# Biscayne Bones!



## paint it black

Yesterday, the idea of driving over to Tampa to fish with Richard (skinny_water) for some reds was on my mind all day.
After a lot of thought, I decided it would probably be best to leave that for another weekend that I can actually be up there for more than a day.

So I decided to drive over to Flamingo to chase some reds.
The plan was to wake up at 4am, and meet up with Frank (Hilrod) and Mario (Fish Hunter) and drive down to Flamingo.
I woke up at 6am(two hours late) to find a text from Frank saying he wasn't going to make it, and a text from Mario that he was ready waiting for me..........lol

So I called Mario and he didn't answer.
I called several friends and no one answered.
So I stayed home and waited for the sun to heat up a bit to go target some peacock bass.
But Mario called me and we threw out the idea of launching out of Matheson Hammocks Park  for an exploration trip.
Figuring that being out on the water will be better than bank hopping for peacock bass.
And if we stumbled upon some fish, it'll be a plus.
So we end up on the water at around 11:30am. 
We pole around some areas and come across the biggest redfish I have ever seen on a flat.
Now, I have seen some big bull reds holding on a big causeway bridge, but never such beastly creatures on a flat.
Mario spot it tailing a ways away in about two feet of water.
I pole him over and he makes a great shot.
I see this monster go up and flare his gills and eats.
Only this monster redfish that was easily over 20lbs doesn't eat Mario's offering.
It ate something that was right next to Mario's offering.
The fish moved on and continued to tail.
Mario made another great shot on it and again, no eat.
Same thing went on a few more times until the fish pushed off into deeper water.

We keep looking around for fish and waiting out the tide.
We didn't see much, but once the tide hit dead low and turned, we came across one lonely tailing bone.
Mario made some decent shots at it but it didn't eat.
Until Mario made another cast and landed just behind it and it spooked.

I decided to make Mario pole (to get some practice in because he's just starting out on the platform) while I had a quick photoshoot of my new Nautilus FWX 7/8 that I picked up last night.









And Mario says:"hey, there's some bones over there tailing". 
And I'm like: "yeah yeah, let me know when they're close".
For I had thought he was just confused seeing bait fish and thinking it was bones.
Until he was like: "Dude, just look. It's a school of them right there".
I look over and was in shock.
It was in fact a school of big bones tailing there life away.

I tell him to pole me over and I grab the fly rod.
I single out a fish in what I thought was a small school of about three or four bones and make my cast.
I thought it was a terrible cast.
At least at the fish that I had singled out, it was.
And I'm hearing Mario mumbling some words like "perfect cast!"
But I pull back to recast.
What a mistake that was..........

As the fly dragged while I pulled back, I saw that the school was actually double digits deep, and I just took the fly away from three big boy bones that were pouncing on the "Electric Dread" fly.

And as I tried to put the fly right back at where they were, it ended up landing hard and spooking them.
I was upset.
Thinking that would be our only shots of the day.
I set the rod down and am extremely frustrated.
I mutter some words as the feeling of defeat set in.
I remember saying something along the lines of "when the 'F' is someone going to catch the first bone on my skiff." amongst many other things.
When Mario says "TAILS!"
I look over and see a large school of tails up ahead.
I look down and find my fly rod tangled up with my spin rod.
So I grabbed Mario's carrot stick and make a perfect shot and hook up. 
After a 15 minute fight, snap some pics and release.

















I jump on the poling platform and pole Mario over to another school so he can take a shot as well.
Perfect shot and the fight was on.
Another 15 minute fight and a quick photo op.


















Had one more school coming across the flat and I grabbed the fly rod.
Mario poled me over but as he poled me to them, I had a terrible angle to try and make the cast at them.
Mario hasn't poled much so he didn't know that he had to turn the skiff to get a shot with the fly rod.

I ended up behind the tailing fish as they were moving away from me.
It's nearly impossible to feed a bonefish from behind, and even more with a fly rod.
I plan on picking up a BVK in the morning and trying again in the afternoon.
That's if I can finish up some work at the shop early enough to make it on the water by 2pm. 



Got to love my Strongarm Products!


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## mm9

nice post. To think i had one of those bull b bay reds boat side when he frayed to 20 lb leader (nightmare since then lol). they are picky as hell. Nice fly reel and of course strongarms products are on a class of their own


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## Alonzo_Sotillo

bad ass!


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## HaMm3r

Nice report, pictures and awesome bonefish!!  [smiley=1-beer.gif] Congrats on christening your skiff with its first bonefish slime too.  

Sorry I never made it down your way to target those bones this year. I really had planned to, but life's unexpected turns put me on a different path for awhile.   Give me a few more months to build up some vacation time and I'll hit you up about it again.


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## jdavis

those are some nice fish I wish we had bonefish in georgia


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## swaddict

Awesome, that's a stud bone fish. Great pics as always


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## dacuban1

Nice slobs bro! Good to hear they're showing up again.


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## Guest

Good job Eric, way to go with the Bonefish, you must be a "Ghost Whisperer" ;D


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## paint it black

> Good job Eric, way to go with the Bonefish, you must be a "Ghost Whisperer" ;D


lol.


I want to put my BVK/FWX combo to work on some of these bones ASAP!


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## DJ

Gratz you made front page/featured report on floridasportsman.com today


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## paint it black

> Gratz you made front page/featured report on floridasportsman.com today


Thanks.


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## hennavin

how does that fwx perform?


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## mudd_minnow

Great naration, the suspence was mind boggling. There are highs and lows but kept you on the edge of your seat. I can see it now "Paint it Black" Author of the fishing triller "BONE CATCHER"..... Thanks for the post. Great shots of the fish and congrads on the Fla Sportsman front page, I'll have to check it out.
Great job.

Mudd Minnow


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## jchin7

Nice post. Well done on the big bones


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## Half Shell

I got excited reading about the shot on a big red in Biscayne Bay only to see this post is 11 years old.


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## lemaymiami

For anyone who hasn't poled up on one... a big redfish in crystal clear water (like we have in the Bay) is one tough very spooky fish.. We find them occasionally up inside Whitewater Bay out of Flamingo and nearby areas in winter and theyr'e super hard to feed... with fly or lure.. 

PS... any big redfish in Biscayne Bay is probably from that last effort to stock reds in the Bay maybe 15 or 20 years ago... and most of them will be found somewhere near the south end of the Bay if they're still around at all...


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## Saltykev

two extra hours of sleep then landing two stud bones is a win in my book.


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## Pepechorizo

Ahhh I miss Biscayne bay


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