The past two days have been overcast and windy down here in Green Turtle Cay.  However, there was about an hour break in the weather today.  I decided to hit the “Town Flats” which are about 5 minute walk from our cottage.  The calm conditions and slight sun poking through allowed me to see some tails breaking the surface close to the shoreline.  I targeted the closest tail with size 6 Gotcha and after a few casts I hooked up.  The bonefish immediately headed for deeper water and broke my tippet off.  I couldn’t help but feeling sorry for myself, but I decided to keep my head up and find  more tails.

About 50 yards off shore, I spotted about 3 tails mudding up a small area.  This time I tried a Size 6 bonefish scampi.  I made a stalky approach and shot off an easy 40 foot cast.  Soft landing, very slight twitches of the fly line, and I felt the unmistakable tug of fish inhaling a fly.  A hard strip strike and I knew I had the fish this time.   It took a few moments before the bone knew he was hooked up, but once he figured it out, it was off to the races.  Within about 5 seconds, I was 100 yards into my backing, hoping this fish would slow down soon.  It seemed like he was never going to stop.  A small drag adjustment and I eventually started to fight the bone back until I could see my fly line again, but once I had reeled in all of my backing, the bone had one more run in him.  After another 100 yard run into my backing, the beast had tired and I finally landed my first bonefish!  The fish had great colors and was about as long as my arm.  It felt amazing, I had finally figured this puzzle.  I snapped some quick pics and set the fish free.  After I landed that bone, the weather turned again and I didn’t see any more tails breaking the surface.  I decided to head back for lunch and celebrate in classic Bahamian style, washing down conch fritters with Kaliks.