Recreational anglers started chasing bonefish on the Bahamas flats about 100 years ago. Once a novelty practiced by a handful of salty dogs, bonefishing has become accessible and popular, drawing tens of thousands of fishermen to the islands each year and pumping multiple millions of dollars into local economies. Here’s how it started—and how it’s going.

1950s: As sport fishermen started flocking to the Bahamas in the early to mid-20th century, the focus was on offshore species. On days when the weather kept offshore boats in port, those anglers weren’t content to simply wait out the weather. They wanted to fish. So, they hit inshore flats that teemed with bonefish. Back then, bones weren’t too tough to trick. Their blistering runs were epic, and catching them on light tackle was fun—so fun that soon bonefish were no longer a backup plan but a primary focus.

Late 1970s: During a late 1970s trip to the Bahamas, Californian Bob Nauheim added a set of bead chain eyes to the underside of a fly’s hook shank, which caused the hook point to ride up. The pattern worked so well that famous guide Charlie Smith dubbed it “nasty,” and eventually the name morphed into the Crazy Charlie.

Early 1940s: Early flats fly anglers used the tools of the time. That meant slow-action bamboo (and later fiberglass) rods, silk lines and gut leaders. Even in expert hands, the gear was less than ideal for taming strong, fast saltwater fish. The invention of smooth-casting, durable plastic fly lines and monofilament leaders and tippets in the early 1940s was a major upgrade.

1980s: In the early days, most visiting anglers reached the islands via boat. The advent of regular flights to the islands became far more cost-efficient compared to fueling up a boat for the crossing from Florida.

1990s: Once upon a time, researching Bahamas fishing meant digging through magazines and books, and making phone calls to fly shops and fishing-travel companies. Today, a huge and still growing amount of fishing information is just a few clicks away.

For do-it-yourselfers, the amount of intel out there borders on overwhelming, from message-board discussions to high-res satellite imagery. According to Tom Karrow, author of the forthcoming book Ghost Stories: A History of Flats Fishing in the Bahamas, “There are no more secrets.”

2015: As bonefishing’s popularity exploded, Bahamian officials came to realize that the resource needed more formal protection. That included banning the netting and selling of bonefish, once most prized not as a sport fish, but as bait when trolling offshore.

2016: The Bonefish & Tarpon Trust reports that about 59,000 of the 1,482,000 stopover visitors, or 4 percent, spent one or more days fishing for bonefish.

The post The Evolution of Bahamas Bonefishing appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Armed with the knowledge that scientists who dissect large South Florida bonefish report gulf toadfish (Opsanus beta) in their bellies, my intention was to uncover a panacean soft bait to target flighty bonefish. Heck, there must be a reason certain bonefish flies like Harry Spears’ Tasty Toad, Pat Dorsey’s Kwan Fly, and the Gummy Minnow imitate a toadfish, goby, and glass minnow.

But after speaking with established Florida Keys captains such as Rich Smith, of Marathon, and Dave Atkinson, of Islamorada, I’ve learned just how unpredictable and scarce bonefish can become at times. When limited numbers leave them with narrow opportunities for customers — live shrimp, small crabs and flies offer the best presentation, so they stay with what’s habitually successful. “You really have to take advantage of the ­opportunities you get,” says Atkinson.

Different fish stories persist in South Florida of bonefish attacking bait schools intended for different species, but none ignite any degree of confidence. Still, options do exist for spin anglers who want to trick bonefish without relying on live baits like shrimp and crabs.

The Best Bonefish Jig

Most captains I spoke with agreed that the simplest lure to tempt a bonefish is the skimmer jig. Sometimes called a bonefish jig or flats jig, it’s flat with a tip shaped like a diamond or a circle. The hook and jig eye always point toward the surface to deter snags with grassy or rocky bottom where bonefish live. The hook is dressed with bucktail, fly or synthetic material to mimic shrimp and crabs. Different than traditional boxing-glove jig heads, the slender skimmer wobbles in the water and falls at a slower rate.

