Barra-bones

Last week we had a few days of good weather and good fishing on the flats of Key West.  All the elements were in place last Thursday for me to go hunt for bonefish.  We had a warm, light breeze out of the east, a sunny sky and a good incoming tide on the oceanside.  The water temperatures started out just under 70 degrees but warming throughout the day.  This is not the  ideal temperature for bonefish, but they can be found and it can be very productive.

I fished with Gary from Pennsylvania who has fished with me now for a few years.  We fished out west of Key West on the oceanside in search of permit, bonefish and barracudas.  We found a few schools of bonefish in about three feet of water and Gary landed one  close to five pounds and had another nice bonefish on briefly before pulling the hook.  We had a lot of shots at barracudas landing three with the largest being about 20 pounds.  We had several follows and misses but it was just as exciting.  We only found a couple of permit and had one shot at a fish that was close to the boat.  I thought I would have found more permit, but it was not the case this day.

Friday and Saturday I fished with my mentor, Captain Gregg McKee.  Captain Gregg and I have been friends since I moved to Key West almost eleven years ago.  He has since moved out of Key West but we remain in touch and make it a point to get together and spend a few days on the water when we can.

We could only fish a couple of hours each day so we stayed close and fished for jacks found on the backs of stingrays.  The flats had plenty of stingrays and just about every ray had a jack following it.  We each caught a few jacks, the largest about 12 pounds, had some fun and went home.

Captain Mike Bartlett

Bonefish Feb 4, 2010

Barracuda Feb 4, 2010

Jack Crevalle on Fly