Flyfishing for bonefish begins with deciding on flyfishing,
spinning or baitfishing. If you choose spinning, many guides will
take you bait fishing to maximize your chances of hooking up and hooking
up with big fish. But you can spin with small swimming plugs, tiny jigs
(what's a clouser anyway?) and even very small soft baits like the sluggo
type. 
(More on this type of fishing
below.)
However, most bonefishing is the pursuit of flyfishers, men and women determined to cast tiny shrimplike offerings to extremely wary bottom feeders in very shallow water. Preferably under bright sun and windless conditions. If the fish senses your presence, it leaves for someplace a mile away. If it takes your fly, it leaves for someplace a mile away. Otherwise, it feeds constantly as it swims upstream watching the bottom for shrimp, crabs, worms, gobies, clams, snails and insects. And that's a good place to begin, choosing the fly.
1) Shrimp Imitators: Gotcha!, Crazy Charlie, Puff,
Horror, and all the other shrimplike offerings that are found in the books
ae potentially the "right" fly. It's best to bring an assortment
of at least the first two in sizes #6 to #1. Andros bones can run big and
you'll likely use up the #2's and #4's long before the #6's. The other consideration
is the weight of the fly. You'll probably be fishing most of the time in
about two feet of water. Try tying different flies that sink to this depth
in about a six count or a touch less. Use dumbbells, bead chain, blind (no
eyes), and plastic beads for different sink rates and size eyes. Also make
up your flies in different colors but here you can be conservative. Stick
to tan, pink, pale gold and white in that order and you should do fine.
Bringing only one fly? Make it a #4, tan with brass eyes, Gotcha and you'll
probably be right half the time. The other fly pattern to bring is a small
clouser with like minded varying size eyes. Tie these in yellow/white and
green (chartreuse or olive)/yellow on #4 - #1 hooks. These are your bigger
fish flies and can sink well in the occasional four feet of water you'll
find in channel centers between the mangroves.
Leaders:
2) Shorter for windy days and longer when it's still. this makes sense from both a casting perspective and delivery. On a windy day there is more chop on the water to hide a fly's introduction. On calmer days, that little blip of the landing fly may be over whelmed by the line landing nearby. Bring leader bulk in the following sizes: #30, #20, #14, #10. I've found that the best leaders for all-purpose are about ten feet long plus about a two foot tippet. Tie these of six feet of #30 to four feet of #20 and then a tippet of #14 flouro has worked well to turn flies over in a breeze yet not spook fish. You can build a finer, smoother leader from; six feet of #30, three feet of #20, two of #14 plus tippet of #10 or #12 but this may fail to roll over in a breeze. Or perhaps you are a better caster than I, that could certainly be the case. which brings me to the next topic. Line.
3) Floating is the rule but you should bring an intermediate sinking in case you want to fish for jacks in deeper channel centers or drive into the wind along an ocean shore or fish the barrier reef, which is about eight feet deep. Many of us Northeast Striper fishermen almost never use a floating line duting the season and have little experience tossing one upwind. My advice, if you've gotten used to throwing something that actually has weight to it, is to practice a lot before you leave for the Bahamas. Trying to get a floating line to roll over in an eight knot breeze can be very frustrating while you are also trying to drive it fifty feet (plus a long leader) and the fish are spooky. Bonefishing needn't be a difficult task but not having a feel for a floating line makes it tougher than it has to be. You may also want to practise actually trying to land a fly in a small circle, like a trash can lid at varying distances and angles. If you can do this in three or five false casts (one front, two back, etc.), double hauling the last two, with any kind of frequency, you'll have a great time on the bonefish flats. If not, you'll learn there and I'm assuming that you'd rather not go through this while your guide is watching and being patient and the fish are swimming by and you're choking like crazy. Hey, it happens. So why not get ready and save the hassle?
One more note. Try buying and casting a floating line one weight heavier than your rod. This could be a real boon to loading your rod with a short line or in the fewest number of false casts. Some rods handle this heavier line well, some do not. Experimentation is the only teacher but this is a worthwhile experiment. If it works, you may find yourself using it every day on the flats and not just on the windy days.
Standing on the foredeck:
4) When it's your turn to fish, you'll take the front
of the boat and ready yourself. I recommend stripping out
about as much line as you can cast reliably and then casting it so that
you can strip it back onto itself in the right order (last on top). Then
you'll want to leave about thirty feet of line and leader hanging from the
rod tip in a loop as you take up the fly in your rod hand. This will leave
a big loop trailing from your rod tip beside the boat but not so far back
as to interfere with poling and boat turns. When the guide spots a fish
(you won't for a while and so trusting and following directions while blind
is a real asset for awhile) you'll drop the fly and make a roll cast aft
to straighten the line before making your first forward false cast.
