Bonefish in Grand Cayman- Fly Fishing in The Grand Cayman Islands

By Rocky Ferraro
Flies That Catch These Bones

This all started due to the H1N1 flu out break. My family and I were planning on going on
a Mexican Riviera cruise after my daughter’s graduation from middle school with several
other families. Fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, the cruise
route changed due to Royal Caribbean canceling all cruises down to the part of Mexico
we were going. They re-routed our cruise up north from Los Angeles to Seattle. We were
not planning on another cold weather vacation so we decided to go to the Caribbean instead. I did some research and found that at 2 of the 4 destinations the ship stopped at
I could fish for bonefish and other saltwater species. I did not know who to book with so I
started doing some research. I found that in Grand Cayman there was a guide named
Captain Ron Ebanks. I called him up a few weeks before I was going to be there and told
him I was coming in on a cruise ship and had only about 4 hrs to fish for bonefish.
Captain Ron said no problem and that he could pick me up from my cruise ship when it
arrived. He was booked but suggested I use his nephew Alex that had been guiding for
him this past year. Alex has been fishing Grand Cayman most of his life but just started
fishing for bones this year. Alex is a great person and gave me nothing but compliments
as soon as he saw I had my own equipment. That boosted both my ego and confidence.
The cruise ship did not dock in Grand Cayman and from past experiences I thought it
would be slow going getting into port by tender but it turned out to be fairly quick. Both
Ron and Alex were there to pick me up when I arrived in an air conditioned SUV. Ron
drove us approximately 45 Minutes to the eastern side of the island. They drive on the
wrong side of the road there and my eyes got big as saucers when Ron negotiated the
roundabout in a clock wise direction. He said don’t worry and smiled. He picked up his
flats boat along the way and soon we were there. I showed Ron some of the flies I tied
for the trip and he suggested I try my brown wing Gotcha.
Ron made sure it was tied on right. As I was about to find out, these fish test it all, if you
have a week link bye bye bonefish.
I got into the flats boat and was elated about being there. The skies were blue with white
puffy clouds the weather was balmy with not too much wind and the water was turquoise
blue. I high fived Alex and said “GAME ON!” We went to different spots on the flats and
Alex would stop the motor pole for a while, get me into position and tell me where to cast.
He truly guided me and wanted to see me catch fish. I sight cast to some ladyfish first. I
got a taker but did not set the hook correctly and the fish spit it out. We continued and
saw turtles, rays, jacks and barracuda along the way. I started stripping a bit slower and
paused in the middle of stripping. This let my fly skink a little deeper but I snagged my fly
on a rock, which I strip striked. Alex poled over the snag and it got loose. Then Alex
spotted some bonefish fish mudding in a depression. “Ah, that’s were they are! “He said.
He poled closer and told me to cast. I was lucky because everything came together and I
cast in the perfect spot. I felt like I had another snag almost but the boat was not moving
and I felt a bit of a pull.

I strip struck and felt the line tighten. I remembered to let the fish
run and take all the slack off the deck. Thirty feet of line went out in what felt like a split
second and the fish was taking his first run. The reel was singing and line flew off the
reel. On and on this went; I held on with both hands, Alex telling me to keep my rod up.
The fish ran for quite a while and I suddenly noticed I was into my backing. He stopped
for a second and I started to reel him in. Then he was off again on his second run, again
more and more backing disappearing and Alex saying “you gota big fish mun, a nice
one”. This run was not quite as long but my arms were starting to feel it. My reel was not
well balanced and had loosened from the rod. I quickly tightened it back only to have the
fish take another run for open water, rod bent, and reel screaming. It loosened up again
so I tightened it again while playing the fish. Alex also gave it a tweak. The fish was now
pulling but not running. He would strip off a bit of line but nothing like his first 3. Then
suddenly he started heading for the boat. I reeled as fast as I could. Alex was telling me
they do this to try and the leader on the coral to break off. I remembered to change
the angle of my rod as I was reeling in to try and turn the fish. This worked and the fish
was now pulling again but this time he was sort of trying to circle the boat. He was still
pulling awfully hard and it took me a while to get him close enough to net. He was by Alex’
s estimate a little over 5lbs. Later I inspected the leader and it was frayed in a couple of
spots. The fish had tried to break off.

This was my first bonefish and I did not realize what I had done or how lucky I had been.
Imagine going some where and having 4 hours to fish and being fortunate enough to
catch one of these top game fish, awesome! I asked Alex about how big the bonefish get
there. He said the biggest he’s heard of is a bit over 13 1/2 lbs. There are also large
permit and snook that can be caught there but your odds will be much better if you can
fish a few days. There are also tarpon you can fish for. I owe many thanks to Alex my
guide for his positive attitude and skill as well as Ron for training him so well.

THIS ARTICLE CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.fostercityrodandgunclub.com/2009/july/flyfish_in_the_grandcaymans.html