Anegada Pic of the Day - Bonefish

[Walker]

Spent the day bonefishing the east end of the island. Besides bonefish, I landed a blacktip shark on my fly rod. He took the fly, but was hooked in the lip outside the teeth.

[Ibtsoom]

Awesome!

[Walker]

I met two guys yesterday from Denver who wanted to fish the south side. I had them meet me this morning and I took them to my launch for the east end of the south side.

Bonefishing is very, very much like fishing for redfish. The water was 6 to 18 inches deep, but it was crystal clear (something we don't have in the Galveston Bay complex). We paddled about three and a half miles to the east (upwind, upwave, and upcurrent) to get to the very eastern tip of Anegada. I had never paddled all the way to the tip before, but the two other guys really wanted to find bones. One of the locals here told me a while back about the flats at the very east end. We learned that he did not exaggerate.

My experience here is that the time for bones is flooding tide. Low tide was right at noon, so we started our paddle about noon, putting us at the east end about one thirty.

We anchored, then started wading on up to the north end of the flat. When we anchored, the water was maybe 6 inches deep. About 20 minutes into the wade, I spotted an anomaly in the ripple on the water. I was looking directly into the sun, so I couldn't really see into the water, but the wake coming toward me in the surface ripple was all I needed. I crouched, waited a few seconds, then cast about 5 feet in front of the wake coming my way. The hookup was instant - I had the first bone of the day.

After that, we didn't see any more while we waded northward around the eastern tip of the island. We turned around a little before three and started back. It turned on right at 3 - just as the flood tide really started working. The total tide from low to high is only about a foot, but - just like Galveston Bay - the water movement is what controls the fish.

As we walked back south, we spotted a huge push coming our way. It looked exactly like a big school of reds working in the marsh. We waited, then cast - boom, boom, boom, a triple. All hell broke loose.

The push that we sighted was a huge school of bones. The flat was narrow - maybe 60 yards wide, with beach on one side and a dropoff to the sea on the other. The bones wouldn't leave the flat for the deep water, but they wanted to move north - through us. As the school approached us, we were like a fence. Most of the school turned back south, with a few leaking through us. We all had fish on and couldn't do much else anyway.

So - after landing the first volley, we just stopped and waited. It took about five minutes for them to charge again. And we were ready. This went on for about half an hour before the bones got wary. We were happy, and we still had to get back to the yaks and paddle an hour back to the launch. I hooked the blacktip during one of these charges. Normally, I like catching sharks - but NOT while there are bones around!

Honestly, I am having a hard time deciding whether I like bonefishing or redfishing more. They are very similar - sight fishing, looking for the signs. BUT - I have never had a redfish take me into the backing on my fly reel. I was 100 feet into the backing a couple of times today - with a 10wt fly rod. Hooking a bonefish is like hooking a skyrocket. These fish FLY, and they don't wear out as quickly as a red.

[jim]

Spent the day bonefishing the east end of the island. Besides bonefish, I landed a blacktip shark on my fly rod. He took the fly, but was hooked in the lip outside the teeth.

Congratulations on a great day of fishing.

[lurefisher]

NICE WALKER Great read BUD!

[dbarham]

awesome!!

[Ibtsoom]

That was an awesome read! -- I can't begin to tell you how envious I am!!

[coachlaw]

Yep, Awesome read Wakah! Bonefish aren't any good to eat are they? You knew I'd be the one to ask that.

[michelle]

your posts are always great. keep em coming.
michelle

[nokatchin]

Awesome!Keep the reports and pics coming

[bountyhunter]

Awesome read and pictures Walker!!!! Keep them coming so us stuck here and a work have something to dream about.

Bonefish aren't any good to eat are they? You knew I'd be the one to ask that.

Dang Cajun............

I was told once that they are good to eat just bonely. The dude told me what they do is cut the tail off then beat the whole fish really good with a rolling pin. Then take the rolling pin and push the meat out the tail end. Then use a pressure cooker to cook the meat and bones till the bones are soft. Season and make patties out of the meat and fry it in bacon grease with onions. Never tried it, and don't think I ever will.....

[WestEndAngler]

Great report and photos as usual!

[Oleander Kayaker]

Great read! Awesome outing! Thanks so much for sharing! And 2x what coachLaw asked, about eating?

[Walker]

The locals catch them to eat - in fact, they fish specifically for them. They scale them, then make a stew/soup from them. I have had it - it is tasty - and it has bones in it.

A bonefish story from last year: We had some friends come over to the island for a couple of days. One of them went on a guided bonefishing trip ($500/day). The next morning, we went over to Neptune's Treasure with them for breakfast. As we sat there, Dean Soares (the guy that grilled the marlin for us last week) walked out and said that it had been a while since had eaten bonefish, so he thought he might just go get him one.

He walked down onto the beach and headed down toward where some turtle grass had washed ashore and piled up. When Dean reached the grass, he got down on his knees and started digging with his bare hand in the sand beneath the grass. Fairly quickly, he pulled out a small crab. He walked back directly in front of where we were sitting having breakfast. His brother handed him a Cuban yoyo (a simple hand-line rig that you can "cast"). Dean hooked the crab onto the hook on the end of what must have been 50 pound mono on the yoyo spool and waded out a few yards. He spotted a bonefish, whirled the bait and threw about 20 feet - right by the lazily feeding bone. The bone took the crab and Dean hauled it in on the hand line.

Our friend was absolutely blown away - he had just paid $500 to do the same thing with a thousand dollars worth of tackle.

[FP10]

lol that last one is an awesome story!! Thanks for sharing!!