Equipment and Flies

Things to Bring:

• A light rain suit can be useful for the occasional rain shower
• Flats boots are a must and should have thick soles. There is a limited supply available for rent.
• A light-weight, long-sleeved shirt and light-weight pants are recommended to help guard against over-exposure to the sun
• Polarized sun glasses, waterproof sunscreen and lip protection
• Hat - preferably with a large bill
• Wading pack
• Stripper/fighter gloves for finger protection and sun protection
• Camera, batteries and film
• Insect repellent
• Weed guards on some of your flies.

Fly - Fishing Tackle:

Bonefish

• Rod: 7-9 wt. Reel: minimum of 175 yards of backing
• Lines: weight-forward, warm-saltwater, floating line, 10 -15 lb. tippet; small spool of 10 lb fluorocarbon
• Flies: Pink Puff, Crazy Charlie, Bonefish Special, Snapping Shrimp, Bonefish Bitters, Gotchas, Ultra Shrimp, Yucatan Charlie, Turneffe Crab, Small Crabs. Hook sizes 4, 6 and 8. Some flies need small bead chain or no eyes at all. Some of your bonefish flies should have weed guards for fishing all of our flats if possible.

Permit

• Rod: 9-10 wt. Reel: minimum of 175 yards of backing
• Lines: weight-forward, warm-saltwater, floating line, 9’ leaders with 12 - 20 lb fluorocarbon tippet
• Flies: Raghead or Merkin sizes 2 - 4 and 6, Bauer Crab and Fleeing Crab. Tarpon
• Rod: 10-12 wt. Reel: minimum of 200 yards of backing
• Lines: Warm-saltwater, floating and slow to medium rate sinking lines or sink tip lines
• Flies: The Cockroach, The Grizzly or others in colors of red/white, yellow, white, white/green and orange/solid black, the Furry Tarpon in black/red, orange and chartreuse.
• Leaders: pre-made loop-to-loop leaders with flies already tied on. Or you can bring spools of leader material and let the guide prepare your leader. Bring 40, 60, 80 pound test fluorocarbon and 100 pound test mono

Offshore:

• Rod: 12 - 14 wt. Reel: large arbor with minimum of 250 yards of backing
• Lines: floating, medium to fast rate sinking lines
• Flies: Deceivers, Clouser minnows, poppers, baitfish patterns etc.

Spin Fishing Tackle :

Bonefish

• Rod: light spinning gear; 10 - 12 lb. Test. Lures: 1/6-1/8 oz. jigs for use with live bait; bait hooks and sinkers

  Permit

• Rod: light spinning gear; 12 lb. Test. Lures: 1/6-1/8 oz. jigs for use with live bait; bait hooks and sinkers

  Tarpon/Reef

• Rod: medium spinning gear; 15 - 20 lb. Test. Lures: Mirror Lures (65m or 38m), Rapalas, Trader; bait hooks and sinkers

  Other tackle:

• Barracuda flies with wire leader material.
• Fluorocarbon tippet material.
• Extra fly lines.

The Lodge tackle shop has a limited supply of flies, leaders, tippet and other supplies. It is best to bring everything you will need and use the tackle shop for backup. We have a fly-tying bench in our tackle shop with some materials and basic tools for you to use at anytime. Smaller flies seem to work more often in sizes 6 & 8 for bones, 2 & 4 for permit and 2/0 for tarpon, barracuda and cubera snappers. It’s best to bring any offshore flies with you in the standard sizes used anywhere else in the world.