Fly tying preparations for Bahamas

[Fla]

Hi

I would like to show you (mostly James) the flies I tied so far for the upcoming bonefishing trip to the Bahamas.

All the flies on the left are with weedguards. I mostly tied crabs so far.

Overview

Close up of some crabs:

Crabs

Close up of worms:

worms

.........

[Fla]

..... and some Gotchas:

Gotchas

James, what do you think about the flies?

I plan to tie more Gotchas, Clousers and some baitfish patterns for larger predators.

Cheers
Flavio

[James9118]

Hi Flavio,

They look great, you can be confident that they'll work fine. Good to see that you're incorporating weed guards into a number of tyings - it amazing how many people don't have a single weed guarded fly in their box.

Here's some of my recent ties - all with guards.

[Willy Franzen]

Looking great! Might want to try tying some much larger patterns like Mantis shrimp on 4s, 2s, or even bigger hooks. Small flies have always worked well for me in the Bahamas, but there is a lot of research that bigger bonefish generally eat bigger prey. I fish quite a bit in Aruba, and a little bit in Biscayne Bay, (big bones are quite prevalent in both places) and fish mostly large patterns in those waters. They work.

I second James on the weed guards. If you've left enough room at the head, you can even add them to the flies you've already tied. Makes for a slightly less aesthetic head, but the fish should be looking at the back end of the fly anyway.

[Fla]

Great flies, James. I like the eyes, will add some to my Gotchas too. What do you think about the color of the green crab? Is it ok for turtle grass spots, or too dark?

Thanks for the advice Willy, I will bring some more bigger flies then. I only tied about a handful of larger flies so far, on size 1 hooks if I remember correctly. What do you think about their size/proportions?

Cheers
Flavio

[James9118]

Hi Flavio,

The crabs I see there are a whole range of colours, from very pale, almost white, through to the darker shades. I think you have that pretty well covered. Personally I don't fish crab flies that often for bones, but that's a personal thing (probably because I'm not a good enough tier to produce them ).

There isn't a lot of turtle grass on the Caribbean side, but there is on the Atlantic side - the wind has to be right to fish over there though - otherwise you'll be in a 5ft swell.

Cheers, James

[Willy Franzen]

Thanks for the advice Willy, I will bring some more bigger flies then. I only tied about a handful of larger flies so far, on size 1 hooks if I remember correctly. What do you think about their size/proportions?

Here are some bugs I tied for a recent trip down to Biscayne Bay. I didn't really get to fish them, since the tarpon fishing was so good. But I'll be using them in Aruba. I know there's no size reference, but I think they're even a bit bigger in terms of total length/width (6-7 cm from hook eye to the last tip of material not including the rubber legs).

[Fla]

Hi James

So far I caught all my bonefish on a crab fly (which is just one fish ). It's a very simple tie, at least compared to a lot of other crab patterns.

What size do you tie your clousers? How much weight for the eyes?

Cheers
Flavio

[Fla]

Hey Willly

Thanks for the picture. They indeed look bigger, and especially much scruffier than mine. Will tie some in that style too

Bests
Flavio

[James9118]

Hi James

So far I caught all my bonefish on a crab fly (which is just one fish ). It's a very simple tie, at least compared to a lot of other crab patterns.

What size do you tie your clousers? How much weight for the eyes?

Cheers
Flavio

Hopefully you'll be adding a lot more to that one! At the moment I'm tying Clousers on a size 1 Daiichi 2546 - previously I've tied on a size 2 Varivas which was about the same size. These will be for jacks, snappers, middle sized cudas, possibly baby tarpon etc. I'll also tie some on a #4 for general use. I'm using 4.8mm dumbells for the bigger size and I have some 4mm for the smaller ones. I'll also do some in chain-bead.

For shark, adult cudas I tie baitfish patterns on 6/0s.

I really like your worm flies by the way - I can think of a number of spots where they should work.

Cheers, James