Bonefish an Permit Flies

greenie-slayer

Some stuff for bonefish and some stuff for permit. Working on another purely bonefish box now. Going to throw in some new colors like the bitters in tan/blue and the gotchas in orange or chartreuse. Kinda wondering how deadly a pink bitters would be on pompano here in Stuart. I would think it would be like crack to them if I weighted it. 

sunflower

Pretty great collection.
I have fished for bonefish in Bahamas, Keys, Seychelles, Turks, and Christmas Island.
Most days, I use the same fly. But it's nice to have options.
In my experience, Bahamian guides seem to pick the simplest tan or white thing in the box.

greenie-slayer

Most guide I have gone with abroad seem scared to try out a new flies. In Belize they only wanted me throwing the size 8 & 10 bitters. That was until I caught some bonefish on the size 2 avalons and we both agreed bonefish when hungry will eat just about anything. If I wasn't foolish I should have thrown the avalon at the tarpon there too to get the slam on 1 fly.

sunflower

I have spoken with a number of fly fishermen who swore by the Avalon as a miracle fly.
In particular, the partner/owner of the Black Fly Lodge in Abaco.
I have never met a guide who wanted to use it.

JWT

you have been busy. nice looking bunch!

greenie-slayer

sunflower said:

I have spoken with a number of fly fishermen who swore by the Avalon as a miracle fly.
In particular, the partner/owner of the Black Fly Lodge in Abaco.
I have never met a guide who wanted to use it.

You either love Avalons or hate them. The guides in Belize loved them and I know guys in the Keys hate them. I sell more avalons than anything else so I assume they work for others as well. Alot go to central FL and to TX so probably doing work on redfish too but redfish will eat most anything. 

JWT said:

you have been busy. nice looking bunch!

I should have another box filled with all 72 small bonefish flies done tomorrow and I had 2 small orders done today. If I am lucky I might find some time to catch a fish this weekend. Darn ladyfish screwed up my plans for pompano last weekend. 

lemaymiami

I give up.... show me an avalon....

My very first bonefish fly was shown to me by Harry Friedman (all those years ago... ).  If you find any of those really early books on saltwater fly fishing by Joe Brooks - Harry is standing next to him in the photos...

Harry's long gone - believe he was one of the founding members of the old Miami Beach Fishing Club.  I used that very first bug to take my first bone on fly -at one of Bill Curtis's spots at Stiltsville (just south of Key Biscayne for those who never heard of it...).   We were poling away from the spot as Bill showed up with his anglers... 

greenie-slayer

Bob here is a link to tying the basic avalon most use. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds54Kr5_efE
I change up some of the materials on mine but the basic premise is still the same. I like to play with the weighting of it too. I think many make it way to heavy. I've had the most success with bead chain and small tungsten beads.

I do another version as well with 2 pieces of mono on the bottom so it will sit upright like a fighting crab if I want it down on the bottom.