The fish could be as close as ten feet in front of you and coming right at the boat, in which case you'll want to be comfortable making a little forward cast and crouching to lower your profile. This happens more than you'd think, probably because the guide is watching the limits of his vision and one just gets through every once in a while, coming right at you. These can be very nice fish, good sized and you'll want to make a good presentation. This may be one of the hardest casts to make. Practise ten to twenty foot fly line casts and you'll be happy you did.
Often the fish is quartering past the boat at ten or
two o'clock and perhaps thirty to forty feet away. This
usually gives you time to roll cast back, false cast forward, haul back
and haul forward as you deliver the line. It's always better to take one
more pair of false casts than to drop the fly short. The caveat to this
is that the guide can see both the fish and your fly in midair. We (I) are
accustomed to to seeing the line and not tiny flies. It often happens that
right at the end of a false cast, just as you are about to haul back, the
guide says, "let it drop" because he can see your fly will land
in a good spot. If you don't think it's hard NOT to follow through on your
intended action of hauling back once you've decided to do so then you've
never been in this situation. I can only say, it feels very unnatural and
the only way to get used to stopping yourself unexpectedly is to have a
friend surprise you this way while you practise. Very long casts are not
the rule because it's hard to see fish at eighty or a hundred feet and because
it's hard to launch a line that far. The twenty to fifty foot zone, in a
light breeze with accuracy, is your target.
Once the fly has landed you must let it sink. Bonefish are looking down and if the fly isn't down, they don't see it. Let it sink for four to eight seconds, even longer if the bottom is clean and the fish a ways off or the cast a bit far in front of the fish, before you make your first strip. You must let the bonefish approach within a few feet of your fly before you move it. When you strip and it's likely to be on command of your guide, ( " . . . wait . . . strip . . . strip . . . wait . . . long strip") you will be jumping the fly a foot or two to make it look like it's fleeing and then resting it on the bottom again. By the way, the "long strip" is when the guide sees the fish has picked up your fly and you're setting the hook. This is usually about one full second after the fish has tipped down and inhaled the fly. You may even see its tail leave the water. Tailing is the feeding posture of bonefish while they are digging out food or picking it up. It is unnatural for shrimp or crabs to move when the fish are close. That's why you move your fly at a distance to make it visible and then wait for the fish to come to it while it rests. I've seen ten pounders race across four feet of open flats to inhale a fly that's settling back down and I've seen three pounders ignore a moving fly within a foot of them. It must look natural.
Of course, all this may be happening while you're wading instead.
Then your angle on the fish isn't so great and you aren't as likely to see
them as far away unless they're: tailing, traveling in a school (as at left)
or flashing in the sun but then you're also closer to the fish and can be
steadier in your casting. Just remember, where there are bonefish there
are sharks. It's always good, right after hookup, to look around and size
up the competition!
While wading you're also more likely to stalk fish or ambush fish than when casting from the deck of a boat. The boat is likely to be drifting down current, the fish working up current towards you. Wading, you will be walking slowly along watching for telltail tailing or muds where they are rooting around and kicking up sediment or even just swimming by you. The bottom in most places is fairly solid, either hard smooth coral, hard sharp coral or coral sand. No problem with sinking in but walking quietly on any rough surface is important and wading shoes are essential.
A bonefish's only defense is vigilance and speed. They have lots of both but they are also constantly feeding and so preoccupied with other important matters to their survival. It's a little like turkey hunting. They both have great vision but they are looking for something more important to the continuance of there species, hence your advantage.
Hooking up:
5) Once they have your fly, and barbs really
aren't necessary and are actually undesirable, they will accelerate away
toward deeper water and safety. This first run is a real surprise if you've
never hooked up before. DON'T try to stop them! This is when even a three
pound fish will break off fourteen pound tippet. They have all the power
of millions of years of evolution and they won't be held back. Actually,
they'll break you off on the second or third run too. Even when you have
them near the boat, when they want to go you have to let them. That's why
(*) folks fish for bonefish after all. They are undeniable
in their power for their size. Bonefish have been clocked at twenty six
miles an hour, most boats plane at eighteen!
Let them run. Use your drag and your palm too if you want but let them run 'til they stop. A five pounder can take a hundred yards of backing if it wants to. I've seen them take good fishermen with big reels to the spool. But they have a weakness. When they stop, they'll let you reel back half your line or more with little or no resistance. If you want them to stop, then you must stop resisting their flight! That's right, reduce the drag to nearly nothing and they will slow and stop quickly. Pull against them and they will pull back. Simple as that. If it's truely a big fish, eight or more, you'd better lighten the drag and feather the reel with your fingertips or else they'll hit the end of your backing and just keep going. (Which brings up a good point of tippet versus backing. Be sure the weakest point in your line is in front of your fly line or else you can loose it all!)
