# Whats everyone's go to Bonefish fly?



## Uno (Sep 9, 2010)

What is everyone's go to Bonefish fly?


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## Yoreese (Oct 15, 2009)

Gotcha! ;D


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## flydipper (Sep 29, 2009)

Razberry for everything but tailers


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## Michael (Jul 22, 2009)

Kwan or Pink winged Gotcha.


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## knot_tide_up (Jan 4, 2011)

cht exuma puff or crazy charlie #4 tan


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## dacuban1 (Sep 9, 2008)

depends where your fishing. Here or bahamas etc. Gotchas and charlies dont work real good here. Go to is a small #4 natural/olive crab or kwan.


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## Guest (Jan 5, 2011)

My fly of choice is the "Hall's Perfect Crab" (Orvis catalog)


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## paint it black (Nov 3, 2007)

Pink Gotcha.


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## lorimc1 (Dec 26, 2010)

Bahamas- pink crazy charlies
keys,biscane-tan bonefish slider,kwan's

CMD


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## Uno (Sep 9, 2010)

Thanks for all the great info.


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## coconutgroves (Sep 23, 2013)

Definitely depends where you are at. Also depends if you are fishing grass bed, sandy areas or beaches.

Belize - it's a Gotcha. I've caught double digit fish on the same fly without changing.
Los Roques - gummy minnows for the beach cruisers. They won't hit a gotcha, but they will dart from 10 feet away to bash a gummy minnow.
Some parts of the Bahamas, small minnow flies work well.

I like to look at the topography and see if there are lots of shrimp holes under the water. If there are, shrimp-style flies will work. Mounds with holes on top are mantis shrimp, so if fish are feeding around this, those work well.

So yea, it all depends. But if I could only have one fly, it would be a gotcha.


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## jsnipes (May 1, 2011)

coconutgroves said:


> So yea, it all depends. But if I could only have one fly, it would be a gotcha.


This. Gotcha in a couple of colors for different bottom types (with and without weedguards) will catch 98% of bonefish in non-keys locations.


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

jsnipes said:


> This. Gotcha in a couple of colors for different bottom types (with and without weedguards) will catch 98% of bonefish in non-keys locations.


I gave up on bonefishing almost ten years ago (got tired of poling decent anglers up onto fish that wouldn't eat because they were being pounded day after day in Biscayne Bay.... Of course my anglers thought it was their fault.....

Since I was also a commercial tyer, working for one shop or other, bonefish bugs were a staple when I was still tying and filling orders. Here's a few bugs that work pretty well depending on the circumstances and the location....


The top two are my version of the Mitch Howell bonefish fly (his handle on this forum is FMH....), the bottom bug is a "Clear Charlie" in pink pearl and tan - all are done on #4 hooks..


this bonefish Clouser is done in both #4 (shown) and #6 - most shops ordered them in tan/white, pink/white, and fl. green/ white...



Here's a comparison shot, #4 on the left, #6's on the right - note how the wing is a bit shorter on the smaller flies....


Here's my version of Matthew's Turneffe Crab - I call them Spider Crabs.... again in size #4 (although I used to get quite a few orders for them in size #6 as well as the larger #2 size in the three colors shown....

Enjoy!


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## Blue Zone (Oct 22, 2011)

Light or dark gotcha to match the bottom; works for palometas too.


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## sjrobin (Jul 13, 2015)

lemaymiami said:


> I gave up on bonefishing almost ten years ago (got tired of poling decent anglers up onto fish that wouldn't eat because they were being pounded day after day in Biscayne Bay.... Of course my anglers thought it was their fault.....
> 
> Since I was also a commercial tyer, working for one shop or other, bonefish bugs were a staple when I was still tying and filling orders. Here's a few bugs that work pretty well depending on the circumstances and the location....
> 
> ...


I have only fished for bonefish twice. Andros and Belize. Andros first and I think those fish would bite almost anything or I was lucky. Belize bones acted like they had seen Manuel's selection every day. "Here you go Manuel, as I handed him the rod, show me how to do this."


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## Jeremy_OConnor (Jun 19, 2015)

Crazy Charlie, Gotcha and Bonefish Mini Puff in super skinny water


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

I have had customers over the years that swore the fish in Belize would not tolerate flies with beadchain eyes... The bug they favored there (in very small sizes) was a Blind Charlie.... You can make any normal Crazy Charlie into a Blind Charlie with a pair of nippers (used to remove the eyes....). Hope this helps...


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## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

Uno said:


> What is everyone's go to Bonefish fly?










I use crab patterns similar to this, but this vid is a good similar version to a small deerhair crab I use for big bones.


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## CrappieFisherman (Mar 15, 2015)

In Hawaii they use white gotchas for sight casting, and orange charlies when blind casting. I was watching a good bonefishing video about some guys who went to the remote islands around Tahiti and had success on a sand worm imitation.


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## rakeel (Apr 9, 2014)

I've personally never fished for bonefish, so take this for what it's worth, but I tie for a few guys that make trips to Belize and the Bahamas and they seem to really like rabbit crazy charlies, gotchas and squimps.

These are the popular ones













































They'll usually ask for some smaller crab patterns as well. I've never had them ask for anything larger than a size 4. For Belize it's mostly No. 6s and 8s.


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