Damn Good Bonefish Charters

Our Damn Good Guides currently offer 39 bonefish trips, and the most popular trips are Tavernier Backcountry Fishing guided by Ben, Flats and Back Country guided by Eric, and Jupiter Fly Fishing with Dingo guided by Jarad.

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Inshore fishing is the most popular for bonefish as well as flats fishing, nearshore fishing, and offshore fishing.

The most common fishing techniques are light tackle fishing, fly fishing, and live bait fishing but artificial lure fishing and drift fishing are popular as well.

for bonefish prices can range anywhere from $180 to $3,000 and up, but the average price for a half day for bonefish is $571. The average price for a full day for bonefish is $1,110.

The most popular season for bonefish fishing is winter, and most anglers book their trips 25 days in advance.

See here for more information on bonefish fishing licenses, bonefish bag limits, and fishing season regulations for bonefish. When in doubt, your fishing guide will always know the right bonefish rules and regulations.

Bonefish (Albula vulpes), sometimes called just “bones” or “gray ghosts,” are an elusive fish that are highly regarded by anglers in their difficulty to catch. They have silver sides with slightly darker to olive green backs, stripes down their side, and have a very streamlined body.

This body shape helps them to reach speeds of up to 40 miles per hour, helping them to evade predators and to run out your line in a matter of seconds. They also have lung-like air bladders, which help them to tolerate shallower water with less oxygen, and are very sensitive to noise.

Bonefish vary in size depending on what area they are in. In Florida and the Bahamas, they will typically grow to four to six pounds. In the West Indies, they are known to get up to twice that size. There are rumors that waters near South Africa and Hawaii grow to over 20 pounds.

Regardless of where you find them, bonefish reach sexual maturity between three and four years, but can live up to 19 years.

Despite the rumors of 20 pound gray ghosts being caught, the IGFA lists the all-tackle world record at 16 pounds. It was caught off a rod and reel by Jerry Lavenstein out of Bimini, Bahamas on February 25th, 1971.

There was a 16 pound, 3 ounce bonefish caught, weighed, and released by Bob Schroeder out of the Florida Keys on March 19th, 2007, however it was never certified by the IGFA, leaving Jerry Lavenstein’s monster in the lead.

Bonefish live in tropical and subtropical waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea. Some of the best places to catch them are the Florida Keys, the Bahamas, and near Belize, though they can be found up and down both coasts of the United States, as well as Mexico, Central and South America, South Africa, and Hawaii.

When it is low tide, bonefish will head to deeper waters, up to around 300 feet. When the tide comes back in, they will follow it to search shallow waters for food, swimming in mudflats as little as four inches deep.

Bonefish can be fished for all year, however larger fish typically move to deeper waters the during hotter months. This makes the peak season ranging from March to May, and then October when they return.

As mentioned before, they move inshore during high tide to hunt and feed. This is the perfect time to target them, so be sure to check out your local reports of high and low tide.

Bonefishing, or fishing for bonefish, can be done by fly fishing or with light tackle, by either drift or still fishing. No matter what method you use, be sure to be very wary of the fish, as they are easily startled, especially when schooling. Casting from six to ten feet away will lessen your chances of spooking them.

Chumming the water with shrimp, crab, or cut conch to distract them is also another great option. From there you can use natural bait such as live shrimp or small crabs, brought rapidly across the surface, or artificial baits such as flatheaded skimmer jigs, plugs, or flies, used to create sand puffs in the water.

Sight-casting for schools, or stalking individual bones cruising or tailing will lead you in the right direction. Tailing is a term used for the action of a bonefish digging in the ocean bottom of shallow water to look for food. They use their tails for leverage to dig, by slapping the water for balance.

Once they are found, and you have your prepared bait and possibly chum, you should aim that bait a few feet away from the fish, and give it a delicate and precise cast. The more confident you are in your aim, and your ability to lay it down gracefully, the closer you can aim to the fish.

Bonefish, like their name suggests, are fully of many, many tiny and large bones making them nearly impossible to clean. Also, bonefish over six inches long are poisonous to humans when consumed, as they contain high levels of clupeotoxin. For both these reasons, bonefish are better off being caught and released.