Bonefish & Wind — 7 Strategies
John Byron
Here are 7 tips to help you catch bonefish in the wind.
Expect it. Chasing bonefish, wind is a feature, not a bug. The flats are … wait for it … flat. Often no lee. Nothing to impede wind across the ocean. When you’re after bonefish, you’ll deal with wind every trip and often every day.
Learn. This blog and its sisters have a ton of great videos on casting in the wind. Chase ‘em down. The Belgian Cast. High with the wind, low into it. Side arm. Let the rod do the work. Don’t overdrive the cast. Keep the normal rhythm. Study the art of casting in the wind.
Practice. Old joke: “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” “Practice, my son, practice.” How do you get good at casting in the wind? Same answer: practice practice practice. Five minutes a day, all winds, all directions. Practice your casting.
Heavy up. If your main gun is an 8-weight, go to your 9-weight when the wind is getting gnarly. If you’re normally casting that sweet all-distance flyline, shift over to one of those front-loaded cannons like the Rio Quickshooter or Bruce Chard’s Airflo Tropical Punch. And put on a lead-eye fly, one heavy enough to drop straight to the bottom instead of skating across the surface as your flyline scoots in the wind.
Shorten up. You can’t see the fish very far away when the wind whips up the water surface,. Good news:
Don’t Put Off Your Bucket List
YOU’LL HAVE TO FORGIVE ME, I’M GOING TO TELL YOU A STORY YOU MIGHT NOT WANT TO HEAR.
On more occasions than I care to count I have found myself the subject of judgment if not out right scorn from strangers, colleagues and even family over the amount of time I spend fishing. Sound familiar? Chances are, if you fish as much as I do you’ve run into the odd individual who, for what ever reason, feels that you owe them an explanation for what you’ve chosen to do with your life. I’ve seen people galled that I am “wasting my life”. Folks, sometimes visibly angry with me when I tell them I spend well over a hundred days a year on the water, demanding an explanation. As if they were a disappointed parent. This used to irritate me but I have come to see this jealousy as an opportunity to have some fun at their expense. I taunt them a little. I draw them in and let them get really comfortable with the idea that I am a worthless fool and they are setting me straight before I explain it. And because I don’t like being judged I enjoy watching their faces drop when they hear the answer.
My father was a pilot. He had his pilot’s license at fourteen but he had already been flying for years. He flew the F86 for the Air Force. He could do things with a plane that scared the pants off of experienced pilots. He was truly gifted and he loved it. It was his purpose for living. When he got out of the service he could have flown for a living but his father had started a business and asked him to come to work for him. He would have done anything for his Dad so he did and he hated it every day.
He chain smoked and after suffering a heart attack in his forties, reluctantly, he gave up his pilot’s license. He put his energy into golf. He was always athletic and competitive. He loved to gamble and always won. Gambling, it seems is only a problem if you lose. My brother tells the story of seeing my father win fifteen-hundred dollars on a single hand of cards then give the money to the local girl scout leader to take the girls to camp. That’s how he was. When he passed away about all he owned were his clothes, an old Chevy and his golf clubs. His family and friends never wanted.
At fifty-nine my father had all he could take and
Read More »Restore an Old Bamboo Fly Rod #2: Video Series
Matt Draft is back for part two of our video series on how to restore an old bamboo fly rod.
Today Matt will cover two approaches to restoring a rod and show you hoe to map out the rod and mark important features so everything goes back together like it should. Whether you choose to do a faithful restoration or a modern update, these important steps will ensure that your project goes smoothly.
Read More »Get Your Strip Set Right Every Time: Video
Remembering to strip set is the hardest thing for anglers new to saltwater fly fishing.
It’s absolutely crucial in saltwater angling to use a strip set. If you lift the tip of your rod at all, known as trout setting, you will not get the hook into the hard mouth of any saltwater fish. It’s hard for beginners though. When the fish eats, muscle memory takes over and the body does what it’s used to doing. If you’re a trout angler, that’s a trout set.
More saltwater fish are lost as a result of weak hook sets than anything else. When I teach my bonefish schools I work with students to be sure they have the pressure right. I hold the line and have them set the hook several times, telling them when they are using the right amount of force. It’s like a firm handshake. Enough to say your serious but not enough to start a fight.
Even with this practice it’s hard to fight the muscle memory and put it all together when the fish eats. I tell my students to say “strip set” out loud every time they strip the fly. It feels silly but I have never seen it fail. If you say “strip set” you will strip set. It’s a great device to keep your head in the game.
Watch this video to see me make a good strip set and get some pointers on getting it right.
Read More »My Favorite Bonefish Reel
Best of all it only cost $285
I remember standing on the beach at Andros South watching my buddy Bruce Chard teaching his annual bonefish school. Bruce was illustrating for a first timer what he should expect when he encountered a bonefish. He held the line and let the student feel how hard he should strip set, then he took off running down the beach a fast as he could. The student did a good job of clearing the line and getting Bruce on the reel but I’ll never forget the look on his face when Bruce turned and ran straight back toward him. He stood slack jawed, line piled up at his feet while Bruce and I laughed.
That’s exactly what a bonefish will do to you. They can swim thirty miles per hour and at some point, as they go ballistic and criss cross the flat they’ll head straight for you. You had better be ready to pick up some line in a hurry. The first time it happened to me I struggled. My reel wouldn’t pick up the line and I resorted to stripping it in by hand. My guide told me to, “get rid of that trout reel.” Of course, it wasn’t a trout reel but it clearly wasn’t a bonefish reel either.
The next time I went bonefishing I had to be better prepared. I knew I needed a reel with a really large arbor but didn’t relish the idea of dropping the cash on another new bonefish reel. Fortunately there was another solution. I had a Nautilus NV Ten-Eleven, a great salt water reel. I bought the Nautilus G-8 spool for it. The G stands for Giga. This spool turned my Ten-Eleven into a super large arbor eight.
It’s a brilliant product. The spool is fast and easy to change and really gives the reel some power to pick up line with it’s 4.25″ arbor. It’s highly vented so the line dries quickly, which cuts way down on the chance that you spool will corrode from holding wet line. It’s light (7.2 oz) and holds 225 yards of 30 lb backing with an eight weight line. It lets me take
Read More »Scientific Anglers Amplitude Bonefish Line: Review
By John Byron
Looking for the perfect bonefish line? Good luck. Ain’t no such thing. But a really good line for bonefish, those are out there in growing numbers.
With COVID kicking trips into next year and restricted access to the flats, the driven bonefish chaser then turns to gear. I did. In good shape on rods and reels, I set out to find the best flyline for my eight-weight.
I’ve found one I really like, Scientific Anglers Amplitude Bonefish with AST-Plus.
I have been fishing Rio lines and good they are.
Early days I fished the Bonefish Quickshooter — one weight heavy out of the box and with a short, compact head, it’s ideal for the beginner to fight the wind and learn the short shots. Caught a lot of bonefish with the Quickshooter and it’s still my choice for big winds.
I then moved up (as I saw it) to a Rio DirectCore Flats Pro with the six-foot Stealth Tip. A bit overweight and front-end loaded like the Quickshooter but not as much. Caught a bunch of bonefish with that line too. But … both these excellent lines are a bit splashy when they hit the water, not the perfect presentation.
So I then moved on to the Rio DirectCore Bonefish line and I really like it. Haven’t fished it on the flats yet, but did spend a ton of time practice casting as I describe below. Verdict? It is a splendid line. Lays out nicely and I’d be happy using it in all but heavy wind.
But then my new penpal Ákos Szmutni in Hungary (he’s building a Stickman T7 for me) suggested I try other lines, including one from Scientific Anglers. I looked at the SA profiles and though I didn’t order the specific one Ákos recommended, I did find one that looked even better. It’s the line that’s subject of this review and I think it’s super. Thank you Ákos.
My test runs were not those fancy shootouts with expert casters measuring all of a line’s esoteric dimensions under perfect conditions. No, I just went out on my dock and tried these lines over and over until I felt I knew what I had.
VERDICT? OF THE LINES NOTED ABOVE, I LIKE SA’S AMPLITUDE BONEFISH BEST. BY A LOT.
Venue: small dock on an east-west canal off the Banana River, open water for about seventy feet to my neighbor’s dock.
Rod: Scott Sector eight-weight.
Leader: twelve-foot with typical weighted bonefish fly.
Casting: right-hand caster, to the east into the wind.
Wind: sometimes flat calm, sometimes into the coastal sea breeze maybe 15/20 MPH wind (gets much higher, I’d use my nine-weight with faithful old Rio Quickshooter line).
FIVE THINGS ABOUT THE SA AMPLITUDE BONEFISH STAND OUT AGAINST THE OTHERS:
Don’t Tread on my Redd
THIS IS THE TIME OF YEAR WHEN TROUT, AS WELL AS OTHER COLD WATER FISH, PUT ON THEIR BARRY WHITE RECORDS, OPEN A BOTTLE OF COURVOISIER AND GET BUSY.
Brown trout and brook trout spawn in the fall and rainbow and cutthroats in the spring. Exact spawning times vary a bit from region to region and year to year but that’s the gist of it. Chubs, suckers, shiners, sculpins and other baitfish that make up an important part of the trouts diet are spawning all through the cooler months as well.
Trout lay their eggs in gravel. This gravel is key to the fry’s survival. They will find a spot where there is a consistent flow of well oxygenated water with a consistent depth of a foot or so, out of direct sun. The female will use her tail to clean the silt from a patch of gravel creating a redd where she will lay her eggs.
Fish do not hatch like birds or reptiles. They sort of pop out on top of the egg which stays attached to their belly and serves as a source of nutrition until the fry is big enough to forage for food. These sack fry are quite vulnerable. They hover over the redd and when predators approach they disappear into the gravel for protection.
Trout will generally move to the headwaters of streams to spawn but redds can be found anywhere the conditions are right. They appear as bright spots of clean gravel from one to three feet in diameter. Some are pronounced when surrounded by silt. In places where the gravel is clean they can be subtile depressions in the stream bed.
As anglers we must be aware of the presents of redds and wade with care. Stepping in redds can spoil eggs or crush sack fry hiding in the gravel and seriously effect trout reproduction. Even baitfish redds should be
Read More »Fishing Buddy
IN MY YEARS OF FLY FISHING I HAVE FISHED WITH MANY DIFFERENT PEOPLE.
I’m sure that many of you, like me, have a small group of 2 maybe 3 “fishing buddies.” Guys we can run with at a moment’s notice. Guys who, when we get to the water, need no words spoken as to who starts at what spot. No jealousy or fish envy. No competition other than being out and netting as a team. If one guy is hot, the other gives in to the better looking water until things “even out”. Sometimes one would even sit and simply watch the other fish a run, encouraging him.
“Nice, good drift, that’s the spot, he’s gotta be there, let that bug hunt, there he is!”
I live in the west, wedged between Montana and Washington in that little sliver of Idaho. I’m a sales engineer for a big company and about 14 years ago I got a new regional manager, Tom who was a sportsman, fishing and hunting, but never fly fishing. He was raised in Northern Illinois and Michigan and was now in Southern California. While traveling, we would got to know each other, as is natural, and I regaled him with stories about the rivers and places I would fish.
Being both outdoorsman we made a strong connection. One day he said, “I’m coming up to work in your area and I want you to take me to one of your spots.” So I did. It was late in the summer and the water was down but I wanted to take him to a beautiful place for living the moment and not just the fishing. A wonderful spot with a wall on one side and semi open flat behind to make back casting easier. We were on the inside bend and it was perfect for a first timer.
It was hot and we didn’t really catch much other than a few little fellas, but he had been afflicted. Some of us are very susceptible to certain diseases and we called fly fishing “The Disease” and we both joyously relished the affliction.
Our range extended from
Why Gink And Gasoline?
I get that question all the time, it’s time I answered it.
When my buddy Kent and I started Gink and Gasoline we were driving all over the country chasing fish on the fly. Things were simpler then and a hell of a lot of fun. We were living out of my Subaru Forester, packed to the gils with camping and fishing gear. and about 200 CDs. One of those CDs was “Dirt Track Date” by the band Southern Culture on the Skids, who come from Chapel Hill, NC. Just down the road from where I grew up. They just sound like home to me and I wore that CD out.
One of my favorite songs on that record is “Fried Chicken and Gasoline.” It’s about being on the road for so long everything smells like fried chicken and gasoline. That song really captured what were doing, except the fundamental components of our enterprise were Gink and Gasoline. The name stuck.
We didn’t know it at the time but
Read More »Restore an Old Bamboo Fly Rod #1: Video Series
Today is the first in a series of videos, featuring Matt Draft of Proof Fly Fishing, on restoring old bamboo fly rods.
Have you been wanting a classic bamboo fly rod but suffering from sticker shock? Well, our buddy Matt Draft is back to solve that problem. Old bamboo fly rods are pretty easy to come by at yard sales, antique stores, and junk shops. A lot of times, these are great old rods. Maybe not collectors pieces but solid, great casting rods that started their lives on the shelf of the local hardware store and provided some fishy old dude years of enjoyment. More often than not though, these bargain rods are not in fishable condition, or at least not pretty. That’s ok. These rods were hand made and with a little knowledge and a little work they can be beautiful again.
IN THIS VIDEO MATT WILL GO OVER WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A BAMBOO ROD FOR RESTORATION. HE’LL TELL YOU WHAT MATTERS, WHAT DOESN’T AND WHAT’S A DEAL BREAKER.
Read More »