We’ve given an awful lot of different casting advice to our guests at Andros South over the years. We could write a book!
That being said, there are some issues that we see over and over, and some advice that we give over and over.
If we had to pick our top 3 casting tips for anglers chasing bonefish on the flats, this would be the list.
- Speed is more important than distance. If you’re set up right, bonefish will be swimming towards you most of the time. Once you’ve located the fish and he’s within casting range, you need to get the fly there fast. Minimizing the number of false casts is critical – in most situations one false cast should be enough, and five false casts will mean the fish swam right by you. Cast aggressively, and get the fly there fast.
- Yes, double hauling helps a lot. Speaking of casting aggressively, yes, a double haul is pretty helpful on the flats. You’ll catch bonefish without a double haul, but if you’ve got time to brush up on one casting skill before your trip, work on your double haul if it’s not working well already.
- Don’t drop your rod tip when you deliver the fly. We see this syndrome on the flats all too often – an angler makes a couple of beautiful false casts, complete with a nice tight loop, then decides it’s time to deliver the fly and comes forward hard, thinking “I’m really going to punch it”. That attempt to apply power at the last second results in a much longer casting stroke; the high stop of the rod tip is lost, the tip of the rod drives the line down, and a gigantic, weak, wind-blown loop forms. When you deliver the fly, do it just like you did on those false casts – stop the rod tip high and don’t try to overpower the rod, and that nice tight loop will launch itself out there, no problem.
Get these three things right, and you’re going to put your fly in front of an awful lot of bonefish.
On South Andros, at least.
That is an awesome shot that captures the essence of the sport!