If you’re planning to chase bonefish in the Caribbean, the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) may not be the first destination that comes to mind. It also may not be at the top of the Google search results as you start planning your next warm weather vacation with the family. But if the idea of having some excellent saltwater fly fishing options available during your next family vacation sounds appealing, TCI should be high on your short list.

Whether you are looking to sneak in a quick do-it-yourself afternoon session, wading the flats while the kids hang out at the pool, or you’d prefer to spend an entire day casting from the bow of a skiff, TCI offers quick and easy options to scratch the angling itch without taking you far from your beach chair or breaking the budget. The Turks and Caicos Islands may be the best kept secret for the saltwater fly angler on a family vacation. 

The Turks and Caicos Islands is a British Offshore Territory comprising two groups of islands that sit atop Caicos Bank, east of Cuba and south of The Bahamas. Of the Caicos Islands, Providenciales (with its world-famous Grace Bay beach) is by far the most popular for family vacations. There are plenty of activities, restaurants, and accommodations ranging from budget friendly to luxury. My family and I took our first TCI vacation nearly a decade ago. Explorers at heart, we have generally avoided the resorts, instead indulging our preference for renting houses or condos and embracing the ability to tailor our own experience. Our favorite over the years has been the Chalk Sound area, though the Leeward section of the island has seen development in recent years and has many good options.  

Several airlines serve Turks and Caicos Islands with regular flights into the area’s main airport on Providenciales (often referred to as “Provo”). Given the state of air travel these days, a direct flight is a good idea when possible. While both taxis and rental cars are available at the airport, consider renting a car if you are planning to do any exploring while in TCI; taxis can be expensive. Driving is done on the left, in British fashion, and isn’t as difficult as you might think.  No special driver’s license is required, but be sure to look to the right to check for oncoming traffic.

Resorts have their own excellent restaurants, but if you’d like to explore a bit (and you should), there are many restaurants in and around Grace Bay and several more within a short drive. Fresh seafood is always a good dinner choice. Catch of the day paired with an ice cold Turks Head beer is a fine way to wrap up a day on the beach, shopping, or fishing. For the true do-it-yourselfers renting a home or condo, local grocery stores range from upscale (closer to Grace Bay) to modest (further from Grace Bay) with relative prices to match.  

Bonefish are the focus of fly fishing on Turks and Caicos, though barracuda can also be found.  Guided fishing trips are mainly done on North Caicos Island, which is accessible from Providenciales by a short ferry ride from the Leeward ferry station. Ramsar Nature Reserve on the south side of North Caicos is a system of sand flats, mangroves, and channels. Bottle Creek and the East Bay Nature Reserve on the north side of the island includes five flats protected by small barrier islands. Both sides of the island hold schools of bonefish that see relatively little fishing pressure (over the course of several trips to North Caicos, I’ve only seen one other boat).  There are only a handful of fly fishing guides in TCI, though despite the limited number of guides, trip availability is generally good with reasonable lead time. Last-minute cancellations do happen, so if your schedule is flexible it is possible to find last-minute openings.  

Both sides of North Caicos are home to more than bonefish. In addition to the possibility of finding barracuda, you are likely to see turtles, rays, brilliantly colored box fish, and flamingos.  Most guides charge a flat fee for one or two anglers, so why not bring along a non-fishing family member for some sightseeing and photography? TCI fishing licenses can be purchased in increments of a day or a month, and are inexpensive. They are not available online but can be purchased at most marinas. If you happen to be on Provo, a good place to pick up your license is Turtle Cove Marina, a short drive from Grace Bay.

If you are not able to book a guide, have limited time, or would just rather prefer the challenge of stalking bonefish on your own, there are solid opportunities for self-guided trips on Providenciales. The best is Flamingo Lake, a short drive from the resorts on Grace Bay made by taking Venetian Road off Leeward Highway. There are several spots to park and simply begin wading steps from your car. While there occasionally are flamingos, there usually are bonefish.  The bottom is typical mud over hard sand, standard bonefish territory, and easy to navigate. Be on the lookout for schools of bonefish or cruising fish in singles and pairs. Locate holes and depressions in the bottom and you may also find fish as they tend to prowl these areas in search of crabs and other forage.

