I went out flats fishing for bonefish last month. I boarded Steve's 18 foot skiff at the dock in Key Biscane at 7:30 am and already there was a stiff breeze. We started out drifting for tarpon throwing an 11 wt rod and I had a nice ladyfish on the line after an hour, which took line out at a tremendous rate and cleared the water 100 yds away. A relatively small fish of about 40", she broke the surface and hovered horizontally like a bar of silver against the dark water backdrop.
Steve then powered up the boat and his 115 hp 4 stroke pushed us with power through the chop for about 30 minutes. My first time on the flats, I was amazed to cross over flats in the middle of nowhere, with no land around at all. I had envisioned the flats being close to land of some sort. We passed over dozens of flats and even more channels between them. the water color chaged to different shades of blue depending on the depth. Every once in a while Steve would slow the boat and explain somethign about the Keys, such as the stilt houses we passed which are part of the Biscane Bay National Park. The government wanted to tear them down but the owners won out, although they cannot be modified and can't be handed down to another family member more than once.
We found our way along the lee side of a key. Steve staked the boat on a white sand bottom flat and chummed for a bit. A baracuda slowly appeared from somewhere, we saw several large rays pass by and a few lemon sharks but no bonefish. At another flat we finally got a chance at bonefish several times through the day on different drifts. Unfortunately, almost all of the schools of fish were not only required me to cast into the 20 knot wind but also cast backward as the fish appeard on the weak side of the boat.
I still have a hard time accepting that I did indeed see bonefish. They appeared as ghost images, kind of like when your eyes play tricks on you at last light while waiting for a deer to pass under your stand. Once a few fish were seen, when they spooked those few fish suddenly turned into many more as they quickly scattered like uncontolled rockets in every direction and evaporated out of sight.
The flats seem a contradiction. At first glance you see only sky and a few green slivers of mangroves held up above the water line. But after a while, you see that the sky is everchanging as the clouds roll by, the mangroves are filled with birdlife and, under the surface of the water, there are beautiful sharks, rays, fish, coral and turtle grass.