“Lightly twitch the rod so the jig hops off the bottom like a shrimp,” says Capt. Mo Estevez, who fishes South Florida’s Biscayne Bay regularly. “With a pure jig — which has no smell — you’re appealing to bonefishes’ keen eyesight. The jig’s productivity is dependent on the ability and skill of the angler. It’s tough to get the right action.”

Many captains tip the jig with fresh shrimp to appeal to a bonefish’s olfactory senses, but that’s no longer a true artificial. Instead, use artificial-shrimp scent (like Berkley Gulp! Alive, Pro-Cure or Carolina Lunker Sauce) on your jigs.

Color combos are wide ranging for the jigs, but browns, oranges, whites and pinks are top picks. In general, choose colors that mimic the same color as the bottom substrate or the colors of the local crustaceous fauna. In South Florida, common prey such as xanthid (mud) crabs , portunid (swimming) crabs, alpheid (pistol) shrimp and penaeid (Atlantic white) shrimp all mimic popular jig colors. Pick ⅛-, ¹⁄₁₆- or ³⁄₁₆-ounce jigs based on how shallow the flat is.

“Skimmer jigs work for anglers who don’t fly-fish,” says Estevez. “With the higher tide, bonefish feel and act safer with more water over their back. Still, I prefer low water on an incoming tide to spot them as they ‘pop’ onto the flats from deeper water.”

Popular jig brands include Hookup Lures Weedless Bucktails or Capt. Harry’s Flats Jigs, but many lure makers offer their own patterns.

Playing the Bonefish Numbers Game

Beyond South Florida, areas such as the Bahamas, Yucatan Mexico, Los Roques, Venezuela and Belize can offer incredible numbers of bonefish. In areas of abundance, anglers have the opportunity to try different presentations.

The bonefish of Los Roques eat from a buffet of glass minnows in the waters around the island, shadowing pelicans that dive on the bait. But the Venezuelan bones are a unique and exotic outlier; shrimp, crabs and sea worms still reign supreme for bonefish in most parts of the world. Consider these two techniques when the bonefish are ready and willing or in large groups mudding.

A Bone to Pick

1. Cast Berkley Gulp! Shrimp

“I have success with Berkley Gulp! Shrimp whenever I can’t find fresh shrimp,” says Capt. Jody Albury, of Marsh Harbour, Bahamas. He casts the artificial shrimp the same way he would a natural one. “Fishing the Marls, I use 10-pound SpiderWire braid, a light fluorocarbon leader and an Eagle Claw Baitholder hook, size 1/0.”

Besides Berkley Gulp!, South Florida anglers are having increased success with Savage Gear 3D Manic Shrimp and Vudu Shrimp lures. It’s a stealth presentation that requires the angler to set up on a flat where the bonefish are likely to flood onto — it’s not necessarily sight fishing. Anglers must make plenty of casts to where the deeper water meets the flat.

2. Cast a Fly With a Split Shot

A second method Albury mentions sprung from necessity — or possibly frustration — when fishing the extremely shallow flats that straddle the western side of Great Abaco. The Marls are a mix of mangrove, keys, limestone and bright-white sand.

“If the fish are being picky, I’ll have my spin anglers cast a fly with a split shot a couple of inches above the fly,” he says. “My favorite bonefish flies are the EP Spawning Shrimp and Veverka’s Mantis Shrimp, both in size 4.” Some might consider the technique cross-pollinating fishing styles, but I’d counter it’s a clever move to diversify your fishing arsenal for a fickle species.

Targeting Bonefish in Deepwater Harbors

Sight-fishing takes a back seat to other tactics when bonefish vacate the flats during the heat of the summer or the chilling temps of winter. Bonefish handle low oxygen levels that accompany hot water in coastal, tropical habitats by inhaling air into a lunglike air bladder. Still, larger bones retreat to deeper waters during the summer. In this warm-water scenario, ­blind-casting artificials pays dividends. The trick is to find deeper water near productive flats with current.

Regarding the Finger Channels south of Key Biscayne, says Estevez: “If it’s low tide, or in the cold of winter or dead of summer, head to the Finger Channels and bounce pompano jigs on the bottom. Bonefish head for the deeper channels, and you’re also likely to catch permit, mutton snapper and juvenile African pompano.”

