Whatever industry you may be in, it is common to hear of the legends.  Those people whose name continues to surface in conversations with other customers or competitors.  In the inshore fishing business, Capt Joe Gonzales is one of those people.  Despite working 150 miles away from one another, I heard Joe's name and stories on the regular.  His reputation precedes him as a professional who might actually have some Bonefish DNA mixed in with his.  

I’ve gotten a lot of questions about permit, and it’s no secret that permit is my favorite fish. And there’s a reason for that. I was fortunate enough to start guiding in Key West, Florida which is the epicenter of permit fishing. So I found myself in a place where it was the best place to fish for permit but I did not know much about the species at the time.

Have you ever caught a bonefish on a jig where you did not see the bone fish you were just blind casting? Well, a lot of people do that and it is a very, very, very effective way to add a few fish to your days total. I learned this from the king of blind casting for bonefish, Mitch Howell. He has won so many tournaments in the Florida Keys and has scored so many points by using this technique and it is very simple.

Have you ever attempted to catch a Grand Slam? Do you want to in the future? Well I recently was filming an episode for Saltwater Experience and we set out to catch a Grand Slam (Permit, Tarpon and Bonefish). I realized that it would make a great How 2 Tuesday.

One of my favorite things is sight casting - it’s all I did when I was first guiding. I never learned how to chum, it was not something I did when I was just starting out. However, eventually with fishing there are days where you just can’t sight fish (rainy or cloudy days). If you are a professional fishing guide you get put in this situation a lot, of days when you wouldn’t normally go fishing but because people have booked the trip you have to go and make the most of it. Chumming for bonefish is excellent for this situation.

When choosing a bonefish fly, it is important to keep in mind the shape, size, and sink rates. Depending where you are fishing, you will need to have a heavier or lighter weight bonefish fly. For instance, if you are fishing in shallow water, you don’t want to throw a heavier weight bonefish fly in, as it will scare the fish away. Instead, you will want to have a lighter fly that will sink towards the bottom without having a strong, heavy impact.

Lefty Kreh made the 50% rule for leaders and I use it all the time. A 9ft leader is kind of standard. There is a very simple formula, the one made by Lefty. 

We start with 50 and taper down to 15. We start 4ft of 50lb, 2ft of 30lb, 1ft of 25lb then double the last distance of 2ft of 15lb.