5 Weight Bonefish

Capt. Franco Gonzalez and I shot out to Ensenada Honda today to chase down some tailing bones. We had one of our rare dead calm morings and the fish were everywhere. Our normal 20 knot winds went away for once and we were casting at some really big bonefish within minutes of shutting down my engine.

One thing Franco and I have both noticed this past year has been how unbelievably spooky our Vieques bonefish have become. We have no explanation for this since it's still just the two of us fishing for them down here. They've become almost as wary as the Key West bones I started chasing over a decade ago.

For this morning's slick conditions I decided to try using my Sage 5 weight, basically a trout rod rigged to throw bonefish flies. This was the ticket and the light line didn't frighten the hell out everything we were casting to this morning. I hooked into a nice five pound bone in the first half hour we were out there. It was a classic fight and the fish stayed on the shallowest part of the flat the entire time.

This was the first bonefish I've hooked for myself in Ensenada Honda this year. The problem with being a guide is forgetting how damn tough this sport can be for an angler. Today was a great reminder of how demanding it can be standing on the front of the boat instead of the back.

Gregg McKee