BONEFISHING TIPS AND TRICKS
After you review these bonefishing tips and tricks, be sure to read the What to Bring and FAQ pages. They are required reading to prepare for your trip.
FAST RODS!! Unlock the Power of Your Fly Rod
If You Only Read One Thing Before Your Trip, Make It This
If I were to ask you to read just one thing on the entire website—this would be it.
It’s written for beginners and novice fly anglers who are struggling with their cast.
But even if you can already throw it into the backing, there’s something to learn here.
You’ve booked the trip. Packed the gear. Spent real money on a fast-action fly rod that promises power and performance. You step onto the flats thinking you’re dialed in…
Then the wind kicks up.
Your cast stalls at 40 feet. The rod feels stiff. You double-haul harder—it gets worse. The fish are there, but you can’t reach them. Frustration builds. Confidence fades.
Every season, I watch this happen. Anglers show up with great gear and never quite figure out why it’s not working.
Here’s the truth: it’s not your fault. But there is a fix.
And it’s so simple you’ll kick yourself.
Read the full guide here: https://marsbaybonefishlodge.com/blog
(Mars Bay Bonefish Lodge – South Andros, Bahamas)
Casting Tips for Bonefishing
Casting
Easily, hands down, the most common casting flaw I see with beginner and novice fly fishermen is a fat loop. Any casting instructor will tell you the same. It’s caused by an arc in your fly cast. The rod tip must travel in a straight line. Rather than write a thousand words, go to YouTube—there are countless videos to help you improve your cast.
Buck Fever
Even the best casters get discombobulated when faced with a bonefish 60 feet in front of them or making those first few casts on day one. Take a breath, slow down, and keep your timing. Think: “I’ve been here a million times”.
Wind and Conditions
Don’t cuss the wind. No wind is actually bad—the fish get spooky and can see you as well as you can see them. A 5–15 mph wind is ideal for casting and poling.
In a perfect world, the wind is always at your back. In reality, you’ll spend half your day casting into it. Winds are predominantly easterly here, which sets up great in the mornings with the wind and sun at your back. As the sun moves west, it’s directly in your face, and you can’t see a thing. You’ll have to turn and fish into or across the wind.
Casting Into the Wind
I’ll admit I still do this myself: all the false casts might be perfect with a tight loop, but on the final forward cast, I’ll sometimes overpower the rod and drive the tip down, ending in a big fat loop that the wind eats and spits right back at me. On the final stroke, keep the same stroke all the way into the release.
Slap Cast: Delivering Short, Accurate Casts in High Winds
When poling close to mangroves or shorelines in strong winds, long casts aren’t practical. You’re often working with just the front 30–35 feet of your fly line—the belly of the line. In these situations, control matters more than distance.
This technique is similar to what trout fishermen use when “whacking” hoppers or streamers tight to riverbanks. I call it the slap cast. I believe it’s better known as a Punch cast. The key is simple: do not shoot line. Keep the line under control in your stripping hand for the entire cast.
Here’s how you do it:
Hold the fly line firmly with your stripping hand.
Double haul as normal—one haul on the backcast, another on the forward cast.
Don’t let go of the line to shoot.
Haul forward and deliver the fly hard and fast so it “slaps” onto the water with pinpoint accuracy.
By not releasing the line, you maintain full tension and power. Letting it shoot through the guides usually results in some loss of energy and accuracy. At times, the cast will fall flat and short, other times, your fly might end up ten feet past your target, tangled in the mangroves. Done right, it’s a quick, powerful, accurate cast for tucking flies under mangroves, tight against the bank, or into small pockets where fish like to hide. It works.
Practice and Distance
It’s been said that 90% of bonefish are caught within 30–40 feet of the angler. That’s probably true, but mainly because that’s as far as most fishermen can cast. The truth is, you’d catch far more fish if you could cast farther. Take time to practice before your trip. Once you’re here, I’m happy to help, and there’s almost always another skilled caster in the group who’ll offer pointers.
If you want to catch a big fish, or more fish, your odds go up if you catch them with their tails up and pants down. That means a long 60–80 foot cast and then get low.