Even when they are close they will break off if you grab the leader too soon. Regrettably, you must tire this fish to bring it to hand to release. But, you don't really want to bring it to hand. It seems that if you touch the fish it creates a slim and a scent that sharks can use to track and hunt the fish down. Therefore, you want to bring it to the side of the boat where, since you don't have a barb on your hook, you can slip it free with your fingertips or a hemostat and save the fishes life in the process. Hooked deep? Snip the tippet. After all, a fish that fights that well ought to fight another day (even if the odds that it will meet another fisherman in it's life are extremely slim.)
Big fish, Little fish:
6) My friend Joe is fond of saying that any fish is a good fish. True enough. Joe and I are both charter captains here on Cape Cod and have taken a lot of people to a lot of fish. Big and small. If you're looking for big bonefish, like anywhere else, you have to play the odds. You'll have to look at a lot of fish, and then you'll have to be looking in the right direction to see the big ones as they go by (we're talking ten pounds plus here). The guide will help, but you can too. I've seen big bones go by because they were so big we (both the guide and I) thought they were small sharks when we first saw them. Sharks swim with an undulating motion from head to tail, bonefish use only their tails. If you aren't sure what you're looking at, ask for confirmation, and be false casting while you are. On Andros, if you want fish that have never seen people, that are big and wild, all or nothing fish, ask to be taken to the western shore of the island when the wind is down. This is where the fish are undisturbed because they are forty miles from any people. There they are surrounded by wild mangroves and the atlantic ocean, and absolutely as naive as a fish could be to the hook. Otherwise, you might optimize your chances for big fish by tying on a big fly. This means you may sacrifice a good chance at many smaller good fish in order to get a chance at a big one. It kind of defeats the purpose of having fun but everything is a tradeoff. For the big ones, try: clousers on #1 hooks and big eyes to get down; crabs (especially swimming crabs), and goby patterns ( including those gobies that live in conchs (brown/grey) common to the flats). Tying on a big fly is an invitation to frustration when a lot of smaller fish go by or are spooked by your offering. But everything is a choice. If you see a big one, you'll want the right fly to turn their head. Otherwise, I'd recommend you enjoy the day and catch whatever you find to cast to with a smaller fly. Why not?
| Spinning: |
7) I'd always recommend bringing along spinning tackle, even if flyfishing is your first love. There are times, windy days and big fish and other species that are simply more available to the spinning enthusiast than the fly caster.
Equipment: I like to have two setups ready for spinfishing. The first is an ultra-light setup, short whippy rod, good smooth drag reel and about eight pound test line for trying the jacks, snappers, 'cuda and even the bonefish. The other is a medium/heavy casting rod about seven feet long and a good quality big spool reel capable of holding a couple of hundred yards of 14# test line. This second rod is for bigger jacks, snapper, 'cuda of five pounds or more and does passable duty on sharks and tarpon up to five feet.
Lures: I've been trying a lot of different approaches over the years
and this is what I've learned. Warm water fish don't expect an easy meal.
That translates out to anything that isn't hiding or swimming away as fast
as it can looking unnatural. Regrettably, the soft jerkbaits just don't
work. But fast swimming plugs with a lot of wobble and flash do. Be sure
to bring silver, silver/blue rattletraps or the like. These have proven
out very well on jacks, snapper, tarpon and perhaps shark (got spooled one
night by something very big!) I've also found that Yo-Zuri crystal minnows
in blue/silver (C58) work well, as do Bombers in "Red Gill" and
silver. Rapala sliver needlefish also do well, particularly on 'cuda over
the reef. I haven't found spoons, jigs or spinners to do particularly well
or consistently with the exception of jigs along the barrier reef for grouper
and snapper. You will want to make up some tube lures for barracuda. These
are only a red tube with a couple of hooks on a wire leader. Retrieved as
fast as possible, it's thunder and lightning on the 'cuda! Poppers also
do well on sharks.
Technique: Straightforward. Fish swimming lures the way you would expect to but be sure to try at night along docks, bridges and shorelines, especially if there is a light to attract the bait. A constant retrieve is usually better than stop and pause. Be prepared to catch large fish with sharp teeth and bring flashlights, pliers and the camera or the cooler if you are planning to sample the local fare. You only need steel for 'cuda and the general advice is not to eat any. I eat 'cuda less than three pounds and caught away from the barrier reef where the most toxin concentrating little fish live and are eaten by the cuda in turn. You can, sometimes, get a reluctant 'cuda to hit by floating a swimming lure and barely trembling it. Otherwise, more speed of return is usually the ticket for most species.
Bait Fishing:
Bring hooks, snaps and leader material and wire. Hooks size: #8 34007's to #12/0 long shank circle for everything from Bonefish to Lemon and Blacktip Shark. The local bait for bones with the Bahamians that are handlining them (that's right!) is conch or pieces of crab they catch along the shoreline. If you baitfish with a guide, he'll most likely use shrimp for both bait and chum. Very effective. On your own, you can improvise but remember, if you're chumming, you don't want to be wading too because you will attract sharks and maybe barracuda and rays too.
