Something in here’s gotta work.
Compared to most in the bonefishing world, the flies that we like to fish on South Andros tend to be an unusual combination of big and light. For anglers wanting to load up a fly box before their trip, that can make it a little hard to buy commercially available flies – most widely available bonefish flies are either light enough but too small (probably designed for places like Belize and Christmas Island), or big enough but too heavy (probably designed for the Florida Keys).
Here are 5 flies that are pretty widely available that will work great on South Andros Island.
- Tan Gotcha Yeah, we know, everybody knows about the Gotcha, and tan is a very popular color in a lot of places. What’s a little harder to find is the #2 size tied with bead chain eyes (not lead eyes) – that’s the one you want.
- Veverka’s Mantis Shrimp This fly is a great default option when you’re fishing a flat that has a mottled bottom, with some dark areas and some light areas. It’s got a relatively neutral coloration that seems to stick out enough but not too much. It’s really buggy looking, and it’s got those rubber legs that our fish love. #2 is the workhorse, and #4 is nice for shallower water.
- Solitude Para Vida Here’s the exception to the big fly rule. This fly in tan and #8 is a nice one to have in your box if you’re doing some inland wading – walking in to super-skinny water that might barely get your ankles wet. Fish in really shallow water are sensitive to heavy flies hitting the surface of the water, so an unweighted, very small fly is your go-to here.
- Idyl’s Woolly Crab When you’re fishing in deeper water (deeper for us means maybe 2-3 feet) and specifically targeting bigger fish, say on the West Side of South Andros, a crab pattern is a great option. This fly is tied with lead eyes, but that’s OK here for 2 reasons – the lead is necessary to get the relatively bulky body to sink…and you’re fishing this one in deeper water. Tan is good.
- Peterson Spawning Shrimp Our fish aren’t that picky, but there’s something about a spawning shrimp pattern than seems to drive them bonkers. Again, #2 is your go-to size. Note that, contrary to this description on the linked site, this fly is typically tied with small lead eyes (not bead chain eyes), which are necessary to make the relatively bulky fly ‘ride right’ when stripped.
Solid bit Andrew. There is something about bonefish flies that gets me more pumped than any other pattern. In the Northwest our angling focus centers mainly on steelhead. I bonefish, on average, once every two years. Regardless, if I had to kill some time on a cold and rainy winter night, I'd set up the vise and and sport tie a bunch of shrimp. Why this is, I don't know.
Best Guides in the World are on S Andros, the Best.
Hi Guys: The photos are nice but when you talk about flies that are not household names, it would be nice to include, at minimim, a list of materials needed to tie these flies. FYI. I have contacted Idylwilde asking for the dressing of Petersons Spawning Shrimp but am apparently being politely ignored. Would have purchased one, but postage is much more than the cost of the fly from their retail distributors. Be nice to have materials for the other patterns as well. The photos are nice and most of us can produce reasonable facsimilies. If the dressings are not available than really, the blog is just glorified advertising for the company.
Best regards, Frank
And for what it is worth, (aside from my comment above) I really enjoy reading the blog. My note should be read as “constructive critism” since I’m certain others must feel the same way about the flies you mention.
Hi Frank, thanks for your comments.
We get asked all the time by our guests “which flies should I buy to bring on my trip with you”. That’s the question that we’re trying to answer in most of our “favorite fly” posts. We have separate posts that include quite a bit of detail on tying – that’s just not what we’re focused on in this particular series. I know it would be nice to have the detail, but it’d be quite a bit of work to include tying information each time we mention a fly.
That link to the Peterson Spawning Shrimp was from Orvis, not Idylwilde. Here are a couple of links I found with recipes for you.
http://www.flytyingforum.com/contestPattern3797.html
http://www.washingtonflyfishing.com/board/showthread.php/37109-Peterson-Spawning-Shrimp
Happy tying, and thanks again for the input.