False Casting and Line Management
Too much line in the air leads to wind knots and timing issues. The front third of your fly line is the belly or body, usually about 30 feet, not counting the back taper on some lines that total up to 50 feet depending on the manufacturer. The back half is a uniform thin running line.
Check your fly line box. Most have a profile diagram, and the line is color-coded. If not, mark the end of the belly with a marker. That’s where your line tapers from fat to thin. Don’t false cast past that mark until you can handle it. It’s all you have to work with, and it’s much easier to control. Anything more, and things start going wrong unless you’ve got some skill.
RIO makes a Bonefish Quickshooter line with a belly length of around 35 feet. It loads rods quickly—great for newer anglers, especially on short casts—and is color-coded (belly = blue, running line = tan). It does land a bit hard, which can spook fish on calm days.
The Most Common Mistake
Most guides will tell you: too many false casts is a common error. We’re not dry fly fishing. While you’re false casting a dozen times, that fish is closing the gap. What started as two chances becomes one… then none. Make two or three strokes and shoot.
Flies
See the What to Bring page for specifics on flies.
Quick heads-up about your flies….
Buy some new flies! You dropped thousands of dollars on this trip. Spend another hundred bucks on new flies. Don’t bring a box full of tiny #6 flies from last year’s saltwater trip to Belize or Mexico. They’re too small, most are the wrong patterns, and worse—they’ve been sitting in your fly box covered in salt all year. That makes them weak and prone to snapping at the bend.
Because saltwater is a powerful electrolyte, it’s full of ions that speed up corrosion. The metal in your hook loses electrons faster, triggering an oxidation process. That’s when metal atoms shed electrons and become ions—the first step in your hook rusting away.
Simply put: they rot, they’re weak, and some will snap. Buy fresh flies. If you insist on keeping them, soak them in fresh water when you get home to get the salt off.
Boat Basics for Bonefishing
Things happen fast when poling! Again, the boat drifts and closes the gap between you and the fish more quickly than if you were wading. You should be ready to cast as soon as the guide tells you.
You’ll also make too many false casts if all you have is three feet of fly line hanging past your rod tip. The rod will not load. When wading or on the boat’s bow, at least 20 feet of line should be extended from the fly you’re holding to the rod tip.
You need to make longer strips to compensate for boat drift when poling. The boat is moving; the higher the wind speed, the faster the drift. You might be stripping, but the fly is not moving if the strip is at the same speed as the boat drift. The guide will try to slow the boat, but in high winds it isn’t easy.
It’s also crucial to remain quiet when poling on the boat. If you are swatting doctor flies on the gunnel, slamming the cooler lid, dropping tackle, being heavy-footed on the bow, etc…..you’re spooking the fish. You might even hear an exasperated sigh from the guide.
Keep both feet planted when casting on the flats or poling on the boat. Do not rock back and forth, lifting your feet. Again, you’re transmitting vibrations.
Some fishermen like to remove their boots when fishing on the bow. It makes it easier to fish quietly with the added advantage of feeling the line under your feet when standing on it. Countless fish have been missed because the fisherman was unknowingly standing on his line.
Line Management – Help a friend out. When sitting in the boat waiting for your turn on the bow, it is your responsibility to help your fishing partner manage his line and keep it in the boat. Keep it clear of snags and tell him if he is standing on his line.
The boats have a shallow draft and run in very skinny water. The lower units and propellers take a beating. When I first started bonefishing, I was trained like a dog to shift my weight and move when the guide gave the signal. Your guide will tap you on the shoulder when it’s time to move forward, or pat your seat when it’s safe to move back. I learned quickly: if you wait too long, the prop has already slammed into bottom.
When bubbling over shallow water, throttling up, or coming off plane, slide off your seat, quickly swing your ass, and plop yourself down on the front deck. When you hear the RPMs drop and know the boat is coming off plane, do it fast. You’ll be doing your guide—and the prop—a big favor.
