Bone Fish Flies

[Bruno]

Just looking for tried and true suggestions. I am hitting the flats for the first time in a couple of months.

 

[Fishidiot]

The most important component of bonefish flies is weight. They're generally easy to tie and most styles and patterns have some sort of dumbell weight or bead chain eyes since, obviously, you'll be fishing in shallow water and want a fly that rides hook up. I like my patterns either in light tan/sand colors or dark brown/dark green. The rule of thumb with flats flies is to fish a light colored fly over sand bottom and dark or green flies over turtle grass. An often overlooked component of bonefish flies is a weed guard - I highly recommend you have some of these. If you're going to be fishing FL, esp during the winter, you'll want some pretty heavy flies. FL bonefish flies are generally larger (1-3") and heavier than the typical bead chain "crazy charlie" type flies popular in the Bahamas. The photo shows my basic FL bonefish fly.

Good luck with your trip! Post some pics.

 

[osprey]

Clousers , Half and Halfs , and Deceivers.

 

[sandfly]

where are you heading depends on the flies you take. keys are different then the bahamas, and belize...

 

[Bruno]

sandfly wrote:
where are you heading depends on the flies you take. keys are different then the bahamas, and belize...

Did not know that. We are going to the Bahamas for our 10th anniversary

 

[sandfly]

I would take along some bendbacks, pink, white, tan, and chartreuse charlies[8-4], bonefish critter[1], bonefish slider,[1-2/0] deceiver in white/silver [1-3/0], glass minnow[1-2/0], the horror[8-4], craft fur shrimp[4-1/0], plus the above mentioned flies. some gotcha's too.
Most likely you will be going after bones, but don't pass up a chance to fish deeper water in between the flats[sharks, groupers, cudas, etc.]

 

[Bruno]

Thanks Sandfly -

 

[Acristickid]

Where abouts you headed if you don't mine me asking?

What is the 10 year gift? Ruby,Tin,Amethyst?

Good luck and Congratulations!

 

[gutcutter]

it really depends or where you are going in the bahamas, too.
generally - in the northern islands, keys flies work well. the fish are less in number but more in size. larger and heavier flies are the norm.
in the middle islands, it is more varied. you may be on a deep grass flat looking for cruising fish, and then be on a shallow sand flat searching for tailing fish.
in the southern islands, most of the flats are sand, so you usually need only need a few patterns.
whoever booked your trip would be a good place to start.

 

[808transplant]

sparse is the ticket. small bodies, appropriately weighted eyes, very sparse wings. i like to use hackle tips as wings. the bones in hawaii, which i will be chasing again in 3 days are extra spooky, in extra skinny water so the sparseness is important. ill post two pics here of stuff i just tied for my trip home.

the two in the middle have real eyes, the others have bead chain. mylar pearl or gold bodies. dubbing ball behind the head. sparse brown bucktail shuck/tail on the underside of hook. v stripped lemon duck feather on top of that. hackle wings.

bonefish view of what youre throwing at them

 

[808transplant]

sorry my pictures didnt work. if you put it into your browser, you can see the pics

 

[jayL]

808transplant wrote:
sparse is the ticket. small bodies, appropriately weighted eyes, very sparse wings. i like to use hackle tips as wings. the bones in hawaii, which i will be chasing again in 3 days are extra spooky, in extra skinny water so the sparseness is important. ill post two pics here of stuff i just tied for my trip home.

the two in the middle have real eyes, the others have bead chain. mylar pearl or gold bodies. dubbing ball behind the head. sparse brown bucktail shuck/tail on the underside of hook. v stripped lemon duck feather on top of that. hackle wings.

bonefish view of what youre throwing at them

 

[808transplant]

thanks jayl

 

[Fishidiot]

Here's my bonefish box. In addition to bonefish patterns I usually have a couple Clousers or streamers for the occasional shot at jacks or cudas. For the Bahamas, I'd recommend flies similar to these. The flies mainly on the upper left are common patterns popular in the Bahamas. Not only are basic crab flies, such as those on the lower right, popular for bones, they'll also be handy if you get a shot at permit.

 

[Bruno]

Looks like we are going to go to Andros Island.