Jono Shales joins BUG-BOND™ Pro-Tying team

Jono Shales and a Bug-Bond Surf Candy

There has been a lot going on in the BUG-BOND™ camp and it continues to do so as well... However, I've been itching to write this piece for almost two months now and photos that appeared in my Inbox from Western Australia this week have me positively salivating! So here it is...

I was introduced to Jono Shales by my good friend Pete Gray in the US… both Pete and Jono have shared conversations across the ether and both share a common theme in being on the Mako Reels Pro-Team.

Pete said that I should hook up with Jono, as in his opinion Jono is one of THE guys in saltwater fly fishing.

I corresponded with Jono prior to his journey across Australia when he brought his new boat home to start his new guiding venture Exmouth Fly Fishing… at 40°C most of the time and with unforgiving fish – this is the place to test BUG-BOND™ to destruction!

Following his return to Exmouth with the boat Jono started to play with Bug-Bond and immediately saw the benefits… the flies were the same patterns but they weren’t yellowing in the hot bright sun of Western Australia as epoxy would have done and more importantly the flies were lasting more than one or two fish… he recently described Bug-Bond in conversation as “bullet proof sh*t” and that roughly translates as “a good product”. We aren’t talking small fry either… these are trophy fish!

I’m really pleased that Jono has become a member of the Bug-Bond Pro-Tying Team… and he’s not only tying great flies BUT testing them to their limits. Amongst Jono’s most memorable captures to date were two juvenile black marlins caught “back to back”; free swimming on the flats of Fraser Island in Queensland back in 2006. Since then Jono has ticked many species off the piscatorial bucket list, recently cracking parts of the code for targeting milkfish in Exmouth. This has opened up an entirely new fishery and target species that was thought to be impossible to catch. Until now!

From our internet chats we both seem to share the same values and work ethics and Jono is reaping the rewards of his hard work and the results for clients are there for all to see.

Click the link for Jono’s guiding service in Exmouth WA… I’m working on how I get there for the end of the year… got to test the gear in person!

Top photo is a screenshot of Jono from his promo video and the four remaining photos are of Jono’s client Don… four fish and one fly, congratulations Don… some going and welcome to the team Jono!

All images courtesy and copyright Jono Shales 2012