Wayne Walts and The Troutfitter Crew from Central New York joined us at Andros South for a couple of weeks this month, and Wayne shared some good knowledge we thought we’d pass on to all of you.
In his more than 25 years of fishing on South Andros for bonefish, Wayne’s seen some interesting stuff. He spoke of multiple times he has seen bonefish beach themselves when being pursued by a shark. The bonefish would beach themselves, lay on the beach dead still for an honest minute and a half, and then flop back in the water and swim away safely.
Fish story? That’s up for you to decide, but there is a lesson in this story that can help us be better anglers.
Bonefish are good at getting away from sharks! When a shark is in hot pursuit of a bonefish on the end of your line, loosen your drag and let the fish run. Give the bonefish a chance to get away from the shark – watch, learn, and possibly even land the fish afterward.
This happened to me in close quarters while fishing the mangroves of the Bahamas. Loosened the drag let the shark make his attack and the bonefish jumped right out of the water, very impressive trout move. We were able to scare the shark out of the area with the push pole. Hopped out of the skiff and released a healthy bonefish and spent the next 15 minutes unwinding my line from under, in and out of the mangroves. True Mangrove Therapy.
Very cool, Robin. Thanks for the story!
Similar experience, except with a harbor seal, and coho’s and pink’s on the tidal waters around Homer, AK, fishing with a fly rod and Clouser minnows. I had found pods of coho and pinks working the shorlines, getting into quite a few fish. I had hooked a coho, which caught the attention of a couple harbor seals which were also working the pods. I tried to horse the fish in to keep them away from the seals, failed miserably. Seal was able to easily catch that fish, and we played several minutes of tug-o’ war and keep way before the seal had finally had enough, grabbed the fish, and went out to sea. after 200 yds of backing gone and the arbor beginning to expose, I decided I had had enough too, clamped down, and broke the leader off. The seal then proceeded to play with and dismember the carcass in front of me…. Talk about the proverbial middle finger….
Two days later, I hooked what turned out to be a fresh pink, and when once again the seals took notice of the flashin’ and crashin’, I reached down, loosened the drag, and let that pink out run them for it’s self. Which it was to do q The fish was well into the backing when the seals finally gave up, let that fish set out there in light tension for a while, and reeled it in once the seals had left the estuary. Fresh fish in the cooler!
That is an awesome story, Michael. Thanks!