Tracy&James | Sunday, 22 October 2023
DiY bonefishing can be tough, very tough. Behind the pictures of smiling anglers (ok, not always smiling in my particular case) holding up beautifully silver bonefish in equally beautiful locations, what can't be seen is the work that goes in to catching them. Tracy and I have been working pretty hard in the last week with little or no return.
I'm not exactly sure what is going on, but we're not finding fish, and by that I mean any fish. We've had a number of days where we've waded for six hours plus and not seen a single bonefish or any sign that bonefish have been there recently. To say this is a bit dis-heartening is a bit of an understatement. It's not as if we don't know the island or its flats, and I don't believe we've both simultaneously lost the ability to spot fish – they just aren't where we're looking. We're looking on flats that were very productive just a year ago, so something is different about this year. Even our blind casting spots, where we usually find all sorts of species such as jacks and snappers around structures, are suspiciously devoid of fish.
We did actually find bonefish today however. Unfortunately they were uncatchable as they stayed at least 70 – 100 metres off-shore on a steeply shelved beach, thus they were out in very deep water. Obviously I tried wading out to them, but the wade very quickly changed into a swim so any chance of making a cast was out. Usually bonefish would only venture out into water this deep in order to spawn, but they do this over a full moon and that is not what we've got at the moment, so again I'm a bit perplexed about what's going on.
On a positive note, I have had a number of shots at good sized sharks, however none have yet actually taken the fly. A few have followed it with their noses right on it only to veer off at the last minute, including a couple that I would put in the magic triple figure bracket, i.e. 100 pound plus. I've also missed a very aggressive shark in the 60-70lb class through sheer incompetence. I spotted this fish travelling parallel to the shoreline approximately 40 metres out. I proceeded to run down the beach to get ahead of the fish, but still out of fly casting range (I can't hit 40m with a budgie sized fly on a wire and with the running line coming out of the water). As such I employed a shark attracting technique of 'swishing' the rod tip in the water in front off me to make noises like a struggling bait fish. This worked perfectly (it doesn't always – the fact this fish responded implied it was actively hunting), the shark changed course by 90 degrees and head straight for the commotion i.e. me. Unfortunately my vigorous 'swishing' had wrapped the leader around the rod tip and I just couldn't free it. I desperately circled the rod round clockwise and anti-clockwise as the fish got nearer and nearer. It just didn't clear at all, and my easiest shot of the week, no more than 15 feet at its closest approach, went begging. All I had to do was flop the leader out, but in the time I had I just couldn't do it without risking a take that would strip the top section of my #10 weight of every eye. The shark u-turned and disappeared on to the turtle grass. Things that happen in a matter of seconds can be the making or breaking of a day's saltwater fishing, and my days have mostly been breaking at the moment.
Tomorrow marks the first of some fishable low tides since we've arrived, I'm hoping our luck changes with the swap from fishing highs to lows.
Have a great week,
James.