Better put on a plaster on if your going to handle a reel this hot -- a bonita trademark.
The next morning, the water was still dirty and cold and we trolled for so long we ran out of things to talk about. We tried closer to the Carolina Beach Inlet, where there’s less freshwater stain and no dredges were in sight, but no fish. We tried every approach at a dozen different spots, and grew so tired of small bluefish that we were lazy about reeling fish in. That is until mid-afternoon when one of Fisher’s stout trolling sticks bent willow-like.
“Grab the rod, that ain’t no bluefish,” he said.
We were so anxious to see the fish, so afraid of losing it. If a bonito, we knew we could use sinking fly lines to “dredge” for them, if they were concentrated enough. John strung up a rod with a 500-grain sinking line as soon as he saw the longitudinal black stripes. And once the fish was in the box, Fisher ran uptide of the spot where the fish had hit. He had punched the “man-overboard” button on his depthfinder immediately. So while we drifted motor off back toward the spot and John and I paid out the heavy sinking lines, Fisher stayed glued to the screen.
“You ought to get a hit right about . . . now,” he said. Sure enough, our lines came tight in our hands and we pulled against the fish tentatively.
This brace of fish shot to the surface despite us having hooked them down deep. They did 360’s around the boat and I ducked under John’s bent rod so many times it made me glad to be short.
Tackle Tips
O n calm days when the fish are feeding on the surface, fly anglers can get away with 6- or 7-weight rods. Just make sure your reels are equipped with at least 200 yards of backing. Windier days call for 8- or even 9-weight rods. Bring at least one large-arbor reel loaded with a 400- to 500-grain sinking line, in case the fish are hanging deep. Top flies include glass minnow-size Crease Flies, and No. 2 Albie Clousers, Schminnows and small epoxy patterns. Olive, olive-and-white, and white are favorite colors.
Anglers preferring conventional tackle should bring a few light spinning rods, as the best lures for bonito are very light and you must make long casts when they’re on the surface. Braided line facilitates long casts. If you’re bringing your own boat, you should also bring at least two trolling rods and a few planers in case the fish aren’t easy to locate. Troll small silver spoons with white feather tails on 10-foot fluorocarbon leaders until you find the fish. White feathers, jigging spoons and the smallest Storm Wild Eyed Shad swimbaits work well for deep work. Small tins and jerkbaits tear ‘em up on top. —T.G.
We both landed our fish, but we never managed to relocate the school. So I went in wondering if dumb luck deserved credit for my first Atlantic bonito. Maybe, but a variety of variables came together the next morning that brought legions of Atlantic bonito into sight-casting range on the surface.
First off, it was a Monday. There weren’t any other boats out running over the fish. Second, the wind had switched to a light north breeze, which blew the re-suspended sediments from the dredging activity offshore. Water temps had climbed to 61 degrees—optimal temperature—and the blue Stream water was in, as was the bait. In fact, glass minnows were so thick you could have caught them with a dip net. Finally, a slight chop helped cover the noise of hull slap.
Right outside Mason Inlet, along the jetties, swarms of bonito ravaged the bait. They fed in a distinct oblong pattern, attacking in the inlet mouth and corralling the bait along the outside of the north jetty. So, we drifted into the pattern casting small chartreuse-and-white Clouser Minnows on 6-weights with intermediate sinking lines. The trick, it seemed, was to have the fly moving before it hit the water.
To accomplish this trick, make a circle for the line to fly through with the thumb and middle finger of your stripping hand. Then, right before the fly hits the water, pinch off the cast and pull back on the line.
Sight casting to blitzing bonitos is even more challenging than casting to blitzing albies. They’re much spookier, spontaneous and seem to move faster than the larger members of the Scombrid clan. They’re also easier to drop.
In April, anglers call Wilminton, NOrth Carolina "Bonito Lane."
“Bonito have a longer, more slender mouth with less meaty area for the hook to penetrate,” Fisher explained.
And with nowhere to sound, a hooked bonito runs back and forth erratically, testing an angler’s agility. They may be the greatest 6-weight saltwater gamefish on earth, I concluded.
The popularity of fly fishing during the late-fall run of “false albacore” has been a major cold-season boon for tourism in North Carolina—many northeastern anglers head south once little tunny migrate out of North Atlantic waters. But, it remains a mystery why the Northeast light-tackle community hasn’t picked up on this huge, predictable April migration of a mysterious, great-eating gamefish that runs about the time most northeastern anglers cannot wait another day to feel a deeply bent rod.
