2023 Yellow Dog Flyfishing Travel Guide

“That Won’t Work.”

I sent a friend to Andros with six dozen custom bonefish flies. I spent weeks working on the selection, creating what I thought was a diverse and multi-faceted selection of proven patterns with different sink rates, sizes, and colors. When I saw his call come through following his trip, I settled in, eagerly awaiting his report and excessive praise for my hand-picked selection and fly tying abilities.

“The guides only wanted to fish Gotcha Clousers,” he recounted, “they told me that nothing else in my box would work.” I was in disbelief, having spent hours at the vise hoping to provide him with a bounty of options and something “new.” I tried to ignore the petty annoyance, telling myself it wasn’t my flies — only that the guides didn’t have confidence in patterns outside of their favorites.

Opening your fly box for a new guide can be an anxietyinducing process. You study their face for any reaction: a disapproving frown, a confident smile, or a quizzical scratch of the temple. Often, the guide runs their hand over the flies as if they are translating braille. Eventually, they pluck out a single fly, bounce it in their palm to test the weight, and hand it over without a word. “He likes it, he likes it!” you think to yourself, waiting for a pat on the back and a “Way to go, Tiger!” that never arrives.