Bonefishing Success: A Gross Oversimplification with Ken Morrish

On its surface, bonefishing is conceptually simple: spot the fish, make the cast, strip the fly, set the hook. But, like most things in fly fishing, especially in the saltwater, the devil is in the details. The good news? You don’t need to be a world class caster with osprey like eyesight to catch bonefish consistently. You just need to get a few essential things right. Here’s a straightforward, somewhat oversimplified guide to upping your bonefish game.

1. You Can’t Catch What You Don’t See 

Actually, this isn’t completely true, and it reminds me of a great story. Twenty years ago, I was on Christmas Island fishing with a wonderful client and friend who was anything but a great angler. At the time of our trip, he had been pronounced legally blind and was awaiting eye surgery. His back cast always slapped the water, and he was good for about 35 feet on his forward cast. We were paired with one of the island’s most legendary guides, Tenaki. I elected to fish on my own to test my chops, and in hope of my partner doing better with Tenaki’s undivided attention. Four hours later I returned to compare notes with them. They had covered very little ground and landed 17 fish. Meanwhile, I walked all over Hell and back and landed only three fish. When I asked in amazement if my partner had seen any of the fish, he said, “Yes, all of them, but only when Tenaki lifted them out of the water and held them up to my face for a peek!” 

So why tell this story? Basically, to illustrate that master guides are, in some cases, so good at directing others to do the things we are going to discuss, that simply doing what they say can make one’s day. So, let’s say there is an overriding rule that simply states, “listen to your guide!” 

For most of us, though, spotting the fish before the first cast is half the battle. Often, hurriedly casting at a fish you can’t see from verbal cues alone ends up being a wasted opportunity. So how does one become proficient at seeing fish? Conventional wisdom will tell you to buy some high quality, copper lensed, polarized glasses, and then give you some less than helpful Jedi advice like, “don’t look at the water, look through it.” 

In truth, what you really need is to get on the same visual page as your guide. For practical purposes, we will frame the discussion around fishing from a boat. First, burn into your mind that the bow is always pointed to 12 o’clock. Next, always use your rod to point where you are looking. By doing this, the guide can see where you are looking and fine tune your area of focus. Also keep in mind that guides often perceive the distance of any given fish as closer than what the angler perceives, in part because of their higher vantage point, meaning their 40 feet often seems more like 60 feet to the angler. To additionally fine tune the rod pointing technique, point your rod in the stated clock direction, but point it short of the described distance, and gradually lift the rod, and your field of vision, until you cross the target. When you cross that point, the guide can confirm you are on track. Next, be sure you can determine which direction the fish is facing. Once you actually see the fish, and understand the direction it is moving, your chances of making the right cast are exponentially increased. 

2. Casting matters, but it isn’t everything 

You don’t need to cast 90 feet to catch bonefish, but being able to cast quickly, accurately, and land the fly relatively softly is helpful. Being able to effectively double haul before you arrive on site is pretty much mandatory, if for no other reason than to help combat, and cut through the wind. Get comfortable making accurate 30 to 50 foot casts into the wind. The majority of bonefish are caught with casts of 60 feet or less. Additionally, learn to present the fly ahead of the fish, not at it. If you can deliver the fly softly into the correct zone, you will be in the game. 

3. Calibrate and Clarify 

Calibration and clarification are in reference to what all anglers should do when they start their day with a new guide. When the boat stops at the first flat, ask your guide if you can make a few casts, and ask them to call out the distance of each cast after it lands. This way you will become calibrated as to their perception of distance. Your guide’s take on 40 feet might feel like 55 feet to you, so once you are calibrated, you might do a better job of quickly seeing a fish at 11 o’clock and 40 feet, because you are looking out at 50 or 55 feet, to emulate the lens through which your guide sees the flats. After you have your range finder dialed in, there are several other key questions you want to explicitly ask your guide. The first question pertains to stripping the fly. Ask your guide to show you what a standard strip looks like, what a short strip looks like, and what a long strip looks like. Pay particular attention to the length of each, as well as the pace or speed of each. This way, when you are on a fish and they are telling you to strip one way or another, you will know exactly what is expected of you. 

Ready the Deck: 

Once you know what you are supposed to do, set yourself up to do it smoothly and efficiently. One of the first things to do is check the entire deck region for things that your line might get hung up on during the cast. Are there any errant camera bag or backpack straps that could become an issue? Are there any motor mounts that you need to throw a towel or spare layer over? If so, deal with it. How are you going to address not stepping on your line? If you’re going to wear footwear on the boat, then you are not going to feel when you’re stepping on your fly line. Consider going barefoot on the deck and applying some sunscreen to the tops of your feet. This way, you’ll easily feel when the fly line is trapped. Next, check your person. Are there any loose belt straps or plier sheaths that need to be tucked away? Once all these potential issues are addressed, it is time to strip out close to the maximum amount of line that you anticipate casting. Decide where you want that line stacked, cast all of the line out and then retrieve it and then restack it so the line closest to the fly is on the top of the stack, not the bottom. Have about 10 feet of line out of your rod tip, and then hold your fly in your hand, or the leader a foot or so above your fly, check one final time for any loose ends or things that might catch your line, and then you will be ready for whatever opportunities come your way. 

