First Permit on a Fly for Frank Foster... Accomplished at Water Cay Lodge

      I got this e-mail yesterday from a long time Water Cay Lodge supporter Frank Foster. Frank has been successfully fishing at Water Cay Lodge on Grand Bahama Island for years and I want be one of the first to say, "CONGRATULATIONS Frank!"

Frank is a diehard angler and a novelist. His third book, Catch a Falling Knife, is coming out April 2nd. For more info, go to his website at www.frankfoster.net.

Here is Frank's e-mail which I was very excited to receive!

To My Fellow Anglers; Family; and a Few Selected Friends Who May or May Not Care:

Well, it finally happened for me after lo these many years:  Permit on fly!  Last week at Water Cay Bonefish Lodge near Grand Bahama Island.

Please note the smile on guide Sid Thomas' face! This is a big thrill for a guide too!

What a great bonefish too!

Amazon Houseboat Trip 2009 with Bob, the Caiman.

I know this isn't fly fishing, but it sure was fun! Thanks Doug for jogging my memory!

    Doug Jeffries, after viewing this year's Agua Boa Lodge photos, reminded me of another monster caiman we met on a trip to the Amazon in 2009. Doug commented:

     'Rex' was the big 17 foot caiman that hung out in front of the lodge and would come in and lay her nose on the beach when the boats returned from a days fishing because she knew people would bring her a piranha or dogfish. 'Bob' was the caiman you guys were hand feeding borbaletas to until it bit your boat and broke that weld on the motor bracket. Do I need to post a picture or two to remind you?

    After reading this, it all came back to me. We met "Bob" in a very remote lagoon that we were in one day when headquartered on a houseboat. Bob followed us around hoping to steal one of our fish. Eventually, we decided to fish for Bob instead of the big peacocks in the lagoon. I know.. very politically incorrect! In any case, we caught 2-4 lb. butterfly peacock bass and attached them to heavy monofilament line then dangled them in front of the big caiman. It was an awesome sight to see Bob attack the fish. 

     Once he had a borboleta peacock in his mouth, he would swim to shore and in the shade of the rain forrest canopy, he would lazily tilt his head back to swallow the fish. It was at this point that we would jerk the fish from his mouth and pull it back to our skiff. This would really piss off Bob. He would chase the fish angrily hissing all the way. We inappropriately played with Bob until he bit our boat's gunnel and broke a weld near the motor mount. Showing rare good judgement, we decided to stop!! It seemed like a bad idea to be in a sinking boat in a lagoon that was home to a very pissed off caiman! 

                                            

     This photo was taken at the precise moment the weld broke. You can see the broken weld just to the right of the outboard's handle. Seeing the damage wisely put an end to our fun!

Quick Bonefish Tip #3

So here's an tactic I use all the time especially with big nervous bones in shallow water! When you have clouds zipping along propelled by strong winds, the sun comes rapidly in and out of view. In these conditions, it's sunny... it's not... then it is again. The conditions change constantly and often.

You can make these conditions work to your advantage (especially with tailing fish or spooky fish that you have spotted and stalked). Try to cast so that your fly lands just as the sunlight appears or disappears. In these conditions, you can put it right on a bone's nose and they won't spook.

I hypothesize that the fish are visually acclimating to this changing amount of available light. When you deliver the fly at this interface of cloud and sunlight they are much less likely to spook when the fly sets down. Maybe their senses are overloaded with the changing light or maybe they are a bit confused, but they somehow don't take much notice of your fly hitting the water. They almost always eat and rarely "blow-up". Try it... it works!

Amazon 2012: Agua Boa Photo Gallery Part 2

To see the trip report go to:

Amazon 2012: Agua Boa Lodge Trip Report

 

Stro eyes dinner!

Water Cay Bonefish with Matti and Carson

Taken in March at Water Cay Lodge on Grand Bahama Island, this video was shot by Matti Majorin. The fisherman is his friend Carson Oldham of the Albemarle Angler in Charlottesville, VA. With very windy conditions, Carson skillfully hooked and landed this bonefish in the middle of 6000 mangrove shoots! Well done!
Click here to see the video:
Water Cay Lodge: Carson's Mangrove Bonefish Dance

Amazon 2012: Agua Boa Photo Gallery Part 1

Parapatinga

Piranha

Evening on the River

Tucanare Peacock also called Pavon or Temensis Peacocks

Rit and Dave Begin Another Day

Barb Fitzgerald is Ready to Go!

Paca Tail... Also Called Spotted Peacock

14 lb. Peacock

Another Paca Tail, This One Eaten by Piranaha

Another Fisherman!

Amazon 2012: Agua Boa Lodge Trip Report

  
...Hundreds of fish were caught. Probably at least a hundred fish each day by our group. Hell, Peter Greenleaf and Jim Wright caught 100 fish in one afternoon! Frank and his son Stro hooked an arowana and a payara one afternoon, as well as a pirarucu later in the trip, In addition, we caught matrincha, parapatinga, pirana, jacunda, dogfish, bicuda, and of course peacocks... the peacocks came in three convenient sizes:
Small... the borbeleta or butterfly peacocks (up to 5 lbs. and prolific, borboletas will wear you out).
Medium... the spotted or paca (they are tougher pound for pound than any of the peacocks and incredibly beautiful).
Super Jumbo... the temensis or tucanare peacock (vibrantly painted and dogged fighters, this species is the largest of the peacocks and are a truly an iconic gamefish).

To see the full trip report go to:
Amazon 2012: Agua Boa Lodge Trip Report

The Spotted or Paca Peacock

The Tucanare... The Iconic Amazon Peacock

The Butterfly or Borboleta Peacock