I suppose it had to happen. After two months of magnificent weather, yesterday we finally had a day that was cloudy, a little showery with a stiff breeze. Those kind of conditions make spotting fish tough. No chance of seeing them through the water column, a much better chance of seeing tails and nervous water. We were fishing the late afternoon outgoing tide, following the fish as they were leaving the flat. In tough conditions like last night the tails don’t glimmer like they do on beautiful sunlit twilights but rather appear dark, more like a mangrove shoot. So there you are, creeping along the flat, in an effort to see fish when in reality you can’t see squat. But there can be clues to help you be successful. In addition to things like nervous water there are “bonefish feeding marks/holes.” When you come across a group of holes that have the fresh looking grey sand extending back from the edge, at least you know that there are bonefish close by. I’m not an expert on reading “bonefish marks” but over the years I’ve learned a few things that are helpful. When the tide is running hard, like it was last night, the grey sand becomes lighter in colour very quickly. Say five minutes. If the tide is not running hard the grey sand maintains its colour for up to fifteen minutes, then begins to fade. When conditions are tough, like last night these clues can save you. When I came upon a large group of “new bonefish marks” I slowed down to a crawl. Fish were around and eventually I picked them up. They were thirty feet away and tough as anything to see. So fresh bonefish marks can be a great clue to alerting you that fish are in the vacinity………..especially when visibility is poor.
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