Thanksgiving Bonefish

Report Date: November 28, 2006

Just before Thanksgiving we had a record breaking cold front cruise through South Florida. Being a 70 degree for the low and 80 degree for the high type of a guy, I was not particularly impressed with a low of 50. Neither were the fish in Biscayne Bay.

Two days before Thanksgiving, the first day of the coldest air, I took Bob Olufs and Bruce Barlow down to the bay to see if we could find any fish. The water temperature was already at 67 when we left the dock. Noticing there were not even any rays on the flats I knew we were facing a slow day. We started out jigging a few channels to see if the bonefish were hiding deep. We only came up with a few runners for shark bait. With a runner out we enticed a shark from the channel. It was a black tip and he must have been hungry because we never saw another one the rest of the day.

Ten pounds heavier and on the verge of growing feathers. Mike Miller and I fished the bay on Sunday, four days into a warming trend. By then the water temperature was still 67 on the flats. I expected it would be warmer, since it wasn’t I hoped the fish were used to it by now.

8# bone for Mike

While waiting for the sun to come up and a few clouds burn off we check a ladyfish hole and found them and the runners had not had as much turkey as we did. We caught a fish or missed a bite on every cast. Things were looking good. Just to test the water and see if anyone was home I drifted a flat and within minutes we were hooked up to a 100 lb. Lemon shark. With that it was time to find a bonefish, and we did. With the tide high and the water temp. up to 69 they were loving it. In about two and a half hours we had about 15 to 20 shots and landed 6 bonefish from 6 to 8 lbs.

Now that we have had our first major cold spell the fish should be acclimated to the colder water. Any subsequent cold fronts may not send the fish into hiding for long. If Sunday was any indication of the future we should be in for a great season.

P.s. While fishing the backwaters of Fort Lauderdale last night (Monday) Chris and Tony caught a had full of Jack Crevalle on top water plugs, a 9 lb Snook and a 60# tarpon on live mullet.

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Capt. Carl Ball
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