By Janice Nieman:
“Fish happy my friends.” Those are the words James “Docky” Smith wrote when he autographed his new book, “Through a Guide’s Eye.” Ironically, he wrote them when happiness and fishing were words I couldn’t say in the same breath.
That wasn’t always the case. I love everything about bonefishing so passionately that my husband and I decided to buy a house in the Bahamas after fishing five days straight with Docky Smith. It was not a difficult decision.
Out on the flats, one is lured into a Zen-like tranquility surrounded by miles and miles of every shade of aqua marine. Gin clear waters reveal a buffet of ocean life, starfish, conch, stingrays, turtles, crabs… everything but bonefish. To the unpracticed eye, they are “ghosts.” Their silvery, translucent scales seamlessly blend with the white sands below.
For Docky, however, spotting them is a “piece of cake.” I have never known anyone with more extraordinary eyesight. When fishing with Docky, one of those most challenging aspects of bonefishing is served up on plate.
Poling the flats, the quiet is punctuated by the gentle shifting of the pole and the eerie wail of the mangroves. I am poised with fly rod in hand, and Docky will say, “Okay get ready for me now.” My body tenses with anticipation. “10 o’clock, 30 feet out,” Docky says.
“Oh please, let this be a good cast, not one that flops down or gets carried in the wind or worse, ends up in my bun,” I think.
I cast, not great but good enough for Docky to say, “now strip slowly.”
Then… his magic words: “Set it.”
The fish takes off like a rocket, draining your reel of line, and every thrilling moment vibrates in your hand. That is fishing happy.
It doesn’t always transpire like that. Sometimes the fish elude you, sometimes they spook, or sometimes you can’t get your fly in front of them. But I still love it and come back year after year.
Last fall I was out with Docky wading. The fish were in range. I cast and cast, but I wasn’t casting! I’d invented a whole other movement that couldn’t have been more wrong. It was such a bad feeling. I stepped aside for my husband, and he pulled out three from the school.
I went home with my tail between my legs. I was angry and disgusted.
We returned to Long Island six weeks later, and the gloom of my previous pathetic performance still lingered.
“Fish happy. Fish happy. Fish happy.”
All of a sudden it came back to me. Docky had me casting correctly in less than five minutes. Moments later, I was hooked up with a gorgeous Bahamas bonefish.
James “Docky” Smith has over 25 years of bonefish guiding experience and is owner/operator of Bonafide Bonefishing in Long Island, Bahamas, operating out of Stella Maris Resort Club.