Even though the island’s tourist season is quickly winding down, I’m still getting a lot of bookings from some very serious fly fishermen. More anglers are coming down this June than last year and I’m seeing a lot of interest in the fall, normally a very quiet time of year on the island. As a fishing guide, this is great news for myself and my buddy Capt. Franco, but it’s also great news for Vieques in general.
Fly fishermen (and that’s the correct term for both male and female anglers) are the perfect type of tourists for this island. For starters, they’re a diverse group. In the past few months I’ve met up with everyone from a twenty year old hippy from Denver, who could only afford to buy me a few beers at Al’s in exchange for directions to a good bonefish flat, to a sixty year old, Ferrari driving grandmother from Naples, who booked me for a week of charters in hopes of setting her second world record. These can be some really interesting people.
They may come from all walks of life but they have a lot in common. They’re passionate about the environment, but unlike nearly all of today’s high profile “Environmentalists,” they actually spend most of their free time outdoors. They know that the ocean’s resources need to be protected, but they also know that, if used responsibly, the ocean will be here for us for a long time. They invest both their time and money into seeing this happen.
They also seem to agree that we’re doing things right down here in Vieques. Every angler I’ve fished with in the past two years has been impressed with the quality of our waters and beaches, including the former Navy lands that are now our Vieques National Wildlife Refuge. The views from Green Beach or Ensenada Honda are truly some of the most beautiful in the Caribbean. As a transplant from Key West, you have no idea how refreshing it is to be on the run home from a day’s charter and not have to stare at three monstrous cruise ships blotting out the horizon.
Saltwater fly fishermen are unique in their quest for the next unknown place. Most of the world’s best trout rivers have been mapped out for over a century, but the saltwater flats still have a lot of exploring left in them. Vieques is currently one of those spots. A few months back I wrote about John Dukes from South Carolina, the first person to catch a permit on fly down here. For hardcore anglers, that’s a really big achievement. The next step up will be the first person to catch a fly rod Grand Slam on Vieques, a tarpon, permit, and bonefish in one day. I’ve had anglers catch two-thirds of it several times but the permit still eludes us. If that finally happens for me I won’t be able to shut up about it for at least a year, and that will bring even more attention to Vieques as an angling hotspot.
Nearly all of my anglers ask me if I’m worried that the inevitable “discovery” of Vieques will turn it into a copy of Key West, overcrowded, commercialized, and overrun with guides and anglers. Right now, I’m not worried about that happening. The fact that we have no highway connecting us to the mainland makes living here enough of a chore to discourage those operations that would look to cash in quickly on a trendy new spot. Toss in the fact that we’re not a cruise ship stop, and probably never will be, and I’m sure that the fly fishermen will keep heading our way for years to come.
After guiding these people around the Atlantic and Caribbean for over a decade, I can honestly say that there is no better type of tourist out there. They’re conscientious, educated, and while many are quite affluent, the vast majority are not elitists. Vieques should open its arms to fly fishermen, and so far, it has done that exceptionally well.
Capt. Gregg McKee, WildFly Charters
Fly fishermen (and that’s the correct term for both male and female anglers) are the perfect type of tourists for this island. For starters, they’re a diverse group. In the past few months I’ve met up with everyone from a twenty year old hippy from Denver, who could only afford to buy me a few beers at Al’s in exchange for directions to a good bonefish flat, to a sixty year old, Ferrari driving grandmother from Naples, who booked me for a week of charters in hopes of setting her second world record. These can be some really interesting people.
They may come from all walks of life but they have a lot in common. They’re passionate about the environment, but unlike nearly all of today’s high profile “Environmentalists,” they actually spend most of their free time outdoors. They know that the ocean’s resources need to be protected, but they also know that, if used responsibly, the ocean will be here for us for a long time. They invest both their time and money into seeing this happen.
They also seem to agree that we’re doing things right down here in Vieques. Every angler I’ve fished with in the past two years has been impressed with the quality of our waters and beaches, including the former Navy lands that are now our Vieques National Wildlife Refuge. The views from Green Beach or Ensenada Honda are truly some of the most beautiful in the Caribbean. As a transplant from Key West, you have no idea how refreshing it is to be on the run home from a day’s charter and not have to stare at three monstrous cruise ships blotting out the horizon.
Saltwater fly fishermen are unique in their quest for the next unknown place. Most of the world’s best trout rivers have been mapped out for over a century, but the saltwater flats still have a lot of exploring left in them. Vieques is currently one of those spots. A few months back I wrote about John Dukes from South Carolina, the first person to catch a permit on fly down here. For hardcore anglers, that’s a really big achievement. The next step up will be the first person to catch a fly rod Grand Slam on Vieques, a tarpon, permit, and bonefish in one day. I’ve had anglers catch two-thirds of it several times but the permit still eludes us. If that finally happens for me I won’t be able to shut up about it for at least a year, and that will bring even more attention to Vieques as an angling hotspot.
Nearly all of my anglers ask me if I’m worried that the inevitable “discovery” of Vieques will turn it into a copy of Key West, overcrowded, commercialized, and overrun with guides and anglers. Right now, I’m not worried about that happening. The fact that we have no highway connecting us to the mainland makes living here enough of a chore to discourage those operations that would look to cash in quickly on a trendy new spot. Toss in the fact that we’re not a cruise ship stop, and probably never will be, and I’m sure that the fly fishermen will keep heading our way for years to come.
After guiding these people around the Atlantic and Caribbean for over a decade, I can honestly say that there is no better type of tourist out there. They’re conscientious, educated, and while many are quite affluent, the vast majority are not elitists. Vieques should open its arms to fly fishermen, and so far, it has done that exceptionally well.
Capt. Gregg McKee, WildFly Charters
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment