Notice the slightly larger tail of the bonefish on the left. Photo By: Louis Cahill

I know, you’re probably thinking, “it’s Monday, and there should be a long detailed post written on Gink & Gasoline, right”? That’s usually the case, but today’s post only requires a short paragraph of words to get the point across, and pay close attention everyone, because the information in it could help you catch your biggest bonefish ever.

The theory of the larger the tail, the larger the size of the fish, holds true for many species of gamefish. Unfortunately, fly fishermen aren’t always in situations on the water where they have the opportunity to benefit from this notion. Nonetheless, one instance where it can be very helpful to pay attention to the size of a fish’s tail, is when you’re fly fishing to a school of tailing bonefish on the flats. By paying attention to the size of the individual tails of the feeding bonefish, an angler can quickly determine and pick out, which fish in the school is the largest. If one tailing bonefish in the school is considerably larger than the others, you should see a noticeable difference in size, by how far the tail sticks out of the water. Remember this tip when you’re on the saltwater flats and find yourself staring at multiple bonefish tailing out in front of you. Find the largest tail in the school and present your fly to that fish first. It’s a trick many veteran bonefish and redfish enthusiasts use all the time to help them target bigger fish.

Keep it Reel,