Cast, cast, cast. Move. And then cast again.
Again, I was out on the flats around 5:30am and watched the sunrise. But this morning the wind was blowing steadily across the flats, creating a surface chop that made it impossible to see any waving tails. I thought I spotted a few as I tried to use the rising sun to my advantage, but I couldn't tell if it was just a fin-shaped wave or something that was a living, breathing bonefish.
The tide had bottomed out and was scheduled to begin a steep rise, so I walked out towards the ocean into waist deep water and planned to fish back to the beach with the rising water. I wanted to fish three spots that I knew usually produce fish.
Location One was a complete bust. The only interesting thing I caught was a Mantis Shrimp, which meant my fly looked very tasty to some critters so hopefully a bonefish would bite it.
Location Two was hot. On the third cast the reel began humming as the line payed out and soon I was into my backing as the fish headed for the open ocean. After about 100 yards it stopped and began circling, then charged in towards me as I cranked on the reel to get the slack off the water.The fish did three more runs, each shorter than the previous one, until it finally came to hand. Not very large, but very fat and healthy.
Location Three sucked. It sucked because as I was fishing, a person on his morning swim decided he had to paddle through the area I was fishing despite seeing me there. He had a mask and snorkel on and stopped about 30 yards away, looked at me, and continued coming on. So I puposely stepped into his swim path and peed in the water then moved back and continued casting in another direction. After swimming about 100 yards further down the flats he turned around and swam back towards me, stopping to say hello before moving on. I didn't say a word.
EQUIPMENT: I used a 7 weight rod, floating line and size 6 flies. They liked the shrimp pattern best.