While this fishery doesn’t see much in the way of fishing pressure, bones are still bones, and in their shallow-water habitat they are generally skittish. When casting either from a skiff or while wading, try to make as little disturbance on the water as possible (e.g. try not to rock the skiff when casting) and keep noise to a minimum. A fast-action 8-weight rod with a floating tropical line is the standard setup, but don’t be shy about stepping up to a 9-weight to deal with the wind if necessary.

Fly selection for TCI bonefish doesn’t need to be tedious; these fish don’t see many flies in general. If you use darker-colored flies for overcast days and lighter-colored flies for sunnier days in any of the standard bonefish patterns (Gotchas, Bonefish Bitters, Crazy Charlies, etc.), tied sizes 4-6, you won’t be far off. Because TCI bonefish don’t see many flies, presentation is probably more important than pattern, so solid saltwater casting skills are a must.

I recommend plenty of casting practice ahead of your trip. Wind is always a factor, and slack in your cast is your enemy, so strong casting fundamentals are a must. Opportunities at bonefish happen fast, and if you’re not prepared for them, you’ll spend most of your time watching fish swim away. Being able to quickly deliver a fly at a variety of distances with a minimum of false casts will allow you to take advantage of these often fleeting opportunities.

When planning a guided trip from a skiff, practice quickly changing direction and delivering a cast just as you will need to do when your guide calls out a direction and distance. It’s always important to be aware of both wind direction and the location of your guide with respect to your backcast. The ability to make casts from both your dominant side and non-dominant sides is key, as is the ability to deliver a cast in both the forward and backcasts. Having a strong grasp of these skills will not only increase your chances of catching bonefish, but also keep you and your guide safe. An otherwise good trip can go wrong in a hurry if you inadvertently hook yourself or your guide with a weighted crab fly. I’ve pulled more than a few flies out of myself and/or my clients, and it’s always at least an awkward moment and at worst a trip to the local ER.

When delivering your fly, find a spot 8 to 10 feet in front of fish that are on the move, and aim for it. Leading the cruising fish with plenty of distance will avoid spooking your target and allow that fish to stay on its line. Even a well-placed fly may need to be repositioned if your target changes course. If that’s necessary, make as little disturbance as possible as you get your fly out of the water. For every bonefish we see, there are likely many others we don’t, and carelessly ripping line out of the water could send an entire school racing for cover in the mangroves.

Once your fly is in sight of a cruising bone, create lifelike action by slightly twitching the fly.  When it’s clear the fish has locked onto your fly, begin to strip quickly and smoothly, keeping the fly moving without hesitation just as a crab or shrimp would do if fleeing for its life. As in most saltwater fly fishing situations, strip setting is the name of the game. Continuously stripping the fly keeps the fish’s predatory instinct engaged and the fish in pursuit of your fly, so even if you think the fish has eaten your fly, keep stripping. Once you feel the take, strip again to set the hook before raising the rod tip to fight the fish. When guiding freshwater anglers on saltwater trips, I often suggest keeping the tip of the fly rod in the water as they retrieve their fly. Muscle memory from their normal trout-set can be difficult to overcome, so the added resistance of lifting the tip of the rod out of the water can sometimes mean the difference between hooking a fish and disappointment.

Our most recent trip to TCI happened during our town’s public school February vacation. That’s a great time to break up the long grey of winter here in the Northeast with some sun and warmth. Despite the popularity of the week, we enjoyed uncrowded beaches and restaurants.  The fishing was great, too, at least part of the week. Bonefish spawn by forming large offshore aggregations, often during or near new moon periods from late Fall to early Spring. During this time schools of bonefish truly can be here today, gone tomorrow, and such was the case during our trip. The southern flats of North Caicos were teeming with bonefish early in the week, while later that week (coincidental to a new moon) the flats of Bottle Creek on the north side of the island were nearly vacant. As I lamented that situation to my cab driver on the way back to the ferry landing on North Caicos, he casually said, “They went to the ocean to wash their roe.”  That local knowledge lines up with what we know about bonefish spawning patterns. As he drove the cab away, I made a mental note that bonefishing TCI in February, while a nice winter break, could yield unreliable results. The decision to return in May and try again was easy.

Over the years my family has enjoyed vacations on the Turks and Caicos Islands, and there’s no doubt others would, too, as there’s a little something for everyone, even some great fly fishing.  If time and budget allow, hiring a guide is a good option. You’ll cover more water and have a better chance of locating fish. If you have less time or budget, you don’t have to give up your fishing plans because there’s great bonefishing within a short drive that can be done very simply. The ease of access, lack of fishing pressure, and overall likelihood of success make TCI a great place to have your first bonefishing experience and a unique destination for fly anglers planning a Caribbean family vacation.

