# Wading for Bones on Fly 06/08



## paint it black

Yesterday afternoon, Chris, Bernard and I made it to the flat to wade for some bones.
Chris came through and caught his second on fly.
I hooked into one but lost it as I was standing on the fly line.
I was upset.
When I told my friend Charles about what happened, he mentioned we should go back out in the morning.
So that we did.
We walked up and down the flat.
We each walked our seperate ways.

I came across a huge school of big fish tailing so hard.
I made my cast and had 6 follow my fly and one charged it and ate.

After a nice fight I landed my first bonefish on fly.
I walk 20 yards to the beach to take a picture,as a man was jogging by.
I asked him if he was kind enough to snap a picture.
Good thing he knows how to shoot a DSLR in Manual.
He took a pic for me and kept on his way.
I snapped a couple more as I was reviving the fish.

It swam off strong and I grabbed my cellphone to call Charles.
He had now made it about a mile away from me.
He ran all the way to where I was at and we waited for more tails to pop up.

Sure enough, they popped up.
But it was just the tips of their tails coming out the water as it was about 1.5' - 2' deep.
He made his cast, short of the tails but hooked up instantly.

He was using a bait caster. 
I thought he was about to get spooled in the first run.
But he got it in shortly to bring in a little bone for his first bone ever. 

There was some BIG bones in the school.
The school was huge.
The small ones just seem to be more aggressive than the larger bones. 

Now, time to upgrade the size of the bone!


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## DSampiero

I know that flat!! Congrats for the first one on fly! [smiley=1-thumbsup1.gif] I've been in touch with Cordell, he says the schools in SW BB haven't been showing up much, in fact he got skunked just yesterday.. Good thing you've got the know how and a Skiff(when needed) to get to where the fish are!


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## dacuban1

Congrats and good job bro! you guys are hitting hard.


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## HaMm3r

Aww man, that is awesome!!! Huge congrats to you! [smiley=y-10.gif]

All I have to say is that I better get my first on fly in the islands this week, or I may be calling you!


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## mark_gardner

gonna have to give these jax. reds a break and make tracks for so. fl. if the catching like that continues


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## Gramps

Congrats Eric! It is sure great to see your hard work paying off.


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## flyfisheraa573

solid man...top shelf for you...congrats!


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## Canoeman

Congrats from the land of no bonefish. You guys did great on fishing and photoshop.


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## skinnywater3

What does that rod taste like? I bet it's salty


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## deerfly

Eric, that's really cool, congrats on the first and I'm assuming it was using a fly you tied too.  

I'm glad you pointed out the pack mentality. Not a lot of people realize they do feed like jack's sometimes and can be caught on a plain ole jig in that mode. It's the big loners that are the fabled ball busters. 

Keep at it bro, your reports are the next best thing to living down there again.


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## tguasjr

Congrats! Youv'e got some nose for fishing.


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## paint it black

Thanks for the kind words.

I need to figure out how to get some of the bigger ones to eat before the small ones.

Maybe a larger fly?
We've been throwing a small Crazy Charlie "Gotcha" that I have been tying in pink kiptail with a bit of pink flashabou and pink thread.

I tied up a small shrimp pattern with tan craft fur and some pink kip tail as well.
I had one eat yesterday, but I didn't throw it today.
I was feeling the crazy charlie because I used bead chain eyes instead of the heavier lead eyes. 

There's definitely no shortage in bones!!


I know some people know the spot, but don't want new people to find out about it for the sake of fishing pressure.
Who ever knows about the spot knows about it regardless, so it doesn't matter if we're posting it.


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## makin moves

Reds, bass, bones your mixing it up and crushing all of them good job!


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## deerfly

Eric, a larger fly won't matter much, they're all eating the same stuff. Whats more important is the presentation. You have to get the fly in front of the bigger fish without spooking any of the others and without the smaller aggressive fish seeing the fly first and rushing over to it. Ironically a larger fly may just attract the smaller fish faster.  

I know it seems to stupid to be choosy to most guys that just want to catch a bonefish on a fly, but when they're interspersed with each other (big & small) you have to contend with the others in order to single out the bigger fish. You have to try to be patient and concentrate on following the larger fish and pick the right time to make the cast. 

Usually the larger fish will stay closer to the deeper water too so getting outside and looking towards shore can sometimes help with that. This is where wading is a lot more effective than being on a boat too because the fish will literally feed right past you if you're still and not casting a shadow over them. Patience, timing the cast and accuracy is key.


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## paint it black

> Eric, a larger fly won't matter much, they're all eating the same stuff. Whats more important is the presentation. You have to get the fly in front of the bigger fish without spooking any of the others and without the smaller aggressive fish seeing the fly first and rushing over to it. Ironically a larger fly may just attract the smaller fish faster.
> 
> I know it seems to stupid to be choosy to most guys that just want to catch a bonefish on a fly, but when they're interspersed with each other (big & small) you have to contend with the others in order to single out the bigger fish. You have to try to be patient and concentrate on following the larger fish and pick the right time to make the cast.
> 
> Usually the larger fish will stay closer to the deeper water too so getting outside and looking towards shore can sometimes help with that. This is where wading is a lot more effective than being on a boat too because the fish will literally feed right past you if you're still and not casting a shadow over them. Patience, timing the cast and accuracy is key.


Makes perfect sense.
But I have casted clean shots at bigger solo bones and no luck at all. 
But I wasn't using the same Crazy Charlie fly that seems to be working. 
And the one I caught today, I casted across the whole school and waited for them to come up on it and stripped it slowly.
Had about 6 chase it and one ate.


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## richwalker71

Congrats. Pretty work.


