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Our January 1998 report on possible overfishing of the flats at this Venezuela bonefishing spot ("Is Los Roques Being Overfished?" pages 5-6) inspired agent Dick Ballard of Fishing Adventures (*) to drop us a note. It was not our concern about overfishing that caught his eye (he doesn’t believe Los Roques is being overfished but he hopes responsible authorities will keep an eye on that); it was our less than positive comments about spincasting jigs into bonefish "muds" that got to him. Ballard says he is among those anglers who have caught large numbers of bonefish by casting jigs into "muds" at Los Roques, and he has no guilt about doing so.
The last time he was at Los Roques, Ballard says he and an outdoor writer fished just six hours and boated exactly 100 bonefish. "Your objection to spincasting into ‘muds’ seems to be that it produces more fish than wading the flats and sight-fishing with a fly. Are you saying the fishing at Los Roques should be left to fly fishermen? In my opinion, there is plenty of room for both types of anglers there…."
Perhaps we didn’t make ourselves clear on the issue, so let’s try again. Indeed, there is room for spinfishermen at Los Roques and here at The Angling Report we don’t harbor any kind of malice or contempt toward the short-rod set. We just don’t think it’s sporting to spincast into bonefish "muds" because the critters are just too vulnerable. In our estimation, it truly is like shooting game around waterholes in Africa or ducks on the water here in North America. We know this sounds snooty, but we think it’s something that gentlemen just don’t do. Perhaps if we say this loud and often enough, others will agree….