Wading the Flats
Some fishermen wade too slowly when bonefishing. If you’re taking tiny steps and standing around waiting for fish to come to you, it might be a long time before you spot one. There might be a tailing school around the next point that has no intention of swimming your way. If you have a clear view of the flats in front of you and there’s no bone to be seen a couple hundred feet out, you must start moving as quickly and quietly as possible. The faster you move, the sooner you’ll close the gap between you and the next fish—but do it quietly! I’ve had guests ask me why the guide was walking in front of them. That’s a polite way of saying… you’re dragging your ass. Keep up with the guide.
On the other hand, once you find fish or know some are in the area, slow down. Stop, look around, check behind you, and take your time. When you do move, lift your feet; don’t drag them.
Sometimes you’re so focused that every dark spot on the bottom starts to look like a moving fish. If you think you’ve spotted one, stop. Focus on the spot. If it still appears to be moving, make the cast.
It sometimes takes a dozen false casts to get your line out of the water when wading… frustrating, especially if the tide is flowing hard or your line is sinking. Once you spot a fish, if you have time, reach back, pull and coil as much line as you need, then drop it in the water at your feet before making the cast.
When wading or poling, strip all the line you think you can cast before you start fishing. Don’t wait until you see a fish.
Water transmits sound better than air. You must wade quietly. It’s much harder to wade quietly in six inches of water than in twelve. If you’re splashing across the flats, you’re spooking every bonefish within hundreds of feet.
Fly Presentation: The strip and the Take
The most common cause of refusals is an improper strip. Making long, fast, violent strips is a common error. To make matters worse, I’ve seen fishermen strip the fly away from the fish after they had its attention. They get nervous and start stripping faster. If the fish is coming for the fly, let him have it. Don’t pull it away.
Imagine a kitten chasing a string—it’s the same thing when stripping for a bone. Pretend your fly is a live critter hopping across the bottom. Make a few gentle 3–4 inch strips and let it settle. If you still don’t have the fish’s attention, make a longer one-foot strip followed by a few short strips. Listen to your guide, he can see how that fish is reacting to your fly better than you!
Watch how the fish reacts. If the fish is coming for the fly, let it catch it. If it looks like it’s considering the fly but hasn’t committed, make one little strip… tickle the fish. You’ll see it nose down to pick it up. Then make a long, gentle three-to-four-foot strip to hook the fish and raise your rod. Don’t set so hard you rip the lips off the fish. You’ll straighten your hook or snap the tippet.
Get low: when stalking an approaching bonefish, it sometimes helps to squat as low as possible—get your butt wet. Lay out your fly on the line you think the fish will cross, get low, wait, and start stripping when the fish gets close to your fly.
If the fish you’ve just cast to spooks, don’t make a hasty, uncontrolled cast to intercept the fleeing fish. Most likely, your bad cast will only make it run faster and spook other fish nearby. If you’ve made a cast and spooked your target, leave the fly alone for a few seconds with your rod tip low. Calm down, look around for other fish, and then quietly recast as needed. I’m sure I’ve interested very few fish that swam off at full speed, but I’ve often spotted another target in range.
As a safety precaution, always bend your barbs and wear your glasses. It’s all fun and games until someone gets an eye poked out.
Finding Bonefish
You can use your ears to find bonefish. Sometimes you’ll hear a splash ahead of you. It’s tranquil on the flats, just the sound of the wind. Pay attention if you hear a splash or gurgle around the next point.
Watch for feed marks on the bottom. On Andros, the sand is a light tan, but just below the top layer is darker blue sand. Where bones have been feeding, you’ll see round blue marks, and sometimes you’ll notice a slight cloudiness to the water. The bluer and more uniform the marks, the fresher they are. As the tide flows, the spots stretch into longer, fainter blue streaks until they eventually disappear. Each tide change erases the marks.
If the marks look fresh, pay attention. If the water has a slight cloudiness, pay even closer attention. There are fish around.
Catching Bonefish
When hooking a fish, always strip set. Keep the rod tip down and set it with your stripping hand. This doesn’t mean setting so hard and fast that you rip the lips off the fish. Pull tight, then raise your rod. This is not a largemouth bass tournament Do Not lift the rod and trout set.
