bonefishing | Bonefish on the Brain

Flies — No Comments
03
Oct 09

The Crazy Charlies

It seems if there are two patterns you hear about the most it would be the Gotcha and the Crazy Charlie. In appearance these two flies bear a striking resemblance. There are some differences and they have their own histories… kind of like fire being invented at many places around the same time in history, these flies both came into being.

The Crazy Charlie was the creation of Bob Nauheim according to this step-by-step tutorial.

The Crazy Charlie

The interesting thing to me about this is that what is listed as a Crazy Charlie varies so dramatically. The Crazy above shows saddle hackle in the wing, but you also see this with what looks like craft fur or calf tail.

The tie on both these flies is different… one ties the wing in above the eyes, one below. The placement of the eye is therefore different.

This is also a Crazy Charlie… go figure.

Heck… Wikipedia has this as a Crazy Charlie… flashabou as the wing.

I guess this fly is kind of like flyfishing… it means different things to different people.

Another variation… according to wikipedia.

The Flats Fishing Flies blog posted a story about the Crazy Charlie today as well… here’s the link.

You + BTT + South Andros = Good times

Now, I’m not at the point in my life where $4,000 fishing trips are within reach. If, however, I were in that position, I can tell you where else I’d be… South Andros from Dec. 5th to the 12th for a week at Deneki Outdoors‘ lodge along with some of the good folks from the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust. BTT does this every so often and it just seems like a pretty amazing experience, if, ya know, you like bonefish. $1,000 from the cost of the trip will go to help BTT on their planned study of the economic value of the Bahamian Bonefish. This is the sort of study that has been done in Florida that put the $75,000 value on each bonefish in the FL fishery. Kind of important and valuable information that can drive all sorts of conservation/land use decisions.

As an example of how that plays out, Deneki Outdoors’ website shared this:

Impact:

Quantifying the economic importance of the recreational bonefish fishery should provide leverage for improving conservation measures toward protecting healthy bonefish populations in The Bahamas. In Belize, for example, a similar study found that the ecotourism-related expenditures for recreational fishing for bonefish, tarpon, and permit exceeded $50 million per year. Based on this study the Belize Legislature passed legislation making bonefish, tarpon, and permit catch and release gamefish. We anticipate that the economic value in The Bahamas to be much greater, and to spur strong conservation measures.

Joining from BTT will be the captain, Aaron Adams (this guy co-wrote Chico Fernandez’s book on flyfishing for bonefish), and Stu Apte.

You do all the normal bonefishing you’d normally do, but you also get to hear about bonefish from a couple guys that have forgotten as much as the rest of us will probably ever know about the phantoms of the flats.

To review… catch bonefish in South Andros, help support the fishery as too few have and learn more about the fish from two anglers who have an incredible depth and breadth of bonefish knowledge.

Locations — No Comments
01
Oct 09

MX Fishing Report (no, not mine)

Some time in January, I’ll be able to post my own fishing report, but until then, I live vicariously through the reports brought to me through the tubes and in the dump trucks that make up the internet. This time I found a report from Pesca Maya down in Mexico. The post (this one right here) is from Black Fly Outfitter (the blog looks new, but promises bonefishing reports, which will see me follow them via RSS and Twitter). Looks like a good time with smaller bones everywhere. I like the sound of that, really.

Pesca Maya seems to be doing the full court press as of late. Seems like I’ve seen their name out there A LOT. Maybe it’s just me.

See, that looks fun to me.

The area that Pesca Maya sits in has always looked interesting (most places with clear, tropical water and bonefish are places I find interesting, as it turns out). We vacation in Mexico every year, but we are on the Pacific side (Vallarta). I lightly bring up the idea of switching to the Caribbean side every so often, but it is a family vacation, not a fishing vacation and I’m (generally) smart enough to know the difference.

Fish Tails — 2 Comments
30
Sep 09

Flatswalker and a storm

Another great post from the Flatswalker blog. I enjoy his stuff and want to pass it on.

Flatswalker… good prose, good photos.

Flies — No Comments
30
Sep 09

What to bring… flies

I thought it might be interesting to comb through the different outfitters/lodges/guides to see who recommends what when it comes to flies one should have in your box when fishing a particular destination. To keep as much to an apples/apples comparison as possible I am looking only at Grand Bahama.

On GBI, one of the venerable players is the North Riding Point Club. I’m sure lots of folks book them, and they probably book direct too, but for this particular exercise I looked at the listing by The Fly Shop, my one time local shop (I moved). They seem to be fans of the “everything” philosophy… here is what they say you should have…

~ McVay Gotcha # 6 – # 2
~ Clouser Minnows #6 & #4 (chartreuse/white) (tan/white) (pink/white)
~ Crazy Charlies #6 (silver, amber, crystal pink, crystal chartreuse)
~ Mini Puff (with and without bead chain eyes) #6, # 4 (pink, tan/orange, chartreuse)
~ Chico’s Bonefish Special #4
~ Raghead Crab #8,
~ Miheves Flats Fly #6 (tan, brown)
~ Rabbit-strip Gotcha #4 or #6
~ Shane’s Psycho Puff #4
~ Tuxedo Gotcha #6
~ Flats Rabbit #6
~ Bone Voyage #6
~ Magnum Mantis #2 – 6, (tan, olive)
~ Big Bone

Wow… I better get tying!

