My friend and fishing buddy, Shane Kohlbeck, told me if I wanted to fill my box with flies other than Gotcha’s that I should tie up some Bonefish Bitters. I’d seen these flies before, but I’ve never tied with epoxy, so I was unsure about the Bitter as a pattern I should really pursue.
I found a nice write up on the Bitter, brought to popularity by Craig Matthews (who is just an outstanding/upstanding guy) owner of Blue Ribbon Flies (West Yellowstone) and co-founders of 1% for the Planet, along with Yvon Chouinard. Craig named the fly Pop’s Bonefish Bitter after a guide he knew and wanted to honor.
I found a tutorial on-line that is pretty good. The tier uses epoxy, where I used a UV knot product.
So… epoxy. I have a toddler in the house and the idea of epoxy doesn’t sit well. Not that I even tie when she’s awake, but I don’t like epoxy’s rep for toxicity. With that in mind, I tried hot glue. Sure, I’m a stay at home dad, so I have craft supplies and tried my hand with the hot glue gun. Horrible… I really, really suck at hot glue flies, as it turns out. UV Knot Sense was mentioned and I found a similar product by Rio and used that. One attempt at tying with the UV Knot stuff and I’m pretty much sold. Below is my first Pops Bonefish Bitter attempt in a #6.
My first Bitter