At this point, things start happening fast! Get that fish on the reel! Odds are you have excess line laying at your feet. Scan it for bird nests. Clear your line, lift your rod high and keep your stripping hand low. Check your feet and be sure it’s not wrapped around you rod butt. Keep you rod high and tight until all that line
Bonefish are bottom feeders. If you trout set and the fish doesn’t have it, you’ve just pulled the fly off the bottom and out of the strike zone—game over. If you strip set, the fly stays in the zone. You might stick the fish and miss. Often the same fish will come back and hit again. I’ve stuck the same fish three times in a row. Bones are used to getting poked and pricked. They eat all kinds of thorny critters. Or, one of his schoolmates might grab it. But once you lift your rod, it’s game over.
Bonefishing is popular because, most days, bonefish are agreeable and will hit almost any fly. Even so, they can get picky. If you get a couple of refusals, change flies. What didn’t work on one flat might work on the next. What didn’t work today may work tomorrow.
Some days they become selective, usually post-frontal days. Anglers will come back to the lodge and say fish refused almost every fly in the box. It happens. That’s fishing. Some days are better than others. But when one boat reports refusals and another says the bite was aggressive, I suspect it comes down to casting distance. You will catch more fish if you can lay the fly out 60–80 feet. The fish doesn’t know you’re there, and you catch it with its pants down. If your cast is 30 feet, the fish can see you as well as you can see it.
When landing a fish close to the boat, apply rod pressure from the side instead of overhead.
Handling Bonefish
When landing a fish, try to handle it as lightly and as little as possible. Avoid squeezing the fish tightly. Leave it in the water if you’re not taking a picture. Slide your hand down the line to the fly and pop it out. Better yet, use a dehooker!
Sometimes a bone will swallow a fly so deep it’s not visible or buried in the crushers. Forcing that fly out almost always kills the fish. It’s better to cut the line, release the fish, and hope for the best.
Once you’ve touched the fish, its odds of survival go down. You’ve broken its protective slime barrier and left a scent trail. Once a shark picks up that scent, there’s no shaking him off. It’s like a hound dog on a raccoon. Later, behind you, you might hear splashing on a flat or in the mangroves. That’s a shark eating the bone you just released.
To be completely honest, I believe most handled fish don’t survive. The best chance of survival you can give a bonefish is to never touch it and always use a dehooker.
Check the What to Bring page for advice on a dehooker.
Getting the Fish Pic
You know how I feel about handling fish, but we all want that hero shot. If you want a photo, keep the fish in the water until you’re ready. Wet your hands and quickly lift the fish from the water. Hold it with your arms extended—the closer the fish is to the camera lens, the bigger it will look. Take the photo and release the fish back into the water immediately. You may have to cradle it briefly to let it regain strength.
Do not put your fingers into the fish’s gills. Not cool! I can’t post that pic.
Listen To Your Guide
You’ll wade some flats that stretch for miles, and the boat will be a small speck on the horizon. Eventually, your guide will point you in a direction to continue wading while he returns to get the boat. Follow those instructions closely. I’ve had fishermen tell me a guide had them wading in water up to their balls or in knee-deep mud. The guide will tell me the fisherman wandered off course after not following directions.
Trust your guide. He’s on the water every day and has seen it all. I’m always amazed how many land-locked fishermen believe they know more about tides and bonefish than the guides who fish these waters year after year. This is their backyard.
Most fishermen are eager to learn and work with their guide. Occasionally, a guest will have their own ideas and resist taking instruction. The guides will always do their best, but success comes faster when you work as a team. Your guide’s job is to help you catch more fish and have a better trip. The more you trust the process, the better your day will go.
Rarely, a guest will arrive with their week fully planned out—when, where, and how they want to fish. I do not, and will not, tell my guides where to fish. You’ve hired them for their knowledge and expertise. Let them do what they do best.
You are fishing with the most experienced, professional guide staff I’ve ever had at the lodge. These guides know the water, the fish, the tides, the weather, and how to adapt. Helping you succeed is their only goal. I trust every single one of them. I would get in any boat with any guide on my staff and know I’m in good hands. So are you.
Some guests have favorite guides and would like to fish with the same one all week. We rotate guides to ensure fairness and teamwork across the staff. This approach keeps morale high and makes sure every guest gets the same outstanding trip. Every one of my guides is excellent.
