Bonefish/Tarpon Patterns

[Steve F]

I'll be surprising my girlfirend in two weeks with a trip to an undisclosed location (in case she's reading) and am looking to get my first tarpon and bone on a fly rod.  I've heard the crevalles and cudas heat up around now as well.  It's not one of the usual fly destinations so details are tough to come by.  I've read the forums, and scoured youtube and found a multitude of patterns to tie like the usual toads, decievers, charlies and gotchas.  Given that I'll probably have a bit of time on my hands for tying flies by candlelight in the next few days, any other generic must-have patterns that I should be taking with me?  Sorry to be vague on the locality, but she's pretty crafty and the suspense is killing her.  Thanks! 

[Cary Pugh]

I just got back from Mexico and the guide pretty much wanted to fish gotchas the whole time for bones. With tan craft fur wing. So for bones I would tie multiple sizes and weights - bead chain in multiple sizes and brass eyes in multiple sizes. Also tan and white closers multiple sizes and weights. For tarpon I would tie basic toads in tan and dark colors and also some baitfish in silver colors for dirty water. Stuff that would work for jacks or trevally. Send an email if you want more specifics.

[hawaiian bones]

Can't give you any help on the tarpon flies, but I spent 2 years in Hawaii fishing almost exclusively for bones. Recommend crazy charlies (pink, orange, tan, brown) and in mixed weights and sizes (heavy for deep water and blind casting; light for sight fishing in shallow water with delicate presentations). And if I wasn't fishing with crazy charlies, I was using what was essentially a tan wooly bugger with dumbbell eyes to get it to the bottom and ride with the hook up.

As I look at my bonefish box, it's almost sad how many flies I tied that I need used because you can't go wrong with the ones listed above.

[Steve F]

Thanks for the replies.  Sounds like I'll have a bunch of gotchas, charlies, and buggers tied up in varying shades of tan for the bones and some toads and cockroaches to add to my amateur-ish collection of puglisi patterns for the tarpon.  Now I just need to select a good scotch from the other thread and get tying.  Hopefully, I'll have a report with some pictures to post in a few weeks.