Fishing Tips : Saltwater Flyfishing Part 2

Bonito, just the name gets saltwater fly fisher men's hearts a'throbbing! They are the perfect fly rod fish. There are lots of them, they hit flys really well, and they are pound for pound one of the hardest fighters in the fish kingdom.

Sure, the tuna's, albacore, yellowfin, bluefin and skipjack get larger, but you have to have a larger boat equipped for offshore fishing, sometimes 100 miles out to sea. Most boats get 1 MPG ( miles per gallon ) that translates into about 250 gallons for a days fishing, ( at today's gas prices over $800 for fuel ) and there is no guarantee you will be successful at finding a school of tuna in the vast expanses of the Pacific Ocean.

I have spent many days unsuccessfully looking for tuna, but that was back in the days of under a dollar gallon for gas. Now days I stay near shore looking for bonito, they are not as big as the other tuna's, but you save over $700 looking for them.

I'm usually on the water 4 to 6 days a week in the summer so I usually have a pretty good idea where the bonito are. If you want to catch bonito and you have your own boat, one necessary piece of equipment is a good working live bait system, one that holds at least one full scoop of live bait.

Here in So. California we are very fortunate to have many live bait businesses that usually have live bait for around $20 to $25 dollars a scoop for anchovies or sardines. Get anchovies if you can, they make the best chum bait for fly fishermen. Sardines are a fast swimming fish and they run away from the boat quickly. Anchovies stay near the boat longer and bring the bonita close to the boat and in the range of your flys.

If you don't know where to find the schools of bonito, call some of the local party boat's fish reports and see which one is catching bonito. Then start your search in that area, bonito can usually be found from 1/4 mile offshore, out to several miles offshore.

Now that you know the area you want to fish, you must first find some fish.If the sport boats are catching quite a few bonito, follow one to the area they are fishing and anchor 75 to 100 yds. away from them.

Any closer and you will infringe on his space, not cool!! The ocean is huge and the schools of fish move around in the general area, start a steady stream of chum, ( throw one chunk every 10 to 15 seconds, and once a minute a live bait ) the chunks will bring the fish to the boat, where hopefully they see the live bait and chase it.

Using chunks mixed with a few live baits will make your live bait last longer. The bait, when alone, usually runs for the surface where the bonito run it down and blast it on the surface ( roof ). When you see splashes cast your fly to the area of the splash and strip it in fast. When fishing flys, I usually have one person in the right corner casting till they hookup, then the next person casts while the first person fights their fish.

When you see the first splashes someone needs to keep a steady stream of live chum going in the water, ( about 5 or 6 baits a minute, thrown one at a time. This will usually keep the school near until you have caught several. ) When they quit hitting go back to the mostly chunk chum.

I usually get about 3/4 of my scoop of live bait put in the bait tank, and put the rest in a bucket, where it can be cut into inch size chunks on the way to the fishing grounds. If there are no partyboats to follow in your area, the next best way is to look for "birdpiles", large numbers of seagulls and pelicans flying in circles and diving into the water, picking the baitfish from the surface the bones have chased there.

The best way to approach a birdpile is to cut your motor upwind and quietly drift downwind until you are close enough to make a cast. If you are lucky the school of bait will use your boat to hide from the predators. Now you have a whole school of bait for chum, the bones will circle around under the boat picking off stragglers and you don't have to chum. If you have a long handled bait net you can scoop up some more bait if you are running low.

Don't overload the baittank or most of the bait will die. I like to scoop up a small amount of baits and throw them to the outside of the school under the boat, the bones will immediately start crashing them, a fly thrown into the melee will be an instant hookup. When a bone hits your fly, no need for a monster hookset, just raise the rod tip and the "BONE IS ON!!!"