My wife is making noises about "dragging" me to the Bahamas, Eleuthera, exactly, in August, with the enticement that I can go bonefishing. I've never been bonefishing and the biggest rod I have is a 7 weight Forecast. I'm not sure it's got enough backbone for those things. I'm sure there must be folks out there who have some experience with bonefish in the Bahamas and can make some recommendations about a rod blank, preferably a 4 or more piece to make it easier to transport.

I hate to ruin your excuse to build a new rod, but that 7 weight should suffice for the fish. A heavier rod for the wind, perhaps. A good reel with 150 yards of backing to match. Just rinse the rod well every night (sneak it into the shower). I find it useful to strip the line into a cooler with fresh water (the melted ice) periodically to keep the line clean. If it were me, I might build a second rod with a Tennessee handle that I could use as either a spinning rod or 9 weight fly rod.

I know this will sound hard to believe coming from a regular, but I'm not all that crazy about building an 8 or 9 weight rod. I live in eastern Montana so it would see almost no use after this trip. The only two advantages of building one would be that it would be more transportable and I wouldn't have to share it with my son, but then I'd have to buy him a new reel and line too.

Gerry, don't they stock chinooks in some of the eastern montana, and south dakota reservoirs? An 8 or 9 would be perfect for their spawning runs. Or you could take a weekend trip to Idaho in the summer...

Mark

That 7 wt probably would be just fine, however...if you are going to build another rod (& you really need it, DON'T YOU? wink,wink), think about a multi piece 8 wt. Airlines are getting tough about carry-ons, even 4 piece tubes. Perhaps something short enough to fit in a carry on bag, like a 5 or 6 piece Dan Craft, etc? Also, don't bring your fly boxes in your carry-on bag...those hooks get the inspectors nervous!

Have fun!

Tim

Gerry - before you book Eluethra, find out how badly they were hit by the Hurricanes last Fall. A few of us planning to go down there, but from what the guy doing thre research was told, that specific town was decimated. I don't kow how true or false, not trying to start a rumor, just loook into it before making plans.