Bio: Captain George Sylvestre, CCI is lead guide and instructor at Sylvestre Outdoors, a veteran-owned, family-operated fly casting instruction and fly fishing guide service offering both saltwater and freshwater fly fishing trips from Cape Cod to the rivers of Massachusetts and Connecticut. He is a Far Bank Pro and saltwater fly fishing instructor. If you would like additional information on fly fishing the Turks and Caicos Islands, he can be reached at george.sylvestre@sylverstreoutdoors.com.

The post BONEFISH IN TURKS AND CAICOS first appeared on Tail Fly Fishing Magazine.

The post BONEFISH IN TURKS AND CAICOS appeared first on Tail Fly Fishing Magazine.

AxisGo iPhone housing and a little luck produce stunning fish image
by Sonny Culp

The goal of any guided flats fishing adventure should always be some variation of improvement as an angler, having fun, and catching some fish. But the memories are what we bring home, so having a few fish pictures to share and savor is a big part of the overall experience. It’s always been that way, especially with the acrobatic and dinosaur-like Megalops atlanticus.

If you’re not convinced, just take a look at the famous fly-caught tarpon images taken by A. W. Dimock more than 100 years ago. How difficult it must have been to record and produce images like that. But he knew it was a worthwhile endeavor. Today, we all show up on the skiff with our fully charged iPhone or GoPro, the rain covers relegated to a lesser status than they used to be. But capturing decent fish pictures can be a challenge, and no matter the level of technological advancements in camera gear, some photographers are better at it than others.

I’m a point-and-shoot guy, simply hoping for the best. Sometimes, only family and friends might see the shots, but every once in a while I’m able to capture an image that really stands out. Such was the case on a recent tarpon trip to Southwest Florida.

I was fishing with Andy Lee out of Marco Island. The spring migration offers shots at swimmers on the outside when the tide, water clarity, sun, and wind all cooperate. Yep, you need all of those elements. We were getting our share of shots, and after landing a couple of smaller fish, a bigger girl ate the fly. She really gave us both a fit, and as the fight neared its finale, I started thinking about getting a photo of what appeared to be the fish of the trip.

If catching and landing a tarpon is a team sport, so is getting a quality picture of one. My iPhone 10 was already loaded inside its AxisGo waterproof housing, which is equipped with a pistol grip with a 6-inch dome housing around the lens. With the subdued fish on the sunny side of the boat, Andy readied the tarpon for release.

The shot you see here was the simple result of a good deal of pointing and shooting, which was made easier by the trigger-finger pistol grip. The only tip I can offer is that the dome lens effect requires the camera to be held much closer to your subject than you might think.

We released the fish and later scrolled through the results in the cab of Andy’s truck on the way home. Among the clutter of images facing certain deletion, there it was, a “keeper” as we say in fishing.

Tarpon training: offseason work with retrievers

Tarpon Cockroach – One of the Best Tarpon Flies of All-Time

How to Catch Big Fish by Andy Mill

The post Getting the Shot first appeared on Tail Fly Fishing Magazine.

The post Getting the Shot appeared first on Tail Fly Fishing Magazine.

Honolulu–Hawaiian bonefish, called O’io here, have shoulders. They’re bigger, beefier and warier than their Caribe cousins. Not to worry If one of these silver wraiths of the coral flats breaks your line and your heart, there are other pursuits just onshore. Where else can you blue ribbon fly fish a few hundred yards from one of the most fascinating, densely populated cities on this planet? My brother Rick and I are here for family reunion and related business issues, and to celebrate a birthday, mine. I’m turning 80, and frankly in no mood to cheer my ongoing decrepitude. Rick’s four years younger but we’ll both need a break from this sort of thing. We still live to cast flies so we signed up with guide Jeremy Inman at Oahu Fly Fishing for a go at these magnificent missiles, these “boners” we ended up nicknaming them. Nothing salacious intended.  If you think so at least your mind is in the right place.

