Bonefish

Oct 13 2014

Bonefish Flies – Try Orange!

We’re pretty lucky at Andros South in that our bonefish aren’t all that picky when it comes to fly selection. Even during the height of our season, the bonefish population on South Andros receives very little pressure, and we’ve seen a number of patterns and colors get the job done over the years.

However, there are a few things we’ve found, specific to our fishery on South Andros, that have been proven productive day in and day out when selecting bonefish flies. One of these is incorporating subtle hints of orange into our flies.

Orange heads, rubber legs, tails, and so on incorporated into traditional bonefish flies seem to drive our fish crazy! Whether it imitates the egg sac of a spawning shrimp, or maybe is nothing more than a ‘hot spot’ that catches the fish’s attention, we’re not sure exactly.. What we do know however is that it catches fish, so we’ve learned to stop asking questions.

More on Bonefish Flies for South Andros

May 05 2014

Gotcha!

More on Bonefishing Gear

Dec 21 2013

The Shrimptruder

We swing a lot of flies while fishing in Alaska and B.C., and if you read our blog or hopefully visit with us at these locations, this is not news to you. When swinging for anadramous fish, we have been sold on Intruder-style flies for years. However, as the seasons turn there is a time of year when we have to put down our two handed rods and head for the bonefish flats (don’t worry, we’re not complaining!).

While spending a day at the vice searching for the next big bonefish fly, we got creative and spun a few up for some laughs. However, the best laugh may have come later on the flats when we found one that worked, and worked well! Enter the Shrimptruder.

Although at first glance the profile of the fly seems much larger than most “shrimp-style” bonefish flies, the sparseness of the rabbit wings fall back when stripped to create a transparent “shrimpy” look. In between strips however, the rabbit fibers are allowed to flare resulting in a lot of movement that seems to drive the bonefish crazy! On several occasions we have seen this action cause a fish to charge on a cast that didn’t land “quite close enough” (then again, that might just be a plug for how aggressive some of these South Andros bonefish can be).

What’s the moral of the story? Have some fun at the vise this season, stray from that “Gotcha” comfort zone, and get creative! Maybe even try fishing some Shrimptruders – we think you’ll enjoy it!

Bonefish and Shrimptruder — Proof. Photo: Kyle Shea

Out of respect for the true Intruder brain trust (Jerry French, Ed Ward, and Scott Howell), it should be noted that very little of this pattern is designed in true “Intruder fashion”. We just had fun creating a shrimp pattern that represented a similar looking profile.

More Fun on Andros

Oct 21 2013

3 Things to Look for in Your Andros Bonefish Fly

Andros Bonefish Fly by Louis Cahill Photography — Here’s one. Photo: Louis Cahill

OK, you’re going to chase Andros Island bonefish over the next 6 months, and you’re trying to decide which flies to bring along. We’ve written quite a few posts on the topic of bonefish flies, but today we’ll keep it simple.

South Andros Bonefish Flies – Three Things to Look For

No weedguard. Here’s an element of bonefish fly design we’ve never addressed before! Your flies for South Andros don’t need weedguards. Weedguards can keep your fly from snagging up on deeper, grassy-bottom flats – but we don’t have many deeper, grassy-bottom flats. Since weedguards can also lower your hookup rate we generally don’t recommend them. In fact, if we come across some flies with weedguards we tend to snip them off before they go in the box.
Big but light. South Andros bonefish are big, and big fish tend to like bigger meals. At the same time, though, we fish a lot of really shallow water since our fish tend not to be spooky. Most commercially available bonefish flies that are big enough for our bigger bonefish were tied with the Florida Keys in mind – in the Keys they often fish for bonefish in ~3 feet of water, so those flies are way too heavy for our flats on South Andros. Your go-to fly for South Andros is a #2 with bead chain eyes. A small fly is a #4 with small bead chain eyes. A big fly is a 1/0 with small lead eyes.
Rubber legs. Maybe it’s because they look like shrimp legs, or maybe it’s because they look like baby crab claws, or maybe it’s because they just waggle around and look crazy…we don’t know for sure but whatever the reason, South Andros bonefish love flies tied with rubber legs (or sili legs, or hackle tips as legs). Take pretty much any bonefish fly and add rubber legs to it, and it’ll work better on South Andros Island. The one exception to this rule would be small, light flies tied specifically for spooky fish in less than 6 inches of water.