Your guide is going to see about 90% of the fish before you do. Make sure to spend 5-10 minutes chatting with your guide the first morning, about how he likes to call a fish he sees. When it comes to distance, does he use feet or does he call it meters? Is there a specific word or phrase he uses when he sees a fish? Does he like a slow retrieve or a fast one? A quick discussion about communications on board, before you start fishing, can go a long way!  

Most guides use the clock system. The tip of the bow of the skiff is 12 O’clock. The stern is 6 O’clock. The middle of the skiff, left side is 9 O’clock, while the middle right hand side of the skiff is 3 O’clock. Your guide will use this “clock system” to help you spot the fish. If he says, “Bonefish at 11 O’clock, 45 feet out”, your eyes should be looking to the left of the tip of the bow of the boat, to where 11 O’clock would be found on a wall clock or watch. Then look out about 45 feet or so. This fish should be right there. 

Another good and fast way to help you find the fish if you can’t see it is to point the tip of your rod out to where you think the fish is, moving it slowly, left or right. Your guide will tell you “left or right” and he will then walk you into the fish using the tip of your rod.  

Looking for bonefish when you have little experience seeing and finding them, can feel like an impossible task. But once you get the hang of it and know what to look for, it becomes much easier. Don’t be looking for a fish shape in the water because that’s not what you are going to see. Instead, keep your eyes relaxed and moving left and right, slowing looking for an anomaly or something that doesn’t quite fit. A shadow, a slightly different shade of color or a color change, maybe a little ripple on the water. Don’t focus on any one thing. Just keep your eyes relaxed and moving and find the little thing that just stands out. That is what a bonefish will look like!

When a fish is spotted and you then make the cast, in most cases you should try to lead the fish by about 3 feet. Doing this will allow you time to manipulate the fly into the fishes’ feeding lane, by either slowing down or speeding up your strips so that you can get the fly to where the bonefish sees it.   

Once you’ve made the cast, you want to immediately drop your rod tip and it point down towards the water and in the direction of your fly. I keep my rod tip pointed down and only about 4 inches from the water when I start stripping the fly. Doing this helps to eliminate slack in the line, which is the single biggest way that anglers lose fish.  

Once you’ve made the cast, you want to get tight to your fly as soon as possible. To do this, you need to remove all slack in the line with your stripping hand so that you are in control of your fly and how you want to move it. This should be the first thing you think about once your fly has hit the water. Make the cast and strip all slack out so that you are tight to the fly.     

This is where a lot of first-time bonefish anglers will really struggle. Wind, glare, and tidal currents can make line control difficult. Many anglers when making a cast will drop the fly line from the hand that is not holding the rod, once they’ve made the cast. Don’t do this as it leads to all kinds of problems, particularly a lack of control. If you are holding the rod in your right hand when casting, the line should pretty much always be in your left hand. And vice versa if you are left-handed. Once the cast has been made, your left hand should immediately be bringing the line back to the rod and fed right into to your stripping hand/finger that is also holding the rod. Once the stripping hand/finger has been repatriated with the fly line after the cast, the other hand should be used to strip the line. You should never have your stripping hand off the fly line for more than a second or two. Successful line management is all about control and if drop your line from your non stripping hand, for any length of time, you have lost control. 

 If you’ve done a lot of trout fishing before your first bonefish trip, lifting your rod tip up to set the hook will be an extremely difficult habit to break. But you have to break the habit in order to have any level of success when fly fishing for bones. Instead of lifting the rod tip up when you feel pressure or see that the bonefish has taken your fly, you need to strip set. A strip set is when you feel pressure on the other end of the line and you then use your striping hand to set the hook. A firm tug with your stripping hand once the bonefish has eaten the fly, will set the hook. By eliminating slack, being in control of the line with your stripping hand AND having your rod tip pointing down and in the direction of the fly, you will maximize your opportunities when the bonefish does eat your fly. 

Relax and be patient with yourself. This is a new pursuit with a lot of variables that are completely out of your control. Don’t get stressed out if you are struggling a little bit the first day or two. It gets easier and after making the inevitable mistakes, you will start to do the right things automatically, without even thinking about it. Mangrove estuaries and the tidal flats where bonefish live and feed are incredibly beautiful and rich in marine life, so take it all in and enjoy the spectacular scenery. A good bonefish trip is about far more than how many fish you caught.

As always, if you have any questions about a specific destination or need some trip location inspiration, I will gladly help in any way that I can. I can be reached at:

rich@slipstreamangling.com