Flies (top to bottom):
- Del Brown Permit Fly
- Simram (lead eyes)
- Gotcha (large bead chain)
- Amber Shrimp (medium bead chain)
- Gotcha (small bead chain)
- Bunny Bone (Plastic eyes)
- Bunny Bone (Mono eyes)
Adjust to the Water Depth
- 4+ Feet Deep – Heavy lead eyes
- 3.5 Feet Deep – Medium lead eyes
- 3 Feet Deep – Large bead chain
- Average Depth = 2.5 Feet Deep – Medium bead chain
- 2 Feet Deep – Small bead chain
- 1.5 Feet Deep – Plastic eyes, #6 hook
- 1 Foot – Plastic or Mono eyes, light wire #8 hook
NOTES & TIPS
- Bonefish feed on the bottom
- Fly should reach bottom in about 3 seconds
- If fly not getting to bottom, put on a heavier fly
- Select a fly that will get to the bottom without spooking fish
- Fly must stay near the bottom on the strip
- Usually find biggest fish in deeper water or on flats flanking deep water
LEAD
We say “lead” to keep it simple. Weighted eyes are made of lead, brass, tungsten and aluminum. Everyone has their limit as to how much weight they can comfortably cast. Find your limit and build your fly box accordingly.
Fishing an 8-weight rod and line, my preference tops out at 5/8 brass, the equivalent of .47 grams of lead. With a 9 weight it’s 5/32 or .76 grams.
The weight of the fly is more important than the fly itself!!!
You want a fly that sinks quickly, without spooking the fish when it lands … a fly that gets to bottom quickly once cast and returns to the bottom quickly once stripped.
Bottom, bottom, bottom. That’s where bonefish look for food.
Big bonefish don’t like to chase prey. Permit are more apt to eat a fly high in the water column or near the surface. Bonefish like to pin it down.
Lead eye flies sink quickly and return to the bottom quickly after being stripped, making them very effective in deep water, 4+ feet. In 4 feet of water with a 10-12 foot lead, fish won’t hear the fly hit the water, unless it’s calm. Likewise, if you’re fishing 3 feet of water and it’s windy (15 mph plus), fish aren’t likely to hear a lead fly hit the water either. Lead eye flies are harder to cast because of their weight, but they do a better job of extending the leader and turning over the fly into the wind.
There’s a lot to like about lead eye flies!
In medium depths (2.5 feet), use various sizes of bead chain to imitate the behavior of lead. Select soft materials, like rabbit fur, rug yarn, EP Fibers to buffer the sound of the fly hitting the water. The fly below, called a Buff, was designed to do just that.
Weedy Bottoms and Tailing Fish
Bonefish flats consist of sand, mud and vegetation so diverse it would take a botanist to identify it all. Let’s just call it weedy.
Weedy flats are perfect habitat for tailing fish. Tailing fish are indicative of shallow water. As a result, we recommend small, lightweight bonefish flies and long leaders to avoid spooking fish in skinny water. The lightweight flies get hung up less than weighted flies in grassy flats. Not everyone is a fan of weed guards. Some anglers think the guard interferes with the bite of the fish, resulting in fewer hook ups, or dropping fish once they’re on. This can be the case with heavier weed guards found on commercially tied flies. We’re believers in weed guards and, after trial and error, have found that 10-pound Rio, or similar mono, is the thickest you want to use. Anything thicker will interfere with the bite. We like the double weed guards that come to a V-shape at the front of the hook. These provide the least interference and keep the fly from getting hung up on weeds. It’s important to use a light wire (but strong) hook to reduce the weight on really shallow flats.
Bunny Bone is a great pattern for tailing fish and shallow water 1.5 feet or less. Here’s a collection of Bunny Bones, varying in size and color, all tied on #8 Daiichi x 452 hooks, with weed guards (10 lb test mono), black plastic eyes (little to no weight) and if you look closely, you’ll see the middle, right fly has been wrapped with .20 lead wire.Â
Remember, tailing fish are nosing in the sand, blowing out mud. Throw the fly right at them, so when the dust settles, the first thing they see is your fly looking like shrimp that just popped up.
These light Bunny Bones are perfect for tailing fish that stay put. But, when fish tail, then move, they become cruising fish and you need to make two adjustments:
- you need more weight to keep the fly on the bottom after the strip.
- You need to lead cruising fish. Rather than change flies, a quick solution is to tie a few wraps of .20 lead wire around the eyes of the fly. If the fly spooks fish, lengthen your lead (distance) or use less lead (weight).