Who knew Hawaii had bone fishing grounds?
The old Hawaiians knew, they still do, but because they’re, well, boney, they’ve never been highly prized as luau fare. Add to that fortunate species protection it’s only in recent years a few local haole (that’s white guy in Hawaiian) catch and release fly fishermen discovered the mystery, beauty and woeful challenge of the O’io, the big silver ghosts that risk the shallows of the reef flats to feed, and occasionally inhale a favored fly here called spam and eggs, and rip at otherworldly speed fly line and backing, and then the angler hears the doleful tink of the spool going empty; over, gone, and then experience the afterglow of catch and release au natural.  It’s why we love fly fishing. It’s the ones that get away that live in memory, and it’s why we get narcoleptic listening to how many you caught and how big they were.

Ok, right to the bad news. Jeremy caught a positive Covid test and had to cancel. We tried to book another guide but to no avail. What to do? Forget this story lead, or give you the lowdown of what went down during our no fishing week in Honolulu? The latter course seems a little nutso but as all  wannabe writers know, the need to write is like an abscess under your second lower molar, it’s absolutely undeniable. We’ll get after those magnificent fish in the future, but in the meantime dear reader, suffer the foregoing.                                                                       

Immediate hassle at the Honolulu airport, Daniel Inouye International Airport.
If the late Senator Inouye, a highly decorated, as in Medal of Honor, WW II American Japanese veteran of the European theatre of that conflict, knew how bad things are now, he’d probably want his name scrubbed off the place.  Despite being triple vaxxed, despite jumping in advance through all the hoops required by the state tourism bureaucracy, I’m held up because I don’t have my docs and code uploaded on an iPhone because I don’t own an iPhone, I don’t want to be an iPhone zombie, and my old trusty clam shell cell phone isn’t cutting the mustard. When I indicate some impatience and frustration with the nice young native Hawaiian woman interrogating me, who was actually doing her level best to get me released, she asked “You wanna get quarantined?.” So I shut my pie hole and an hour later I was a, har de har, free man.

My eldest son John picks me up curbside and ferries me to the hotel where brother Rick and I and the whole fan damnly are booked, the Kamaina Hotel, located at the far east end of the island of Oahu, in the shadow of Diamond Head, just across the street from the spacious green belt of Kapiolani Park. John is ravenously hungry. He teaches surfing for a living, an enterprise that requires daily physical energy akin to a triathlon, so we promptly load the whole fan damnly in his van and head for revered  since 1978 Yanagi Sushi on Kapiolani where the sea fare and the service rivals that I’ve had anywhere in Japan. Their maguro (bluefin tuna sashimi) is a Mishima novel in one bite, Japanese perfection. And since we live to eat, that brings up what we love most about Honolulu; you don’t need a plane ticket to enjoy the best of Japan, China, Thailand, the Philippines, Korea, Viet Nam, and throw in Portugal and Cambodia and Taiwan and, if you know where to go, and John does, local style Hawaiian specialties most tourists only know dimly from awful commercial group luaus sponsored by a predatory cabal of travel agents.  And thus it is way too many nice people from Toonerville and Mayberry who remain clueless what they’re missing at little joints like Jack’s in Aina Haina (since 1964) where Set A Fish and Eggs on the menu is a “juice battered” Hawaiian style filet of Mahi that’s so over-the-top terrific fresh you know it was swimming only hours ago.

My birthday bash is held in Korea at the Seoul Garden also on Kapiolani. Everyone’s there. My brother, my sister, my daughter, my three sons and their wives and a horde of wonderful grandchildren, and a best friend, John, from wild teenage years together, who’s hot for my sister, and great local friends Sheldon and Gwen Zane. Sheldon is helping me navigate “related family business issues” mentioned above, actually a problematic real estate investment that’s become pin the tail on me the donkey. The Seoul Garden shares the same building, although appropriately cordoned off from the restaurant, with its other business, the Femme Nu Strip Bar. Perhaps another birthday. Anyway, Korean barbecue, marinated pork belly strips, cuts of kalbi beef, sizzling aromatically right in front of you, you’re going to eat way too much, and enjoy every bite, and maybe also order the killer ice cold noodles in piquant broth, naengmyeon it is in the language of the peninsula, a favorite on hot, muggy evenings. And save room for the whole yellow corvina grilled so well you’ll munch on the head, and in true Korean fashion if you prefer, served with some of the fish’s selected stomach contents remaining to be enjoyed.

