Got My First Bone!!!

[teflon_jones]

Just got back from 11 days in South Andros (Bahamas), and I had a blast. I only got to go fishing a few times since it was my honeymoon, but it was still a great fishing trip. I got my first bone, a 8 pounder. It took me a good 20 minutes to land him on my 8 wt. I got him from a kayak only a few feet from shore after seeing another large fish there the day before on a non-fishing kayak trip with my wife. I also landed two other bones a couple of days later, 3 and 4 lb'ers. These came from a school that went right by the resort dock while we were waiting to leave for a snorkel trip. I sprinted to my bungalow to get my rod and had a kayak on the water inside of 3 seconds. :cool:

I can see why people get so excited about catching these fish. Even the 3 lb'er was a very fun, fun catch! --127-3-

[PeterSchwe]

Teflon,

Where did you stay on South Andros and what were your impressions? It's among a couple of places (along with the Yucatan) I'm thinking about for a trip this Spring. It will be the first bonefishing trip for this high-country trout angler, so I'm hoping to choose the right spot.

[loomis]

Congratulations!!! Nice job. I can't believe you had time to grab your rod and kayak without them being long gone. That must have hooked you to give it another shot. Until your next one, keep dreaming.

Loomis (#$121)

[teflon_jones]

Teflon,

Where did you stay on South Andros and what were your impressions? It's among a couple of places (along with the Yucatan) I'm thinking about for a trip this Spring. It will be the first bonefishing trip for this high-country trout angler, so I'm hoping to choose the right spot.

I stayed at Tiamo Resort www.tiamoresorts.com. All of the bonefish I hooked were within easy (10 min) walking distance of the resort. It's not cheap to stay there, but there's so much fishing available that you don't need a guide if you know where to go (which I'd be more than happy to provide). I got a guide for a day and we only saw 4 fish. 3 of them were on the flat right next to the resort where I got the 8 lb'er. I saw many big bones on that flat, mostly in groups of 2-4. I'd say they were all at least 5 lbs. The access to fishing was unreal since it's so remote. I saw 2 schools of several hundred bones in my limited fishing time, one so close to the dock that somebody hooked 2 fish from there!

loomis,
The fish were there for 10 minutes before one of the snorkel guides pointed them out. He forgot that there were a couple of big fishermen on the boat (like me), so he didn't mention it right away. It realistically took me about 3-4 minutes to get (i.e. sprint) to my bungalow, get the rod, and get back and launch the kayak. I helped keep them near the dock with some noisy paddling in front of them a couple of times, so they'd turn around. Eventually they headed up the beach and myself and a charter that had been waiting at the dock followed them down the beach for another 20 mins. I hooked 3 more, and landed one.

[Nassau Frank]

Congratulations. Got to get there one day...

[Mark Dougherty]

Congradulations --127-3- The first bone caught is always a memory for life.
Now, I see you mention that you caught your first bonefish, not to be picky, but in reality, the bonefish caught you. Be prepared for a seriously, incrurable
lifetime disease involving stompping around flats, looking for airfare deals,
and endless web searches for bonefish destinations !!!! Bonefish kind of spoil you for any other type of fishing....at least it did for me....ENJOY :-%

[Mark Cahill]

Great read after having to snowblow the driveway this am, then schlog to work through the snow and slush for two hours.

Get any pics?

[teflon_jones]

Sorry Mark, no pics yet. I was too busy catching the fish to take any photos! :) Somebody else who was there has a pic of me in the kayak with the first fish from the school I landed. I'll post it once they email it to me. I even forgot to measure the very first bone I caught. I only know about how much he weighed, and that he was darn big! :D

It was really funny when I was sprinting to get my rod. The entire crowd of 20+ people on the dock started laughing hysterically as the sand flies up under my feet as I'm off like a shot down the beach. I heard my wife say "I've never seen him run so fast!". Even though they were already late to leave for their snorkeling trip, the entire crowd waited around until I came back, launched the kayak, and had landed my first one. They let out a huge cheer when I hooked the first one, and a hugh sigh when he slipped the hook after 5 minutes. --124-3 Then when I landed one they were all cheering. Let me tell you, I've never had such pressure to make a good cast in my life as when there's 20+ people focusing all of their attention on you!!!

