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Bonefish

4 Ways to Spook Fewer Bonefish

Spooking Bonefish
Mellow bonefish = happy angler. Photo: Adam Kryder

If you freak out a bonefish to the point where he thinks his life’s about to end, you’re much less likely to get him to eat your fly.

Keep those bonefish mellow, mon!

How To Not Spook Bonefish

  1. Fish lighter flies.  One problem with fly selection in a place like South Andros is that our big fish want big flies, but most big commercially tied bonefish flies are designed for the Florida Keys where deep water is the norm – so they’re way too heavy for our fishery.  Heavy flies make a loud sound when they enter the water.  If the water’s less than 18″ or so deep, stick with bead chain eyes or small lead eye flies.
  2. Cast a little shorter.  If you could choose between too long a cast and too short a cast, too short a cast is almost always better.  If you cast too long, you’re really likely to line the fish, which is really likely to send him looking for Mommy.  If you cast too short (especially if the fish is coming towards you), you might be able to just leave the fly and let the fish swim up to it.  Too short is almost always better than too long.
  3. False cast off target.  If you must make false casts in the vicinity of the fish (the fewer the better!), make sure you’re off to one side or the other.  Making a false cast right over the fish’s head will create a scary shadow (birds eat bonefish), and will spray water on to the surface of the flat (not a natural thing at all).  Keep your false casts at least 15 feet to either side of the fish – or just stop false casting!
  4. Be quiet.  Don’t slosh your feet in the water when you’re wading.  Don’t wear flats boots on the deck of a skiff (squeak, squeak).  Don’t slam the lid of the cooler.  Don’t drop your bottle of Kalik – set it down softly.

More Bonefishing Tips

Fly Tying – Be Creative

Sly's Shrimp
Sly’s Little Lisa. Photo: Jordan Sly

Jordan Sly is back today with a little diddy on fly tying.

Be Creative When You’re Tying Flies

Some of my first memories growing up were sitting on my grandpa’s lap, my hands in his, tying flies at his vise. He hardly ever used known patterns – he just tried to match organisms found in the environment that he thought the fish were feeding on. I learned a lot from my grandpa, and this is one that still sticks with me today when I sit in front of my vise.

When I tie I try to have fun, and add my own twists. Certain known patterns work great, and I’m not saying don’t tie those – I’m just encouraging you to be creative. Last week I spent some time tying up a couple dozen camp flies for Andros South – some standards like Tan Gotchas, Peterson’s Spawning Shrimp, a couple Charlies – but I got bored tying repetitive patterns so I started to mix it up a little. I started blending the wings to make them mottled, changing body materials from the standards, adding rubber legs…

I gave one of these to a client last week and he said he would give it a try. When he got back that night he told me that he used it all day and didn’t have one fish turn off it, instead everything that saw it charged it with force. Of course everyone else heard about this in camp, so I tied up some more. All I did was combine the body material of a Charlie with the shape of a Peterson, and a little touch of my own.

I’m not saying I’m a great tier, I’m saying that after you tie a couple of the standards I encourage you to be a little creative. Look at the standards, what makes them work so well? Take that knowledge and use it with something that doesn’t have that element. I think you’ll find that not only do you enjoy tying it more, but also you’ll enjoy fishing it more.

More on Fly Tying

Selecting Bonefish Flies

Choosing Bonefish Flies by Louis Cahill Photography
Sparkles studies sizzle. Photo: Louis Cahill

How do you choose which bonefish fly to fish on any given flat?

Keep these three basic variables in mind – color, size/weight and sizzle!

Color

Most of the time, you want the color of your fly to basically match the color of the flat.

The match doesn’t need to be exact, but it should be in the ballpark.  White sand flats call for light colored flies.  Areas with lots of dark mud or limestone require dark tan or brown.  If you’re fishing around turtle grass, some olive wouldn’t hurt.

Why match the color of the flat?  Simple – the critters that bonefish eat need camouflage.  They tend to be the same color as the flats where they live.  A dark olive shrimp wouldn’t last too long on a stark white flat!

Size and Weight

Bigger fish and deeper water dictate bigger flies.  Skinny water calls for smaller flies – big heavy flies make a splash when they land and spook fish when the water’s shallow.

