I figured I’d devote an entire week to bonefish t-shirts and give a little shout out to the ones I’m loving from around the web.
First… Deneki now has an on-line store. You can get their pretty frigging cool looking bonefish shirt here.
Love it.
Gear
24
Apr 12
Rick’s Rig
Rick Sisler is the manager at Andros South. He’s a fishy guy with a wealth of experience and it is his job to make sure the clients at Andros South have a good time and catch some fish. That being what he does, it might be interesting to you what his rig looks like. Luckily, Deneki has posted that up.
Check out Rick’s rig here.
Nice going Rick!
17
Apr 12
What I got right about gear for Cuba
While I got a few things wrong, I did make some good decisions and had some of the right stuff with me.
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.
16
Apr 12
What I got wrong about gear for Cuba
I’ll start by laying blame for this right where it should go. It’s all my own. I made some assumptions that were wrong and for that I ended up a little bit off on what I had with me. Now, I wasn’t WAY off, just a tad. Here’s what I got wrong and why on my recent trip down to Cuba with Yellow Dog and Avalon.
Flies:
For bonefish, I tied a few #6’s and a lot of #4’s and #2’s. That was the wrong order of things. I should have tied mostly #6’s, maybe some #8’s and a few #4’s. The Peterson’s spawning shrimp was a favorite for the guides as well as the most basic and plain gotcha’s in my box.
For tarpon I tied many 1/0’s and not too many 3/0’s. I also crimped my barbs and at least one guide really didn’t like that move.
For permit I should have tied some of the Avalon flies in a #6 instead of the #2’s and #4’s that I had tied them in.
For barracudas I just should have had MORE of them. I had three super hair flies and while they were very effective they were very ineffective once they were all gone, which happened faster than I would have liked.
Rods:
I brought 2 8’s, a 10 and an 11.
I vastly underestimated the size of the tarpon. I thought I’d see a couple big tarpon and mostly be throwing at the little guys. Well, the fish were much, much bigger than I had planned on. The Orvis Helios 10 wt. fell back to permit rod and the 11 came to the fore. The 11 was the Redington Predator. It’s a decent stick. Workman like. It’s a damn hard stick to blind cast for a few hours though and that was on the program a bit. That said, the 11 wt. did the job. I cast to and landed my 80 pound tarpon on that Redington. Clearly, the Redington did the job.
I should have brought one 8 wt., a 9 for permit and then focused on the 11 and maybe a 12 for my main focus rods.
Backing:
Yeah… um… bad call on my part. I had a last-minute snafu on getting the right backing and ended up having 20 pound on my tarpon rod… the big one. Now, I managed to land the big girl, but I was left a little shaken and didn’t really trust the big stick much after that. I had no idea the power of those fish and I could hear the tension on the backing. I’ll just go ahead and say I’ve never experienced a fish like that before.
So, to recap… 30 pound backing, smaller bonefish and permit flies, larger tarpon flies, more cuda flies, up the 11/12 weight for BIG tarpon and bring a 9 for permit.
I made some gear errors... but it still worked out.
Tomorrow… what I did right.
04
Apr 12
Packing is Done – The Reels are Rigged
What is going to get packed is packed. The rest of the time before I take off is really just moving from one place to another. The trip is more or less set in motion.
The last reels arrived a couple days ago and yesterday was supposed to be the day that I got backing put on all those reels. Then… call from my daughter’s school that she was sick. So, I scavenged. I managed to pull backing off a few of the reels staying home and am now fully set. Here’s the reel list…
For the 8’s (Sage One, Mystery Prototype)
- Orvis Mirage
- Ross F1
For the 10 (Orvis Helios)
- Ross Momentum
- Ross CLA
- Orvis Mirage
For the 11 (Redington Predator)
- Redington Delta
The lines are a mix of Orvis, Rio and SA lines and for the tarpon rods (the 10 and 11) I have both floating and either clear int. sink tips or full clear int. sinks as well.
I’m feeling fairly well equipped. In fact, I may be over-equipped and I’ll have to consciously switch reels and rods from time to time to make sure I get some time with different rigs.
Four rods. Six reels. Seven spools/seven lines.
I’ll be carrying on the rods and the reels and I’ll be hoping the rest of my stuff makes it there.
