# Biscayne bones!



## mingo gringo (Dec 1, 2015)

There are definitely more fish around,but nothing like before 2010 freeze yet. Hopefully we see the numbers like it used to be


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## reallyshallow (May 19, 2010)

Ganderzone said:


> Was out for an afternoon and came across 4 large schools of 30+ fish in the 15"-20" range, managed two hook ups and one boated. Anybody else noticing an increase in bones this year?


Shhhh


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## krash (Jan 9, 2007)

I see nothing


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## Ganderzone (Oct 6, 2015)

I suppose I should have put more emphasis on the small bones part..... Maybe I speak for myself, but I sure am glad to see small bones making an appearance, hopefully it's a promising future.


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

I quit taking anyone bonefishing eight or more years ago and retreated to the Everglades - and that's where I am day in and day out.... Still plenty of bonefish - but the tremendous pressure on them makes taking beginners fishing for them not much fun at all....

Years and years ago (1974 was when I started out of Key Biscayne) you could reliably catch bones within sight of Crandon Marina (and you never saw Bill Curtis farther south than Mashta Point with his customers...). It was nothing back then to get a half-dozen bones on fly in a day.... Of course back then there were only three guides for the entire bay, Bill Curtis, Lee Baker, and another fellow (not Garisto - he came later...). Today there's just too much pressure on bonefish in my opinion... Most days a good bonefish flat is getting poled across every hour or so - seven days a week.... The poor fish need helmets...


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## DBStoots (Jul 9, 2011)

I spent the day with Joe Gonzalez and Bob Branham yesterday. Bob told me that the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust think that the bonefish in Biscayne Bay come from Cuba. They spawn in deeper water, and then the currents carry the roe to Biscayne and other areas. Some years ago (maybe 2010 or 2011), Cuba starting industrial netting of bonefish. They feel this has led to the significant decline in Biscayne Bay. Here's a link to an interesting article on the subject. 

http://www.greatfeathers.com/gunpowder/the-florida-keys-initiative-saving-the-keys-bonefish


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## Blue Zone (Oct 22, 2011)

DBStoots said:


> I spent the day with Joe Gonzalez and Bob Branham yesterday. Bob told me that the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust think that the bonefish in Biscayne Bay come from Cuba. They spawn in deeper water, and then the currents carry the roe to Biscayne and other areas. Some years ago (maybe 2010 or 2011), Cuba starting industrial netting of bonefish. They feel this has led to the significant decline in Biscayne Bay. Here's a link to an interesting article on the subject.
> 
> http://www.greatfeathers.com/gunpowder/the-florida-keys-initiative-saving-the-keys-bonefish


Interesting article; thanks for the link. 

According to the article, the netting has stopped. However, this doesn't solve the problem as bones and barracuda are table fare in Cuba (as well as the Bahamas), so I would imagine there is still some commercial harvesting by other means. 

The common theme in all SoFla fishery issues also circle back to insufficient freshwater flow South to the Glades.


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## paint it black (Nov 3, 2007)

2010 and 2011 were my best years bonefishing. 2012 and 2013 were atrocious. The fish just about disappeared for the most part. The past two years have been getting better and better. Last year, I saw more bones each day than I saw in 2012 and 2013 combined. The fishing is getting better and better, thankfully.


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## Limp Shrimp (Aug 23, 2015)

Did the freeze kill off a lot of Bonefish or did the just stop hanging around in the bay?


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## paint it black (Nov 3, 2007)

Limp Shrimp said:


> Did the freeze kill off a lot of Bonefish or did the just stop hanging around in the bay?


From my experience, I will say the freeze did not kill many bonefish. They definitely were not affected like the snook, tarpon, and other species were. 
From my experience, I found WAY more bonefish after the freeze than I did before. It was two years later that the fish began to disappear. Right around the time Cuba began netting for bones. Once Cuba stopped netting for bones, bonefish started to reappear in south Florida.


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## mingo gringo (Dec 1, 2015)

Days after the freeze me and my my brother took a ride,seen probably 2-300 dead bones. Was a sad sight. Many of the fish were double digit fish,have pictures somewhere. Can't confirm 100% that was the sole issue for the lack of numbers as there are many factors.


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## krash (Jan 9, 2007)

The freeze wiped out a lot of fish and bait, Bone food, and a crap load of Cuda... MPO is its got something to do with the Fresh water being dumped, in the last 3 or 4 years, and especially this year, those drainage canals have been running almost all the freakin time and the grass has changed... at least on the West side.


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## Capt. Eli Whidden (Jun 7, 2012)

paint it black said:


> 2010 and 2011 were my best years bonefishing. 2012 and 2013 were atrocious. The fish just about disappeared for the most part. The past two years have been getting better and better. Last year, I saw more bones each day than I saw in 2012 and 2013 combined. The fishing is getting better and better, thankfully.


You must know some good spots!!! 

The freeze was devastating on the resident fish inhabiting the inside of Biscayne bay, flamingo, and the upper keys. I was out there, I saw more bonefish dead than I've ever seen alive. Hundreds is an understatement. I think the fish in the middle keys suffered even more. To this day, Islamorada is still suffering. It even started way before the freeze. 

Thankfully, there has been a lot of smaller fish visiting lately. I've seen bonefish this year in spots I've haven't seen since the freeze. We all hope they take up refuge and become the next generation of double digit fish. There's still plenty of bigger fish too, but, there pretty smart and ya gotta be good to fool them. 

If your fishing out in these areas, please take your time with these fish and there habitat. It seems more and more common to see guys in skiffs burning well known huants to reach other areas. Or trolling motor down churning up grass to access the shallows. 

And yes, FPL is still playing with fire....


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## paint it black (Nov 3, 2007)

I cannot speak for how the freeze affected Islamorada, but when I have gone there to look for bones, I have found plenty of fish around, and have been for the past two years. 

Same goes for Biscayne Bay. I am not denying that some fish did die with the freeze, but there were still PLENTY of fish alive and well in 2010 and 2011.


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## Limp Shrimp (Aug 23, 2015)

I don't really know what I'm doing in regards to bone fish, I'm from titusville and we don't see a lot of those up here, but I've spent hours and hours in biscayne and the upper keys looking and I've only seen 3 maybe 4 fish. . I've never managed to catch one. .


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