More on casting in the wind… which is one of those critical skills for bonefishing (and flats fishing in general).
Tactics
06
Jan 12
Andy Mill on the wind
Hey, look. It’s Andy Mill talking about casting in the wind. That’s probably a good thing to watch.
30
Dec 11
Tip in the Water – Deneki
I remember being on the East End of Grand Bahama, trying to find some fish, and watching a “guide” on a flats boat with his client not far from where I was standing. The angler on the bow was casting out and then stripping in with his rod tip about 3 feet above the water.
I could surmise two things from the scene…
1. this was not a full-time guide and while he did find a mud to cast into, he wasn’t going to provide the kind of insight needed for the situation.
2. the angler likely had not done this before and likely wasn’t going to have much success.
When you strip your fly in, you want to be tight to the fly… you want the fly to provide you with as much information about what is happening to it as possible. Slack in your line is the information killer. Put your tip in the water and you reduce most of that slack. A pull on the fly line moves the fly almost instantly and a tug on the fly is felt by you just as fast.
Glad to see the folks at Deneki agree.
22
Dec 11
Deneki’s top Bonefishing Posts from 2011
Deneki has a habit of pounding out really exceptional bonefishing content. 2011 was no exception.
Here is a list of their top bonefishing posts from 2011.
This was the year that I got to go to Andros South. It is a very special place. The Slack Tide Bar, the food, the guides the WATER. Exceptional.
Great Place.
26
Oct 11
Deneki – Think like a shrimp
OK, you have a shrimp pattern tied on and a bonefish at 11:00… now what?
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.
29
Sep 11
Winter Bonefishing
It’s coming, winter that is. So… how about winter bonefishing. There are some good reasons to head out in the -ary months. For example… that picture below.
The guys from Angler Adventures has some thoughts on winter/cold water fishing.
One of the top 3 questions we get asked is, “When is the best time to go bonefishing?” While the answer varies on the anglers’ expectations and their destination, here’s a good argument for fishing the winter months by Doug Schlink of Angler Adventures.
19
Sep 11
EF Hutton talking tides
Aaron Adams is the bonefishing equivalent of EF Hutton from back in the day. So, when I saw that he was talking tides in Florida Fly Fishing Magazine, I had to highlight it.
At any given time, only 10% of the fishable water harbors bonefish. So figuring out how to eliminate the fishless 90% from your search area is half the battle. Understanding how bonefish use tides to their advantage will go a long way toward finding the productive 10%.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PwP1EjaBik
16
Sep 11
Thoughts on Stripping
If I’ve screwed up in bonefishing, and I have… plenty… I probably have done the most damage with my stripping. I can get a little too in my head, over thinking the problem and coming up with some modified strip that just scares the hell out of the fish and leaves that fantastic V of a bonefish that has just had enough of your $h*t.
Glad to see a story from Deneki about stripping.
photo credit - Andrew Bennett
07
Sep 11
Ed Maurer reviews Dick Brown’s new Bonefish Fly Patters
The revised and updated Bonefish Fly Patterns is more of an analytical treatise on not only bonefish flies, but the prey bonefish feed upon, and the types and features required of an effective fly and how and where to fish it. Brown goes into a full analysis of what bones eat broken down into the percentages of prey they eat in the Bahamas and Florida. It’s almost like a diet book in the way each food source is listed by type and percentage eaten, but also by what prey bonefish seem to prefer regardless of availability.
Sounds pretty good, eh? Ed Maurer publishes the online journal Florida Fly Fishing Magazine (Click here to see the full review), so he has some room to speak with authority on the subject. Of course, I’ve interviewed Dick and he actually send me a copy of the book, which I’ll review as well, once I clear things off the table a bit and make some time to give it the attention I need to give it.
Check out the link above and check out Dick’s new book. If you like bonefish and want to know more about fly selection, this is a must have.
