There cannot be many serious fly anglers who haven’t either tried flats fishing or dreamt about trying it. The combination of warm water, hot sun, hard-fighting fish and stunning scenery is hard to beat, and as someone who has been lucky enough to experience it a few times, I can attest that it becomes quite addictive. If I could only fish for one more day, I would be hard pushed to choose between a day spent walking a bonefish flat, barefoot and with just a fly-rod and a few spare flies, or a day on a good trout river with an upwing hatch on the go.
For those keen to try flats fly-fishing, species such as bonefish, permit and tarpon are at closest an eight-hour flight away and the lodges associated with some of the best flats fishing can easily cost £5,000 a week. For many anglers, spending up to £10,000 on a week’s fishing is not feasible within the sporting year’s budget. The alternative is so-called ‘DIY fishing’. I’ve
