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Fishing Tackle
Bahamas - the remote island of Inagua
23 April 2009
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One of the world’s ultimate sight-fishing quarries, the magnificent bonefish. A species I have been waiting years to see and photograph, a fish that inspires many thousands of people each year to cross vast distances and oceans and fish “skinny” water in pursuit of these shadow like, missile projected, solidly muscled torpedoes. You can imagine my surprise then at seeing my first bonefish caught my James Warbrick-Smith here, blind-casting off the beach in front where we were staying. “I was only straightening the line out”, he said as the fish tore off at a hell of a pace. Only one word will suffice : awesome !!
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Some fisherman ignore these magnificent predators when they are chasing bonefish, but to me that is a crying shame as the barracuda is blessed with huge strength, an incredible turn of speed and a willingness (sometimes !!) to smash into surface poppers with relish. This bad boy was caught by wading and swimming out to a reef that literally “smelt” of fish, it just looked that inviting. First cast and it crashed into this Halco popper, severely scarring and denting it, and trashing the trebles as well. After being worked for the camera we were able to gently release the cuda and watch as it headed back out to haunt some more lesser fish.
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One of the best day’s fishing in my life and I never even picked up a rod; the kind of location, fishing, fish, perfect light and cloud formations that a photographer dreams about. I had a feeling that things were going to get special when I woke up early and looked at the sky, and the guys on the trip caught bonefish after bonefish from calf-deep, crystal clear water. By midday I was shaking with adrenaline at being lucky enough to be out on the flats on such a perfect day, and the fish kept coming. Nothing massive, but just about as good as its going to get. I love my job !!
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In my mind, fish can just look “sexy as hell”. So many sleepless night spent dreaming about getting the chance to be around bonefish, and finally it comes around on the huge, remote Bahamian island of Inagua, way south of the busy Nassau. Inagua has only one fishing guide, Ezzard Cartwright, and he is one of the best I have ever come across. A US contact had recommended the Bahamas as the place to go and fish for bonefish, but he advised that we really needed to get wild and out of the way of lots of people; Inagua is just about perfect for this. Its crawling with fish !!
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Like me, Devon based fly fishing guide and instructor Nick Hart, a good friend, has waited a long time to be around spectacular bonefishing. One of the best fly casters I have ever seen, Nick used all his skills this particular day to nail plenty of bonefish on the most pristine flats you are ever going to see. Our group of five saw no other fishermen all week we spent fishing on Inagua with Ezzard. You can also guess that it was never very hard to ask the guys to smile with such downright impressive fish as these. Just look at the profile, drink in those perfect lines, does it get any better ?
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Although you will meet some Bahamians on the remote islands who like eating bonefish, I know of no sport fisherman who would ever dream of taking one for the table. They fight hard, fast and true, and for that effort alone a fish like this deserves its freedom. Cradle them gently, admire perfection, feel strength coursing through that shimmering flank, and kneel gently in warm waters to release the archetypal fish of the flats. With water this clear you can watch them for ages as they swim off to join their shoal, and then simply grin at such wonderful fishing.
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As with all sea fishing, you work with the tides, and in Ezzard we found a guide totally in tune with his local patch. He timed it perfectly as we approached this little bay; “look over there, you always see a shoal of bones moving around near low tide”. Sure enough, look into the water with the ever essential polaroids, and there they are, a number of bonefish milling around. Nick decides to stay on the boat while Ezzard poles him closer, and he puts in a stunning cast right in front of the leading fish. Twitch the fly back, strip strike, put the rod high to the sky as the bone quickly clears the line from the deck, and I jump out to take some fighting shots.
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Its all about control. The good fly fisherman can control his loops to turn over nice and tightly in the wind that sometimes whips across the flats. Bonefish that are not heavily fished for will chase flies down readily enough, but like any fish they can easily spook if you cast or move badly. Here Nick is casting to a fast moving shoal of bones, double-hauling to punch the floating line across the breeze, and keeping the loop tight for ultimate fly presentation. The thunderstorm in the background really helps to pick the line out against the sky as Nick gets his fly to the fish.
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I had very wrongly assumed that the bonefish would move onto the flats with the flooding tide, but in fact on Inagua Ezzard showed us the exact opposite tends to happen. As you can see from this fresh scar, bonefish make good food for a number of predators that are adept at hunting on the flats, including big barracuda and opportunistic sharks. This lucky fish survived a strong attack. Ezzard explained that his local bones would venture out on to the flats when the tide was going out, when the water got really “skinny” (shallow), and the larger predators did not have enough water to safely swim around. But I guess this bone got the timings a bit wrong and was hit hard by some gleeful predator.
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The sight that all bonefish addicts want to see, when fish are “tailing”. We were assured that we would see it happen, when the bones start rooting around in the and mud for crabs, prawns and other such delicacies, but nothing prepares you for that incredible sight of their tails almost waving to the fisherman. “I’m feeding happily, come and cast at me if you can !!” Those shimmering tails catch the sunlight and provide a wonderful target for the competent fly fisherman, but tread warily still for fear of spooking clever fish. I have heard stories of seeing hundreds of tailing bones on Inagua.
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Most of my fly fishing friends like to carry almost every single bit of tackle they own when we go on trips overseas. While I struggle under heavy cameras, lenses, computers and batteries, they weigh the plane down even more with hundreds of rods, reels, fly boxes and tying materials. But I have to admit that it always gives me a thrill to see a box full of perfect flies that you just know are going to catch some fish. These bonefish flies were no doubt tied during an English winter when dreams were of places like the Bahamas and their plentiful schools of hungry bones.