Bahamas Bonefish Flies

Gotcha

The skiff slipped quietly along the shallow edge of the flat where the open water met the mangroves. A nice bonefish appeared within casting range and Patty landed the small Gotcha three feet in front of his face. A couple of line strips brought a solid strike and the fish bolted for open water and then raced back toward the boat with the angler reeling frantically. Past the boat it went, through a tiny cove and deep into the mangroves where the water was less tha  a foot deep. Fifty yards of bright yellow backing had now left Patty's reel. Suddenly there was an explosion of water as the bonefish had snubbed

itself off on a mangrove root and was unable to break the 15-pound test leader. I leaped out of the boat into the knee deep water and gave chase after the fish. By this time it was nearly back out to open water, but the line was hung around something back in the mangroves. The problem was located where the fish had made a narrow turn around two small mangrove bushes. Then it had gone back out exactly the way it had came in. As soon as the backing line was untangled from the two small plants the fish was free to run back out into open water. The six-pounder was landed and released soon after its photo was taken.

The Gotcha
The story goes that when anglers Ted McVay and his son Jim were staying at the Andros Island Bonefish Club in the Bahamas. Jim snipped some yellow carpet fibers from the floor of a taxi and used them to tie a new fly. Every time a fish hit the fly, guide Rupert Leadon would say, "Gotcha." The Gotcha fly is now tied with a wing of tan craft fur and the ones we sell have a mono

Bonefish Puff

On a recent trip to Andros South Bonefish Camp, we drifted up within casting range of a whitish streak of clouded water. It was being caused by bonefish rooting for food buried in the bottom of the shallow flat. Sometimes bonefish hydraulically excavate food organisms from soft silt by squirting jets of water from their mouths. This results in a cloud of debris which drifts with the current, sometimes for many yards. The cloud is called a "Mud". As we slowly approached the mudding fish, I offered a fly box and asked our guide Fredlon what fly to use.

To my surprise he pointed to a pattern which had been introduced to us by Derrick Muchamp on our first bonefish trip to Belize back in 1982, the Orange Puff. The fly was attached to the leader and cast blindly into the whitish cloud. After allowing time for the fly to sink, several jerky strips got a crisp strike. This and several more medium size bonefish fell for the fly in quick succession. When I asked Fredlon what the bonefish thought the Puff fly looked like, he replied with a big grin, "Pink jelly beans, man! Who can refuse them?"