Baitfishing for jacks, snapper, grouper, 'cuda and rays is much the same. Either chum or don't and toss out an offering in their locale. They aren't very shy of biting what smells like food (in desperation, I've broken tiny snails to catch the first fish which I then used for chunks to catch bigger fish.) Barracuda have a particular love of needlefish. The red tube and swimming lures and flies that look like needlefish work the best. Long pieces of needlefish, pulled across their path is dynamite to them, especially up current where they can smell it. You can catch needlefish with small lures, flies or bits of bait pulled across their path too. Rays have stingers on the top of their tail just behind their body. These are formidable weapons. If you catch one, cut the leader at a distance and let the (barbless) hook drop out on its own.
Shark. Lemon sharks will be in evidence every day you fish. Where
you find a school of bones, you'll find a lemon and a couple of 'cuda around
the edges. One of the fishing methods that Joe and I worked out while
fishing in a rented boat was to share the possiblilities. Whoever was in
the bow was fly fishing for bonefish until they caught one and then we switched.
The person in the back was poling and spotting and had spinning rods available
to them for barracuda and shark. The barracuda rod had a red tube on it
and it worked consistently. The heavier rod for shark had twenty pound line,
six feet of doubled line in a bimini twist leading to two feet of #80 steel
braid tied to a #12/0 long shank circle hook with a figure eight knot. The
hook was baited with a chunk of cuda (head) or jack. This pole lay in the
bottom of the boat until a shark swam by. We then cast out front of the
shark and when it scented the bait it turned, took it and swam away. One
that did this tail walked in two feet of water when I set the hook! That's
it on the right. About five feet long and it weighed, well, we weren't about
to mess with it and a scale but it swam off unhurt, if a bit confused.
Blacktips are more of an ocean shark and actually showed some interest in lures while not finally hitting them (Yo-Zuri's) and a bit of "scent" might have done the trick. They are considered more of an opportunity to take on the fly when chumming with a butterflied 'cuda and are also considered a more dangerous shark to wade with. Haven't caught one yet but will this next trip because they're also considered better tasting!
Spearing:
I've had some invites to spearfish with the locals. I haven't tried this yet, but they typically go for lobsters. Remember, if you're interested in this, the smell of food in the water turns every sea creature into a prospective predator and the sharks and 'cuda even more so. Nonetheless, the locals seem to do quite well without mishap and perhaps we shouldn't bring our "jaws" mentality with us. Still . . .
Fishing REgs.
Permits are obtained from Customs officials at ports of entry. Fishing
gear is restricted to hook and
line and you may not fish with more than six rods at a time. Bag limits
are as follows:
Lobster or Crawfish: Six tails per person, at any time. Annual closed
season is April 1 to July 31.
Minimum size limits are 3-3/8 inch carapace length or six inches tail length.
Egg-bearing female
crawfish are protected.
Conch: Harvesting and possession of conch without a well formed lip is
prohibited. Bag limit at
any time is 10 per person.
Wahoo/Dolphin/Kingfish: Six fish per person, any combination.
Vessel Bag Limit: 20 pounds of scalefish, 10 conch and six crawfish per
person may be exported
from The Islands Of The Bahamas.
Stone Crabs: Closed season is June 1 to October 15. Minimum harvestable
claw is four inches.
Harvesting of females is prohibited.
Turtle: Illegal to import; although legal to eat in The Islands Of The Bahamas.
Spearfishing: Hawaiian sling is the only approved spearfishing device.
Use of scuba gear or
air compressor to harvest fish, conch, crawfish and other marine animals
is prohibited.
Spearfishing is not allowed within one mile off the coast of New Providence,
within one mile off
the south coast of Freeport, Grand Bahama and within 200 yards of the coast
of all Out Islands.
Spearing or taking marine animals by any means is prohibited within national
sea parks.
*Folks also fish for dinner on Andros. That's right. This may not be wise around the States but on Andros when you see someone on shore watching you fish and you're about to release one, you might want to shout over and ask them if they'd like it. On Andros, a bonefish is a nice meal and offering one to a watching Androsian is just polite. They won't complain if you don't. They won't complain about anything and are friendly to a fault. But if you do offer and they do accept, then you've given a gift of value and been a good neighbor. If you want to try one yourself, I suggest you have an Androsian show you their way of cleaning the fish, not so unusual at that - scaling, gutting, quartering. There are some tricks to aligning the bones. They have more than enough bones to warrant their name. "Grab their tail in your teeth and pull their head" was one recommendation I tried. It helped! You can marinate them, broil them, stew them and fry them. They're bony and pretty good fair if you like fresh fish but I prefer 'cuda or jack fillets more.
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