Thanks, Flats Dude

[Joe Hyde]

Very good story, Capt. Henderson. I really enjoyed it.

I just finished a book called "The Big Three"; it's about the fishing that Red Sox great Ted Williams did before, during and following his time in baseball. I'm guessing that you guide clients on trips for both bonefish and tarpon, so I'm curious if you've ever read this book. It focuses on Williams' fishing techniques and thoughts on what he personally considered the world's top three gamefish: Atlantic salmon, tarpon and bonefish.

The book got me to wondering: Do people ever try for bonefish using lightweight fly tackle such as 9-ft. 3-wt. rods? Ted Williams, I think, would have considered it a bad idea for many good reasons. But then, in his day maybe there were more big bonefish to contend with than what the flats offer now? Large or small, though, a bonefish must be something special in the fight department.

Again, good story. Keep 'em comin'!


Joe

"Better small than not at all."

[J Castwell]

The size of the fly, the weight of the fly and the 25 knot wind would make a 3wt a poor choice.

[Flats Dude]

Thanks Joe...
We don't have bones this far north. I'm in the east central coastal area. But we do have big redfish, snook, trout and tarpon. I retired from guiding and chartering a few years ago.
I haven't read the book you mentioned, probably should.
As Jim says, the wind and fly size would make the lighter weight rods a bad choice. I've often wanted to drop down to a four-weight to throw at reds, but the flies we use won't turn over, 'sides, one never know just what size fish is under that tail that pokes a little bit out of the water.
But it would be a blast for a little bit!

[Joe Hyde]

25-knot winds? Sounds like the conditions I deal with so often. If bonefish like rooting around on flats it's too bad they're saltwater critters; they might like it here in Kansas where the big federal reservoirs are steadily morphing into vast mud flats due to sediment inflow buildup. Guess we'll just have to make do fishing our "flats" for carp.

JC, I will read again his chapters on bonefishing. I don't recall Ted Williams mentioning bonefish flies being unduly heavy or large. I'm sure he said something about this, though, and it didn't register with me. I do recall he says that in general a fly fisher must make very long casts -- 80 to 100 feet -- and be accurate with those casts. (Sounds like too tall an order for a short-throw panfisher like me.) But bonefish feeding in the shallows, he said, are spooky to an unbelievable degree which is why you gotta keep yourself at a distance. Let yourself get "too tall" and they will see you, maybe detect your rod motion, from quite a ways away.

That guy was one thorough fisherman; there's a ton of information in his book. It comes at you like bullets out of a machine gun.