This is a photo of legendary flats guide Charlie Sweeting holding a large bonefish. After you admire the fish, I want you to take a second and just look at the mouth of the Bonefish. There are some unique things about their mouth that influence how we fish for them.
- The angle of the mouth. It is pointed down. This is because they eat off the bottom, oftentimes digging into the sand/mud to look for food. If you have a fish following your fly and you notice its body dip down or see its tail pop up, set the hook as it just ate your fly!
- Bones. Their mouths are bony. In order to secure your hook into their hard mouth, you have to strip set. Simply lifting the rod trip can work on the soft mouth of a trout but won’t get the job done on a bonefish.
- No teeth. Bonefish do not have teeth. They have some crushers way back in there for helping them eat hard-shelled crabs or shrimp but they do not have any teeth. You can safely just pop the hook out without risking any unplanned finger amputations.
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