I'm Thinking Of You Down In Mexico.........

My annual May Fly trip awaits. Less than a week away.  So for practice, I did this........

Ok, it is not a trout, it is not Mayfly and it sure as hell wasn't cold, but it is one of the coolest fly fishing experiences I have ever had. The fish is a 15 or so pound Jack Crevale. The location is Boca Paila Mexico, near the chill Mexican town of Tulum. It is something of a home away from home for me and my wife. It is our sixth visit, and this fish was a highlight in 2016.

There are many more highlights. Great restaraunts (we tried Casa Banana this year, amazing). Boutique beach front hotels and even great condos to rent. The story behind this fish?

The short version, it was 30 degrees, windy, and the surf on the beach was high. We were casting for Jacks between the waves. In the foam (foam is the home as my guide Rhett Schober told me). He was right. The first take I got was light and I missed it. (Trout setting in the salt is a no no). The second was solid and hard, I hooked up and the fight was on, until it wasn't. My free line wrapped around the fighting butt on my rod, and the fish was gone.

The third take was intense, and the fish ran hard and fast. Well into my 200 yards of backing and he took the fight for 40 minutes before he came to hand. The unseen part of the photo is the seven stitches in my leg from two nights prior. Apparently wet feet and spiral staircases are a bad mix. Who knew?

The trip though was with two of our good friends, including my friend Darren who I grew up with as a child. We played as four year old kids and on this day we played as 50 year old men. Tulum is worth more of a write up than this. As does my friendship with Darren, as does this fish and the events that led up to this day of fishing, including my daughter living through two earthquakes in Kumamoto Japan. yes it was quite a week. One I won't forget for a lot of reasons. I will elaborate more soon on all of it.

Hello World.......

Anyone who learns programming languages will recognize the Hello World as an exercise where you write your first code. I have had this blog since 2008 but I have sadly neglected it but now I find myself inspired again. A lot of stories to tell and ideas I am piecing together. Including things like posting from the lakes and rivers.

So where have I been? I have traveled many places, I rediscovered Salmon fishing and fell in love with the beauty of fishing in the tropics (Mexico specifically). I will write about all of this over the next little bit but my inspiration for this blog is drawn from this:

This, is my home province. Well a piece of it anyway. This is something I have neglected. My love of fly fishing was born in the lakes and still waters and rivers of Nova Scotia. In the back woods. Tea Kettles and cans of beans on open fires. Walking to a new lake and admiring the challenge of it. Reading a map and vowing to conquer another piece of this amazing wilderness we ar beyond lucky to have at our disposal.It is easy to be lured to the bright light side of fly fishing. Beautiful lodges on world class rivers. Beach front hotels near Mexican fllats. I love all that and will continue to enjoy it. But I turned 50 in 2015. And this winter I thought about the back woods trout fishing I did the past few years and realized, it wasn't much. So now, I want to right the wrongs and bring myself back to the land. While all in Nova Scotia on the angling front is not perfect, we are lucky to have some still pristine trout waters and the ability to explore them.

So the reset button is firmly pressed. It is time to rediscover why I started fishing and restore balance to my fly fishing soul. 2016 will be a great year. I will make sure of it.