Pop’s Bonefish Bitter

My friend and fishing buddy, Shane Kohlbeck, told me if I wanted to fill my box with flies other than Gotcha’s that I should tie up some Bonefish Bitters.  I’d seen these flies before, but I’ve never tied with epoxy, so I was unsure about the Bitter as a pattern I should really pursue.

I found a nice write up on the Bitter, brought to popularity by Craig Matthews (who is just an outstanding/upstanding guy) owner of Blue Ribbon Flies (West Yellowstone) and co-founders of 1% for the Planet, along with Yvon Chouinard.  Craig named the fly Pop’s Bonefish Bitter after a guide he knew and wanted to honor.

I found a tutorial on-line that is pretty good.  The tier uses epoxy, where I used a UV knot product.

So… epoxy.  I have a toddler in the house and the idea of epoxy doesn’t sit well.  Not that I even tie when she’s awake, but I don’t like epoxy’s rep for toxicity.  With that in mind, I tried hot glue.  Sure, I’m a stay at home dad, so I have craft supplies and tried my hand with the hot glue gun.  Horrible… I really, really suck at hot glue flies, as it turns out.  UV Knot Sense was mentioned and I found a similar product by Rio and used that.  One attempt at tying with the UV Knot stuff and I’m pretty much sold.  Below is my first Pops Bonefish Bitter attempt in a #6.

My first Bitter

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