South Branch of the Raritan River

The last place on earth you might think to find such an awesome looking limestone fed river....the armpit of America...New Jersey.  But the South Branch of the Raritan is a Garden State gem.  I did a little research and found this stream right near where I was working, so I figured I'd give it a shot.  The most impressive thing about the whole trip was that I fit waders, vest, boots, and gear into my carry-on.  I just had to make cuts on work pants, socks and underwear.  Priorities people.  I had the whole day planned and was super pumped to go and not even torrential thunderstorms stopped me from getting out.  The fish weren't rising, but the stream was a nymphers delight and I tight lined about 8-10 fish in an evening and felt my stress level go from an 8 to a 1.  I love fishing. 

He are the Vladi!

Nympher's paradise

Yough Baptism for the Twins

Cooper thinking we're completely crazy

Spencer and I took the twins out for their first fly fishing adventure / baptism on the Yough.  Now, I know what you might be thinking,...that I've lost my mind taking a couple 8 month olds and my dog out on the river fly fishing, but all I can say is my wife thought it was a good idea at the time too (and one of the many reasons why I love her!)

Clara quickly grabbed an oar....future river rat!

  I cant claim it went exactly as I envisioned it, but I'm glad we gave it a whirl.  The trout were rising as they always do and Spencer was doing her best to occupy both babies.  But there is just something not very relaxing about casting to rising trout when twin babies are having mini meltdowns in the middle of a river. 

Clara famously waving in all of her pics! 

I think we could have handled just one meltdown, but not two.  I did get enough casts off to realize that the fish were not taking the big obvious yellow sz 14 cahills, but I didn't stick around too much longer.  There were a couple guys fishing below us and I felt terrible about the screaming babies.  Its one thing to have to accept screaming babies on an airplane, ....but on a river, you should NOT have to listen to other people's screaming babies. 

So we paddled upstream as we sang, "Row, Row, Row your boat"  and I just put the rod down and floated merrily, merrily back down the river. 

Dad with the best catch of the evening....a 22" wild Clara!

The nice thing was the twins aren't moving yet, so when that day comes (which will be soon,) we wont be able to take them out in the boat until they're a little older.  So I am so glad we got this float in now.

But it wont be long until ol Jack is rowing his old man down the river and I cant wait for the day!

Jack told me the fish were midging, but I didn't listen to him and kept casting that cahill dry fly.

Fishing Turks and Caicos

I recently went to an destination wedding for one of my best friends in Turks and Caicos Islands.  It was an unbelievable wedding with ridiculous times at the Beaches resort.  The weekend was epic, but for purposes of this blog, we'll stick with the fishing.

Friday we had a guys outing (all the girls went to the spa) and we hooked up with Grand Slam Charters and they took us on their Wahooooo boat. T&C islands are setup nicely because within 10 minutes you can be fishing for blue marlin and the big boys if you want.  In the States its an hour trip to the Gulf.   We had a great trip and though we didn't catch a ton, the most important thing was the groom-to-be landed a fish: a Spanish mackerel.

We found plenty of bait balls and bombing birds, and I really thought we were going to get into the fish, but it just didn't happen today.  With the trolling bite a little slow, we decided to anchor up and do some bottom fishing...but the only problem was Captain didn't have his  anchor.   Seriously, what kind of Captain, forgets his anchor?  Fortunately, we had a laid back group, so we just rolled with it and went back to trolling.  It was a great day to be out, so most of the team rested up, while some of us pounded Turks Head beer and ate Cheetos.

We ended up boating these two fish and the nice thing was we had the resort cook up the mackerel and Mahi for the rehearsal dinner Friday night.  The food on the menu was great, but nothing trumped that fresh fish.

Provo Bonefish Flats

Though I had an awesome day on the boat deep sea fishing, I couldn't stop thinking about the endless miles of pristine bonefish flats surrounding Provo Island, Turks and Caicos. 

I also spent hours tying up bonefish flies in the winter for this trip and brought all my stuff.  I was so pumped to go, I skipped the late night partying and instead got a good night sleep.  Nothing trumps fishing.

As luck would have it, our concierge at the Beaches resort knew just the local old timer that grew up on the island (also known locally as a Belonger) and knew all the local spots.  His name was Lam which was short for Lambert.  He wasn't a guide, but for a few bucks, he knew where the good flats were located and loved to go fishing.

I've said it before, but I think I could easily wander these miles of flats hunting for bones / permit forever.  Time just doesn't exist here.  Nothing but wading, searching and peacefulness.  True heaven.

After a few hours of searching and not one single cast, I spotted the first two bones flanking in at 45 feet.  I had seconds to get it off...and as I started my false cast, my fly line kinked in the rod guide  and they were gone just like that.  I blew it.  I was sick.  And they were big - so big I didn't even ask Lam how big.  But about 20 silent minutes later, he said, 'you know they wuz bout 12 pounders.'  The biggest bonefish I ever caught was maybe 6 lbs and a 10 pounder was a fish of a lifetime.  I wanted to puke.  But I was pretty stoked I spotted the first fish before Lam did, so we waded on, hunting... searching. 

I continued to look down wind hoping my next fish would present an easy cast, but Lam found the next fish and the bonefish was dead into the wind.  'There he is.  Make the cast.'  With one false cast, I made the best cast I've ever made into the stiff flat's wind.  At 35 feet, that single bone cruised the mud flats in 10 inches of water and I put the fly 5 feet in front of his nose between him and me.  He instantly turned.  I made a strip and he swam, but didn't commit.  He was close to me..now maybe 25 feet and my heart was about to come through my chest.  I crouched as low as I could and on the third short strip of a small tan shrimp fly, he ate it.  Game on!  3 trips into my backing and what felt like an hour later, the fish was to hand - a solid 8 pounder and biggest bonefish to date.  It was epic.  I'll never forget that.  It was the last fish we saw and then I had to hustle back to get ready for a wedding!  What a day.

 Hours later, it was back to the pool side bar and prep for Robbie and Clare's wedding (which was the real reason we were all there :)  Then onto the celebration!  I've been to a lot of weddings, but none with a view like this.  All weddings should be in bonefish heaven.