Try pompano jigs or an undersize bucktail jig crafted mostly with a chrome jig head, short-shank hook and nylon skirt. The skirts are often cut short, just past the bend in the hook. Bomber’s Nylure Pompano jig is a good example of this style of jig. Other pompano jigs, like Doc’s Goofy Jig, are shaped kind of wacky. The Goofy jig is a long-shanked hook set inside a banana-shaped lead. Many times, the jig is dressed with a secondary hook hidden inside a skirt. This popular jig catches bonefish over sandy bottoms. Next time the fresh bait’s not available, tie on a jig with confidence.

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Chub Cay differs from most Bahamas fishing destinations in several notable respects. For one, the extent and accessibility of its bonefish flats is hard to beat. For those who fly in, “When you land at the runway and clear customs, walk back behind the customs house for about 50 feet and you’ll be at the edge of 25 miles of bonefish flats,” says Capt. Rick Murphy.

Murphy, a Florida fishing guide, professional tournament angler and host of the popular Sportsman’s Adventures TV show, has a special and uniquely personal familiarity with Chub Cay fishing. He’s been spending time and fishing there every year since he was a youngster, in the 1960s, when his grandfather built a home on the east side of the island. The Murphy family still owns a renovated house there and keeps several boats on hand to fish flats, reefs and blue water.

Chub Cay, one of the Berry Island group northeast of Andros Island and northwest of Nassau, is also different from many popular Bahamas destinations since it remains private — the island is owned by wealthy Texan George Bishop — and in no way crowded with tourists. While there is a runway that serves several Florida- and Bahamas-based air charters, there are no regularly scheduled commercial flights. Other than via chartered or private aircraft, private boats are the only way to the island.

For sport fishermen, the most significant distinction Chub offers is location, location, location. Immediately around most of the island are flats inhabited by extraordinary schools of bonefish — and not all little guys, either. Just to the south of the island, a mere stone’s toss from the Chub Cay Marina, the bottom drops away in deep azure ocean waters.

“A lot of guys will pull out of the marina, and 500 yards off the beach will put out their lines,” Murphy says. The list of game fish includes pretty much everything the warm Atlantic has to offer, including yellowfin tuna, wahoo, mahi, white marlin, blue marlin and sailfish. From Chub, one can troll the 15 or so miles west to The Pocket, the magical spot where the abyssal Tongue of the Ocean abuts the coral shallows of Bahama Bank.

Baitfish naturally collect here along the wall that rises abruptly from hundreds of feet to a few fathoms, and predators naturally follow, making it one of the most productive trolling alleys in the Bahamas and Caribbean.

When to Go

While anglers can find some bluewater pelagics here most of the year, the very best time to on hand is February, March and into April, particularly when a southeast breeze pushes bait right against the bank, Murphy says. He recalls that his grandfather, who built here, “loved Chub so much because no matter what the direction of the wind, some place will always be fishable.”

For bonefish, Murphy says the best time starts in early October as temperatures cool and goes through mid-June. It’s not unusual for bonefish hotspots in the Caribbean to boast great numbers of small fish, but at Chub, flats anglers can have the best of worlds.

“That’s the thing that’s so cool here,” says Murphy. “Our average bonefish probably runs 5 pounds. I’ve caught ‘em to 13 on the fly.” He attributes the large size of Chub bones to so much fertile deeper water around the island.

Murphy also cites the reef action he calls “spectacular” here. “Any area where there are drop-offs, you can catch snapper — muttons, yellowtail, cubera, lanes and others — and several types of groupers, plus African pompano, almacos, amberjack and more.” And barracudas, he adds, love to clobber topwater lures. Murphy says drift-jigging is a great way to catch everything. He favors leadheads of ½ to 1½ ounces tipped with Fishbites soft tails.

Planning a Trip

Where to Go and How to Get There: Private boaters make the 150 or so miles to Chub from Miami or Ft. Lauderdale (or a little under 170 from West Palm Beach), but Murphy points out that only about 50 miles is open-water crossing (including the Gulf Stream). Otherwise, most of the run is over the relatively shallow water of the Great Bahama Bank. The full-service marina’s floating docks can accommodate boats from center consoles to 175-foot yachts.