Size and weight are really closely related.  Large flies tend to be heavier for a couple of reasons.  First, they’re generally fished in deeper water so the extra weight is used to get to depth quicker.  Second, larger flies tend to be bulkier which makes more resistance in the water, so more weight is required to get the fly to land right-side up, and to get the fly to ‘ride right’ and stay right-side up when stripped.

How big and how heavy?  On South Andros our go-to flies tend to be #2s, tied with bead chain eyes or very small lead eyes.  Our smaller flies are #4s and #6s, tied with small bead chain eyes or mono eyes.  When we’re fishing bigger water and looking for big blackbacks, we like flies up to 1/0 with small lead eyes.

Sizzle

‘Sizzle’ isn’t a real term – here we’re talking about any of a number of attention-grabbing elements that might be tied into a fly.

Flash, striped rubber legs and a bright orange spawn sack are all examples of fly parts that can get a fish’s attention, and get an eat when you might not get one otherwise.  Even better, they can turn a tentative eat into a super-aggressive one – fun!

So why not tie all your flies with a bunch of flash, sparkly rubber legs and a neon spawn sack?  Because some times, and some places, bonefish hate them!  In places or situations when fish tend to be aggressive, a little sizzle is a great thing.  If you’re getting refusals or the fish are running from your fly like Justin Bieber runs from a barbershop, try a fly that’s a little more mellow.

At Andros South our fish tend to like flies with a lot of sizzle, but we still carry some boring, basic patterns for those days or those flats where the fish are acting a little pinchy.

Go Get ‘Em

And that’s that!  Match the color of the flat, pick an appropriate size and weight, and adjust sizzle as necessary.

More on Bonefish Flies

Bonefish Fly Selection for South Andros

Bonefish Fly Box by Louis Cahill Photography
You could throw a little pink in there too. Photo: Louis Cahill

We have quite a few posts on our blog about bonefish flies, but somehow we haven’t addressed head-on the topic of “I’m putting together a box of bonefish flies for my trip to Andros South – what should go in it?”  Today we answer that question!

Let’s keep a few things in mind as we get started.

  • Most of the time, our bonefish aren’t that picky.  Lots of different patterns work, so the majority of our sample box is going to be made up of types of patterns, groups of colors and ranges of weights – as opposed to specific patterns that you just must have.
  • That being said, there are a couple of patterns that we think you just must have, so we’re going to include them.
  • We like having some lighter flies for lighter-colored bottoms, and some darker flies for darker-colored bottoms.
  • It’s really important to have a range of weights for different water depths.  We fish a lot of shallow water so most of our flies will be pretty light.
  • We fish pretty big flies most of the time, so most of our flies might be bigger than what you’d think if you’ve chased bonefish elsewhere.

Your Bonefish Box for South Andros Island

OK, let’s build a box!  We’ll try to keep it to a somewhat reasonable 40 flies – plenty for a week-long trip.

General Purpose Go-To Patterns

  • 8 #2 Charlie/Gotcha/Shrimpy-type flies in white or light tan, with bead chain eyes or very small lead eyes, mostly with legs of some sort – example
  • 8 #2 Charlie/Gotcha/Shrimpy-type flies in darker tan or brown, maybe with some dark green, with bead chain eyes or very small lead eyes,  mostly with legs of some sort

Shallower Water

  • 4 #4 Charlie/Gotcha/Shrimpy-type flies in white or light tan, with small bead chain eyes, mostly with no legs – example
  • 4 #6 Charlie/Gotcha/Shrimpy-type flies in white or light tan, with small mono eyes or no eyes and no legs

Deeper Water/Big Fish/West Side

  • 4 #1 or #1/0 Charlie/Gotcha/Shrimpy-type flies in white or light tan, with lead eyes, all with legs of some sort – example
  • 4 #1 or #1/0 Charlie/Gotcha/Shrimpy-type flies in darker tan or brown, maybe with some dark green, with lead eyes, all with legs of some sort

Must Have Because They Work Really Well

And there you have it!  So many different types of flies work in our fishery that there are many great patterns that didn’t make our box (crab patters and baitfish patterns to name a couple).  But show up with a box like this one, and you’ll be really well-equipped for a week chasing bonefish on South Andros.

More on Gear for South Andros