Posted on November 25 2009
If you’ve fished on the flats before, you’ll be happy to see that our experts probably had the same surprises you did.
Don’t forget – our expert panel is here to answer your questions. If you’ve got something you’d like to bounce off them, leave us a comment here and we’ll put it in the queue!
“I recall being faked out a lot. I stalked boxfish in Belize until I learned their style of feeding, tailing and movement. I stalked tailing mojarra/shad in the Bahamas and waded after nervous water that turned out to be mullet, or puffers, or a ray or a shark!”
“My first time on the flats was with my wife Geri on our honeymoon. I caught a little bone-ette, on my first cast less than 5 minutes into the first day. After releasing the fish and feeling completely amazed at how easy that just was… I looked at the guide and said, in the most full of piss and vinegar – show off in front of your wife way ‘…shoot man I thought these fish were supposed to be tough to catch’. I had no idea what a dumb-ass thing I had just said. I have since come to realize that without a good guide to do all the hard work, bonefishing for 99.9% of us is walking around in warm water with a big stick in hand. After I made the ‘open yap – insert flats boot’ statement to my guide – David Jr. (yes Pinder) just beamed a big smile and said ‘yeah mon – you did a good job’. I’m sure he was talking about Geri – and a truer compliment could not be paid to me. ”
, the definitive modern book on steelhead fishing.“My biggest surprise? I always thought I was a superb fish spotter. So I was shocked when on my first day on the flats my guide was pointing to fish that quite frankly, I just couldn’t see. It was humbling to say the least. I quickly ‘learned’ just what it was I was looking for and I was back on point and spotting all sorts of fish. My fragile ego was restored!”
“I was most surprised by the speed with which bonefish would would go from ‘Hey there’s one’ to ‘Oh crap he’s right on top of me!'”