EDIT: I've included a pic looking out onto the dock from the beach. The school of bones was close enough to the dock that a guy hooked one from it!

[teflon_jones]

I missed posting possibly the most important thing for others, the flies I used! :)

I hooked up with a tan sili-leg gotcha and tan rabbit fur gotcha. The second one I borrowed from a fellow angler when a bone stole my fly and I didn't have my box on me since I was rushing. :) I've never seen that pattern anywhere. The tan sili-leg was the choice or the 2 guides I consulted though. They both immediately picked that fly out of my box when I asked them what I should use.

[wittich]

awesome! Success is always sweeter when you catch them on your own.

[wittich]

Are there any other hotels to stay at on the island? 300$ per person per night is pretty steep.

[teflon_jones]

Are there any other hotels to stay at on the island? 300$ per person per night is pretty steep.
A good friend of mine has stayed here before and really liked it:
http://www.smallhope.com/

It's not on South Andros, but it's still pretty remote and offers a lot of good bonefishing. I don't have any other personal recommendations for you, but you can google "south andros bonefishing lodge" and see what you get! :)

[Vic T]

That "rabbit fur Gotcha" is actually the Bonefish Scampi designed by Henry Cowen. It is my go-to fly for bonefish and all the guides I have fished with have requested me to tie them in quantities of 100 for their own personal use (one guide even calls it his "secret fly" on his website). The pink and tan pattern is tops for me. This 9 pound bone pounced on the pattern while I was guiding myself one late afternoon with another guest.

As the guy above stated, you got hooked! Congratulations.

[loomis]

Hello Peter Schwe,

I don't have any experience with South Andros but I have experienced the bonefishing in the Yucatan. If your thinking of a trip this spring to the Yucatan you might want to read my report from Ascension Bay if you haven't yet. I wrote it for folks like you who might be looking for information on the area. It's under this forum titles Ascension Bay Mexico fishing report. I hopes this helps you out some and if you have any questions feel free to drop me an e-mail.


Happy holidays to everyone,

Loomis

[teflon_jones]

Vic T, are you sure that fish weighs 9 lbs? Just curious because the first one I got was without a doubt bigger than that. I just figured at the time that I thought it weighed more than it was. :) But since it was longer and fatter than that fish, I assume it was a little heavier. (I'm basing this on the size of your reel and rod in relation to the fish.) I also know it was at least 24" long. I think it was closer to 28", but I don't have an exact measurement. I couldn't lift its head out of the water at all with my 8 wt rod because it weighed too much. I had to beach it to land it. It totally dwarfed the 3 and 4 lb fish I landed. It was also the largest bone I saw in my entire 11 days there. Unfortunately, I was too excited to get an exact measurement (I forgot), and left my camera in the bungalow. If I had brought it, I never would have caught anything I'm sure. That's always the way it works. I guess everybody else can chalk this up to a fish tale, but I'd just like to make sure your fish was 9 lbs.

I've also heard of the Bonefish Scampi fly before, but I didn't know what it was. It seemed to do pretty well with the bones! :) Thanks for providing the name of the pattern.

[Vic T]

The bonefish measured 25 1/2" to the fork in its tail which means it weighed 9 pounds according to the weight/length chart that I use. The fish was more than 4" across it's back (really wide, solid, and hefty).

Unfortunately the old gent who took the photo stood at a bit of an angle to me and the fish, so what you see is a "three-quarter" view of the fish. The old gent was a very experienced bonefisherman and he felt confident that it was a 9 pound fish even before we consulted my chart (over celebratory drinks at the lodge). He was right on with his estimate according to the chart.

I took the old gent, a fellow guest, to a flat that I knew about late one windy afternoon and we each took a different direction. When I first saw that bonefish coming he was changing color as he was passing from a dark to a lighter bottom and he stayed dark for a moment. I cast to his downwind side and the fly landed about 18" to his left side. I saw him as he spun around, nosed down on the fly, and inhaled it when I gently twitched it. Then we were off to the races as he headed towards my friend who hooted and hollered about the big fish as he raced past him. We landed it together and the old gent kindly took the photo.

It was one of the finest fishing moments to date!