The Bonefish of Florida. 
Most anglers who go to Florida go with the 
intention of catching tarpon, amberjack, bar- 
racouta or other of the well known fish of this 
wonderful coast, but few know of that fastest 
of all fish, the true bonefish. McFerran, quoted 
by Gregg, as among the first to take these fish 
with rod and reel, says: “This fish is known 
to comparatively few anglers, and the books do 
not allude to him at all or have confused him 
with the ladyfish. His habitat is very circum¬ 
scribed, being confined within the waters of the 
east coast of Florida from Biscayne Bay to 
Mattacombe Key, occasionally a few as far north 
as Lake Worth and as far south as Key West.” 
His scientific name is Elops saurus, commonly 
known as bonefish, ten-pounder, big-eyed her¬ 
ring, and by the Spaniards, matajielo real. Their 
appearance is that of a 
beautiful silvery fish some¬ 
thing like the whitefish of 
the lakes; mouth small, lips 
thick, with grinding teeth 
set in the throat, large fins 
and tail, and marked with 
lines like a striped bass. 
They are not a large fish 
fortunately, for were they 
as large as tarpon no rod 
or reel could hold them. 
They run from three to ten 
pounds, a fair average fish 
3JB puE ( 3Aq ;noqe SutqgpAv 
delicious eating, tasting like a fresh shad. The 
bones, of which there are many, are not very 
troublesome, and a good cook will remove most 
of them before the fish comes on the table. 
Some of the best places are quite near shore 
and have small mango plants growing near 
them. These bars are often dry at low water, 
and even at high tide are rarely covered to a 
depth of two feet, and would seem most un¬ 
likely places to fish unless one knows that with 
the rising tide the hermit and sand crab and also 
sand fleas crawl out on them and the bonefish 
follow to feed on these. It is very interesting 
to see these beautiful fish come feeding over a 
bar where the water is so shallow that their 
tails and fins are plainly seen by the angler sit¬ 
ting motionless in his boat. I think them the 
fastest fish that swims except possibly the por¬ 
poise, and also the shiest and wariest of all fish, 
not even excepting the grayling. The slightest 
shadow of rod, oar or fisherman frightens them, 
and the noise of the sinker striking when a cast 
is made sends every fish within a good distance 
off like a flash. 
1 he method used to catch these shy fellows 
is this: Your guide having caught some crabs, 
row to the bar selected on the first of the flood 
tide, and finding where some small channel cuts 
close to it, as is often the case, select a small 
clear spot among the short grass and have your 
boat poled quietly till she grounds on the bar, 
or even it the tide is very low pull her up dry 
on the bare bar. This, of course, requires a 
very shallow draft boat and a light flat-bottomed 
skiff makes a good boat for bonefishing. Bait¬ 
ing with crab, cast from fifty to one hundred 
feet, so your bait will lie near the small open 
place and with the tide as it rises. This is im¬ 
portant because if the line lies across the tide 
it will sag and the sinker may roll and scare 
a fish. 
The easiest way to anchor a boat on one of 
these bars is by having two sticks about three 
feet long. Fasten the bow of your boat to one 
driven into the sand and the side of the boat 
to the other. This prevents the wind or tide 
swinging the boat, and being short, they do not 
cast shadows as oars do when used for this pur¬ 
pose. Your guide will then partially break up 
a crayfish and tying a piece of string to it, allow 
it to sink to the bottom near the side of the 
boat. The tide will carry small pieces of the 
I 
the bonefish ( Elops saurus). 
crayfish past the stern of the boat, making a 
kind of chum which the bonefish find and fol¬ 
low up to your bait. No loud talking, standing 
up or hitting the side of the boat when taking 
the shell off your hermit crab should be allowed. 
You may have to wait anywhere from fifteen 
minutes to an hour, depending on how far you 
are up the bar, but the first evidence of their 
presence will be little flashes here and there on 
the water made by the tails and fins of the 
beauties as they hunt for the little crabs on 
which they feed. The only thing a beginner 
would be apt to confuse these flashes with would 
be the fins of certain small sharks which fre¬ 
quent some of the bars, but the shark fin is white 
and stays above the water some time, moving in 
a definite direction. The bonefish fin appears, 
flashes and disappears at once. 
Suddenly one of the flashes will appear near 
your bait and the guide whispers, “Look out.” 
The line will twitch sharply, as when a sheeps- 
head bites, but faster. Wait, do not strike; pres¬ 
ently he will start off with the bait, then strike 
him slowly, and you will experience a distinctly 
new sensation in fishing. I state simply a fact 
that a medium sized bonefish, say of five pounds, 
will take off from ioo to 500 feet of line in the 
first rush. If you check him too sharply he will 
either break your rod or tear loose. McFerran 
says: “I verily believe that pound for pound 
the bonefish is far and away the king of all 
swimmers, and the only objection I can urge 
against him is that an experience with him 
forever disqualifies one for all other fishing.” 
Straightaway he will go and then turn, mak¬ 
ing several complete circles of your boat, all 
the time at great speed. Unluckily for you, if 
your guide has left an oar carelessly sticking 
out of an oarlock or if a mango stump catches 
the flying line; if so, zip, and he is gone. Hold 
him lightly, but steadily and he will finally come 
to net utterly played out. Slip your net under 
him and as he comes into your boat in all his 
beauty you can congratulate yourself on hav¬ 
ing caught the sportiest fish in Florida. Take 
him tenderly home, have him planked and served 
with drawn butter sauce; eat him slowly and 
thank heaven. 
In fishing for bonefish use a two-piece bait¬ 
casting rod slightly heavier than for black bass, 
the type of rod you would use for weakfish here; 
an easy running casting reel holding not less 
than 300 feet (better more) 
of twelve-thread line, hook 
4/0, no leader. I know that 
^00 Gregg and several of the 
other authorities on Flor¬ 
ida fishing advise one, but 
I agree with Gen. F., a 
noted bonefisherman, who 
caught 100 of these fish in 
three months last winter. 
His directions for taking 
these fish cannot, I believe, 
be improved on. They are 
as follows: 
“I prefer hermit crab for 
bait, but sand crabs or sprites will do. I use a 
four-sided sinker placed at the end of the line, 
no leader, and two hooks on snells above it. I 
keep the line taut and can thus feel the slightest 
bite. Allow the fish to pick up and move off 
with the bait. Then stand up and by stopping 
the reel allow the fish to hook himself. If fish 
are feeding in any one direction, by casting 
ahead of them you will sometimes hook a fish. 
Sometimes instead of casting I leave a baited 
hook in a good open place with broken hard 
crab or crayfish near it as chum, and then pay¬ 
ing out line, row off some distance, anchor and 
wait a bite.” 
At times I have found these fish to take fright 
easily, but if one keeps quiet and sees to it that 
neither his rod, oar or self casts any long shadow 
they will come quite close to the boat, but always 
dart away on discovering it. Toward dusk they 
become less shy and can be more easily taken. 
They look like gray shadows in the water and 
always appear smaller than they are. Person¬ 
ally, I prefer the small crab called sprite to 
soldier crab for bait, because they stay on the 
hook better. 
March 13 we went bonefishing on a bar south 
from Lignum Vitae Key on the west side of 
Upper Mattacombe Channel, using sand crabs 
for bait. The center of this bar was bare when 
we reached it and the water not over six inches 
deep where we started fishing. For half an hour 
we saw nothing; then my guide pointed out a 
flash or two here and there showing where some 
