed. This means that seeing them before they see you is critical. (On this trip, we waded.) Notice the chrome sides. They reflect the bottom so perfectly that often their shadow is the first thing you notice. This is not the bait soaking, gear chunking fishing. It's an active hunt and stalk.


All the bonefish we caught were handled gently and quickly released unharmed. It is best to keep them in the water while you remove the fly and take a quick photo. (My father shot the bonefish pictures.) This particular fish was caught and released on a Curtis Creek flat on a day where we had wind gusting to 25 mph and torrential downpours. I was lucky to spot and seduce this fish in a small window of sunlight. The wind, however, never let up. It took some stealth stalking in order to position myself upwind and present the fly to the fish. That is what bonefishing is all about. More to come, as I have time to upload and write...

Back from an adventure

Back from an adventure, originally uploaded by michael rupert.

I'm back from a pretty rough fly fishing adventure on Mayaguana (a very small island of the Bahamas). I have lots of pictures and thoughts to process, but I will post a gallery soon. We had good fishing on a few days in spite of the weather...more on that later.

Hatched

Hatched, originally uploaded by michael rupert.

Looks like three of them hatched. Here is the mother on the nest. I'll post another picture when I'm back from Mayaguana. I hope there will be three feathered babies to show off.

The Shining Cuckoo Clock

Here's Johnny!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! Oh, right...it's noon. All work and no play... Yeah, you get it. Link