With most of the afternoon gone, the guys unpacked, got their gear together, drank some Kalik Bahamian beer and told “fishy” stories. The remaining two anglers, Skip and Joe Cataudella were flying in on Sunday and Monday respectively. Our host and head guide, Ricardo, was optimistic that the fishing would be excellent throughout the week if the weather held. Bonefish angling is more like hunting than fishing. Finding fish was like stalking pheasant in a field with a good bird dog except the dog is replaced with a keen eyed Bahamian guide. Weather conditions need to be almost perfect to spot, approach and cast to these amazing fish. Bright sunlight and light winds are ideal. The bones are usually found in very shallow sand flats in water knee deep or less. Bonefish move along the flats in groups of a few fish to as many as 100 fish while feeding on small crabs and grass shrimp. The guides have trained their eyes to spot bones as far away as a hundred yards. They spot fish by observing moving shadows, bright silver flashes, “nervous water” and tails of feeding fish (it took me the better part of the week to spot fish that were less than 100 feet out!). Once a fish is spotted, the angler must make a perfect cast to be rewarded with the most incredible spool emptying fish I have ever experienced. Anything less than a perfect presentation will result in frustration as bonefish are easily spooked. Bonefish are constantly moving and feeding, leaving behind small domes of sand that they make by pushing sand around with their head and jaw. Another good indicator that bones are nearby is the presence of black tip and lemon sharks. The sharks are constantly stalking the bones and are most eager to chase down a hooked bone and leave the angler with half of a carcass. We lost several bones (and other hooked fish) to these predators.

A weather front had stalled over Miami Saturday and that provided perfect bonefish hunting conditions on Sunday. The guys paired up and headed out to Moore’s Island in three boats, some 35 minutes N/W of Sandy Point. Sunday turned out to be one of the most fantastic days ever for the guys. Everyone had many opportunities to cast to and hook up numerous bones throughout the day. Dave and Bob Broadhurst landed more than dozen and half fish up to 10 lbs. However, most of the fish were 2-4 lbs. Gerry Crete and Greg Dana stalked and caught an impressive number of bones as did the pair, Bill Lucey and Dr Steve Margles. Sunday turned out to be the best day ever for seeing and catching bonefish. Better than any other day of seven previous trips! Unfortunately, Skip and Joe missed out.

Monday morning the 7th turned out windy and cloudy and the decision was made to wait out the weather. Dave and some of the guys decided to head into Marsh Harbor for some shopping and later would pick up Joe. Gerry and Skip stayed back at the lodge to wait out a chance that the wind would subside sufficiently to allow for some angling. As afternoon approached, the wind had dropped a bit and some sun was peaking through the clouds so Gerry and Skip convinced Ricardo to head out for Skip’s inauguration to bonefishing. Ricardo headed the boat north along the beach to an area of mangroves on the lea side of Sandy point. After walking about a ½ mile into the mangrove flat, we finally came up on some feeding bonefish. Gerry made an excellent cast and hooked a real screamer and gave fight for a few minutes before the fish threw the hook. Skip had several opportune casts but quickly figured out HOW NOT to cast to a bonefish! After another ½ mile into the mangrove and not seeing any more bones, we decided to head back to the boat. Ricardo headed down the beach a mile or so, anchored up the boat and we again walked the flat. Ricardo hung in there with Skip while Gerry moved along to the outside. Gerry is a seasoned bonefish angler and needed little assistance spotting fish on his own. Skip on the other hand was a bonefish virgin and needed the keen eyes and coaching of a super bonefish guide (Ricardo). It wasn’t long before Ricardo pointed out a small pod of bones coming right at us….Ricardo said….get ready…..cast now and drop the fly 10 feet in front of them! Ricardo coached; wait…wait…now strip the fly! Wham! The bone was hooked and running line off the reel with amazing speed. Wow! I couldn’t believe how such a small (3 lb fish) could scream line off a reel and bend an 8 wt fly rod as easily as this fish was doing. (Bonefish run fast because they are usually hooked in a foot or less of water and have no where to go but out and away) Finally, after a few runs, the fish came to Ricardo’s hand and I was no longer a bonefish virgin. After hand shakes from Gerry and Ricardo we headed back to the lodge.

The next two days were not great bonefish hunting days. We had mostly cloudy skies with a high smoke haze caused by wildfires in northern and central Florida. The wind was also up at 15-25 which made traveling any distance over open water (in the small flats type boats) a bit dangerous. Our fishing was restricted to flats close by the lodge. Dave and I did mange a few hook ups each day and were pleased just to be here in the Bahamas enjoying the experience. Everyone had difficulty finding fish those two days as well, but nobody was complaining, hey we were fishing! The forecast for Wednesday was for more sun and less wind….great!

Dave and I decided to pair off, Dave went with Gerry and I teamed up with Greg. Greg and I went out with guide Kirk and Dave and Gerry with guide Al. On the previous day, Dave and I were out to Gorda Cay with Ricardo and even with the off conditions we did see signs of bonefish all day. So I asked Kirk to take us over to Gorda and he agreed. That turned out to be the best decision of the day. It was low tide and Kirk anchored the boat up at the edge of East Flat in the same area that we had seen bonefish sign a day earlier. We got out of the boat and began walking the flat to the south. After an hour or so, we decided to head back in the other direction. It wasn’t long when Kirk pointed to a large pod of bones some 200 feet out. We stopped and waited as the fish moved closer to us. Several fairly large black tip sharks began circling us; they were also waiting for the bones. Kirk said get ready, here they come! The pods were moving fast, they were aware of the sharks and were very spooky. We made several quality casts with no hook ups. Finally, I had ½ dozen large bones coming right at me some 60 feet out. I made an excellent cast and dropped the fly a few feet in front of them. Kirk said strip….strip…bang! I hooked up on to a double digit bone and the fish quickly had me 150yds into my backing. I was impressed! After several runs of ever decreasing length, the fish finally came to Kirks hand. Kirk estimated the bone to weigh at least10 lbs. As luck would have it, we had left the camera in the boat, a ¼ mile away….well I at least have the memory. Hold on we’re not done. More bones were coming into range. Greg made a few great casts and also hooked up a large bone. The fight was on! Kirk shouted and pointed to a 4 foot long lemon shark in pursuit of Greg’s bonefish. Greg tried to save the fish by free spooling the reel, but the bonefish was too tired to out run the shark. Greg retrieved what was left of the large bonefish and we saved the carcass. Again the bonefish were in range and both Greg and I hooked up. We each landed a bonefish of about 7 lbs. each. We both had several more shots at some quality fish, but more sharks had moved in and the bones were too spooked to eat. Kirk decided it was time for us to eat and wait for the tide to come up a bit before resuming our stalk. After eating lunch, Kirk moved the boat up to west end of the flat and in tight to the mangroves and began poling along the flat. Greg and I would alternate casting to moving bonefish. What an afternoon! We each hooked up several more fish,and by last count, we had boated 13 bones. We had had a great day of hunting and catching bonefish. We had lots of fishy stories to recount for everyone (and we did!).

The fishing remained fairly good over the final two days of the trip. We all laughed, caught fish, told stories, ate well, drank well and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The lodge also hosted the REEL women fly fishing group. The REEL guys had a good time chatting with the REEL gals, trading fish stories and jokes. Dr Steve organized a hermit crab race that included some betting, but for sure a lot of fun. The week came to an end way too quickly and I’m already looking forward to the next “guy trip”. Trip notes; -23 bonefish were tagged and released for Bonefish/Tarpon Unlimited