BigBone!

A WORLD RECORD? RETURNED.........

We had only been on the Cay 48hrs and jet lag had kicked in big time..........My fishing companion and friend who helps me on the Bone fishing trips I organize, and I were very weary after the flight from the United Kingdom and we were walking around like the living dead.

However excitement was high for us as the tides were just right for the flats the next day from sun up around 6.30am.

All the gear was prepared the evening before. Lines ran of reels and rubbed down, reels oiled, rods assembled line threaded trough the guides leaders checked. Fly tied on........ Fishing shirt on the back of the chair fly boxes and scissors in the pockets. Waist pack with spare spool and leader material ready just to have the water bottles added and only needing strapped on.

Literally all we had to do was dress next morning and grab some breakfast, put on the flats wading boots and head for the flats.

4.45am the alarm goes off.....never a good sound no matter where in the world you are...but up I get and soon the buzz kicks in and i'm looking forward to the day. I shake Ian, "Yeah yeah in a minute!"……5.30 am, coffee, toast and bacon eaten and it's time to go and Ian is still not up. So perhaps with a feeling of destiny that we were in for a good day, I said “You'll regret this mate and kick yourself for being lazy!”and I was off....

I make it to the shortcut through the Mangroves that takes you to the leeward side flats. Lots of Palms down in the undergrowth from last years Hurricanes meant a lot of climbing and shimmying under these, and in the humidity of this windless jungle, sweat was soon rolling down my face.

I was soon in sight of the sea again and the feel of the cooler sea air blowing off the flat was a welcome relief. The flat I was targeting for the day's fishing was just at the right stage of the ebb tide.

The ebb has always been best on this particular flat. A water height of around 18” being optimum. Deep enough for the Bones to be confident and shallow enough to keep off predatory Sharks. 6.30 am and The whole flat was calm and utterly tranquil in the pale early morning sun and cloudless sky, with only one surface area being disturbed occasionally in the far distance......

Not a fish in sight. The sand water flat was still cool in the early morning light. I strolled over to the edge of a Turtle grass patch on the edge of the flat. There was a faint disturbence...... Was that a fish? Yest was! Two of the biggest Bonefish I had ever seen where rooting around like pigs rooting in mud. Both looked huge with only 8 inches of water to swim in above the waving Turtle Grass, water not even deep enough to cover their backs it was so shallow. Their dorsal and tail fins sticking up clear of the surface as they waddled along.

A pretty hazy picture of the two bonefish. My camera was pretty steamed up after the hike through the mangroves!

The lens had cleared a bit........A better shot of one of them.

Keeping down low and creeping closer- then down on my knees I pulled out my camera to take a shot. Got to have some proof to show Ian! Boy he is going to be sick he missed seeing these fellows...went through my mind! Putting the camera back in my pocket I edged a bit closer, anemone's crunching painfully on my knees. Wary of spooking them I put up with the pain........ouch, ouch, ouch, I hissed under my breath. Stripping line off the reel, I lengthened line carefully and laid the fly line down quietly as possible leading the biggest one by about five feet................The Size 8 Silent Puff on to the 12ft leader made the gentlest of plops and the rings spread on the calm surface.......... I could feel the beat of my heart in my throat. Time stood still...........The biggest fish twitched, turned and without hesitation rushed on it and buried the fly nose down in the grass!

I scrambled to my feet, pulling on the line as I went and line strip struck with my left hand to set the hook - it was off……………….. 200yd plus of line disappeared off the screaming reel in the first run. I'm aware I only have 200 of yellow micron on the reel plus another 75-100yds of green 20lb safety margin. If I see the green braid I know where I stand with reserve. This was an incredibly powerful fish and was well in to the green safety lines making powerful runs again and again ploughing through the Turtle grass leaving a muddy wake. Trailing grass hanging on the leader knot. Several times winding as fast as I could I gained back my Micron only to see the green braid up and out of the guides again..This fish was not tiring and kept making several 150 yard plus runs that seemed as powerful as the first. The other fish that was with the hooked one originally, followed rushing around in tandem with it around for a long while before i finallyt disappeared realizing something was not right.

I was tiring quicker than the fish...... but eventually though the big bone fish tired and the runs grew shorter. As it got it within a rods length and on to clear sand were I could see it properly, I realized this was a monster. It flopped on it‘s side and I just threw the rod down in the shallow water and pounced on it. It was HUGE the back felt so broad as I held it down. A quick glance at my watch showed I had been fighting this fish for 45 minutes. Possibly the most exciting event in my fishing life. I was stunned! I had get to get it back and away safely . My first thought was I must get it upright and get water through it‘s gills. I was told of an excellent recovery method by a Keys guide to put my thumb in a bone's mouth when releasing them. forefinger under the jaw, moving then back and forward allowing the current to flow through the mouth and over the gills,when you feel them chewing on your thumb, you know they are ready to be on their own and set free..... I gently moved it backwards and forwards to get oxygen through the gills and was about to set it free when I remembered I had my little Olympus digital camera in my shirt pocket which I had forgotten about on all the excitement. As there was no one around to picture me with the fish I just quickly gathered my rod back up and laid it alongside the fish to give it some scale. The reel on my rod is 4" in dia. The line stripper butt ring on the rod from the very bottom of the short fighting butt is 35"...... So my fish from fork to nose was 33-34" and as you can see by my hand across it‘s back, is very very broad... I ran a piece of flyline round the girth and marked it with a pair of snips I was so sure this was an exceptional fish and wanted to check the records later. 18"!

Quickly back into deeper water and it was gone.......... I was so pleased and exhilarated yet exhausted with the adrenalin rush and come down of the high, I couldn't fish on and felt like limp rag. I walked back over the shallow flat sun high in the sky now and on home to the cottage only to find Ian was still in bed..... "Emm Ian you should have been there. The fishing was............................"

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Checking weights to length later on several published charts, it was around the 17lbs mark. This fish was very broad and deep set as are all the Bonefish are at this venue. I have had several fish in the 14/15/16lb class but this was an exceptional fish and very possibly a world fly caught record.

Lengths to weight charts indicate this this fish was at least 17lb! and possibly more dues to the depth of the body and solid feel of the fish.

Checking when I got back to the U.K. later, I found out the all tackle World Record was taken from only a half a mile or so away from where I took this Bone fish. That one was taken on crab bait though. It weighed 17lbs 2ozs.

__________________________________________________________