BONEFISH AND CREDIT CARDS
[OR LOVE THE ONES YOU’VE GOT]

October 18, 2010

Just when I’ve decided there just isn’t any way I’m personally going to see a running bonefish in the foreseeable future, (something about moving to Arizona for the winter), a couple of emails hit which almost make me wish it wasn’t so. One from our friends at the Bahamian Tourism Ministry with an offer to buy one get one free airfare and in the very same batch of email a total freebie from some really hot looking place in Cuba looking for a few good writers to come down and play with their bonefish. Just how lucky can one girl get I ask you?

Don’t get your shorts in a twist, we aren’t going to either place this winter and unless the U.S. government takes all the restrictions off of travel to Cuba we aren’t ever going to see that one either. I also have to make the comment that while our winter digs are just a little bit north of the Mexican border, my husband the judge also informs anyone who asks, we don’t do Mexico.

But I did want you to know that your fearless publisher does have to make decisions from time to time and sometimes it isn’t all that easy. So where was I?

I know, about the exotic fishing trips...

We certainly have all been exposed to all of the neat, hot, sexy places - especially the Bahamas since it wasn’t as far away when we first started to do that kind of travel, which was about ten years ago (Remember 9/11?) I had people calling asking if we thought it was safe to leave the country and maybe we wouldn’t be able to get back in. No really, that happened, more than once.

We wrote about that trip and made some good friends in the Bahamas who did appreciate the fact that we did go down and didn’t treat it like it was something really difficult to do - plus the Bahamas is an English speaking country and we felt more comfortable with that as well.

We had friends who went to Belize and others who went to South America. I personally wasn’t very comfortable with the South American trips after I was told about the armed guard who was present acting as your personal body guard. Seems there were problems with outlaws and robbers. At any rate we didn’t make the big Patagonia trips and perhaps we didn’t miss much as many who have been there have commented the region looked very much like Montana 50 years ago - and the fishing as well. We were in Montana 50 years ago, well not quite but 45.

If you think about it, most of the folks who are making the exotic fishing trips seem to get caught up in a sort of can-you-top-this game of one upmanship. Patagonia this winter, Easter Island next year, Seychelles the following and on and on. 

Why?

I suspect they spoiled, ruin their own fishing. By that I mean the original thrill of catching that first big fish on a fly, saltwater or fresh is awfully hard to match. It is just about impossible to beat. So the mind set becomes find another place with fish as thrilling. In comparison the twelve-inch rainbows on your home water really look small and not very thrilling (much less important). If you fish for local steelhead or salmon every season you certainly have a substantial local or regional fishery, unless you have fished for those same fish in say Alaska. Or Russia. Opps. Those are really big fish by comparison.

Can you spoil your own fishing? I’ve told people who are going on their first bonefish trip to be careful, it is addictive. I’m not kidding when I say it. If you have never fished for anything like them, you just might be better off to enjoy what you have. Save your money for something the whole family (or at least you and your spouse) can enjoy together.

It’s not original with me, but you can’t put smoke back into a bottle, and the last thing you want is to spend the rest of your fishing days wishing you could go back bone fishing again and again. Especially when you have a perfectly good fishing resource at home, which does not cost your left arm nor put your credit cards into free fall.

Believe it or not, I’ve actually met some people who really think bonefish are highly overrated and considerable less fun than steelhead. So there you go.

Gotta love the ones your with.

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