The bonefish is a fish that can change your life within seconds. One fleeting moment you are hooked up to a trophy fish most anglers will never experience and at other moments the level of frustration increases exponentially as they test your skill and determination. It is a psycological battle they are blissfully ignorant of but one that is very real and personal to the angler and guide. Jason from Australia experienced the latter today as he occupied the bow of my skiff. We had perfect bonefish conditions and spend the first two hours of our bonefish charter covered in schools of waking and tailing bonefish in super shallow, slick calm water. During this two hour period we had over twenty shots at over two dozen schools of bonefish, some tailing less than 20' from the boat! After the rust came off Jason's casting, he was making well placed casts in front of big schools of 10 plus pound fish only to be ignored. On one occasion we laid a perfect cast in front of a school of tailing bonefish that milled around his shrimp. Once the school moved off and no hook ups taking place, I was in disbelief as his hook came back clean. We missed the subtle take of a bonefish!!! Moving to the oceanside we got into more singles and schools. On another opportunity, a big school of bones pops out of the channel. They swarm all around our shrimp and no hook ups. Hooks came back clean!!!! URGH!!!!!! This is enough to rattle angler and guide alike. We ended the day having shots at an enormous amount of bonefish and missing on all three takes. On any other day we should have had 6 to 7 bonefish in the boat, all double digit weight fish. That's bonefishing!!!
Capt. Mo Estevez
www.MiamiBoneFishing.com