Losing the same fly twice in a day

I'll start with the fish that got me thinking about losses in the first place as the leader breakage was a bit comical.  The bonefish in question was averagely sized, about 3lb, and it was beaten at the end of the usual bonefish fight, i.e. a long run into the backing, the line recovered so the fish was perhaps 40ft away followed by another run that almost got to the backing.  With the second run over and done with, what's left is a couple of laps of the angler on a short line and then the leader can be grabbed in readiness for unhooking.  I was at this point with the fish, i.e. holding the leader, when it tried its last trick – the Kamikaze lunge for the feet!  Now, I'm aware of this tactic and I know it's more likely to be tried if the angler is stood in a mud of their own making.  I was indeed stood in a mud that was so dense that I couldn't see even the tops of my boots in calf-deep water.  I therefore took the precaution of having my feet locked together to avoid the very embarrassing 'nutmeg' (you may have to Google this if you're not aware of UK football terms – or is nutmegging someone a global term?).  Anyway, I cut off the option of the bonefish going between my legs only for it to loop round the pair of them.  I felt the leader tightening around my ankles and then nothing – I knew instantly that the bonefish would be adding my fly to its trophy cabinet.

Bonefish never cease to amaze me with just how much thrust they can generate.  The 3lb fish didn't break my leader due to shocking it – it just pulled it tight around my ankles and then kept pulling for a break.  Over the years I've been bonefishing I've had fish break the leader in a steady pull on many occasions, mainly by trying to stop them getting to a hazard that would end up in a breakage anyway.  Using my hand to increase the drag on the rim of the reel and gradually reducing the rod angle to the point where you're aiming it directly down the line is all you can do in these drastic situations.  Sometimes you win and the bonefish is turned from its course, but sometimes you lose.  These losses show that in a straight pull even a moderately sized bonefish can exceed the tensile strength of my leader – typically a 12lb tippet, which assuming a 60% knot strength says they can generate at least 7lb of thrust.  It's no wonder they can swim at nearly 30mph, they're the equivalent of a weight lifter who can hoist twice their bodyweight.

Being 'sharked' is a particularly upsetting way of losing a fish, it's irritating to know you've left a fly in a fish due to a breakage, however, with a predator attack (cudas do it too) you know that the fish is dead.  I thought I'd got away with it earlier this week when the bonefish immediately after the one that lassoed my feet started its first run into my backing.  Something caught my eye – a 'lit up' lemon shark going full pelt, however it was heading 90 degrees to the right of where my fish was going.  I assumed it had another target in its sights, so breathed a sigh of relief.  I went back to concentrating on stopping the run and winding the backing on my reel nice and evenly (I always cringe when I see video of people winding back loads of backing without a single thought of levelling it).  Anyway, the shark then reappeared, still going full speed but this time 90 degrees to the left of where my fish was – suspicious!  It then did a perfectly executed curve exactly to the point where its victim was.  At this point I'd already reduced the pressure on the bone to zero, but it was too late.  There was thrashing, there was blood and there was a newly made mud on the flat – bugger!  I disconsolately finished winding back, tied on a new fly and continued with my wade.

I'm not sure why, but I chose to wade in the direction of the newly created mud, probably out of morbid curiosity.  When I got there I found the front third of a bonefish, still twitching with nerves.  Splitting their prey in two, eating one part immediately and then swinging by later to mop up the dessert course is very common practice for cudas and sharks.  However, before leaving the diner in peace I decided I'd at least recover my fly from the cheesecake (sorry, bonefish).

The next fish I cast at rejected my fly despite having a good look at it.  This wasn't the same fly as I'd had my two previous takes on though, because at that point of re-tying I had none left (success bias is ravaging my fly box – more on that on a later FP probably).  However, I now had the fly back that I'd recovered from the 'sharked' fish, so on it went.  The next fish I encountered was a single bone coming out of a deeper part of the flat onto the clear white sand where I was.  I led the fish by maybe 7 or 8 feet and it took in textbook manner – charging to the 'plop' and tailing on the fly after the first strip.  Now unfortunately for me, just off the flat (back in the slightly deeper water) were two small mangrove bushes, maybe 50 metres apart, that could spell trouble.  However this bonefish was super well behaved – it ran out between the bushes and then came back exactly the same way.  I thought my luck had changed for the day and I had the fish quickly on a short line ready for the obligatory laps of me before release.  I didn't account for a rock on the flat though – probably the only one spoiling the pure white sand bottom, and only the size of a bowling ball.  So that's how I managed to lose the same fly twice within the space of an hour.

Tracy and I are now into our last week of our trip.  The weather has turned against us somewhat (a lot of cloud) but were still hopeful of adding a few bones to our tally. I hope you're having a good week.

James.