All about bonefish

[paumanok]

vpass--do I envy you! Enjoy!

I'd gone down to Marathon, mid-March, a few years ago for tarpon. I met up with my guide the morning after settling in. He was treating me to a hearty breakfast: "Cause we're gunna be out on the flats all day long," he said. "An' we got us a bit of a problem. Tarpon ain't arrived yet." There was going to be one boat out that day doing nothing but looking. We kept in touch with it the whole day. Tarpon never happened.

We went barracuda hunting instead. My fly rodding skills were geared to small rivers and streams, still-water lakes and ponds. Forty, fifty foot casts were more than adequate for those sweet-water needs. Now, here was this guide nonchalantly, telling me "shoot out eighty, ninety feet-a line and start rippin' like hell." Right. It was embarrassing. Eventually, I got some decent casts off; hand over hand, as fast as I could, I ripped one of his eely flies across the surface. Like an angry torpedo, four, five foot barracudas surged after the fly. Chomp! Fight doesn't last but a few seconds; the thrill lasted all morning long. (Have to admit, though, fly rodding was too taxing. I switched to a spinning rod after a few catches).

The afternoon was for bonefish. vpass got it right: bones are very spooky. You're casts have to be so delicate. As they grub along the bottom, you've got to almost anticipate the direction they're going. So, you can't cast too far out ahead of them, either. All that was tricky enough. But I had an even bigger problem at first. I couldn't even see them. "That's your problem. You're lookin' for THEM. It's their shadows you wanna look for." It took a bit of getting used to. Amber polarized lenses where an absolute necessity. You look for shadows moving along the sandy bottoms: they have bodies like glass.

Bones are one of those pound for pound fish. What they lack in size, they more than make up for in fight. Especially on a fly rod. Damn, vpass, enjoy, enjoy!

Tarpon may be the Ali's of of the Florida Keys. But bones are definitely the Sugar Rays.

(Robinson, that is--I know, I know, I'm really showing my age on this one. But what the hell.)

[vpass]

The afternoon was for bonefish. vpass got it right: bones are very spooky. You're casts have to be so delicate. As they grub along the bottom, you've got to almost anticipate the direction they're going. So, you can't cast too far out ahead of them, either. All that was tricky enough. But I had an even bigger problem at first. I couldn't even see them. "That's your problem. You're lookin' for THEM. It's their shadows you wanna look for." It took a bit of getting used to. Amber polarized lenses where an absolute necessity. You look for shadows moving along the sandy bottoms: they have bodies like glass.

You got that right. They zig zag about every 10 feet, but if you cast less then 12 feet you will spook them. The best time is from 10:30am to about 2:30pm when the sun is above, so the bone fish could cast a shadow. When there is no sun I fear to be in the water with all them sharks, you will see a few. I think Long Key state park is MM 89. Its 5 dollars a day and wading opportunity are great.

I never had opportunity to cast at tailing bones. From what I was told you could cast almost on top of them and get away with it, I done know hope to find out this trip.

[paumanok]

vpass, good luck to you, buddy. Have fun (like anyone's gotta tell ya to do that!)

Some years ago (before and during the years of Bush I--god, that's a ton of years ago), between February and March, I was good for one or two week- long trips of non-stop fishing on the Keys and Okeechobee. You've set my wheels spinninn' again.

I just might have to put the sunny state of Florida back on my fishing agenda.

Thanks for the inspiration.