Grand Bahama Bonefishing, and outfit I don’t know (but then, I wouldn’t, anyway). is more minimalistic… basically they say #4-6, Gotchas, Crazy Charlies, Clousers, Puffs, Horrors.

Hmmm… maybe I DON’T need to get tying.

The Blog for Deep Water Cay just gives an idea of what the top flies were… lots of #2’s in there… Gotcha’s, Mantis Shrimp, Bonefish Scampi. The blog was last updated in 2008, so don’t go and bookmark it just yet.

Flyfish Travel books Pelican Bay on GBI and they go with “everything” philosophy as well… here is what they say you should stock you box(es) with:

Bonefish Flies: We recommend at least six dozen bonefish flies for the week in varying weights and sizes.

* #2-4 Clouser Minnows in Gotcha, Gold Shiner, Silver Shiner
* #2-6 Gotcha, Gold Gotcha
* #4-6 Krystal Charlie’s in Gold and White
* #4-6 Horrors* #4-6 Tan Yarn Crabs
* #4-6 Tan or Golden Mantis Shrimp
* #4 Orange Christmas Island Special
* #4-6 Tan/Orange Bonefish Puffs
* #4-6 Crazy Charlies in Tan/Gold, Tan/Pearl and Gold
* #6 Moose Turd
* #4 Borski’s Super Swimming Shrimp
* #2-4 Rabbit strip bonefish flies in brown, tan, white and pin

So, what’s a guy to do? It seems the basic take away is #4-6 with a few #2’s. Colors muted, with a couple bright ones. Six dozen flies does seem a tad overdoing it (or massively overdoing it unless you hire a fly caddy).

The one item lightly touched on was weight (see the pun there? Yeah… I’m pretty punny). From barbell to mono is the range and folks in the know say that often weight is the key issue.

I think I’m pretty much on the minimalist side of fly selection, so we’ll see if that works for me. In trout fishing if they won’t eat a PT, Poopah, zebra midge or ugly bug, I’m not going to waste my time on them and I’ll just move 15 feet and cast to the fish that will. Of course, bonefishing might be a little bit more complicated… just a wee, tiny bit.

Locations — No Comments
29
Sep 09

Whenever you can!

I was glad to see Deneki Outdoors latest blog post which reassured me that the best time to go bonefishing is whenever you can!

I’m going to the Bahamas in January, which will be a bit cooler than, say, May, but not THAT much cooler. The thing to dodge are the big storms, but those seem to be a Fall sort of event.

I think this is S. Andros from Deneki Outdoors

I’ve become a big fan of the Deneki Outdoors blog for the ton of useful info that they put out about bonefishing. I recently got to meet the owner/operator at a local fly shop and got to talk bonefish (and some steelhead) for a while. The thing I like second best to actually fishing is TALKING about fishing. Oh fishing, I could never be mad at you!

Fish Tails — No Comments
29
Sep 09

Vieques Angler’s Best Bonefish Ever

Found this nice little story from the Vieques Angler… a blog by a Vieques, Puerto Rico/FL fishing guide that I’ve bookmarked for a while now. Fun little story.

Sometimes, size doesn’t matter.

Locations — 2 Comments
27
Sep 09

9,460,000 Seconds (Bonefishing 2010)

A second isn’t so long… really… passes, literally in the blink of an eye. So, all I have to do is blink my eyes about 9,460,000 times and I’ll be walking a flat in Grand Bahama looking for ghostly shadows.

I’ve picked my location, I’ve picked the dates and I have grandparents coming in to watch my daughter. Now all I have to do is wait… and blink a lot.

I’ll be leaving on a red-eye on Jan. 13th and fishing the next afternoon. I’ll be staying at some place that is $51 a night… I’m only going to be sleeping and showering there… I don’t need a pool… I don’t need breakfast… I hardly need sheets. With the rental car in there I should be right about $100 a day.

Not too bad.

I know there are flats I can walk out on… I know because I found my first solo bonefish there last December.

Feels good to have it sorted out and now all I have to do is count down from 9,460,000.

Locations — No Comments
26
Sep 09

Another Classic… Abaco

Good times…

Flies — No Comments
26
Sep 09

McVay’s Gotcha

I’m not a wizard at the vice. Mostly, I tie simple nymphs (like the Eng Theng) designed to fool trout and I find that trout are pretty easily fooled when it comes to nymphs (I’m in that “presentation-is-king” school of thought). To satisfy my bonefish fixation I’ve taken to tying bonefish patterns. When it comes to bonefish patterns the king (as far as I know) is the Gotcha. The Gotcha is just a really easy fly to tie and it’s pretty easy to vary an element or two to make it your own. I tie a lot of Gotchas. Really, I tie way more than I could really use in the next decade of fishing. Still… I keep tying them.

Pink Gotcha with some white fox tail

Turns out the Gotcha is McVay’s Gotcha and it has a pretty quirky birth… cab carpet fibers.

There is a tutorial here, at Fly Fishing In Salt Waters Magazine.

Bonefish on the Brain Bonefish and all that relates (maybe a bit about tarpon too).

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