At the urging of my second son Joseph, we do some road tripping around Oahu. He’s here from Denver for my birthday, and for some distance from a nascent marital crisis at home, which I won’t get into except to remember a Nicholson line in a movie in which he’s playing the role of a successful writer of female dialog. When asked how he accomplishes that, he says, “Easy, I just omit reason and accountability, and think like a man.” Joseph is a New Age entrepreneurial success story, he alone runs High Desert Marketing, a one-man organization that locates products lost in outdated business models that made us human, like going to the store, and distributes and sells them via the huge virtual octopus of Amazon.com.

Our road trips include the crest of the Pali where in 1795 King Kamehameha unified his power by defeating a rival army. It’s known in Hawaiian as “The Battle of the Leaping Mullet”, a reference to the number of warriors driven off the cliff, a victory attributed in large part to artillery gifted to the king by British Captain George Vancouver during his Big Island visit in 1793, he of course with additional British territorial claims in mind. We paid for a tour of Iolani Palace where in 1895 Hawaii’s Queen Liliuokulani was imprisoned in her upstairs bedroom for eight months, and the monarchy was expunged in favor of European and U.S. pro business interests that controlled the legislature, a move that led to U.S. annexation in 1898, and finally to Statehood in 1959. One sparkling afternoon we drove up Oahu’s west shore to the end of the road, to escape the crowds of Waikiki and luxuriate on the sand at Yokohama Beach, one of the most beautiful and least visited on Oahu. It was great respite, but honesty demands divulgence we were not unmoved by lines of homeless encampments we saw along the way, and we weren’t cheered up by the presence of one of the new U.S. Space Force bases there, the latest military force established by executive order from former President Trump to apparently ready the nation to launch belligerence up to the heavens. Guess he never saw the classic 1951 film “The Day the Earth Stood Still” which fictionally poses an oddly credible result of such a move.

All in all, it was a great week, disappointing of course that our fly lines stayed dry, but are you ready for the capper?
I got an iPhone for my birthday.

* Long time Hawaii surfer son John advises O’io is indeed a favorite at true local Hawaiian luaus in the form of Lomi O’io, an ancient Hawaiian version of ceviche, that constitutes the spoon scraped raw meat of the fish combined with rock salt, green onion, Limu Koho, or local red seaweed, Imanoma, or roasted Kukui nut, and Hawaiian chili peppers and served ice cold. 

Who Caught the First Bonefish on a Fly?

The Evolution Shrimp Fly

Bucket List Bonefish

The post Uh Oh, No O’io! (Bonefish Hawaii) first appeared on Tail Fly Fishing Magazine.

The post Uh Oh, No O’io! (Bonefish Hawaii) appeared first on Tail Fly Fishing Magazine.

It’s part of family lore that when I was three years old I’d go out in a skiff with my father, who’d tie the first fish caught on my line, which would keep me busy for the day. I grew up in Miami Beach, and the backyard of our house bordered on Biscayne Bay. It was easy enough to drop a line in the water after school–and most days I did. Back then, several decades before I learned the art of presenting the ruse of a fly to a fish, shrimp was my bait of choice. My father, a public relations consultant (with the flamboyance typically associated with that profession), once pitched a story to the fishing editor of the Miami Herald, spinning me as a kind of rod-and-reel child prodigy. The editor rose to the bait.  I still have the clip: yellow and brittle as a dried leaf. “My favorite fish is a grunch (a grunt),” I told my interviewer. “And,” I added with precocious certainty (I was six), “when I grow up I want to be a ickyologist (ichthyologist).”

   Fishing was a common language in my family and connected us like nothing else did. My brother is a maniac about the sport—his wife, Maria, too—and, it is telling that on the day he was born my father went fishing and caught a bonefish. When I was growing up, my father would trade in his fishing boat for a larger one at regular intervals before advancing age put an end to boat ownership. Although I left Miami more than 30 years ago to write for National Geographic in Washington, D.C., where a feeding frenzy has more to do with a school of snapping journalists on the trail of a story than it does a bait ball, I could always count on a deep-sea fishing expedition on trips home for the holidays. We typically drove down to Islamorada in the Florida Keys and trolled for sailfish and dolphin in the Gulf Stream, or dropped a line in shallower water for grouper and yellowtail.

