Flies

The key to a successful fishing trip!!

Actually I can’t say much about this topic except that I had outstanding working flies with me. Some of them I had already from my previous fishing trips but didn’t needed them and some of them where entirely new. I’m sharing my flies with you to help you in your preparation for a successful trip.

On word to the hooks. For all kind of saltwater fishing I recommend to use only high quality hooks. Although bonefish might look strong hooks are not needed, they immediately bend poor quality or too weak hooks. I lost a lot of bonefish when experimenting with the hooks. I can recommend Tiemco, Gamakatsu and Mustad hooks. For bonefish the Mustad C70SD became my favorite because it is a very strong hook and not as expensive as the Tiemco. If money doesn’t matter I would rate the Tiemco as number one.

Third best bonefish fly
A fly pattern I wouldn’t chose but somehow it found its way onto my fly tippet. I don’t know why but it happened. And it was a very good fly. Especially on the sand colored, muddy flats this fly worked very well. Since this fly is very compact is sinks very quick even without big weight. This is its biggest advantage because it can be fished in shallow and calm waters where fish usually tend to be very spooky.

Second best bonefish fly
This was the first choice of my guide on Los Roques. I fished it several days and it worked extremely well. I found it the best choice for the pancake flats because I didn’t tied them too heavy and because of its chunky profile it sinks slower than other flies. Tied with heavier dumbbel eyes I could imagine to fish this fly also for permit

The number one bonefish fly
This pattern was truly the best bonefish fly I have ever seen. It attracted the bones like no other fly possible could. No bonefish resisted and also the permits liked this fly. The success factor of this fly is the diffuse silhouette that comes from the rabbit zonker strip and the mohair that is moving in the water. Combine this fly with different weighting to adapt it to the different water levels. Use heavier dumbbel eyes for deeper water and no or less weighted bead chain eyes for shallower water.

A variety for darker bottom
This pattern is similar to the above one. I tied it spontaneously on Los Roques because I needed a fly for darker bottom. It is a very effective pattern for permit and triggerfish for deeper water. The guides love this pattern.

Number one crab fly
Crabs are often recommended for bonefish and permit. Also for Los Roques I read a lot about them. In reality I never used them although I believe that they would work. I like this little crabs and so I was very happy to fish them at least for triggerfish. And for the triggers they worked very well. But only small crabs, size 6 and maybe smaller. The crabs shouldn’t be very heavy because they spook easily on a big splash.

Shark fly
This is a small baitfish pattern of 3 to max 4 inch long. It is easy to tie and workes very well for shark and every other hungry predator including bonefish. Tie it with a lot of head cement during each step to ensure that the fly will last long enough. Sharks have extremely shark teeth and they shred a fly within seconds. For Bonefish tie the fly just two inch long as an alternative for gummy minnows.

!!! Attention. All flies are optimized for spring fishing. In Summer or Autumn when the water is higher the fly pattern and especially the weighting might change.

Next chapter: 26min

tight lines
Philipp