Private aircraft and chartered flights find arrival at Chub’s 5,000-foot airstrip easy, thanks to a small, regular customs office open daily from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Several charter operations provide service to Chub, including Tropic Air Charters, Makers Air and Island Air Charters (all based in Ft. Lauderdale), plus Bahamas Air Tours.

However one arrives at Chub, he or she will find a variety of accommodations offered by Chub Cay Resort. The clubhouse serves as a boutique hotel with 11 rooms. The cabanas feature eight, single, stand-alone units on Sunset Beach. Villas range from two to five bedrooms with varying layouts and views. In addition, some privately owned homes are available to rent.

What to Expect: While fishing-charter services are limited, three well-known longtime bonefish guides — Razor, David and Joe — can put anglers into countless shots at bones. Bonefish are abundant enough that some anglers rent a golf cart to take them along the shore to points from which they can wade out into good action.

In addition to world-class fishing, Chub offers diving of the same caliber. Murphy cites the amazing wall diving in the clear waters, teeming with fish. But he points out that those who would take advantage of it can only get to it on a private boat with their own gear (rental gear is not available). Murphy says anyone wanting more information on fishing Chub is welcome to contact him via murphyslawsportfishing.com.

The post Chub Cay Bahamas: The Big Bonefish Factory appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Tucked away in the southeastern corner of the Yucatan Peninsula, this tiny Central American nation (about the size of Massachusetts) was known as British Honduras until 1973. Belize boasts the second largest barrier reef in the world (after Australia’s Great Barrier Reef) with dozens of cays and islets. The country’s 174-mile coastline offers huge areas of sandy flats dotted with patches of turtle grass — ideal habitat for bonefish and permit.

Among anglers, Belize is known for its consistently productive, year-round fishing for both of those prized inshore trophy species. Add tarpon to the mix and it’s understandable that Belize ranks near the top of places in the world where anglers can accomplish a coveted shallow-water slam: permit, bonefish and tarpon in one day. But don’t limit yourself! Belize boasts a good population of snook in its rivers and mangrove-lined bays. Add snook to the other three species and join the ranks of super-slammers. Slam or not, fishing Belize is particularly popular with fly fishermen.

Unique among Central American nations, at least 40 percent of the country’s mainland and coast is protected. The barrier reef system has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1996. The reef runs for more than 180 miles, in places only 1,000 feet from shore but in other areas 25 miles out.

Some popular areas include Turneffe Atoll, the country’s largest atoll, located about 20 miles off the coast, near Belize City. It’s renowned for big schools of bonefish, but also numbers of permit. A marine reserve, Turneffe remains pristine, with vast expanses of mangrove and seagrass habitats around the island. Ambergris Caye is Belize’s largest island, famed for white-sand beaches and turquoise shallows. It’s perennially popular with tourists, being a mere 15-minute small-plane flight from Belize City. Nevertheless, it remains a solid spot for inshore fishing, particularly for sight-casting to tarpon on its extensive flats. Some of Belize’s other outstanding spots for anglers include the Placencia peninsula, and Hopkins and Glover’s reefs in the south.

Planning a Trip

When to Go

As noted above, this is truly year-round fishing. Larger tarpon tend to be more seasonal, given their migratory nature; late spring and summer is a peak time but smaller fish can be caught anytime on flats, in channels, creeks and bays. Winter can be tougher for bones, while fall is prime time for permit. Because fishing can be good throughout the year, timing a trip may come down to weather more than anything. Spring tends to be a bit windier (prevailing trade winds are generally from an eastern quadrant). From late February into May is the dry season, and June through much of the fall, is the wet season. It’s worth noting that the northern part of Belize receives considerably less rain than the south. Also keep in mind the possibility of hurricanes summer and fall. Direct strikes on Belize are rare, but tropical wind and rain spun off by big storms can hinder fishing.