   My family, like most, harbors frictions, (some longstanding, others newly minted) that simmer and occasionally erupt, but fishing remained safe territory where abrasions could heal in the mind-clearing astringency of salt air. Years ago, on assignment, I interviewed John Maclean, whose father, Norman, wrote A River Runs Through It, a shadowed story ostensibly about fishing but really about family. As we sat in his Montana cabin, I asked about the role of fishing in his family. Fishing, Maclean explained, had a spiritual dimension and held together a family that communicated in disastrous ways. His father, he said, talked about going to the river because he could say things there he couldn’t say anywhere else.

    La vida es un fandango y aquel que no baila es un tonto, my father used to say.  Life is a fandango (he’d in fact named one of his boats Fandango) and he who doesn’t dance is a fool. So he lived large and danced fiercely, something not without occasional cost to the rest of us. Perhaps that ferocity to live large came from his having survived World War II. He’d flown missions over Germany as a navigator-bombardier on a B-17, and not everyone who flew off returned.

      I knew my father was getting old when he stopped fishing. Two knee replacements, a cracked cervical vertebrae requiring a titanium rod to stabilize it, and age—gravity takes its toll on us all, after all—had compromised his balance. There was no way he could keep his footing on a boat, particularly one tossed about in the Atlantic. Inevitably, he was consigned to a walker, a sentence he met with great resentment. Despite the risk, he longed for one last fishing trip in the Gulf Stream, but it never happened–at least not in the way he’d hoped for.

Years before my father’s deep-water days were curtailed by the rude jolt of age, I had asked John Maclean to talk about his last fishing trip with his father.  “When we returned from our last fishing trip, my father sat down,” Maclean told me. “He was tired.  I asked if I could get something—anything–for him. ‘A drink,’ he said. I fixed it, but it didn’t taste good to him, and I knew he was near the end. He was like an old fisherman who has a big one he knows he’ll never land.”

Recently, my father reached his own end and died. He was 96, and he directed that his ashes be dispersed in the Gulf Stream, where we had fished over so many years.  The ocean off Islamorada was choppy that day. A stiff breeze snapped the lines on the outriggers of the Catch 22, a 54-foot sport-fishing boat owned by Richard Stanczyk, a family friend who took us out for the ceremony. We scattered his ashes into the ocean, and as they unfurled into plumes of gray that disappeared into blue, the head of a big loggerhead turtle popped up from the waves. I swear it winked.

Of course we went fishing afterwards—it was, you might say, my father’s last fishing trip—and in a fitting coda, my nephew, his youngest grandson, caught his first sailfish.

My father would have liked that.

Cathy Newman spent 20 years as a journalist for National Geographic Magazine and was very kind to share her father’s story with Tail Fly Fishing Magazine.

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The post (My) Old Man & the Sea first appeared on Tail Fly Fishing Magazine.

The post (My) Old Man & the Sea appeared first on Tail Fly Fishing Magazine.

Delafield, Wis. – April 6, 2020 – Fish For Each Other, a website and subsequent social media campaign (#fishforeachother) aimed to support the fishing industry during the COVID-19 pandemic, launched today. Fishforeachother.com serves as a centralized hub, providing a way for people to support members of the fishing industry affected by COVID-19 and deliver ongoing fishing-related news and content. The unprecedented circumstances surrounding the pandemic have endangered the livelihoods of thousands working in the recreational fishing industry, along with many other sectors of the economy.

The website will highlight programs from across the U.S. specifically aimed at supporting captains, guides, tackle shops and other small businesses who are now looking for alternative ways to generate income. With a severe dip in travel, guides and captains are particularly hard hit, as uncertainty around COVID-19 has led to a dramatic increase in canceled bookings. And without any indication as to when stay at home orders will be lifted, many trips are simply not being rebooked. Another area of the sportfishing industry equally hard hit are tackle shops, who rely heavily on consistent traffic from anglers. While services such as online sales and curbside pickup of tackle have helped, it is not enough to replace sales lost by the decreased activity and travel.

Fish for Each Other is the creation of Wisconsin-based active lifestyle marketing agency Gunpowder, who counts a number of the top outdoors and fishing brands among its clients.

“Our culture, and our livelihood, is rooted in the outdoors and fishing industry,” said Gunpowder founder Ryan Chuckel. “They’re our clients, our friends and our family. We created Fish for Each Other to provide a centralized location for people, like us, to find ways to help our fishing brothers and sisters. So many folks are already doing amazing things to support the industry we love. This is simply our way of connecting the dots between those doing good and those who want to help. While the future is uncertain, there’s no doubt in our minds that, with all of our help, the fishing community will bounce back, stronger and more unified than ever.”

