fly-fishing Bonito

[btuff]

I was trying to get some bonito yesterday from the boat but they kept spooking down. Any advice on how to get up to them? Also with a fly do I need a bite guard or wire?

[zimmjas]

Bonito do not generally stay up very long. Slow down with a 100' of the breaking school and just just headway speed to get near them. Don't try to get right on top of them. Try to position yourself in the direction they are working to. One thing I noticed is that certain areas tend to be tougher to fish. Another thing is to turn your boat away from the direction you intend to cast. If you stop the boat and cast in the direction you were travelling, it makes it nearly impossible to get the fly moving for the fish to track it. In general, they are tough to approach but not impossible.

You do not need any kind of bite guard or shocker. The teeth are widely spaced. I typically use 14# fluoro and have never been broken off.

[Hardcore]

Zimm,
Pretty much summed it up. We would stop the boat within 75 ft. of the schools and drift the rest of the way with the motor off. I turn the boat after shutting down in the direction opposite the direction my bow caster is casting to to make it easier for them to present the fly quickly and effectively. I did not experience big problems with them spooking over the past weekend, frankly they were very uninterested in us and feeding very aggresively. They would eat anything we threw in their direction which is not the norm. We used crease flies exclusively and had a ton of fun catching on top waters. I did catch afew on the spin rod as I was in the back of the boat and not always able to use the flyrod quickly. They ate an Acme Needle Eel, Deadly Dick, and the killer lure was a Zoom Super Fluke in Alewife rigged weightless with an offset Owner bass hook. Rig them like the LMB guy's do for largies and it will catch almost any fish that swims. The Mahi liked it as well.