IT’S 3:00 A.M. IN THE EVERGLADES AND TIM BORSKI IS LOOKING FOR SNAKES. I’m riding along with him as we drive very slowly down State Road 9336—the only four-digit road in Florida. It is 34 miles from Florida City to Flamingo, a distance we are currently covering at about 15 miles per hour. “Right up…
This week Bonefish & Tarpon Trust (BTT) shared the results from its two-year Tarpon Genetic Program that, thanks to the efforts of anglers, guides, lodges, and researchers, saw more than 23,000 scale samples collected from across the world. Nice work people.
This much is for certain. Flats fishing in the Bahamas is relatively big business. A recreational fishery with an annual economic impact exceeding $140 million. (About what “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” pocketed during its opening weekend.) How that business is conducted, however, will soon change thanks to new flats-fishing regulations that have been on…
I woke to the sound of slaughter. Several times a night this happened. The noise was caused by a pair of prehistoric animals hunting beneath my bed at Brazil’s Uakari Lodge, a floating eco-resort nestled along a protected stretch of the Amazon River, about 400 miles west of Manaus. Guests are advised to sleep with…
Flyfishing businesses occupy a tempestuous microcosm tied to the sea-sawing health of rivers and oceans. Example. If there are no fish (participation catalyst), there is no you (potential consumer). And for brands that appreciate a prosperous tomorrow, backing nonprofits working to keep trout, tarpon, salmon, steelhead swimming makes sense.
FLOWING WATER, BY DESIGN, HAS A SANCTIMONIOUS way of pre-qualifying its clientele. Gentle riffles and wide gravel bars lure the false-casting masses, and boiling black holes rimmed with mossy ledge rock frighten them away. That said, I suppose there’s really no great mystery why the easy flows produce the fussy little degree-candidate fish, while the…
Keys to surviving an extended camping expedition on the remote West Side of Andros Island, in the Bahamas? Beer and a love for bonefish. In the 4th installment of Xplor Andros, Frankie Marion, Jeff Rybak, and flats guide Solomon Murphy focus on the “capture”. Read more about the crew and their mission in flats-fishing minimalism at…
Filming for Confluence Film’s new Providence project took place in the fall of 2015 with the FlyCastaway crew on Providence Atoll in the Seychelles. The soon-to-be released full-length movie chronicles FlyCastaway’s first trip back to Providence Atoll since the waters were closed to anglers and boats more than six years ago—due to the threat of pirates…
The IGFA calls Steve Huff “the most well-respected guide in the history of flats fishing.” In Andy Mill’s book, A Passion for Tarpon, he calls Huff “bar none, the best tarpon guide alive, the best there was and the best there ever will be.” Though he spent the first half of his career guiding the…
Anyone who’s ever spent a season working in a national park will relate to Fong’s heartfelt recollections. And for anyone considering it, this story helps illustrate how hard it can sometimes be to re-enter the real world. From the second issue of The Drake, Fong reminds us that fiction often speaks the greater truth.
Four hundred miles is a significant feat, say for an electric car on a single charge. (Tesla is currently testing vehicles with a similar range.) It’s also a helluva push for a juvenile tarpon, a fish that would typically stick close to home until reaching sexual maturation. But according to findings from Bonefish & Tarpon Trust’s…
KEY WEST, Florida Keys—Idaho angler Mike Dawes caught and released two permit to win the 2016 March Merkin Permit Tournament that ended on March 17.
From March 1 to March 23, Bonefish & Tarpon Trust (BTT) is asking anglers to collect as many bonefish fin clip samples as possible from South Florida waters. The samples will be used for genetic analysis in support of YETI’s Bonefish Genetics Program. Whoever submits the most fin clip samples before the March 23 deadline…
For today thru Monday, skip the doorbuster bumrush and keep the cocktails flowing—while grabbing some great Drake discounts from the comfort of your keyboard.
You can hammer on kids all day, in the classroom, about how over-fishing, pollution and unsustainable development are destroying ocean environments—especially flats. But in order for those lessons to sink in, it helps to get students’ feet in the sand with a bonefish in hand. At least that was the goal of a recent bonefish…
The 2015 Sugarloaf Showdown tourney runs from Nov. 12 to 14 at the Sugarloaf Marina and Sugarloaf Lodge Tiki Bar. This year’s catch and release inshore event targets permit, bonefish, and barracuda and is riding on the success of last year’s great turnout.
Help hurricane-ravaged communities and businesses in the southern Bahamas Reports in the wake of Hurricane Joaquin have been dire, with much of the southern Bahamas seeing catastrophic destruction from the storm. Many of the southern out islands—such as Long Island, Crooked, and Cat—have immediate needs for food, water, and sewage, according to the Caribbean Disaster…
IN JULY, the Bahamian government and the Bahamas Fly Fishing Industry Association (BFFIA) announced proposed changes to laws governing bonefishing in the Bahamas. Some of the proposals—like requiring visiting anglers to hire a guide—created public outcry, private controversy, and several scintillating blogfights. But our own investigative reporting uncovered a few lesser-known proposals:
Following the international bitchstorm that’s been brewing around the future of Bahamas flats fisheries—inclemencies mostly attributed to the Bahamas Fly Fishing Industry Association’s nationalistic grandstanding—some sensible communications have recently come to light. Last week, Tribune 242, a Nassau-based publication, reported that The Department of Marine Resources has “pretty much determined” that persons will need to pony…
Last Friday the Bahamian government held a public forum in Nassau in response to controversial draft regulations aimed at the flyfishing industry. The legislation would potentially limit DIY angling opportunities and called for restrictions on foreign (aka US-based) lodge owners.
America’s National Park System includes more than 400 areas covering approximately 84 million acres. Hundreds of millions of visitors enjoy these protected lands annually, and within their borders development ends, species like buffalo roam, and native trout live free and prosper. National parks are awesome that way and they are not limited to the U.S. NP…
Meet Keys’ captain, Derek Rust, in the latest flats-fishing edit from Dan Decibel. Says the filmmaker, “Every time we fish, we always have an awesome time on his boat. We look for bonefish, permit and tarpon when the weather allows. Whether we catch fish or not, you can always bet on some crap talking during…
Facing glassy conditions, Key West-based angler Nathaniel Linville—guided by Capt. John O’Hearn of Big Pine Key—caught and released four permit to win last week’s March Merkin tournament. Linville, who was also victorious at the Del Brown tourney back in July, landed one permit on day one followed by three the second day for a total…
Convincing a permit to eat your fly is similar to doing business in a foreign country in that success in both is hard-won. Guide and Tres Pescados Fly Shop owner, Wil Flack, can relate.
The act of walking across a white-sand flat, knee-deep in endless shades of blue, is made much more interesting by bonefish. Especially if you’ve never caught one. After a few days spent searching empty water on the Bahamian island of Exuma, we drove down a twisted dirt road, past rotting cars and abandoned dishwashers, and…
Rogelio Velasco has owned Yucatan-based Pesca Maya fishing resort for 19 years, so he knows the challenge of producing off-the-grid electricity, especially for power-hungry air conditioners. Pesca Maya, like all Ascension Bay resorts, sits inside the Sian Ka’an biosphere reserve, where power lines don’t exist and aren’t forthcoming. So instead, most lodges rely on diesel…
Yuletide means Gift Guide, so without further ado welcome to The Drake’s Annual Holiday Shopper, 2014—a full assortment of staff-curated picks to wow the flyfisher in your family. Book: Crazy Sh*t Bamboo Fly-Rodders Say You may not know the subtle differences between a Leonard, Jenkins, Sweetgrass, or Suzuki, but don’t you wonder what the…