To get involved, visit fishforeachother.com to see ways to contribute to the cause, check in on the latest fishing-related news surrounding the pandemic, and inspirational, entertaining content to pass the time during quarantine. There is also a growing list of local, independent tackle shops who are finding ways to serve their customers while still abiding by local and state restrictions. The organizers behind the site are also asking people in the fishing industry to bring forward other support efforts, funds, news or interesting ideas, which can be submitted directly on the site. 

About Gunpowder Inc.

Since 2015, Gunpowder has been driving dynamic communications programs for some of the world’s most influential enthusiast brands including GoPro, Under Armour, Academy Sports + Outdoors, Humminbird, Minn Kota, Mercury Marine, Costa Sunglasses and Pure Fishing. The agency is built on a commitment to driving earned media coverage and social engagement with brand communities through a nimble, creative approach and by understanding how strong strategy and blue-collar work ethic can drive positive business results. The people of Gunpowder live, work and play with its clients’ products and services at the center of their lives. More information is available at www.gunpowderinc.com.

Gunpowder Media Contacts:
Ryan Chuckel, (414) 698-7132, ryanc@gunpowderinc.com
Carie Breunig, (414) 412-9155, carieb@gunpowderinc.com

The post FISH FOR EACH OTHER INITIATIVE CREATED TO SUPPORT FISHING INDUSTRY first appeared on Tail Fly Fishing Magazine.

The post FISH FOR EACH OTHER INITIATIVE CREATED TO SUPPORT FISHING INDUSTRY appeared first on Tail Fly Fishing Magazine.

Today April 18^th, 2020, the Marco Beaches are closed. A few restaurants are serving to-go only and you can’t get to Ft Myers on Delta in the same day from here in Birmingham unless you drive to Atlanta. The return options are just as bad. So, let me tell you about Plan B. Start the day by checking your favorite Insta fishing posts. Most of those are posting reruns. Sort of like watching Gilligan’s Island. Watched a decent Costa Rica tarpon film this morning called, “The Jungle’s Edge”, posted by Venturing Angler. Thank you. This afternoon and after some honey-do’s I walked across the street to my fishing buddy mother’s house. She has an expansive front lawn. There I cast the 11 weight as if tarpon might slide down the cul-de-sac. Where’s the sun when need it. Stepped off 86’, my best. That’ll get you a whole lot nothing when the fish are really coming at you in a cross breeze and a bouncy chop. Not sure what the neighbors think.

Then I pulled out the Tail July/August issue out of the stack I maintain in my closet. I recalled a lobster tail recipe with fried plantain tostones that sounded yummy. Yep, that’s what it has come to. Cooking seafood recipes out of fishing magazines. My wife walks in from her own errands and curiously asks, “what’s this all about?” “It’s fishing week, baby” is all I can utter back.

She smiled as I scurried about in the kitchen about as well as if Andy Lee stepped down from the platform and handed me the push pole. We did manage to deliver a great meal, the two of us. Teamwork is always key when it is fishing week.

I am not sure tomorrow holds.

Leftovers, I guess.

S. Culp
Tail Subscriber

The post Plan B first appeared on Tail Fly Fishing Magazine.

The post Plan B appeared first on Tail Fly Fishing Magazine.

Jesse and Peter are currently traveling through the southern United States hugging the gulf coast filming their newest project.  An upcoming feature in Tail will detail their kick ass voyage through the gulf states and the many people, flies and fish they meet along the way. Here’s a message from the guys currently in central Florida….

Hey everyone, Jesse and Peter here from Broke and Fly Productions.
Just giving you heads up on the fact that we are currently working on our new film project and would love to have you follow us via our social media outlets on Facebook and Instagram.This project has taken us through some amazing fisheries along the gulf coast of Texas, in the Louisiana marsh,  and Lake Seminole at the Florida/Georgia line.  We are now taking it slow, chilling in Central Florida enjoying some of the local sites and some great food, beer.
Filming for this video has lead us into long days on the water and even longer nights of driving from spot to spot. We have fished with some epic people along the way and can’t wait to share more of the trip with everyone in the near future, so stay tuned.

If you like tarpon, redfish, snook, bass, and bluegill on the fly, then you will want to take a peek at some some shots from our latest project and stay up to date with our travel log.  There’s a full length feature coming in Tail Fly Fishing Magazine this spring.
Tight lines!
Over and out.