4. Interception and Tracking: 

So, what is the right distance with which to lead a bonefish? Well, that varies with every shot. Your job is to get the fly in the fish’s line of sight as quickly and quietly as possible. With a slow moving fish, you might be able to lead it by only three or four feet. With a fast moving fish, or a fish in super skinny calm water, you might need to lead it by 15 or 20 feet. Typically, it is better to cast a bit too far than to cast short of the target, as you can strip the fly into the proper interception alignment. Some anglers call this the “drag and drop” method, and it simply means you overcast, then strip the fly back to “meet” the moving fish. To make the most of this method, when you shoot line toward your target area, don’t simply let go of the shooting line, but rather have it shoot through a ring formed by your thumb and forefinger. This way you can immediately begin stripping it into the zone without wasting time recapturing the line, and you can also pinch the line as it is shooting out to drop the fly right where you want it. This is a somewhat advanced skill, but an important one that translates well into all kinds of fishing situations. 

Ideally, you should get the fly into the right alignment zone before the fish gets there, let it rest, and then, when the fish gets into visual proximity, you strip the fly appropriately. Once the stripping game has begun, the tracking game begins. Tracking is the art of seeing how the fish reacts to your fly and adjusting your strip accordingly. In most cases, your guide is going to be a lot better at this than you are, and their elevated position on the platform enables them to see what is playing out more clearly than what the angler sees from the bow. With that said, the most important part of tracking is to never lose track of where your fly landed. Burn the exact location of where your fly plopped down every time you present to a fish. The opposite of proper tracking is casting to a moving fish and immediately beginning to strip without considering the distance between the fish and the fly, or how the fish is reacting to the fly. If you are paying attention, you can often tell exactly when a bonefish first sees your fly by watching a change in its pace, direction, or its tail motion. As you get better at this type of observation, you can see the fish’s body language light up and tremor with the excitement at the prospect of ingesting your false offering. From this point forward, you are in a cat and mouse game of keeping the fish interested in the fly. You do this by varying the length and speed of your strips. If the fish slows and backs off your fly, you will make slower and shorter strips. If the fish accelerates on the fly, your strips often lengthen and speed up. Most novice anglers tend to strip too early, meaning they did not let the fish get close enough to the fly before they began, and too fast. Both common mistakes are a result of lacking the proper awareness of the distance between the fly and the fish. Remember, it’s more than OK to let the fish get right on top of the fly, so all they need to do is tip down and suck it up. 

5. Setting the Hook 

In saltwater fly fishing, the “strip set” is the gold standard. It is rather straightforward and simply entails keeping your rod tip pointed at the fish and continuing to strip the fly no matter what happens. When the rubbery tension of the fish’s weight builds, you can use a shorter, sharper strip to bury the hook, and then quickly change your focus to getting ready for the fish to turn and run. The thing to avoid here is savagely strip setting as the fish is turning and beginning its first run, as that is the easiest way to break a bonefish off. 

6. The Fight 

As the fish takes off, your job is to be mindful of where your slack line is and what it is doing. Note that if you have a lot of tension on your line with your stripping hand, the slack coils can really jump off the water in surprising, and often problematic, ways. Try to feather the line out smoothly, watch and manage the jumping coils, and make darn sure that, when it is about to hit the reel, none is wrapped around your leg, wrist, reel, or stripping guide. Once the fish is cleanly on the reel, make sure you like your drag setting, take a deep breath as you survey the flats for problematic obstructions, and enjoy the run. 

If there are steep drop offs, coral heads, or other problematic obstructions, move toward them quickly to mitigate their risk. When the first run has ended, drop your rod tip low and to the side, and aggressively try to regain your line. Fight the fish as hard and as quickly as you can, and once you land it, take care to keep its head in the water, as air exposure greatly decreases a bonefish’s chance of survival after release. If you are in a boat and need a photo, see if you can get out of the boat. If you simply cannot resist taking the fish out of the water for a photo, keep the fish underwater until your photographer is all set, then lift it for no more than three seconds, and get it back in the water. If I see images with water pouring off a fish, I know the angler and photographer were dialed in, and I encourage folks to gently become leaders in these best practices. The more all of us can do to take care of our shared and precious bonefish resources, the more fun we can all have on the water.

Fly Fishing Tackle for Bonefish:

Any time anglers fish in saltwater, there are some important considerations about the fly fishing tackle you use. These days we’re fortunate to have a wide array of corrosion-resistant gear and strong drag systems that can stop a bonefish pushing past 30 mph while still protecting 8 to 12lb tippet. Before you get on the plane, make sure you’re either heading to one of our Sage Experiences destinations (which provide premium Sage and RIO Products tackle at no extra charge) or are fully prepared by bringing a medium-fast to fast-action saltwater safe fly rod paired with a matching machined-disc drag reel, and a tropical fly line made for flats fishing. Below you'll find my favorite tackle combination for targeting bonefish anywhere they may swim.

Above all, have fun, stay patient, use solid tackle, and always listen to your guide!