Flies:

• Having some of the super hair chartreuse flies for cudas was a really good call.
• I had enough Gotchas in different sizes that I could have fished for bones for another three weeks.
• The tarpon bunnies were good patterns and if I had them in a 3/0 I would likely have been feeding tarpon with them.

Leaders:

• The leaders I tied were effective and worked for bonefish and for tarpon.  The 80 pound shock tippet was perfect on even the big fish and the bimini twists I tied didn’t fail.  I didn’t have a single leader fail or a single knot fail.

Reels:

• The reels I primarily used were the Ross F1 for the 8 wt, the Orvis Mirage for the 10 wt and the Redington Delta for the 11. I had along a Ross CLA and a Ross Momentum, but they had on specific lines that didn’t get selected by the guides.

Lines:

• The textured saltwater line for the 8 was a great line.
• The Orvis line was different… it sounded like a textured line and it cast very well.
• I cast a Rio clear sink tip for the 11 and the guides liked it, preferring it to the full floating line each time.

Rods:

• Both of the 8 weights were lovely rods. The Sage One is light and responsive and did all I asked of it. The prototype was just as lovely and I’d be glad to have either one as my go-to 8.
• The 10, the Orvis Helios was a great rod. I’ve had that one before and I really like it.  It might have been a little heavy for Permit, but it would have worked well for that and it was a good rod to have rigged for barracuda.
• The 11 Redington… it was heavy, but when it came time to do the business it got it done. That feels like a pretty important thing to judge by.

Something right got me that fish.

One thing that that Avalon is known for is their fly… the Avalon fly. This is supposed to be a permit-getter and while I think where I’m headed is less known for permit, there is a chance I’ll be throwing to one.

I tied up a few last night. I didn’t have the tan marabou so I substituted materials, but I think that I got the concept more or less right.

My Avalon... maybe it will work, maybe it won't.

A week from today I start the journey. Countdown in full effect.

From the first time I cast at a bonefish up until the last trip I’ve had plenty of times when I had a fly out there in the general vicinity and wondered “How the hell should I be stripping this?”

The good folks at Deneki have taken a shot at this, as you’d expect they would.

This is over at the Yellow Dog Flyfishing Adventures blog and written by Capt. Vaughn Cochran.

For years now the consensus among professional guides in the Bahamas for the best bonefsh fly has been the “Gotcha”. A famous fly with a great story to go with it. I’ve always heard it this way…. When Ted McVay and his son Jim were staying at the Andros Island Bonefish Club, Jim snipped some strands of carpet from the interior of their taxi as they were heading to the lodge and used them to tie a new fly. Every time a bonefish ate the fly, guide Rupert Leadon would say, “Gotcha.”

My first trip was in May and I and caught a dozen on plain old Gotchas on Acklins. I threw my whole box of popular flies into schools or cruising big ones with multiple refusals. I tied them all so they will always be my favorite.  Here’s a photo of my first few efforts and my first bonefish… (day 1 of 6) -and saw it by myself!  I’ve only been fly fishing for three years and had a few months of tying and I feel like I’ve hit the big time!  I really enjoy your brain dumps.
Eric English MD
Aka fishbaydoc

simple and effective.

Reach down onto the flat, grab a little handful of sand from the bottom, and rub your fly around in it.

via Bonefishing Tip | Rub Your Fly in the Sand.

(hmmm… when I put this up last night the video displayed… not sure why it isn’t doing that now)

Nice video.

I’m going to have to get on the fly tying video thing here soon… I need to get a couple of the patterns I used down in South Andros up… I think they are good stuff.  Sounds like a project for the weeks ahead.

I’ve also been putting a strip of Clear Cure Goo or Rio Knot Sense on the top and bottom of the fly and I really like the way it looks.

Here are some of the recent ties.

Clear Cure Goo under the UV lamp.

The reverse with a little hot bunny tail.

Bigger fly, a #1, I think, with Fox as the wing.

Throw in some rubber legs.

Heavier eyes, in case I get over to the West Side.

A #6 with just the flash for a wing.

I’ll bet these will catch fish, but I understand a great number of flies will catch fish out there.  I look forward to throwing some of these flies at those Androsian fish.  Catching a fish on a fly you’ve tied is a great feeling… one I hope to experience over and over and over again.

–

Anyway, I got a bunch of flies and I’ve been pondering a good way to distribute them to folks… good folks like you… you are good folk, aren’t you?  Sure you are.

I’m figuring I’ll do a photo contest and that contest will be done on Facebook, as it’s the easiest way to get folks to upload their own photos.  Upload a photo and whoever has the most “likes” at the end of February will get four dozen flies.

Go here to the FB page.

That there is a lot of flies... a LOT of flies.

So, put up some fish and let’s have some fun.

If you are not on Facebook… wow… how are you not on Facebook!?  Send me a pic and I’ll try and get it up in there.