About Broke and Fly

BROKE AND FLY is the brainchild of two idiots. Peter Husted and Jesse Males. We are all about proving that you don’t need a million dollars in equipment or some fancy location just to make sweet fly fishing related content.
Sometimes all it takes is a little adventure in order for two fly fishing junkies to come together and make something happen. Other times it takes 5 bottles of whiskey, 150 crappy french beers, the worst tequila you can imagine, and 7 days stuck on a french island in the caribbean.
This whole train wreck started after we decided to meet up on a joint film trip on the french island of Guadeloupe. Having never met one another before the trip, since Peter crashes in Denmark and I spend most of my time in Costa Rica, we knew this would be an interesting trip.
The last one pretty much sums up how Broke and Fly was born. ​
SO…WHERE IS BROKE AND FLY GOING FROM HERE?
We plan on continuing to work on film projects whenever possible and invite you guys to tag along via our social media links as well as our vimeo channel.   Judging by the way things went in Guadeloupe, I would say we have some pretty kickass adventures still to come!

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The post Fly fishing the gulf states – Broke and Fly first appeared on Tail Fly Fishing Magazine.

The post Fly fishing the gulf states – Broke and Fly appeared first on Tail Fly Fishing Magazine.

GUADELOUPE: THE FILM AND FRIENDSHIPS

By Peter Husted

So, there I was, sitting with a couple of buds talking about our next trip to the tropics while having a cup of hot coffee in freezing, cold Denmark. At this point neither of us had any idea that in few months we would be knee deep in the warm, gin-clear waters of the caribbean. 

This whole thing started as I began talking with Jesse Males of Backwater Fly Fishing about collaborating on a bonefish film project. After a few weeks of tossing ideas back and forth it was clear we were going to have to make this thing happen. We started off the planning process with the usual bonefish locations in mind, but then decided to pick a place not too many people think of as a fly fishing destination, the French island of Guadeloupe. 

Up until this point there had been talk about joining forces between Backwater Fly Fishing and my own project Water’s Edge Media. Although we weren’t sure exactly how this whole thing would pan out, we booked our plane tickets, some rental cars, and a cheap crash pad—and never looked back. This balls to the wall approach to this trip is what lead to the creation of our joint platform Broke and Fly Productions.

While my friends and I had to chill out in Denmark the entire time before catching our direct flight from Paris to Guadeloupe, Jesse and his friend Micah made the best of a two day layover in Ft. Lauderdale by chasing some peacock bass and Mayan cichlids on the fly. Lucky bastards! 

Now once we all met up on the island the stoke was high and we couldn’t wait to get out on the water and chase some bonefish. While we did see plenty of tailing bonefish on the flats day after day, we couldn’t have been more wrong about the catch-ability of these fish. After the first few days, we still had yet to land one of these stubborn fish.

Despite the tough fishing, the trip was a great time for Jesse and I to finally meet. Believe it or not, before this trip we had never fished together; however, after the week was over we were already planning what our next adventure would be and how we were going to make this whole joint project work out in the long run. With the same outlook on life and comedy, we knew it would come together one way or another.

Once the trip was done and we all got back to our busy lives, the real work of editing a film out of a bunch of nonsense and no fish began. I gotta say, Jesse is a cool guy with a lot of rad ideas when it comes to editing. Surprisingly, we found ourselves coming up with the same thought about clips and angles which made the editing process a blast. Well, after Skyping for pretty much a month straight we felt like we had made some progress on the video and solidified our Broke and Fly platform.

Looking back, I have to say this whole adventure was an absolute blast! We already have big plans for our next project and hope to continue working with one another to see where this friendship leads. Chances are there will be plenty more crappy beers, cheap tequilas, and fish-less days. But hell, that is what this Broke and Fly thing is all about!

____________________  THE FILM: GUADELOUPE ______________________

Sometimes all it takes is a little adventure in order for two fly fishing junkies to come together and make something happen. Other times it takes  5 bottles of whiskey, 150 crappy french beers, the worst tequila you can imagine, and 7 days stuck on a french island in the caribbean. The last one pretty much sums up how Broke and Fly was born. ​

The post Guadeloupe by Broke and Fly first appeared on Tail Fly Fishing Magazine.

The post Guadeloupe by Broke and Fly appeared first on Tail Fly Fishing Magazine.