This is Jason Masculli - he's been trying to catch a fish on the fly for 10.5 months. I've fished with him for several sessions, gave copious advice and watch in my own frustration as time after time he didn't hook into a fish (considering at times I've pulled them in like flies to stink right along side using silly simple flies). Yesterday was different. After fishing with Mike down south, on our way back, we saw Jason's truck. I told Mike to pull over - I'll go fishing with Jason. I saw him at the 'spot' fishing to left bank. I walked up and he said there were bunches of BFTs, but that every time he saw them, he couldn't get off a good cast. I suggested we move to the right bank because of the silly easy fishing I've been having there. As we walked over, I caught the Bonefish I wrote about on the last post (solo bone on the bread fly) and several other fish (darts, pinfish, snapper, etc). With the tide out, we were out past the normal spot and on to a large school of bones. I called out the shots but he was still having trouble getting the fly out. I walked up to him and asked to see his rod. I suggested (and went ahead and did it) to cut his leader down - he had wind knots on the lower part of the leader anyways - but I explained that the long leader requirements from calm freshwater scenarios aren't necessary out here in the salt. While I was fixing his rig, I told him to cast mine so at least one of us was fishing. Well - within a couple of casts, he hooked into a big dart - so FINALLY he caught a fish on the fly. Unfortunately, it was with my gear and to top that off, after retying his rig, I cast out to the school and hooked into a bone (so now his gear works). Eventually the tide started to come in and we had to move back up to the shoreline. I stitched to my tiny flies and started to catch at ludicrous speed. Jason was starting to feel the bites, but not hooking up. He decided to switch flies and after another long wait, he finally got a strike - we both thought it was a small trevally, but when I got a glimpse during the fight, it was a good sized bonefish. Three minutes later, he had landed his first fish on the fly and his first bonefish. The guy was buzzing with adrenaline! So with more patience than even I thought I could muster, some good weather and water conditions and a little gear tweaking, I did my good deed for the year and in the process transformed from novice flyfisherman (I'm getting better at my double hauls and getting the fly way out there) to budding guide (but still have a ways to go).
This is Jason Masculli - he's been trying to catch a fish on the fly for 10.5 months. I've fished with him for several sessions, gave copious advice and watch in my own frustration as time after time he didn't hook into a fish (considering at times I've pulled them in like flies to stink right along side using silly simple flies). Yesterday was different. After fishing with Mike down south, on our way back, we saw Jason's truck. I told Mike to pull over - I'll go fishing with Jason. I saw him at the 'spot' fishing to left bank. I walked up and he said there were bunches of BFTs, but that every time he saw them, he couldn't get off a good cast. I suggested we move to the right bank because of the silly easy fishing I've been having there. As we walked over, I caught the Bonefish I wrote about on the last post (solo bone on the bread fly) and several other fish (darts, pinfish, snapper, etc). With the tide out, we were out past the normal spot and on to a large school of bones. I called out the shots but he was still having trouble getting the fly out. I walked up to him and asked to see his rod. I suggested (and went ahead and did it) to cut his leader down - he had wind knots on the lower part of the leader anyways - but I explained that the long leader requirements from calm freshwater scenarios aren't necessary out here in the salt. While I was fixing his rig, I told him to cast mine so at least one of us was fishing. Well - within a couple of casts, he hooked into a big dart - so FINALLY he caught a fish on the fly. Unfortunately, it was with my gear and to top that off, after retying his rig, I cast out to the school and hooked into a bone (so now his gear works). Eventually the tide started to come in and we had to move back up to the shoreline. I stitched to my tiny flies and started to catch at ludicrous speed. Jason was starting to feel the bites, but not hooking up. He decided to switch flies and after another long wait, he finally got a strike - we both thought it was a small trevally, but when I got a glimpse during the fight, it was a good sized bonefish. Three minutes later, he had landed his first fish on the fly and his first bonefish. The guy was buzzing with adrenaline! So with more patience than even I thought I could muster, some good weather and water conditions and a little gear tweaking, I did my good deed for the year and in the process transformed from novice flyfisherman (I'm getting better at my double hauls and getting the fly way out there) to budding guide (but still have a ways to go).
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