Where to Go and How to Get There

Major airlines offer regular flights from several U.S. cities into Belize City’s international airport. Once in Belize, there are regular flights and ferry service to Ambergris Caye, but more distant resorts are reached primarily via chartered flights that the resorts provide or arrange.

Grand Caribe Belize is a beautiful resort in San Pedro Belize, located 2 miles north of town on Ambergris Caye. The condo style accommodations cater to anglers and families, plus the barrier reef sits just a half-mile offshore their beaches. This year, the resort hosted their 7th annual Deep Sea Classic fishing tournament in July.

What to Expect

English, for one thing: While you’ll hear Spanish and creole, English is the primary, official language, making Belize the only country in Central America where this is true. You’ll find plenty of hotels in Belize City. Most resorts provide tackle, though serious fishermen often bring their own (and fly fishing is particularly popular in Belize’s shallow waters). Though largely overlooked, reef and bluewater fishing await just beyond the flats. Besides fishing, in Belize’s forested interior you can plan visits to the country’s amazing Mayan ruins, remnants of a great ancient Maya empire. Note: upon leaving, you’ll need to pay a departure tax (unless included in the airline’s fare), and only cash is accepted.

Helpful Links

• For general information: travelbelize.org
• You’ll also find more good information at: travel.usnews.com/belize

The post The Beauty of Belize appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Flats fish chumming is standard practice in Florida, but it’s not practiced much in The Bahamas for bonefish. Traditional poling is the drill, leading to plenty of shots and hookups.

But bonefish can be scarce and wary at times, particularly on pressured flats frequented by DIY fly fishers. Plus, big high tides push them back into the mangroves along shorelines.

I once fished out of Treasure Cay, on Abaco, and we had a good morning of tailing fish until the new moon rising tide put the water and all bones back in the bushes by noontime.

“Wish we could chum them,” my buddy said to me on the skiff ride back. “Why not? Let’s get some conch in town,” I replied. At a local conch salad shack, men were cleaning the shellfish. For a $15 tip we scored 5 pounds of “conch slop,” the entrails and inedible parts that are loaded with scent.

The next day, we put it to the test during high tide as the mangrove shallows flooded. We fanned out about 2 pounds worth, and managed to coax out three small groups bones. They came to the skiff pronto. We landed a fish from each school. Our guide couldn’t stop smiling.

Tips

• Don’t chum when lemon sharks are on the flat. Scent in the water will bring them to the boat. And they will attack your hooked, or your just-released, tired bonefish.
• Bahamas regulations allow for travelers to bring over fresh foods, even meats, so fresh or frozen shrimp would be a backup should conch not be available.

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Mechanical lip-gripping devices are popular among anglers as a means to avoid sharp teeth, weigh fish, and hold fish for photos. While lip-grippers can reduce handling, which can remove a fish’s protective slime, research shows that they often do more harm than good, especially when fish are held vertically.

How Lip-Grippers Injure Fish

A 2007 study at the Cape Eleuthera Institute in the Bahamas assessed the effects of a lip-gripping device on bonefish. Ten fish were held vertically in the air for 30 seconds, and 10 fish were held horizontally in water for the same amount of time. The results were undeniable.

The research article published in the scientific journal Fisheries Research stated, “the lip-gripping device caused mouth injuries to 80% of bonefish restrained in the water and 100% of bonefish held in the air, always when fish thrashed while being held. Some of the injuries were severe (40%) and included separating the tongue from the floor of the mouth, creating tears and holes in the soft tissue of the lower jaw, and splitting the mandible.”

In the study’s control group of bonefish, which were held only with bare hands, only one fish showed signs of injury, which was minor inflammation inside the lower jaw, likely from the hook.

According to the study’s lead author, Dr. Andy Danylchuk, Professor of Fish Conservation at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a Bonefish & Tarpon Trust (BTT) Research Fellow, these types of injuries could impact a bonefish’s ability to feed. “It’s easy to visualize how severe injuries to the mouth can impact handling prey, like crabs and shrimp, not to mention force bonefish to channel energy to heal wounds and fight infection,” said Danylchuk. “Although we didn’t document any short-term mortality (less than 48 hours), if we care about the future of bonefish, anglers shouldn’t use a lip-gripping device when handling them.”

