Fly fishing for bonefish means always being ready, and those of you who have joined us at Andros South know exactly what we’re talking about. In fact, we’ve written many times before about the importance of a good ‘ready position‘ on the flats – an ample supply of line on the deck, a decent length off the tip to start the cast, and hyper-focused eyes scanning the flat ahead for hungry critters.
So why the heck is the angler pictured above wearing waders? Well, that’s the ‘ready position’ our guests at Rapids Camp Lodge have to be in when oversized Alaskan rainbow trout are busting smolts.
Every year from mid June through late July on the Naknek River, millions of salmon smolt make their way to the ocean. Large voracious trout await this migration only to force the massive schools of immature salmon to the shallows creating a violent ‘bust’ on the surface of the water. The bust is typically observed upstream of the boat, allowing a savvy angler to cast into the boiling water indicative of smolt running for their lives. Surface skaters or flashy subsurface streamers are the ammunition of choice as the busts roll by the boat, with casts anywhere from ten to eighty feet needed to deliver the meal.
Couple that with dive bombing birds trying to get in on the action and you’ve got a scene more similar to open saltwater fishing for bluefish or striped bass than your traditional trout fishery. Believe it.
The fish? They’re nearly saltwater-sized too! During the bust, it’s not uncommon to pick up numerous fish in the 24 inch range with some specimens stretching the tape to a whopping 30 inches and occasionally weighing in at ten plus pounds..
You just have to be ready.
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