I never thought about this… about looking at the direction of the puff to determine the tide when the fish was there.
Kind of brilliant.
Just say’n.
I didn’t come up with this. Heck, Scott probably didn’t come up with it, but he did write about it.
Oh, there were fish here… certainly.
My world view is a little off, I suppose. I hear that Hugo Chavez has died and the first thing that comes to mind is Los Roques.
I’ve never been, but I know plenty of people who have and it sounds like a pretty cool place. Pelicans crashing schools of baitfish and the bones slurping up the stunned fish… yeah, I might be up for that.
Saw a story about a grand slam in the LR over at Fly Paper, Scott Heywood’s blog. One fish stood out… that is one big trigger.
Damn big fish there.
I thought we’d start off the week with a cool little story from Scott Heywood over on the Fly Paper blog.
A day like this is a rare gift. These islands own a hot sun, making wind a constant companion for the bonefisherman. Learn to live with it or quit… it’s your choice. But this morning had dawned calm and it was still dead calm. There was not the slightest exhalation coming off the big island of Andros. These are the kind of days you dream about… a few wispy clouds, a few small thunderheads way off on the horizon and a sea as slick and quiet as a marble slab in a morgue.
Glassy days. I haven’t seen many of those, but I did have one in Belize for my honeymoon. I know the conditions he’s talking about, even if he actually had good fishing that day and I got skunked. Still, calm days can be really tough. The fish see you from a mile away and the lack of wind, that same wind we curse when it blows in our faces, makes the air bake, and you with it.
Stillness
Scott’s story is from Andros, which, among all the islands in the Caribbean, is special for the miles and miles of mangroves which serve as a nursery for all manner of species.
Love this place.
Speaking of industry blogs… this is Scott Heywood’s blog, Fly Paper, and he’s the guy behind Angling Destinations (three links in one sentence? I just liked like a boss).
I was now looking for bonefish sign and hoped for a subtle half-tail to betray the location of the fish that had shivered the surface and shattered my daydreams. My senses were alert. I was prepared to decipher even the most subtle of clues. With the bad weather, I was determined to be patient. This could be my only shot today and I was not going to miss it.
Well done Scott.
Nice.
Doug Jeffries, a long-time reader of the blog, recently got a fly in Fly Fishing in Salt Waters (a magazine I subscribe to). My mag hasn’t arrived yet, so I found out about it through Scott Heywood’s blog Fly Paper.
It is, indeed, a fine looking fly (full tying instructions at the Fly Paper link above).
Yeah… that’s sweet.
That is a fly I’d like to have in my box, and exactly the kind of fly I probably won’t tie because I have yet to tie a fly that called for a dubbing loop. I should really stop by Doug’s and figure that out.
Doug… you around? How do you feel about teaching? You know, I’m an East Bay guy now.
Those of you who tie, what are the flies that you’d like to tie, but intimidate you a bit?
A piece you may be interested in at the Fly Paper Blog about the best tides for bonefishing.
In the ocean, the moon is at the controls. Pockmarks and all, the moon is the king. His subjects range from the smallest invertebrates to the largest fish and all the creatures in between.
That’s some skinny water.
I am guessing that it is my overall low number of bonefishing days that has lead me to believe that there are plenty of flats where the tide may determine where the fish are going to be, but not really IF they are going to be there. There do seem to be some flats where the fish are there all day, just in different places… up along the shore at high tide, further out on the flat at low tide. There are certainly some places where the fish can’t feed at low or high tide. I seldom have the option, when on my own, of going for the “right” tide, I have to go fishing when I get a chance to go fishing, tides be damned. I think Scott agrees, saying:
I am often asked what is the best tide profile to choose for a bonefish trip. The simple answer is, “The best tides happen when you can go.”
I know a little bit about tides, but I could certainly be armed with more information. There is some good stuff in the article that aims to give that sort of info. Read it.
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Check out Fly Paper for some tips about bonefishing from Water Cay. Pretty long post. Check it out.
Let’s be clear, if fishing is your top priority and you believe that the only fisherman you should compare yourself to is the one you used to be, then the info below is your bell ringing.
Yeah, not the Crooked River in Oregon, which I fished a long time ago. I’m talking Crooked Island in the Bahamas. This report is courtesy of Fly Paper, the blog by Scott Heywood.
Damn fine picture.
