Concentration, Relaxation and Communication Equal Better Bonefishing
By Louis Cahill
Concentration, Relaxation and Communication. I wish I could claim those words.
I’m quoting Jose Sands, bonefish guide at Andros South Bonefish Lodge. That was his answer when I asked what he thought was the key to successful bonefishing. As usual, he nailed it.
Plenty of anglers are frustrated or intimidated by bonefish. Bonefishing is a complex game with a lot of moving parts and all too often what should be a simple formula breaks down completely. When that happens it’s usually because one or more elements in Jose’s recipe are missing. It’s easier said than done but if you can accomplish these three things, the pieces start to fall into place.
COMMUNICATION
Most saltwater fishing is a team sport. Whether fishing with friends or a guide, you are generally depending on someone else to help you find fish and make a good presentation. Things happen quickly and everyone needs to be on the same page and communicating efficiently to make it work.
There are some universal ideas that everyone needs to understand in order to have good communication. Understanding the bow clock, for instance. When your guide tells you there is a fish at eleven o’clock, forty feet, moving right, it should be a simple thing to find that fish. You learn pretty quickly however, that everyone’s forty feet is not the same and even your guide will occasionally lose track of where eleven o’clock is.
It pays to take a minute at the start of the day to pick an object like a mangrove sprout and decide how far away it is. That helps you calibrate for the day. I find that guides often call out distances that seem much farther than I think is realistic. Not because they don’t know how far away the fish is, but because we are looking at it from very different perspectives. Mine on the bow, and there’s, from the platform at the back of the boat. It’s also worth the time it takes to look at the bow of the boat and confirm where twelve o’clock actually is before you waste a lot of time looking for fish in the wrong spot.
Guides will also use terms like “drop the fly” and “shoot the fly,” to indicate how it should be presented. Drop means you are already carrying enough line for a good presentation, while shoot indicates that you need to let some line go on your delivery. These kinds of directions vary from guide to guide, so take the time to ask early on. It’s impossible to over emphasize the importance of good communication.
I have about a 40% hearing loss and it’s a huge challenge for me. I remind my guide several times during the start of the day that I am deaf as a post. No guide likes to shout in the presence of bonefish but if I can’t hear their direction we both wind up frustrated.
CONCENTRATION
The thing I enjoy the most about bonefishing is the same thing that makes it so difficult.
Read More »Sunday Classic / Bruce Chard’s Palolo Worm
THE PALOLO WORM HATCH IN THE FLORIDA KEYS TRULY MUST BE SEEN TO BE BELIEVED.
Tarpon go completely crazy when these bright red worms pour out of the sand by the millions. The fish gorge themselves on worms and quite a few of those worms are cleverly tied imitations. It’s the fishing opportunity of a lifetime.
My good friend Captain Bruce Chard has this hatch wired. I’ve fished the hatch with Bruce and his success rate is astounding. Today he’s going the share the simple but effective fly that makes it happen. There’s not much to the tie. Anyone can pull it off, but when you see it in action it looks like a million bucks.
Watch the video and learn to tie Chard’s Palolo Worm.
Read More »Saturday Shoutout/ Camping Stuff You Should Know
Spring is a great time to get out in the woods for some camping and fishing.
I love camping and fishing, especially in the spring and fall. Here are a handful of videos to help you up your outdoor game.
HAVE FUN OUT THERE!
Read More »If It Looks Offensive, Fish It!
By Justin Pickett
Does a trout fly have to “be something?”
I was once approached by a man on a local stream after I had brought a nice male Rainbow Trout to the net, and immediately he asked the age old question, “What’d he eat?” I removed the fly from the trout’s kyped jaw and held it up for the older gentleman to see. The look of shock and awe… no… make that shear terror… on his face was priceless.
“What the hell is that supposed to be?!” to which I replied,
“I dunno, but it works!”
The fly in question is the brainchild of a good friend, and colleague, of mine. He fishes it all the time, and has lovingly named it the “Trout Brain.” It is a large, ugly, bulky, pink, flesh-like pattern tied on a partridge hook with a bright, fluorescent orange, tungsten bead. To look at this thing, you’d think that there is no way any self-respecting trout inhabiting the lower 48 would eat it. Hell I’ve had clients and other fishing buddies downright refuse to tie it on their rig. I’ll admit I had my doubts at first as well.
It is definitely a far cry from what you would consider a “traditional” fly pattern, but it has proven to be very effective. Do I know why
Read More »Sunday Classic / Cat Island Bones
WHITE SAND, BLUE WATER, BONEFISH AND RUM. WHAT MORE DO YOU NEED?
Cat Island is not known as a bonefishing destination. It’s a quiet island with beautiful beaches, warm people and modest fishing opportunities, compared to its neighbors. It’s not South Andros or Bimini but it’s a place I have grown to love.
The flats fishing is purely a DIY scene. The fish are small but really spooky and that makes them rewarding to catch them. They are a food source for the locals, so the fish who are on the flats have earned that right. I take a kayak and paddle to some flats I know to spend the day wading. The bonefish are always good to me.
It was inevitable that I get a GoPro camera. I took it with me on my last trip to Cat Island and shot this video. So, have a click and enjoy five minutes of Cat Island Bones!
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / Char Week
Big char and record brook trout in the land of the midnight sun.
