The flats surrounding the Florida Keys provide grazing areas for what many backcountry anglers consider the holy grail of flats fishing — albula vulpes, the hard-to-find, hard-to-see, hard-to-catch bonefish.
Bonefishing easily can become an obsession. The thrill of casting to the most skittish fish on the flats, watching it approach a bait or fly, feeling it eat, then hanging on as it takes off on a drag-burning high-speed run across the flat is what brings anglers back to the Keys time and again. Every bad cast, finicky fish and broken leader is a tease of what “coulda been.”
Bonefish are not known for their beauty. Blue-greenish on top, with silvery sides, the bonefish looks like a medium-gray shadow in the water, hence its nickname “gray ghost.” They have an inferior mouth and conical nose that gives them the look of a doofy cartoon character. But beware the angler who fails to respect the ghost.
Bonefish are built for speed. Not the short, darting speed of reef fish, but the long-distance run of prey avoiding a tenacious predator.
Sharks and barracuda are the bonefish’s primary enemies. But the feel of a hook launches a bonefish into escape velocity. Bonefish have been clocked at 40 miles per hour, according to OceanLink, an educational program of the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. There’s no other inshore species that comes close.
Back in the 1950s, some subsistence fisherman killed bonefish for food. But the extremely high number of bones in the fish’s flesh made cleaning and eating bonefish an unpleasant chore. Gradually, the bonefish came to be valued as a game fish. By the early ’60s, Keys guides were leading the way toward a new fishing ethic — catch and release.
There are eight to 10 specific, genetically differentiated bonefish species, depending on whose science you prefer to believe. But all scientists (and anglers) agree that the world’s largest (and some say smartest) bonefish live between Biscayne Bay and Marathon.
Islamorada is “bonefish central.” It’s not unusual to hear of 13- or 14-pound bonefish being caught in the area, though the average bone is in the 9- to 10-pound range. In the Bahamas and Belize, bonefish average under 8 pounds, with a lot of 5-pound fish being caught. There’s simply no comparison between the blistering run of a 12-pound bonefish versus the nice jaunt of an 8-pounder.
But bonefishing is not about biology. It’s about success and failure, exhilaration and despair, pride and frustration.
It’s also about humor. Writer and professional fly fisherman Lefty Kreh once said that bonefish “can sure make a good angler look dumb.”
In the Keys, a basic knowledge bank has evolved that can help the fledgling bonefisher. Anecdotal research has shown the information to be both reasonably accurate and moderately tongue-in-cheek.
Rule number one, hire a guide. You can’t cast at a bonefish unless you can find one, and they’re not easy to find.
Rule number two, memorize a clock face. Your guide is going to suddenly lean over and point, whispering something like, “Eleven o’clock, 40 feet.” You have to know where eleven o’clock is located because you probably won’t see the fish.
Rule number three, make your cast within three seconds. Don’t think, cast.
Then accept success or failure with a happy heart. As Dolly Parton said, “The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.”
Here are a few tips that should help you get more hook-ups:
Cast in front of the bonefish so it sees your bait or fly. If the fish are particularly skittish (in shallow water or an outgoing tide), cast at a nearby object like a clump of grass or mound. Bonefish often cruise toward structure.
Don’t set the hook. The hook will set itself when the bonefish first feels it and starts its run.
Take your best shot. Get an idea where the fish is and what direction it’s heading. Don’t cast blindly; you might spook a school.
Handle the fish gently and carefully during release. Best of all, handle it as little as possible. Learn how to revive the fish for release.
Bring a camera. The look of joy (and relief) after bringing a bonefish to net is worth a million bucks.
For more information about Florida Keys fishing and other attractions throughout the island chain, call the Key Largo Chamber of Commerce at (305) 451-4747 or (800) 822-1088By: Carolina Bustamante