Hold Fish Horizontally Not Vertically

Another study was conducted in 2008 on barramundi, a prized gamefish native to northern Australia that anatomically resembles a snook and can jump like a tarpon.

Australian researchers held 21 barramundi of varying size above the water for 20 seconds with lip-grippers, 10 vertically and 11 horizontally with a hand supporting them. The results resembled the bonefish study’s findings. According to the research article in the scientific journal North American Journal of Fisheries Management, “All fish held with lip grippers and receiving no additional support had small holes in the membranes of the lower jaw, compared with 81 percent of fish that were held with lip grippers and supported by a hand.”

The researchers concluded that the holes in the lower jaw membrane could impede the ability of barramundi to feed, since the holes could “reduce the effectiveness of the sucking action” the fish use to capture prey. Additionally, the study found that lip-grippers can cause internal injuries: “X-rays showed that lifting fish with lip grippers altered the alignment of the vertebrae, which did not return to normal after 3 weeks.”

How to Handle a Fish for Release

“The best way to release a fish is to limit how much you touch it, limit the time the fish is out of the water, keep your fingers away from its gills, don’t hold the fish vertically, and use barbless hooks,” said Dr. Ross Boucek, BTT’s Florida Keys Initiative Manager. To promote bonefish catch-and-release best practices, BTT launched the Save the Slime campaign last year. The guidelines, such as limiting the fish’s exposure to air and handling it without sun-gloves, apply to numerous other species, both fresh and saltwater.

If you want a photo of your trophy catch, do the fish a favor and refrain from holding it vertically in the air with a lip-gripper. Instead, Boucek advises keeping the fish partially submerged in the water, or holding it horizontally above the water with wet hands for no more than 10 seconds.

And if you need to know the weight of your catch, measure the fish’s length and girth while it’s in the water rather than weighing it with a lip-gripping spring-scale. With those two measurements, you can determine the weight of your catch by using one of the species-specific weight calculators widely available online, including for bonefish and tarpon.

Taking steps to minimize our impact on the sport fish we catch benefits not only the individual fish we land but the recreational fishery as a whole. So next time you’re on the water, use the tips and techniques mentioned here to help ensure a healthy release for your trophy catch.

The post The Truth About Lip Grippers and Holding Fish Vertically appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Islamorada is the quiet fishing village with a big nickname – the Sport Fishing Capital of the World. A great percentage of its residents are fishing captains and anglers. From sailfish to swordfish to bonefish, species are abound. How much is a Florida Keys bonefish worth? The answer: approximately $75,000 over its lifetime. But mishandling bones is a big issue, which is why the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust, in partnership with organizations like the Lower Keys Guides Association, has launched the “Save the Slime” awareness campaign to reduce harm to bonefish during catch and release.

The post Protect the Blue – Islamorada: The Bones Brigade appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

All along this Village of Islands—Plantation, Windley, Upper Matecumbe, Lower Matecumbe, Indian, Lignumvitae and Tea Table Key—bonefish use their conical snouts to push through fertile seagrass and root out a bounty of crustacean, invertebrate and small finfish forage.

Convenient for anglers, much of the action occurs over flats adjacent to Islamorada’s downtown area (mostly Upper Matecumbe), within close proximity to renowned landmarks such as Cheeca Lodge and Spa, Worldwide Sportsman, Library Park, the 1935 Hurricane Monument and Robbie’s Marina.

Bonefish roam oceanside flats, especially when clear, calm days facilitate sight-fishing, but Florida Bay’s vast habitat holds the lion’s share. The bayside also offers more wind breaks on blustery days.

Capt. Jared Raskob says fresh shrimp or crushed blue crab top the natural baits, while fly-fisherman often fool bones with crustacean patterns. Whatever your choice, know that Islamorada bones are a wily lot with zero tolerance for intrusion.

“It’s like playing a game of chess,” Raskob says. “You’re trying to find a way to get your bait into their window of opportunity without them knowing how it got there.”

