Posted on February 26 2013
Last week we shared a bonefishing tip from South Andros veteran Wayne Walts – describing how to loosen your drag so a bonefish on the end of your line can escape a shark. One finer point that Wayne shared at the lodge was to lift your rod as high as you can when you do this to avoid having your backing or line cut on coral.
Wayne told another remarkable story. Wayne’s buddy hooked up with a bonefish and soon found a shark chasing it. Wayne instructed the angler to loosen the drag and lift the rod. The angler didn’t end up lifting the rod fast enough, and before he could the backing got cut off on some coral on the bottom – the fly line was gone.
A few hours later, Wayne and his buddy were on a different cay 5 or 6 miles away. They saw some backing and a fly line floating in the water. They strung the backing through the snake guides and reattached the broken backing with a six-turn blood knot. When they got the line on the reel they recognized the fly line as theirs, but unfortunately lost the fish about 20 feet from the boat.
Bonefish can cover a lot of ground in a small amount of time!