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Bonito Video

I am addicted to fly fishing for anything with a hard tale. In the Northeast, fly fishing for any tuna species is right up my alley. It’s fast, it’s very visual and hard tales have a way of exposing every weakness. And, above all that, they rip. Tuna species are rocket ships and built for speed. I recently went on a great Bonito fly fishing trip with fellow hard tale addict Tom Rosenbauer, of The Orvis Company. We fished with our now good friend, Capt. Mike, who is also as addicted to hard tales as we are. Tom brought 6 or 7 rod and reel setups, and several of the fly rods were supposedly some new top secret rod that Orvis is working on. I always enjoy my fly fishing trips with Tom, because there is never a lack of gear and he always has something new that he is working on or testing. Anyway, Mike got us on good numbers of Bonito. As always, they were up and down fast and success was dependant on seeing which way they were feeding, positioning the boat perfectly and getting a good cast at a feeding fish. Tom was using an epoxy fly that he tied, Mike was fishing a white bucktail fly and I was using a larger sized epoxy fly. Fortunately, these fish were hungry and eating. The trick was getting the fly in the zone! Tom and Mike hooked up and landed their first Bonito and I was next. Mike positioned the boat perfectly and the fish were busting and moving towards me. I tried my best to not get too amped up (which is very easy to do) and throw senseless casts. I waited till the opportune time to throw one solid cast. Here they come, closer, closer … fire! I was leading one fish and the fly landed where it needed to be. Strip fast, faster, faster … he’s on it! He ate it! The line jumped up when the fish started his first run and it kinda got all wrapped around my arm and reel. I thought it was going to get hung up but somehow I managed to unravel all of the unwanted wraps with both hands and my teeth, and when the fish cleared all the line I had cleared all the wraps and my reel began to sing. If you watch the video you will see what I am referring too. I spend so

much time chasing these fish from boats and foot and they are very elusive fish, they typically trick me more than I trick them. They are always one step ahead of me and find some way to burn me, even when I think I have them beat. So, needless to say, I was in high heaven when I had a nice Bonito on my line! I really prefer to fish for hard tales with guys that are as equally passionate about them as myself; because it always gets crazy out there chasing hard tales around. And, a fly fisherman who is not accustomed to the hard tale game might find it a little too fast and too frustrating. However, for those who love chasing the hard tales when they are feeding inshore on the surface on natural bait; it is intoxicating and the ultimate fly fishing high.