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## DarkstarCrashes

Very nice, I am extremely envious of you folks that have bonefish close to you.


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## Alonzo_Sotillo

Nice work Eric.. But as you have noticed when out with me the individual fish (usually bigger) are tougher...


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## paint it black

> Nice work Eric.. But as you have noticed when out with me the individual fish (usually bigger) are tougher...


Indeed!


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## deerfly

> Eric, a larger fly won't matter much, they're all eating the same stuff. Whats more important is the presentation. You have to get the fly in front of the bigger fish without spooking any of the others and without the smaller aggressive fish seeing the fly first and rushing over to it. Ironically a larger fly may just attract the smaller fish faster.
> 
> I know it seems to stupid to be choosy to most guys that just want to catch a bonefish on a fly, but when they're interspersed with each other (big & small) you have to contend with the others in order to single out the bigger fish. You have to try to be patient and concentrate on following the larger fish and pick the right time to make the cast.
> 
> Usually the larger fish will stay closer to the deeper water too so getting outside and looking towards shore can sometimes help with that. This is where wading is a lot more effective than being on a boat too because the fish will literally feed right past you if you're still and not casting a shadow over them. Patience, timing the cast and accuracy is key.
> 
> 
> 
> Makes perfect sense.
> But I have casted clean shots at bigger solo bones and no luck at all.
> But I wasn't using the same Crazy Charlie fly that seems to be working.
> And the one I caught today, I casted across the whole school and waited for them to come up on it and stripped it slowly.
> Had about 6 chase it and one ate.
Click to expand...

Eric, if you reread my first response... "It's the big loners that are the fabled ball busters"  

"But I have casted clean shots at bigger solo bones and no luck at all. " 

Dude, these are bonefish! Their legendary status as a premier gamefish isn't a fairytale.  ;D

"But I wasn't using the same Crazy Charlie fly that seems to be working." 

Doesn't matter that much, it really doesn't. It's more important that the fly doesn't scare them on the delivery, moves or acts the way they expect their prey to act and looks something like what they're used to feeding on in that location. Tan over white clousers should work almost anywhere as would small crab and shrimp patterns. If it's gonna' happen, it's gonna' be all about the presentation with a heavy dose of luck thrown in for good measure. 

Remember too, bonefish are very much creatures of scent, which is why they respond so well to chumming. Flies don't smell, so your presentation and fly have to trigger a feeding response while missing a key element in their world. Not easy to do with the bigger fish. If you want to prove this to yourself, target some bigger fish with live shrimp and see what happens.


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## paint it black

> Eric, a larger fly won't matter much, they're all eating the same stuff. Whats more important is the presentation. You have to get the fly in front of the bigger fish without spooking any of the others and without the smaller aggressive fish seeing the fly first and rushing over to it. Ironically a larger fly may just attract the smaller fish faster.
> 
> I know it seems to stupid to be choosy to most guys that just want to catch a bonefish on a fly, but when they're interspersed with each other (big & small) you have to contend with the others in order to single out the bigger fish. You have to try to be patient and concentrate on following the larger fish and pick the right time to make the cast.
> 
> Usually the larger fish will stay closer to the deeper water too so getting outside and looking towards shore can sometimes help with that. This is where wading is a lot more effective than being on a boat too because the fish will literally feed right past you if you're still and not casting a shadow over them. Patience, timing the cast and accuracy is key.
> 
> 
> 
> Makes perfect sense.
> But I have casted clean shots at bigger solo bones and no luck at all.
> But I wasn't using the same Crazy Charlie fly that seems to be working.
> And the one I caught today, I casted across the whole school and waited for them to come up on it and stripped it slowly.
> Had about 6 chase it and one ate.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Eric, if you reread my first response... "It's the big loners that are the fabled ball busters"
> 
> "But I have casted clean shots at bigger solo bones and no luck at all. "
> 
> Dude, these are bonefish! Their legendary status as a premier gamefish isn't a fairytale.  ;D
> 
> "But I wasn't using the same Crazy Charlie fly that seems to be working."
> 
> Doesn't matter that much, it really doesn't. It's more important that the fly doesn't scare them on the delivery, moves or acts the way they expect their prey to act and looks something like what they're used to feeding on in that location. Tan over white clousers should work almost anywhere as would small crab and shrimp patterns. If it's gonna' happen, it's gonna' be all about the presentation with a heavy dose of luck thrown in for good measure.
> 
> Remember too, bonefish are very much creatures of scent, which is why they respond so well to chumming. Flies don't smell, so your presentation and fly have to trigger a feeding response while missing a key element in their world. Not easy to do with the bigger fish. If you want to prove this to yourself, target some bigger fish with live shrimp and see what happens.
Click to expand...

lol yeah, I've caught a 10lber on live shrimp, by far the best fish I have ever landed. 

I just want to get one of those big ones on fly!

Where I'm fishing them, there's an excessive amount of small quarter to dollar coin sized crabs. 
That's definitely what they're feeding on.
I'm sure they'll eat a good crab fly.


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## adc77

sweet! it makes me want to move further south. congrats!


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## Jose_Arias

NICE WORK DUDE!


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## Michael

I was talking to Capt Dave and he told me Bob Branham (one of the premier Bonefish guides in BB) ties all his Bonefish flys on 1/0 hooks. I was surprised.


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## aaronshore

Eric. Drop one of Borski's Chernobyl Crabs out there...................and HANG ON!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## FLfisher

Nice work guys. Still waiting to get my first bone.


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## beavis

Good work on the bones. You'll get a big one soon. But at least you got one on fly so far.


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## hilrod

Great job Eric. Ill be out there tomorrow.


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