Here are three videos for the char lovers. All of the red bellies and white knife edge fins you’d expect in 3 far flung northern destinations. It’s like shark week, but better!
CHAR WEEK!
Read More »Slow Cast Fly Casting Drill
Great timing is the hallmark of a good fly cast.
Timing is everything, well, pretty close anyway when it comes to casting a fly rod. Plenty of anglers struggle with their timing, often without knowing it’s their timing that’s off. Poor timing robs your cast of distance and accuracy. Fortunately, it’s a fairly easy problem to overcome. All you need is a little practice, and the right practice drill.
IN THIS VIDEO I GO OVER THE SLOW CAST DRILL I USE TO IMPROVE TIMING.
Read More »Tenkara Fly-tying
I initially got interested in fly-fishing because of flies and fly-tying.
The idea of creating a lure using feathers and thread was very appealing to me. Before I ever got my first fly rod I probably tied well over 100 flies. Of course, I got indoctrinated in the western fly-tying school, that of trying to imitate, at least somewhat closely, the insects that lived in the waters I fished. Then, I discovered tenkara. When I first discovered the method I saw in it just the idea of using a rod, line and fly. For my first year of tenkara fishing I continued using the western flies I had learned to tie: parachute adams, elk-hair caddis and some cool mayfly nymph imitations. And then I started learning tenkara from the people that had been doing it for decades in Japan, and I started paying closer attention to their flies.
TENKARA FLIES OPENED UP A BRAND NEW WORLD FOR ME.
Sure, tenkara flies, called kebari in Japanese, were still supposed to fool fish by somehow looking like the insects those fish ate. While not all tenkara flies look the same, the most characteristic tenkara flies are the so-called sakasa kebari, or “reverse-hackle fly”. To a western fly angler they will look more like soft-hackles but with the hackle facing away from the bend of the hook, reversed. This reverse hackle style is very popular and has become my preferred style fly to use. With it, when I’m fishing in moving water the fly will always retain some profile to it rather than becoming a sliver and “disappearing”. I can also impart motion onto the fly, with a light pulsating of my rod, the fly will open and close and look very buggy.
Just like I got into fly-fishing because of flies and fly-tying, I can say that the tenkara flies and what they represent certainly had some impact on my interest in tenkara too. Tenkara flies show us the different approach of suggesting bugs rather than trying to imitate them. They also bring with them the philosophy of using any “one fly” (not changing flies nearly as much as we do in western fly-fishing), and the idea of tying the simplest fly you can get away with. How I wish I had known about tenkara flies when I started learning how to tie flies (my first several hundred flies I tied by hand, without the use of a vise.
TENKARA FLIES SHOW US HOW SIMPLE FLY-TYING CAN BE.
Here are two videos I think people should watch to learn about tenkara fly-tying
Read More »Sunday Classic / Tippet Size Can Be More Important With Nymphs
Many of us like to think it’s all about fly pattern choice when it comes to catching trout. Sometimes it is, but there’s many times when the key to getting the tough bites, lies not in what fly pattern you’re fishing, but rather in what size tippet you’ve chosen to attach your fly to. If you asked me what fly type (streamer, dry or nymph) is most important when it comes to tippet choice, I’d quickly respond that tippet size is most critical when an angler is trout fishing with nymphs. You’re probably thinking, “Thanks for your opinion Kent, but what’s the theory behind your reasoning?” For starters, trout don’t tend to be very tippet shy with streamers—in most moving water situations. A trout generally will see your big meaty streamer coming through its kitchen, and it will either pounce on it for territorial reasons or because it provides an opportunity for a large meal that it can’t afford to pass up. I’ve got buddies that regularly fish 15 pound tippet when they’re streamer fishing, hell, sometimes even 20 pound, and they have great success. And a good portion of them, aren’t pounding the banks on the river from a drift boat, but instead wade-fishing on small to mid-size trout streams. In many cases, anglers tend to fish tippet too light when streamer fishing. Fishing beefy tippet will aid in efficient leader turnover, decrease the amount of false casting needed between presentations, and lastly, it will help anglers make accurate casts more consistently at varying distances.
Dry fly fishing, makes for a much closer call, but I still stand by my belief, that tippet size is more important with nymphs. Largely because the two most important factors in dry fly fishing success, are an accurate presentation and a drag free drift. In certain situations, timing can be critical as well, for instance, when an angler is fishing to a trout actively feeding on the surface during a hatch. That being said, I wouldn’t go so far as to say tippet has no bearing in dry fly fishing. It’s just more common that the problem lies with a presentation off target (out of the target zone), a dry fly looking unnatural because of drag, or the dry fly was drifted over the trout when it wasn’t ready (repositioning after a recent feeding). If you’re certain you have all of the above correct, you’ve tried a few different patterns, and you’re still not getting bites, there’s a good chance your tippet is too large and needs to be downsized.
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / Poncho
Catching giant steelhead with a pet chicken.
The only thing more special than catching a wild steelhead is doing it with the one you love. Sharing the passion with someone special is what fly fishing is all about. It’s a thrill you can feel in your nuggets, and if that someone is a chicken, who are we to judge?
“What came first, the chicken or the sport of fly fishing?”
THE ONLY WAY TO KNOW IS TO WATCH “PONCHO.”
Read More »