flies for bone fish

In October I will cross the pond and come to Florida for some (fly)fishing. As I am new to salt water flyfishing I wonder if this expert forum has any ideas which flies I should tie.

And if anyone has an idea about which flies to use for spanish mackerel and snapper .......... 8)

Your input is highly appreciated.

Thanks,

Paul W
the Netherlands

Where in Florida? I use olive and white clousers with red eyes here in SW Florida. I also catch albies as well on it. I tie it on a #2. I cant wait til October when we get the fall run of alibies! good Luck!

I will be on Isla Morada.

Paul

If you get into spanish mackerel my suggestion would be, long shank hook, fly tied low on the shank, flashy and (most important) disposable.

If you get into macks you will need a good number of flies because of their incredibly sharp teeth. They are slashers and will tear up any fly presented to them so don't bother with anything fancy. They won't notice the difference and niether will you when they are through with your flies.

Here are some articles from Florida Sportsman:

http://www.floridasportsman.com/HowTo/h ... index.html

http://www.floridasportsman.com/flyfish ... index.html

http://www.floridasportsman.com/flyfish ... index.html

Hope this helps.

Hello Paul,
I don't know for sure what they use in Isla Morada for bones but there are some flies which are generally used and those would be: shrimp and crab imitations like Crazy Charlies and Gotchas and Del Brown's Yarn Merkin. When I planned our trip to Florida a couple of months aga, I tied some of the foam crab imitations and the yarn crab imitations(Del Brown's merkin), and a few the shrimp patterns. When I stopped at the local fly shop, I found that the guides often rely on their own patterns. If you arrange for a guide through a fly shop, the guide will usually provide the flies or have them available for purchase as will the flyshop. Anyway, I used Mustad hooks # 34011 & #34007 stainaless steel in sizes #2, 4, 6,and 8 for both the shrimp and crab patterns.

I found my patterns at:

http://www.branhamssaltwaterflytying.co ... /page1.asp

There is lots of good stuff there so have fun!

Gerri, Ed and Kevin,

thanks for your input and ideas.

Time for tying now.

Paul

No problem. take a look at Just add H20's flash and slinky. i use it on spanish and king mackrel and it holds up real good. Usually one or 2 flies make it the whole day.


KevinC