SHARKS!!
You’ll see plenty. They love to eat bonefish. If you’re seeing a couple of sharks, pay attention—bonefish are around somewhere. If you’re seeing many sharks, you’re probably fishing in a school.
If a shark chases the bone you’ve just hooked, completely loosen your drag and let the fish run. Don’t try to horse the fish to you. The shark will follow, and you’re robbing the bonefish of its speed. Be cautious if the shark hits the bonefish. Sharks always hit the tail first, leaving you with the head half. If you’re concerned for your safety, let the shark have the other half before reeling in. If the coast looks clear, quickly reel in what’s left and either put it in the boat or throw it well away from you. Remember, there’s now a bloodline leading straight to you. Step aside and out of the bloodline.
If a shark near you is too close for comfort, tap the water or poke it with your rod tip… he’ll bite it right off. No kidding—it happens often. Instead of risking your rod, grab a handful of sand and throw it at the shark. Even that move isn’t recommended. Make sure the shark is well clear before you put your hand in the water.
Did the bonefish you’re trying to land wrap your leader around a mangrove root? Look around carefully for sharks and cudas before putting your hands in the water. A cuda can rip through and saw a fish—or a finger—off quicker than you can blink. It almost happened to me.
Want to catch a shark on the fly? It’s ill-advised. The guides don’t care much for catching them, and they definitely don’t want one in the boat. Hooking a shark and then asking your guide to get your fly back is rude. They have been instructed to never retrieve the fly. Cut the line and forget the fly. If you want your fly back… get it yourself.
A couple of guests have told me stories of grabbing sleeping sharks by the tail. That’s a very unwise thing to do. Sharks have no bones—just cartilage, muscle, and teeth. A shark can easily swing around and bite your hand.
Bugs, Bites, and What You Need To Know
Doctor Flies
Meet the infamous doctor fly. Bring repellent.
You can wear shorts on the boat in December and January, but you must wear wade pants the rest of the year! They’re like giant deer or horse flies, and only the females bite—hard. The bite causes local numbness, itching, and swelling.
Pants are strongly recommended from February through November. Doctor flies will still bite through wet pants where they stick to your skin, but wearing knee-high socks will stop them. Avoid dark colors; they’re especially drawn to black due to heat. They’re easy to kill—much slower than a housefly. Don’t brush them off; they’re belligerent and will be back in seconds. Smack them hard or they’ll hit you again.
Sand Wasp (Dummer Bees)
There’s a green sand wasp that preys on Doctor flies. Bahamians call them Drummer Bees. They build burrows and stock them with freshly killed prey for their larvae—often flies. Doctor flies know this and vanish fast when a wasp is around.
If a Sand Wasp comes into the boat, leave him bee. He’s not aggressive. You’ll see him hover around like a hummingbird searching for Doctor flies. He’s your buddy. I’ve watched them grab Doctor flies right off my pant leg and fly off with a crunching sound. I’ve even plucked wings off flies and tossed them on the deck to watch the wasp grab them. I’ve actually had a wasp take a few flies from my fingertips. Yeah… my head ain’t right, and I’m easily entertained.
No-See-Ums
There’s a tiny biting gnat called a No-See-Um. When the wind is up, they can’t fly and won’t bother you. When it’s calm, especially at sunset, they’ll light you up if you’re in shorts and short sleeves. Some guests are allergic and end up looking like they have chickenpox by the end of the week. One even thought the lodge had bed bugs and wanted to see a doctor, after I repeatedly told him to use bug spray on the porch.
I mention them here and remind guests again during orientation. Beyond that, I’ll throw you a tube of hydrocortisone cream or give you a couple of Benadryl—exactly what the doctor will do.
Mosquitoes
Yes, we have mosquitoes too. They’re aggressive, but scarce in the cooler months or when the wind is up. After rain, they can be thick. Plan accordingly.
Tarpon and Permit
There are much better places to fish for Tarpon and Permit. Sightings are very few and far between. We have never had a fisherman catch either species. Leave the 10 wt rod and Tarpon-Permit flies at home.