Guadeloupe by Broke and Fly

GUADELOUPE: THE FILM AND FRIENDSHIPS

By Peter Husted

So, there I was, sitting with a couple of buds talking about our next trip to the tropics while having a cup of hot coffee in freezing, cold Denmark. At this point neither of us had any idea that in few months we would be knee deep in the warm, gin-clear waters of the caribbean. 

This whole thing started as I began talking with Jesse Males of Backwater Fly Fishing about collaborating on a bonefish film project. After a few weeks of tossing ideas back and forth it was clear we were going to have to make this thing happen. We started off the planning process with the usual bonefish locations in mind, but then decided to pick a place not too many people think of as a fly fishing destination, the French island of Guadeloupe. 

Up until this point there had been talk about joining forces between Backwater Fly Fishing and my own project Water’s Edge Media. Although we weren’t sure exactly how this whole thing would pan out, we booked our plane tickets, some rental cars, and a cheap crash pad—and never looked back. This balls to the wall approach to this trip is what lead to the creation of our joint platform Broke and Fly Productions.

While my friends and I had to chill out in Denmark the entire time before catching our direct flight from Paris to Guadeloupe, Jesse and his friend Micah made the best of a two day layover in Ft. Lauderdale by chasing some peacock bass and Mayan cichlids on the fly. Lucky bastards! 

Now once we all met up on the island the stoke was high and we couldn’t wait to get out on the water and chase some bonefish. While we did see plenty of tailing bonefish on the flats day after day, we couldn’t have been more wrong about the catch-ability of these fish. After the first few days, we still had yet to land one of these stubborn fish.

Despite the tough fishing, the trip was a great time for Jesse and I to finally meet. Believe it or not, before this trip we had never fished together; however, after the week was over we were already planning what our next adventure would be and how we were going to make this whole joint project work out in the long run. With the same outlook on life and comedy, we knew it would come together one way or another.

Once the trip was done and we all got back to our busy lives, the real work of editing a film out of a bunch of nonsense and no fish began. I gotta say, Jesse is a cool guy with a lot of rad ideas when it comes to editing. Surprisingly, we found ourselves coming up with the same thought about clips and angles which made the editing process a blast. Well, after Skyping for pretty much a month straight we felt like we had made some progress on the video and solidified our Broke and Fly platform.

Looking back, I have to say this whole adventure was an absolute blast! We already have big plans for our next project and hope to continue working with one another to see where this friendship leads. Chances are there will be plenty more crappy beers, cheap tequilas, and fish-less days. But hell, that is what this Broke and Fly thing is all about!

Good question, Broke and Fly Productions is a brand new project put together by Peter Husted from Waters Edge Media and Jesse Males from Backwater Fly Fishing. Together we started Broke and Fly Productions at brokeandfly.com to prove that you don’t need a million bucks in camera gear or some exotic film location just to make sweet fly fishing related content.

GUADELOUPE is their first project featuring the highlights of our exploratory fly fishing film trip to the island of…you guessed it…Guadeloupe.

Follow them on social media or check them out at brokeandfly.com.