Photo courtesy Brian Spence
The Islands of the Bahamas, June 16, 2022—Effective Sunday 19th June 2022 The Bahamas Travel Health Visa (BTHV) will no longer be required to travel to The Bahamas. However, all present COVID-19 Testing, and Vaccination Protocols will remain in effect and will need to be presented at check-in.
Photos and Story by Lane Forrer
In all of their travels, the Polynesians and South American cultures never settled the Galapagos. It’s debatable whether they found them, but there are no archeological remains of people prior to Europeans. Curious. So many currents collide in and amongst the archipelago, which would lend themselves to someone arriving, either by accident or on purpose and calling it home.
By Zachary Granat
On May 2, the Supreme Court of Colombia ruled that recreational fishing was unconstitutional. As a result, Colombians expect a ban on recreational fishing to take effect within one year.
The decision comes after the Court’s 2019 ban on recreational hunting. Then, the Court held that recreational hunting was animal cruelty and a threat to the environment. It has made the same decision about recreational fishing.
Photo courtesy Gary Graham
A long-time west coast secret, the incredible fishery that is Mexico’s Magdalena Bay is attracting ever increasing international attention. With ever more traveling operations exploring the fishery, we’ve turned to Baja expert and longtime Mag Bay angler Gary Graham to provide a full report on the fishery, how to get there and what to expect.
By Gary Graham
Located on the Pacific side of the Baja Peninsula – approximately 800 miles south of the California border – Magdalena Bay is protected by five barrier islands. Spanning some 131 miles, with most of its shore lined with mangroves, this is the largest bay on the West Coast of the peninsula. An extraordinary habitat, the plankton-rich environment attracts sardine and shrimp with other baitfish which in turn attracts a diversity of sea life. The astonishing offshore fishery stretches approximately 100 miles out in front of Magdalena Bay, from the Thetis Bank north of Cabo San Lázaro, down to below Punta Tosca at the southern end of Santa Margarita Island.
While traveling in the Dominican Republic, Eight Eights mate Miguel Santana demonstrated his quick and easy set-up when it comes to rigging his DR ballyhoo.
ITB Staff
While it has been years since most places in the world succumbed to the dink ballyhoo revolution, Hawaiian captains still proudly pull plastic. In some of places where lures still appear, their selection is haphazard…the old, “Grab that one over there and throw a hook in it” type thing. In Kona, lure fishing is equal parts science and applied engineering with a healthy dose of aesthetic appeal mixed in.
Photo courtesy Mark B. Hatter
By Mark B. Hatter
“We know more about the moon than we know about the habits of billfish.”
Brad Philipps, captain, owner and operator of the charter boat Decisive and Guatemala Billfishing Adventures, introspectively remarked as we sipped whisky and smoked Cuban cigars on the rooftop of his Casa Philipps in Antigua, in January of 2020. It had been a VERY slow week, yet under the uncharacteristic circumstances, we raised and released more sailfish using fly tackle than any other boat in the fleet.
So, I am not so sure about Philipp’s moon and billfish remark.
ITB Staff
Kona, Hawaii is a wonderful place. In terms of distance from a continental landmass, the Hawaiian archipelago is one of the most remote strings of islands in the world. And now that travel to the islands has opened up with a Hawaii’s safe travel program, getting to the Pacific should be back on your list of places to go. Kona sits on the western edge of the Island of Hawaii—the Big Island. Its rocky coastline is the result of millions of years of volcanic deposits piling atop one another. The Hawaiian Islands are mountains that jut from the sea floor, covering thousands of feet beneath the waterline and thousands more above it. The mountainous interior of the Island of Hawaii creates a giant wind block, large enough to create a permanent lee and break apart hurricanes.
A sweeping scape of Playa Muerto. Photo courtesy Jessica Haydahl
By Monte Richardson
The Pan-American Highway is something road-traveling adventurers discuss over a few cold beers. The fallacy of its execution lies in one small 60-mile chunk of Panamanian jungle aptly named the Darien Gap.
Save for this small sliver of rainforest, one could theoretically journey on the roadway clear from Deadhorse, Alaska on the banks of Prudhoe Bay all the way to Ushuaia, Argentina, some 30,000 miles of white line fever for the aspiring motorist. This gap in the road, a falling house of cards for someone’s magic bus, is home to Playa Muerto and a keystone civilization of indigenous natives named the Emberá.
Photo courtesy Peter Groesbeck
By Elliott Stark
When it comes to fishing, Southern California is a kingdom all its own. It boasts the US West Coast’s only billfish fishery and its richly abundant waters have been attracting anglers since the days of Zane Grey. The physical dynamics of the oceans and current in many ways define the approach of the anglers and captains who ply its waters. The culture of fishing runs deep—what happened here in the formative days of sportfishing was, in its time, as impactful and profound as any place in the United States.