Tomorrow morning I get on a flight for the first leg of the journey. I’ll meet up with the others down in Mexico tomorrow night and from there, the adventure begins.
01
Apr 12
Leaders and Leaders
I actually didn’t tie a single fly today. I feel like that’s a step in the right direction. Instead, I tied up some leaders.
I’m not buying a single leader for Cuba. I’m tying all of them… the bonefish leaders and the tarpon leaders.
I’m trying bonefish leaders that are about 9 feet, 40 pound butt down to 15 pound fluoro.
For the tarpon I’m trying 9 footers, 40 pound butt down to 50 or 80 pound shock.
The general formula is 4′ of 40#, 2′ of 30#, 2′ of 20# and then either the shock tippet on a bimini or the 15# tippet.
I’ve used this formula before and haven’t had any issues with it. I like it because it is simple. I like simple. Simple is better than, well, not simple, which I kind of hate.
So… any fatal mistakes I’m making?
27
Mar 12
The Quiver for Cuba
The days are in single digits and I’m starting to get really annoying on the whole “Guess where I’m going?!” thing. The media tour with Yellow Dog and Avalon is fast approaching and my rods are finally all here.
There they are.
This is what’s on tap.
- 11 wt – Predator from Redington (I fished this in a 9 in December)
- 10 wt – Helios from Orvis (I’ve fished this before in a 10 and an 8 )
- 8 wt – One from Sage (brand new)
- 8 wt – mystery prototype rod
That’s a pretty sweet line up. The only thing I don’t really have in there is a dedicated permit rod, but that’s because I hope I find more time casting to baby tarpon and not-baby bonefish than searching for permit. I just can’t help it… that’s how I feel. Don’t hate me.
These are not my rods, of course. The sad day when I get back will be returning these rods to their corporate parents. I hope to get a sense of where the new Sage One stacks up to one of my favorite rods, the Helios. The Predator is a good, workman rod that is the low-cost rod of the bunch. The prototype? I’ve never cast a prototype before.
Basically… I’ll keep you posted and I. CAN’T. WAIT.
23
Mar 12
A plan, coming together
I love it when a trip really starts getting real.
Goodness
The Gear Fairy came Friday…
- Redington Predator 11
- Redington Delta 11/12
- SA Backing
- Rio Tropical Clouser 11 Floating
That’s one whole rig just waiting to go to Cuba. (I’ll add that the only part of that which is mine is the backing, so thank you Rio and Redington for the loaner gear).
Also in the Gear Fairy’s bag Friday:
- Rio Clear Tip Tarpon 11 Int. line
- SA Mastery Textured 10 wt. F line
- SA Mastery Tarpon Clear Sink 10 wt. line
- Orvis Mirage IV with 8 wt. line
Previous Gear Fairy packages:
- Orvis Helios 10 wt.
- Mystery Prototype Rod 8 wt.
- Mirage Reel for 10 wt.
Yes… this is going to be a fine, fine trip.
(Just to make sure everyone knows this… the rods and reels all go back at the end of the trip. I don’t keep any of those.)
08
Mar 12
Bimini – with a twist.
It really isn’t that hard… don’t know why I was fretting so much about tying these up.
Interesting that Davin over at Flatswalker ties an 8 twist Bimini. Interesting.
Luckily bonefish leaders are pretty simple and trout leaders… why would you tie a trout leader?
These leaders are for Cuba, where I plan on catching a tarpon bigger than my daughter (she’s a giant, by the way).
I brought some 20# into the office today… just for when I have a few moments of down-time.
These will work. I hope.
06
Mar 12
Cuba Gear List – Sage One
Another rod I’ll be bringing along down to Cuba will be the Sage One. I think I’m getting this in an 8 wt, with an 11 coming from Redington and maybe from Orvis as well.
The Sage One has received a LOT of praise. The Sage One pretty much cleaned up at IFTD show in The Big Easy.
Tom over at the Trout Underground even had some thoughts on a promotional video for the Sage One.
These sorts of products are supposed to be game changers and usually five years later they are just another product release in a long line of product releases. Every once in a while you run into something that really DOES feel different. The Orvis Helios and G. Loomis NRX were kind of like that for me. Super light for big rods, it DID feel like a game changer. I am really looking forward to getting the Sage One out there and seeing if it really is everything that has been promised to us, the masses.