Get it right and your hook-set launches a shallow-water missile that’ll disappear half your spool in a blink. Blow it with a splashy cast or too much pressure wake and bonefish will validate their nickname, “gray ghost.”

Learn to catch ’em here and you can catch these shiny speedsters anywhere they swim.

The post Bonefishing in Downtown Islamorada appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Islamorada proudly bills itself as the Sport Fishing Capital of the World, and for good reason. From here, an angler can catch creek-mouth snook in Everglades National Park, tempt a bonefish on the shallow flats around the village’s six islands and head offshore to battle a sailfish—all in the same day.

No matter the length of your angling bucket list, you can check off a whole bunch of species in Islamorada.

The ocean and backcountry flats host bonefish, permit and tarpon, the most sought-after triumvirate in the shallow-water game. Over grass flats and around the mangrove islands in Florida Bay and the national park, anglers can target snook, redfish and sea trout, as well as a variety of shark species, mangrove snapper, tripletail and cobia.

Weather from March through June and from September through November delivers preferred water temperatures for inshore fishing. During summer, visitors depart early in the morning, before the shallows heat up, or fish late in the afternoon, when temperatures cool and a spectacular sunset is almost guaranteed. 

Offshore, yellowtail and mutton snapper as well as grouper, king and cero mackerel swarm structure and coral reefs out to more than 100 feet deep. The same spectacular marine and fish life attracts scuba divers from all over the country.

Just outside the reef line, sailfish swim through the Keys. Plan to visit from November through April for the best opportunity to hook one of these acrobatic, hard-fighting billfish.

The offshore humps, where the ocean floor rises to within 400 feet of the surface, attract baitfish and opportunistic predators such as blackfin tuna, amberjacks and sharks. The humps produce year-round, but spring typically marks the peak of the bite, when the most and biggest fish are landed.

Dolphinfish, also known as mahi-mahi, usually top the list of popular offshore species for anglers hoping to catch dinner. Sharp-eyed captains look for weedlines, floating debris and diving birds to locate schools of the colorful fish, which show up in the spring, but in recent years have proved most abundant from August through early December.

Anglers often stop to catch dolphin on their way out to the swordfish grounds, which lie 25 to 30 miles offshore. Daytime swordfishing, where captains drop baits to the bottom in depths of 1,500 feet or more, was pioneered in 2003 by several innovative Islamorada fishing fanatics.

All Islamorada restaurants, from fancy to family style, offer fresh, local seafood. Lodging options range from high-end resorts to Old Florida motels to floating houseboats, where visitors can rest up and spend the following day on land viewing the works of painters and sculptors at the Morada Way Arts & Cultural District.

Non-anglers can find a different type of fish thrill by hand-feeding the 100-pound tarpon that gather at Robbie’s Marina and taking in a marine mammal show at Theater of the Sea, all of which make a visit to Islamorada a capital idea.

The post From Inches to Leagues — Explore All the Depths of Islamorada Fishing appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Capt. Richard Stanczyk stays busy overseeing everything at Bud N’ Mary’s Marina in Islamorada. But this time of year, when the weather cools in the Florida Keys, he always sets aside a few afternoons to take family and friends bonefishing.

Thanks to a combination of factors that has greatly improved the water quality in Florida Bay around Islamorada, flats fishing has flourished. “When I used to take people bonefishing, I would tell them, ‘I guarantee you one thing: a beautiful sunset.’ Now I can almost guarantee them a bonefish,” Stanczyk says.

One reason: Hurricane Irma, which swept through the Keys in 2017. While he emphasizes that he’s not a scientist, Stanczyk believes the storm flushed toxins out of the bay.

Before Irma, he says, “There was [something] like rust on the bay bottom. Irma churned up everything. After Irma, the flats were really beautiful.” Soon after Irma, Stanczyk saw blue crabs in new locations, and he also saw permit, which like bonefish had been extremely scarce around Islamorada.

Two other things that helped the bay and the fishing: Islamorada put in a sewer system to replace its septic tanks, and the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic greatly reduced the fishing pressure and boat traffic in the Keys.

