Bonefishing in the Keys



The magazine started it all.  We  began a subscription to the "Saltwater Fisherman", and by summer it was all about the fantastic bonefishing in the Keys. These fish are a great sports fish.  I sort of recall that in most of the articles which he read to me, there were GUIDES which helped make the trips successful.

 First we needed our own boat.   I  thought going on what was referred to as a "party boat" was just fine. Jim could pay for a half day out on the water, or a full day, under the supervision of a knowledgeable captain and crew, catch as many as possible, and I would feel safe, with a baby at home.  Why couldn't he be happy fishing there to his heart's content?

"But look here, Conni!"  He would show me the photo of a smallish boat sawed into four pieces, then chained together, still floating,  a man  pulling on a bent pole fishing.  "The safest boat made! You can't sink it!  That's what we need."  That's what he found, 13 foot long, a second hand Boston Whaler, and started on his mission. 



Boston Whaler similar to ours







First we needed pole holders, at least eight.  Did he have eight poles?  He got various sizes of PVC pipe, drilled them to fit, and attached them to the console.  Then he needed another platform.  "I need to be higher above the water to better view the bonefish."  He covered the entire front of the boat with a plywood floor.  Then he got an office chair, swivel and all, and mounted it onto the raised floor.  This would be attached only when he intended to go bonefishing, because it meant few passengers could sit in the boat, rather, NO passengers would sit there, other than the one(HIM) on his swivel chair.  He then needed a long pole.  From his High Seat, he could not use oars at all, neither was the steering wheel within reach.  But with a long pole, he could theoretically gondola  himself silently through the water.  The strategy was not exactly flawless, since bonefish are found in one place: in low tide on the flats of the Keys.

Bonefishing setup in the Keys- not ours



Since he had read every magazine article there was about the success of fisherman in the Keys, he decided this was something he and I could achieve together.

Along the Keys where we went to vacation and fish



Picture this.   I am wearing a cute two piece bathing suit, red bottom, red polka dot top, boots, sun hat, sun screen, sun glasses.  Low tide, you can see the seaweed of the salt flats as we skim across, and I am to check for shadows of fish ahead in the water.  As I see fish, I quietly tell Jim, who casts ahead of the school, trying to get a bite. He is also wearing a hat and sunglasses, in the midday sun, as you hear the seaweed brush along the bottom of the boat, and the boat keeps getting stuck on the flats, Jim says, "You're probably weighting the boat down too much in this low tide.  Get out and pull the boat along.  That's what the guides do.  Then you can see better where the fish are."

"I don't want to."

"I thought you were going to be my guide."

"I thought that meant sitting IN the boat and getting a tan!" 

"Why can't you get a tan just walking along the sand flats and pulling me in this chair and watching for fish- just try it!"

Well, I try it. Somehow I think the flooring and the poles and equipment might be what is weighting the boat down, not me, but whatever... For what seemed like an eternity...and every time Jim casts his line out, the fish scatter.  They are so skittish, that the slightest noise scares them off.  As I move toward them, as Jim drops the bait on the water, off they go.  Over and over I walk toward this large school of fish, and off they go.  I am so tired of this game, but Jim wants to feel the excitement of hooking his own bonefish.



Bonefish

I insist on climbing back into the boat, and want to call it quits.  I have had it.  What is so great about a bonefish.  Even the name tells you it is too full of bones to eat, and since it is such a wonderful sports fish, it is turned lose after it is caught- catch and release, it is called.  I say, the whole thing is a waste of time and money.  Jim finally gets close enough to a school of fish to exclaim, "I don't think those are bonefish, Conni.  You were looking at fish way too big.   See their fins pop up out of the water?  I'm pretty sure those are shark."

And to make the entire experience so memorable, I had a bad sunburn, we never even saw a bonefish, and I will never be talked into bonefishing for the rest of my life- sort of amazing what we think we know, and how we learn how little we do.