# Bonefish and Peacock Bass on Foot



## paint it black

On Wednesday, my buddy gave me a call that he wanted to go chase peacock bass on fly.
But I had my eye on the tides and wind conditions, so I asked him if he wanted me to take him to get his first bonefish on fly.
Of course, he didn't hesitate to say yes.
So after I left work (5pm), I hurried home.
I stuffed my face with dinner and grabbed all my gear.
We were out on the flat by 6:20pm to find that the water was all kicked up because of the howling wind (boy was my Wind Guru app WAY off).
We had to make quick work, for the sun was falling quickly.
So with just over an hour and some change of daylight, we were walking the shoreline to find clean water.
We finally found some clean water and searching for signs of bonefish.
Within' a few minutes, I hear Ramiro scream "There's a school of at least 80 to 100 bones!".
That scream pushed them away from the shoreline and out onto a sand bar.
So I dropped all my gear and waded out to the sand bar.
Made a few tough casts in the wind with no takers.
The fish pushed off into the grass flat.
Every now and then they'd push onto the sand bar and back into the grass.
I saw a shadow coming down the edge of the grass and put my cast on it.
It ate it and I came tight.
When it finally realized it was hooked, it took off so fast that it ripped the hook out of it's mouth cause I held the fly line with my hand.

Within about a minute, Ramiro hooked up.
I told him to let it run but he too, lost it for holding on to the fly line.
Finally about 20 minutes later, he hooked into another one.
This time, I was out on the shore helping a buddy rig up his new fly rod.
So I watched as Ramiro hooked into it and yelled at him to let it run.
Within seconds, it was deep into his backing.
I ran out to him to assist him with the landing, but I made him bring it to shore.
I have seen some big sharks out there, and I didn't want one to chase that bonefish in to us. lol

Finally got it to shore and snapped a quick picture before releasing Ramiro's first bonefish on fly. (second bonefish overall).










Today, I decided to break out the 6wt for some peacock bass.
So I called my buddy Chris and we were on our way.
It had been a tough winter for peacock fishing, but I knew we'd have a chance with the warmer trend the past two months. 
We found them in large schools crashing minnows where all we had to do was put the fly in the chaos to get some eats.
We found them hanging out in culverts, hanging off of ledges, and even a few up on beds spawning. (which is a great thing since they took such a hard hit last year)



I'm not sure how many we ended up with, but it was around 10 or so large peacock bass, and probably another 10 to 15 largemouth bass as well.

I had a nice peacock bass around 6lbs break me off cause it rubbed my 20lb butt section on a ledge and cut right through it.

I forgot my camera at home today, so forgive me for the iPhone pics.



































































-Eric Estrada
Tight Lines Fishing Team


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## paint it black

I also managed to get this little guy Friday night.


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## jethro

Nice work.


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## blackcircle

Great Sunday!! Landlocked down, call that ish Patricia.


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## paint it black

> Great Sunday!! Landlocked down, call that ish Patricia.


young money militia!


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## HaMm3r

Sweet couple of days, and a huge congrats to Ramiro on his first bone on fly!


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## makin moves

non stop slaying them nice work E!


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## CarlosNoe

I don't post much on these site, but very nice work. 
Done a few trip to that area with no Bone....So I have to give it up to you.


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## paint it black

thanks guys.. ;D


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## dacuban1

Nice ass.....I mean bass bro!


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## aaronshore

Those bass look delicious.


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## alain_vallejo

Glad to see someone is catching the peacocks. Real nice fish!!! 

i live in west pines and when the cold came last year it killed most of the peacock in the area. But at least the bass population has been growing.


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## paint it black

Lol. I catch all my peas over in west pines... Just got to look in the right places...
Although I'm glad to report that I fished one canal spot the other day. There was plenty of peacock bass around, large and small. 
My buddy went 1 for 3 on snook. 
We saw a bunch of tarpon and some monster bass. 
I stayed using the fly rod, he was using a spin rod. 
I'm sure I would have had better success tossing a lure. 
It was a bit annoying casting under a bridge. 
Looks like the fishery is recovering!


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## CarlosNoe

I also live in the Pines area...

After the big kill the story is there some crazy guy who has been stocking the lakes. Most of the lakes are connected.  I hear this guy has trucks show up almost every other months full of fish. I took some photos of a shinners relaease by this crazy guy the count for 3000. I did not get his name, but below is the count of what he had stock this year. 


This year so far:
Shinners 10,000
Fat Head minnows 5,000
Mosquitofish 10,000
Blue Gil 500


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## matthew

^ lmao Crazy guy, lets hit up the pines P's soon on fly...


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