When I saw it for the first time it immediately reminded me of the Elephant Graveyard in The Lion King, but my fear was very different to Simbas. Â How the hell was I going to present to a fish in this? Â Ive never seen anything like it (and the Gopro stills won’t do it justice). Â These individual sharp rocks are shin high, some knee high.
Murphys law, the first time the tide pushed I walked in and immediately there were fish. Â Right in the thick of it. Â I tried to take a few shots but I couldn’t retrieve 5 feet without hooking a rock and potentially spooking the Permit.

Â

Back to the vise I went. First I tried stronger weed guards, and rolling beads, and combinations of both. Â Things that have worked great in the tropics for bouncing over a rock or two. Â The pressure mounted the next day when I still could not retrieve properly in this mess. Â It made it worse that there weren’t fish anywhere else, and we knew the bad water was coming. Â I didn’t have time for this shit. Â the ground was shifting. Â I needed to take advantage now.
So I sat on my ass in a puddle of water and simulated a few retrieves. Â I fly was always falling head first. Â It would also sit eye-down, perfect to wedge itself in on the retrieve. Â The centre of gravity needed to change. Â So I tied some dumbbells right under the point of the hook at around the half way mark and covered it in epoxy to make the drag across the rocks easier.
I eventually could even omit the weed guard. Â It turns out rock crabbin is all about the centre of gravity…
Â
Â
Â
[…] (see: http://feathersandfluoro.com/2014/07/02/lessons-from-the-bone-yard/) […]