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Flats Species Information - continued
Bone
Fish Characteristics
Once
you've selected your bonefish destination in Belize, there are a few things
that you ought to know before you hit the water with your guide. Bonefish
can be very susceptible to any noise generated by anglers on the water,
especially in shallow water. When you're into fish, try to keep your talking
to a minimum. Hand signals can tell others nearby all they need to know.
It's important to remember that water acts as a conductor of sound and
that this sound can travel a long way through water.
If
you're constantly coming up short on your cast and lifting the line off
the water to make another cast, you stand a good chance of spooking the
fish with excess noise and movement of your fly line in the air. And,
if you're close enough to the fish but lose sight of it, don't cast to
where you think the fish is. Wait until you or the guide picks up the
fish again before casting. If you don't wait and cast blindly, there's
a very good chance that you could drop the fly right on the fish, which
will thank you by blowing off the flat with all his friends, at a 100
miles an hour.
You want the fly to be heading away from the oncoming bonefish in the
same way a crab or minnow would go, once it's spotted the bonefish. Once
the fly is in position, you need to get the bones attention by stripping
the fly. I recommend short, 6 to 12 inch strips for bonefish. And don't
be afraid to vary your speed if the fish aren't taking. I will often times
try a few quick 2 inch "pops" followed by a couple of longer
strips. Changing speeds may just be the trigger to get the bones to take.
Make sure to ask your guide for input here as he's been fishing the area
for some time and has been seeing what's working with other clients in
the weeks leading up to your arrival.
Bonefish can pick up a fly and spit it out in the blink of an eye and
if there's a lot of slack in the line, you may not even know that a bonefish
has had your fly in its mouth. When choosing which fly to use, you have
to consider the type of flat you are fishing as well as its predominant
colour. Are you on a marl flat or is it principally turtle grass? Is it
hard packed coral or sand? You should be matching the fly to the colour
of the flat. If you're fishing over turtle grass, you ought be using a
olive or brown fly. Whereas if your working a light couloured flat, consider
a cream or light tan fly. Again, consult your guide. He will know what's
working!
-
Flats Species Information Pages -
Bonefish
- pg 1, pg
2 , pg 3
Permit - pg
1, pg 2 , pg
3
Tarpon - pg 1, pg 2 , pg3
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When slipping
out of a boat to cast to fish, be
careful not to bump your rod of the side of the boat and avoid dropping
objects onto the floor of the boat. I once watched a small school of huge
bonefish tear off the flat after a client dropped his forceps on the side
of the boat as he was exciting the craft to cast to these fish, who were
maybe 50 feet away. Noise carries! When you're on the flat and you see
some fish cruising in shallow water, make sure that you can cast the distance
that the fish are at.
When you're in range, and the fish are moving, you want to cast the fly
about 10 feet in front of the fish and allow it to sink to the bottom.
I like to make my cast 10 feet in front of the bone and a little to the
side. This allows me more control in terms of the sink rate of the fly
and I can speed up or slow down the strip depending on how accurate my
cast is, to ensure that I get the fly in front of the fish. You want this
process to be as natural as possible. Prey does not flee directly at the
bonefish but rather, away from it. If your fly heads towards the bone
when you're stripping it in, the fish, knowing that this is unnatural,
will take off immediately without eating it.
If you encounter a school of bonefish, whatever you do, don't try to drop
the fly right in the middle of all the fish. The slap of your line will
likely scare off the whole school, leaving you frustrated at what could
have been. Instead, try to place the fly on the edge of the school and
let it sink. More often than not, a few of the fish will break from the
pack and race to inhale it. When stripping the fly, make sure that your
rod tip in pointed down and in the direction of the cast. This will help
to eliminate slack while increasing your ability to detect strikes.
I don't hear enough about sink rates when speaking
with anglers about bonefish flies. Everyone talks
about which pattern or colour to use, but rarely about the weight of the
fly. This is critical. Make sure to have several different weighted varieties
of each fly that you carry, as you want to be able to access each stage
of the water column. Bonefish move and will frequently change depths throughout
the course of their day when feeding. You need to get the fly where they're
at. This is often more important than the colour or even the pattern used
as bonefish aren't as fussy as we sometimes make them out to be.
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