Derby Bones lessons
 

Lesson number one: Pick the right color. Wrong color means they will only follow and short take.

Lesson number two: Do not crush the barb on your fly. These guys run right at ya, hard!

Lesson number three: Use a wire bite guard. These guys have teeth and can cut you off.

Having a beach full of bones with your fly rod in hand and none on the derby big board, priceless. Not putting a fish on the beach (as the guy at Coop's put) "that had to hurt". Like you will never know, like you will never know......OUCH! OUCH! OUCH.....(I suck)

Thanks for the lessons! I have not yet had the pleasure of being smoked by a bone.http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/7581/moskingqa5.gif

Don't overreact. White is the right color for bonita, think bunny fly, they are not as fussy as their little tunny cousins. You don't want a wire trace, though a longer shank hook and epoxy head to slide thru their teeth and result in a jawbone hookup is useful. Flyfishing with barbs is asking for trouble. Their teeth are pin-like. The line will lay between them. You can catch them with 6 lb tippet (not that I use it anymore, but I used to pre-fluoro). Avoid loop knots. The main problem with bonito is that they often clamp down on soft bodied flies (such as silicone over braid tube) without getting hooked (sort of like a bluefish and wooden plugs). You get a long run then a dropped fly. Wonderful flyrod fish and great eating.

#1 I agree with but 2 and 3 I disagree. I fish barbless on all my flies and lures for them and haven't lost a fish yet because of it. Alot of times a quick release boatside with barbless hooks can make the difference between whether they swim away alive or not. Also, I haven't lost a fish yet to their teeth from not fishing wire. I use 10, 12, or 15lb Fluorocarbon.

The bone master is Little Round. PM him.

Having heard the stories first hand I will say that rphud did nothing wrong...he just got "boned" and that takes a bit of getting used to for novice "boneheads".

What is bizarre about bones are how easy they are to catch from a boat. They will hit an umbrella rig on wire and are not finicky. I went out last week (on a boat) and doubled up every pass (with yo-zuri minnows on braid with a mono leader) and we left because I was tired of catching them. (they were only 4-6#) I agree from shore it is a different story but I think the reason is that there are not many of them in close. When a lot of them show up I think the competition factor kicks in and they strike without thinking about it. A few years back you could catch them like bluefish off the beach. It is different now.

It was a loop knot that got cut through, but only on the one side. The one fish stayed on until it ran at me. That is what led me to the barb insight. Sounds like there are many ways to skin a Bone. Thanks for all the insights!