Deneki Outdoors recently had a post about putting your rod tip in the water when you have a bonefish on the line and coming straight at you. I hope, that my trout and steelhead background would come into play in that situation and I’d instinctively do just that.
Of course, my trout background would probably have me trout set and miss the fish in the first place.
Rod tip up is a common sight and for good reason.
Deneki Outdoors puts out some really good, quality blog posts in addition to running one of the best lodges out there, Andros South.
This post talks about the wind and how ya need a little of the gusty stuff for the best fishing. Calm is nice to look at, but tough to fish.
Of course… ya don’t want too much, which is usually the case in the places where bonefish live.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XLDGhpLrPA&hl=en&fs=1
As I said, Deneki also runs Andros South. There will be a collection of bloggers headed to South Andros in a few days to fish and write/share their experiences. I was invited to go, but between selling one house, moving and getting ready to sell a second, I just couldn’t make it work. I will be following the festivities and probably sinking into a deep and troubling depression.
Here’s the line-up from the Deneki website:
Should be fun to see what comes out of the week.
I was reading Fly Fishing in Salt Waters and came across an ad for The Fly Shop of Ft. Lauderdale promoting a class, sometime this Fall, featuring Chico Fernandez and Flip Pallot. Boy… that would be some class, eh?
Dates were not given, although you were invited to call (305) 669-5851, or email at theflyshop02@bellsouth.net.
The website is a place-holder, really. No further information there, so, you’ll have to call or email.
Chico... he knows a thing or two.
Deneki Outdoors owns and operates the Andros South lodge. Back in January when Florida was seeing dead snook, tarpon and bonefish from icy weather the folks down in Andros were still fishing, although with an extra layer of clothes.
In this blog post on the Deneki Outdoors site, Andrew shares some thoughts on cold weather bonefishing (here’s the secret, it might just mean a shot at a beeeeg bonefish).
Cool water bone, photo by Louis Cahill, angler Bruce Chard
There is a lot of wisdom out there about bonefishing (and a few other less important topics). I was glad to find a few tid-bits in the e-pages of Fly Fishing in Salt Waters from some of the greats… Lefty, Al Pflueger and Richard Stanczky.
Lefty:
With spooky fish, cast at an object such as a clump of grass, mound or mangrove sprig 30 to 40 feet away from them. Bones often meander toward such structure, plus you have a reference point as to the location of your fly.
See… pearls of wisdom that I wouldn’t have picked up on for years.
Read all the bits of knowledge here.
Lefty
Text used with the blessing of Fly Fishing in Salt Waters
Orvis does a podcast and this one just happens to be all bonefishy.
Shopping at Orvis is an uneven experience. Some shops know a lot, some have no idea what their own products are. I like the shop in Santana Row in San Jose, and in Palo Alto. In San Jose, there are no more independent fly shops, so Orvis is the only choice. Good thing the San Jose shop seems to have their act together.
Deneki Outdoors puts out some great blog posts and I’m glad… makes it easy for me!
This latest bit of bonefishy wisdom is a list of five things NOT to do, if you want to catch/land bonefish. We like the list.
My bonefish career is short, but I’ve likely done all five already. Can’t wait to invent even more.
I’m late to the bonefishing game, really. A lot of the luminaries of the sport are folks I still haven’t heard of… if they missed the internet revolution, I likely missed them. Slowly, I’m coming to understand who some of the big players are, and why.
If, like me, you are new to bonefishing, one guy you likely have heard of is Dick Brown. He’s written two seminal works, Fly Fishing for Bonefish and Bonefish Fly Patterns. I have the former and now I have to find the latter. There are basically three books that get recommended to new bonefish anglers, Dick’s, then there is Fly-Fishing for Bonefish (I have this one) by Chico Fernandez and Dr. Aaron Adams, and the last of the holy bonefish trinity is Bonefishing! (don’t have this one) by Randall Kaufmann (this last one is hard to get your hands on).
Dick Brown has his own website and on that website he has a section with tips. Tips from Dick Brown… that sounds worth taking a look at.
Dick Brown, probably on his way to catch some bones.
So, Deneki Outdoors just puts out lots and lots and lots of solid blog posts on bonefishy subjects. One of their latest is on setting the hook.
Last December, as I was out in Grand Bahama with a guide and my dad, the guide asked if I fished a lot in the States… specifically, if I did a lot of trout fishing. “Yes” I told him, I did. I was so pleased he could tell I was a serious angler. He then proceeded to tell me that the “trout set” I had was rubbish and I wasn’t going to hook many bonefish if I kept that up. “Oh… he means I’m sucking right now” was my next thought. The “Strip Set” is key and that’s the topic before us over at Deneki Outdoors.
This isn’t the best little vid of the strip set or strip strike, but… it’s what I found.
Equally important as learning how to set the hook, is for your guide to learn how to pole the boat. There is some crude language in this one… understandably.
Hee hee… see, it’s funny because it isn’t me. Also, tragedy + time = comedy.
Chico Fernandez seems like a really cool cat. Sometimes these fly fishing luminaries can be assholes really full of themselves. Chico doesn’t seem to have this particular affliction. Maybe he does in “real life,” but I’ve found him to come across very humble in his writing. Here, in the blog pages of Fly Rod & Reel Magazine, Chico dishes on hunting the Beeg Bones.
Chico with a nice little fishy.
