Bonefish Beginnings

Fish

Not long after that he was showing me how to clean my first flounder, caught off a dock in Maine. This was a heavier fish, a bigger prize. After that I gravitated more to salt than fresh water. The fish were bigger and I became a meat fisher.

Summer fishing on camping trips soon gave way to girls and cars and dealing with the other akward things teenage living entails. There was no time for fish or fishing. The drought lasted all through my college years even though my school was close to some of the most famous wild trout and salmon fishing the Northeast has to offer.

Years later I was back to the salt for food fish, cod and flound cod and flounder from the surf and rocks of this rugged coast, haddock and pollock from boats. These friends I went with also knew the fun of flyrodding for trout and salmon and took me along on one particular trip for native brookies in a wooded stream. My catch was pathetic. I was out-fished by my friends and out-foxed by the fish. I remember toting home a huge cooler with three six-inch fish in the bottom of it. Nevertheless this was the beginning of my love affair with fly fishing.

I began aquiring fly rods, reels, and the many accessories we feel are necessary to fly fish. A friend at work got me interested in tying flies, from there I graduated to wrapping rods and making nets. Yes, I was hooked, lined and sunk! I spent my mid- life crisis learning that I could never learn all there was to know about trout, or salmon, that they call it fishing for a reason, and that it was either hell or a hell of a lot of fun!

Back To The Salt

Lately I have re-discovered the salt. Perhaps it's an ancestral thing, my forebearers having come from Newfoundland, natives of small coastal fishing villages. It seems I have never much liked living too far from the ocean. The moving of the tides is f ascinating to me, as much as the rush of a moving stream or river. When I fish I like to be IN the water, feeling it's life the way my quarry must, so much more than me.

I had read all the right fly fishing magazines religiously, tiously, the literature of fly fishing and the catalogs came constantly in the mail had already taken over my library. Suddenly salt water flyfishing was being talked about more and more. I had once be en able to catch a slew of polloch on a fly, but I didn't think much of it. I was fishing at the eastern end of the Cape Cod Canal one cloudy June day when I came upon an eddy filled with 12-18 inch fish. I had an old glass rod with a cheap Martin reel lo aded with 8 wt. line and a few ugly white Deceivers. There was no casting room, and the line was all cracked, but once the fly neared the sandy bottom, the fish would pick it up. It wasn't like you read about, but it was fun.

Bonefish

I lost my bonefishing virginity several years ago in sight of the Marathon, Florida, High School. It was a hot day on the flats there and from his boat Al Ponzoa fetched Susan and I up next to a mudding group of them. We each caught one, though we neve neve r saw them until they were up next to the boat. How much better it would be to stalk them on foot across a wide, white, tropical flat! I got my chance to do this in Governor's Harbour, Eleuthera, Bahamas in Mar ch of 1994. While making the lodging reservations on the phone, months before, we were told the "bonefish are right out the door". That was no lie. I was still a novice when it came to spotting them, but I saw so many that it didn't seem to matter that I missed many more. I had two weeks to practice.

Here they would come with the tide, right into the harbor, a wide, shallow beach next to a town which is nearly in the middle of this 80 mile long island. It was odd, casting to small schools of bonefish within sight of the grocery store, the gas stati on, and the only traffic light for 60 miles! This is where I caught my first fish without the aid of a guide (although one is available). Somehow I feel better about do-it-yourself bonefishing than having a guide. To be sure a guide may give you a pointer here and there to improve your skill, but in my experiences most of the guides I've seen say little until you miss a fish. Then you don't want to hear it.

I had the pleasure of stalking my own fish on Green Turtle Cay off the Abacos in the Bahamas in February of 1996. The fish here tend to cruise in pairs and are very largery large. I had one pair tailing within a rod's length of me one afternoon. These are not particularly shy fish either. Without a guide I was able to stumble my own way along without any pressure. I eneded up catching my largest fish to date. It was 24" and took 20 minutes to bring to hand. Unfortunately there were no witnesses, no pictures, but I believe everything I've told myself about it!

Flies

I've tried several fly patterns for bones, but have not really decided which is better. Of course colors vary with locations. Water depth, too, should determine the weight of the fly. I use heavier flies in deeper water to get them down quickly. You just about have to knock these buggers on the head to get their attention, but at the same time, they are very easily spooked. My current favorite fly is called a GOTCHA. The pattern I use is easy:

	Hook:	2-8 stainless steel salt water
	Thread:	Pink
	Tail:	3 strands clear monofilament
		      or fishair
	Body:	white sparkle yarn
	Eyes:	pair of small to medium bead chain eyes
	Wing:	Sparce blond doll hair to just beyond hook point
	
	Note: Fly is tied upside-down like a Crazy Charlie

Tackle

The leader I tie is tapered from 25 pound test down to a 1x tippet starting with 4'of 25#, 3' of 20#, 2' of 15#, 1' of 12#, and 3-4' of tippet. I have a Sage 9' for 8 wt. two piece rod that, wo piece rod that, so far, has fit on every aircraft I've been on. It even fits on my bicycle (in it's tube) with a couple of bungy cords.

I could use another salt water reel though. The Sage reel that came with my rod is big enought to hold almost 200 yds. of backing, but it's not very salt resistant. That means there's a lot of cleaning and rinsing to be done after each use. A smooth drag is most important, so that gets much attention.

Stalking

When I first started to wade flats on my own, looking for fish, I stumbled over many I didn't see, and cast to many that weren't there. I learned to look into the water, through it, to the bottom, to see shadows. Watch for the shadows that move. Dark shapes that don't move probably aren't fish. You can stare at the water and r and not see a thing, and then, suddenly, there is a fish at your feet, looking at you. If you remain motionless you will get a very good look as the fish works it's way along the bottom, foraging. Move the slightest, and see how fast it can evaporate in twelve inches of water.

Casting to bonefish is somewhat of a challenge. Salt flats and wind seem to go together. As long as you can keep the wind out of your face and the sun so it doesn't cast your shadow in front of you, you should have a better chance at spotting and casting. I have found if I cast the fly to a spot just ahead of where the fish will be by the time the fly sinks to the bottom, my chances of a strike are better. Once the fly settles I give it a few litle twitches and if a fish seems to be interested, I strip a little line. If the fish is still interested, I twitch it some more. The idea is to make the fly seem to react to the fish. Make the fish think it's spooking a shrimp or whatever the fly looks like to him and he'll pick it up. When he turns his head is the time to strike. Then watch your fingers! I don't care how small they are, it's like being hooked to a freight train. If you try to hold them you'll part your leader.

Playing this fish is a misnomer, it plays you. The flyline goes out, the backing goes out, and you reel like crazy when it stops. Then it all goes out again. Your adrenalin will flow, your heart will thump, and soon your hand may acy ache from reeling line. This tug of war may happen many times until the fish finally comes to hand, if your leader doesn't break on some coral or the fish doesn't wrap you around a mangrove tree. The oddest thing I've found after catching one, two, three in a row, is that I'm ready to catch another. I'm even hoping the one I've got on now tires soon so I can cast to another pair I see way off in the distance, coming this way...