September 1 September 1
Well it looks like Drew beat me to the punch and published a report before I had a chance. Sorry Drew. Anyway, I still feel compelled to add a little to his words. At the risk of hyperbole, I must say that the bonefishing that I witnessed the last two days has been off the charts. Two days ago, after a morning of excellent baby tarpon fishing (slick calm shrimp hatch) I took my clients (Andrew and Jennifer Watson of Memphis TN) to meet the young flood on a bank Northeast of Big Pine. We were greeted by armies of tailing bonefish. Several of the schools numbered well in to the hundreds, while the smaller schools held at least twenty to thirty fish. For at least an hour and a half we were surrounded by these schools of tailers. With the rushing tide, tailing depth didn’t last too long and a thunderstorm to the west blocked our light and our fishing came to a screeching halt.
Yesterday after our shrimp hatch died we returned to the same bank for the young flood. The bonefish were there, but they were very reluctant to tail for extended periods. The reason for this was quickly revealed as every school of fish was shadowed by three to five lemon sharks. Needless to say, these schools were reluctant to feed. However, unlike the previous day, out light was great and once the bank flooded, the bonefish escaped the sharks and started to feed voraciously. Huge schools of fish (50-100 fish) blowing mud, racing down tide and mudding again. Such fishing continued for hours, but the intensity caught up to us and we left the fish for more peaceful and tarpon rich waters. The past two days of bonefishing might best be summed up by the comment made by Andros regular Andrew Watson. “John, you don’t have to go to Andros, you have it here.”
With the annual Redbone SLAM tournament (bait chunkers delight) coming up next weekend, I am sure my fishing will tank, but at least it was fun while it lasted.
Now if you will excuse me, I need to get back to my birdwatching. The fall migration has begun. In the time it took to write this I have seen a Kentucky Warbler, Grey Kingbird, Western Kingbird, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and several other yet unidentified warblers. Time to go get out the binoculars and my Peterson guide.
Later,
Capt John