“The flats are better, there’s no question,” Stanczyk says. “The overall water quality has been the best this year that I can remember in many, many years.”

Temperature and Location

Although anglers can endure the heat and catch bonefish during the summer months, Stanczyk says fall ranks as his favorite time of the year to pursue the gray ghosts. “Temperature is important, and usually we’re just coming off extreme heat,” he explains. “You’ve got to fish real early in the morning because of the cooling effect that takes place overnight, and then there’s a window late in the afternoon.”

However, bonefish become difficult to catch on the flats when water temperatures dip below 72 degrees. When a November cold front approaches, Stanczyk says the bonefish leave Florida Bay and move to the deeper, warmer water on the ocean side of Islamorada.

While Florida Bay’s water temperatures remain comfortable for bonefish, Stanczyk hunts a variety of flats. With more than 40 years of experience fishing those shallow waters, he has a pretty good idea of where the fish should be based on the tides and the wind direction.

He looks for a mix of healthy, green grass and sand and gravel. He avoids flats with brown, matted algae and what he calls “rusty-looking dust,” which indicates low water flow.

“Sometimes you get big broad flats, and you’ve got a lot of sunlight, and those types of flats [the fish] don’t like to commit to them so much, so they’ll stay around the edges, and that’s especially during calm weather. The wind will help you a little bit,” he says.

He also finds fish around what’s called a strip bank—where a narrow strip rises up, and the water churns as it flows over the obstruction. Fish often mill around those locations and want to feed, he says.

Staking vs. Stalking

When he first came to the Keys in the 1970s, Stanczyk exclusively fly-fished for bones. He’d propel his skiff across a shallow flat and look for tailing fish or the shadows from swimming fish.

Of course, water levels have risen over the last 20 years, he notes. Bonefish flats that once featured 6 inches of water now flood with 2 or 3 feet of water, making the fish harder to see.

Some sharp-eyed backcountry guides still pole across the flats, but at this stage of his life, Stanczyk prefers a technique known as dead-boating or staking out. “Instead of me hunting them down, I let them find me,” he says.

Stanczyk eases his skiff onto a flat where he believes he’ll intercept bonefish, and where the wind and current move in the same direction. He plants his push pole in the sandy bottom and secures the boat to the pole with a rope.

Once settled, he baits two to four spinning outfits with live shrimp and casts them to specific spots on the flat.

Stanczyk thinks of the flat like a road map with one route on and off the zone. With the right conditions, he knows the bonefish will travel that route and find the shrimp.

Light Tackle Fun

One of Stanczyk’s other keys to dead-boating bonefish involves putting the bait on an edge with grass and sand. That makes it easier for the fish to find the shrimp by sight and scent.

He recommends using light spinning outfits with 12-pound monofilament line. “You don’t want to over-tackle bonefish,” he says. “It takes away the excitement, the challenge and the fun.”

He places an egg sinker weighing 1/8 to 1/2 ounce, depending on the strength of the current, above a swivel tied to 12 to 18 inches of 12- to 20-pound monofilament leader. He completes the rig with a 2/0 Gamakatsu Offset Worm EWG hook. A smaller hook could be swallowed by a bonefish.

Read Next: Bonefish on Artificial Lures

Stanczyk breaks off the tail off a shrimp and threads it tail-first onto the hook, so the entire hook is concealed. After casting the shrimp, he puts the spinning outfits in rod holders and watches the tips for movement.

“What you’re really watching is the bonefish trying to pick up the shrimp,” Stanczyk says. “As he’s nosing down on your bait, he’s sending you a signal. Pick up the rod, but don’t spook him.”

When the fish takes the shrimp, reel, don’t jerk. “If he’s not there, stop reeling. He’ll pick it back up,” Stanczyk notes. “If he is there, he’s going to be off and running. Let him make his first run, because you’re not going to stop him.”

After another run or two, the bonefish tires, and that trophy comes boatside for photos. Once you notch the first fish by letting it come to you, you can try hunting and scouting. Look for tails and shadows. But if you strike out, remember, you can always stake out.

The post Fall Favorite: Florida Keys Bonefish appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.