This Should Work.
Bonefish
Quigley’s Bonefish Tickler
Here’s another fly we think you should add to your box for South Andros Island – Quigley’s Bonefish Tickler by Idylwilde.
Why We Like It
- It works in a range of water depths. It’s on the smaller side for South Andros (#4), but its small lead eyes sink it quickly.
- It’s very sparsely dressed, which helps it enter the water without too much of a ‘plop’.
- It’s essentially built around rubber legs, and our fish love rubber legs.
- It’s relatively light colored but has quite a bit of contrast. We’ve used it with success on both lighter- and darker-colored bottoms.
Love/Hate Relationship
Another thing we love about this fly has to do with your fly selection during the course of a day of bonefishing. Something about its shape and color combination (maybe the orange legs?) gets a strong reaction, one way or the other.
We saw two responses to this fly on South Andros. 9 times out of 10, fish lit up as soon as they saw it, and raced to pounce on it like a kitten to a ball of string. 1 time out of 10, they blasted away at Mach 2 when it got anywhere near them.
In our fishery that’s actually great – blowing 1 shot out of 10 is not a big deal, because you’ll have plenty more. The aggressive positive reaction we got most of the time was really fun and really effective. And back to the fly selection topic – based on our experience you never need to ask yourself “hmmm, was that a refusal?” They’re probably going to love it, but if they happen to hate it on that particular flat, just change up and move on.
More Gear for South Andros
They’re Not That Picky
Most of the time, the bonefish on South Andros Island are not that picky.
What Does That Mean?
It means that if you get your fly selection in the ballpark and present reasonably, most of the time you’re not going to get refusals. The photo above is a great example – that’s 15 pound Maxima tippet tied to a 4″ long shrimp pattern. It was a very aggressive eat.
Why Is That?
The fishery on South Andros is mind-numbingly huge, but not a lot of anglers are out there each day. These fish just don’t see many flies, so most of the time they tend to climb right on.
Why Do You Keep Saying “Most of the Time”?
It wouldn’t be fun if it was too easy, right? The very big fish are also very smart, and they can be harder to feed. When the weather gets funky the fish can get unhappy – still catchable, but not so easy always.
But overall, it’s one of the things that we love about South Andros – get your fly selection in the ballpark and present reasonably, and he’s probably going to eat it!
If you like bonefishing, check out our big directory of posts about bonefishing on our site!
More on South Andros
Bonefishing Tips – Oldies But Goodies
We’ve got over 1,000 posts on our blog, and though we try to keep things organized and easy to find…we realize that some of our articles get overlooked.
We’ve been putting out bonefishing tips since 2008, so if you’re a newcomer to our site there’s probably some good ‘old’ bonefishing content that you’ve been missing. All of these articles were posted more than 2 years ago!
5 Old But Good Bonefishing Tips
- Bruce Chard’s Bonefish Rig. Bruce teaches our bonefishing schools at Andros South, and this is a super detailed, knot-by-knot description of how he sets himself up to chase bonefish.
- Upwind, Shoot Line Into Your Backcast. An advanced-level casting tip from Josie Sands, master guide on South Andros.
- Tips on Casting in the Wind. Bruce returns with advice on how to deal with that nearly-ever-present buddy on the flats whose name starts with ‘w’.
- 7 Reasons This Fly Works on South Andros Island. We dissect an example fly and tell you what bonefish on South Andros like.
- 5 Ways to Blow a Shot at a Bonefish. We tell you how to catch bonefish by telling you how to not catch bonefish. Or something like that.
Where to Apply These Tips
Bonefishing Gear Roundup
Judging by the number of folks we’re hearing from recently, an awful lot of you are in the middle of planning your bonefishing trips for the upcoming season.
One very important part of trip planning is getting your gear ready to go, so we figured it was a good time for a roundup of some of our most popular posts about gear for bonefishing.
Top 10 Posts on Bonefishing Gear
- Bonefish Flies – 5 Favorites for South Andros. If you bring these 5, you’ll be fine.
- How to Pack for Your Day of Bonefishing. What goes on your person, in your pack and in your boat bag.
- Sage Xi3 Field Test. Our original test was on Puget Sound, but it’s a go-to for Andros.
- Veverka’s Mantis Shrimp. Bob Veverka himself wrote up this background on his legendary fly.
- 7 Reasons This Fly Works on South Andros Island. We take one fly that works and tell you why it does.
- Smith Ignitor Lens. It’s our current favorite lens for the flats.
- Reels for Bonefishing – 5 Things to Look For. No explanation needed.
- Bonefish Leader Design and Construction Video. Watch this if you haven’t already! It’s incredibly informative no matter how much you think you know.
- Barracuda Flies for the Bahamas. It’s another Bruce Chard video, back to back.
- Your Quiver for South Andros. We break down the must-have, nice-to-have and dream rods for our fishery.
