{"id":39279,"date":"2026-04-30T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/?p=39279"},"modified":"2026-04-28T10:01:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T17:01:22","slug":"bonefish-on-a-board-sup-fly-fishing-with-the-nrs-heron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/2026\/04\/30\/bonefish-on-a-board-sup-fly-fishing-with-the-nrs-heron\/","title":{"rendered":"Bonefish on a Board: SUP Fly Fishing with the NRS Heron"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s a moment on the flats when everything goes still in your head. You’re standing there, rod in hand, scanning water so clear you can count the blades of turtle grass on the bottom, and the only thing that matters is that weak shadow circling. Maybe it\u2019s a fish, maybe not\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

Now imagine the serenity of that moment: you’re standing on a paddleboard, steady wind blowing from your back, line piled around your feet, cooler strapped to the back with lunch and a cold drink\u2026 that’s SUP fishing.<\/span><\/p>\n

I got to spend a couple days in the northern Bahamas, at a small chain of cays that most people blow right past on their way to some well-trodden destination. There\u2019s a small \u201ccreek\u201d that winds through the interior of the island for miles; skinny, wide flats open up between narrow channels some 10 feet deep, others only a couple inches. The fish are jumpy in water that shallow, the way all bonefish are. But they’re there, and they’re not as pressured the way fish in heavily guided destinations tend to get over time.<\/span><\/p>\n

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I dragged my Heron down here to see how it would do chasing bonefish, and it didn\u2019t disappoint. Neither did the company I had for the day. LJ, a young but long-time flats guide, had a day off so he joined me to see how this rig would do out in the creek. Usually on a skiff drafting several inches, LJ was quickly getting into zones so skinny the Heron\u2019s Grass Fin was leaving streaks in the sand.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is the practical case for a SUP on the flats. A skiff, even a well-poled one, pushes water and casts a shadow. Bonefish in a few inches of water notice both. A paddleboard at slow speed moves across three inches of flat with almost no disturbance. You’re elevated enough to see fish at a reasonable distance. And you’re quiet in a way that’s genuinely useful when the fish are so close and the water is calm and clear. Sometimes we got too close and could even strip line to make a cast.<\/span><\/p>\n

The trade-off is that your platform moves with you, so developing some strategies once you see a fish is super important. We ended up using a \u201csandspear,\u201d basically a short pole to push into the sand and anchor the SUP quickly and quietly. After some practice\u2014and some failed attempts\u2014we had it dialed in and we started getting some proper shots on cruising fish.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n