I’m gearing up for a bonefish trip to the Caribbean. My son and I are headed to Long Island, way down at the southern end of the archipelago. I’ve been there before. Endless shining flats, and beaucoup bones. Typically they aren’t very large – at least by Andros standards – but they’re usually plentiful.
Most carry bead-chain eyes, a few with lead. Also purchased some flies at www.discountflies.com. Wonderful prices and excellent quality. Check them out! You’ll be glad you did.
Plan to rely mainly on my vintage Scott “G” series 7-wt., armed with a Ross Canyon 3# reel, and a Rio “Bonefish” Floating line. The combination casts well. I’ll also be carrying a spare spool with a 6-wt Rio “Bonefish” Floater for times when softer presentations, or longer casts are needed. My backup rod is a Scott S3S 8-wt.
Our destination is the Long Island Bonefishing Lodge and I booked the trip through Judy Hall at http://www.angleradventures.com/ She has been very helpful. I recommend her highly.
At the moment, I’m tying up 12 foot leaders. Tippet strengths of 10-12 pound test should be fine for small bones, but I’m going to use Seaguar Grand Max Fluorocarbon in 1x. At a slim diameter of .012″, it tests at whopping 18.5 pounds! Amazing. It seems to knot well too. Still there is an issue; it’s pricy @ $17.95 for 25 yards. That’s about 4 or 5 times the cost of mono. We’ll see if it is worth it.
When I return I’ll tell you how the trip went.
Ed your son has some crab flies I gave my son to give to him. I’d like nothing better than a photo of a Bonefish with one of the crabs in it’s jaw. Good Luck to both of you. More snow up here next week. I bought a 250 yd. spool of Seaguar Fluorocarbon for about $17 and put 50 yds. on 5 chenille spools. It was not the Grand Max but it had a red label on the spool. Loved it for steelhead last fall.
Gary,
Thank you very much. I will definitely try to get that photo for you. I’m building a 12 foot bonefish leader I found on the net. It uses Rio Hard Mono 30/25/20/16/12 with a 1x/18lb Grand Max tippet – which I got from Feathercrafters. So the tippet is not the weakest section, odd. Some minor knotting problems mono to mono, but the leader does straighten out nicely. Appears to be very accurate. Hope so! Where did you buy your Seaguar???
Walmart. Shipped to a store near me for free.
Gary,
Thanks for the information. Will check it out.
Ed
Perfect timing. I’m gearing up and training to bonefish Abaco at the end of April. CFFA member Jonathan has gone there for the last 12 years and has been advising me. At the Somerset fly show I attended 3 seminars about bonefishing in the Bahamas. Met Ian Davis of Yellow Dog fly fish adventures. He uses a 9 wt and swears by G-Max Seagur Fluro in 18# test, the diameter is smaller than most 15# and the fish don’t seem too concerned by the line. He recommended Long Island for family and DIY trips. One thing I heard over and over is to include Reverend Laing fly, by Jamie Boyle. Airflo has a new line called the Punch which is getting raves. Advised to carry flies as small as size 8, 10
A few questions: are you over lining your rods? Could you share the length of the leader sections? Thanks
ted
Ted,
All sections of this leader measure the same – an arm’s length (roughly 33″) Unusual I know. No 60/20/20 here. But it lays out arrow straight, thanks to the hard mono. But hard mono is a pain in the arse to knot. It doesn’t drawn down very well. I used three turns in all but the thinnest section, where 4 turns is possible. Still the mono must be wet with saliva or water if you hope to pull it tight. Even then I super glued the knots. If this leader proves to be a problem, for any reason, I have a 3 pak of 10′ Rio Bonefish leaders as a backup.
I avoid super-fast action rods like the flu, so I never need to over-line a rod, even in close. Besides the heavier the fly line, the hard it is to make a gentle presentation. So there is catch-22. Sounds like you have a great trip coming up. Best wishes.
Ed