Well what can I say about October? October is believed to be one of the best months for bone fishing in Grand Bahama. The flats are teeming with fish. Many of them are moving out of the larger schools and into smaller groups of fish. The larger fish, like nine to ten pounders and up, like to move by themselves in more of a solitary fashion than be in large schools. For anglers who love to sight fish and cast a fly at a single fish, this is your special time. It is more “sporty”, if I can use that word, to cast a fly about two feet in front of the nose of a large bonefish and watch him go down and pick up your fly! Just thinking about it gets my heart pounding.
Now, when you are on the bow of the boat or wading on the flat, and a bonefish picks up your fly, it seems like the normal thing to do is lift up the rod. However, when you are using a fly rod you do not want to do this. Why? Because this will guide your fly out of the fish’s mouth. What you want to do is keep the tip of the rod pointed down toward the water and set the hook by pulling firm on the line until the line is tight. Be careful not to pull too hard and break the leader. When you feel the fish on, lift the rod and if there is any slack when the fish runs let the line feed through your fingers until the slack is gone and let the fish run.
On the spinning rod using a live shrimp, cast the shrimp about two feet in front of the bonefish. Be careful not to put it too close because this often will spook the fish. When the fish picks up the shrimp, point the tip of the rod down and give the fish about four seconds. Then lift the rod with some “zest” and let the fish run. I hope that these tips are helpful to our readers.
FORECAST BY: Capt. Whitney Rolle
Firefly Bonefishing
East Grand Bahama, Grand Bahama Island
Phone: (242) 553-1008
Email: reserve@fireflybonefishing.com
www.fireflybonefishing.com