The Florida Keys Yoder Men’s Fishing Tournament, Day 2

Even after a great first day of fishing, a remnant of the saltwater jinx remained. I still hadn’t landed a bonefish. In the time between my first encounter with the ghost, this mysterious fish had become much more than just an underwater animal. It was a wall-of-sorts, standing between my life as a child and my life as a man. Ahhh, who am I kidding? I just wanted to prove I actually could catch one of these rascals.

The second day began with an hour or two of casting to tarpon around the Ocean Reef area before we moved up to Elliot Key. Arriving around 2:30, it seemed like the bonefish were everywhere. On my first cast to an approaching pod I hooked one, only to have it snap off. My line got caught on the front of the boat, and I wasn’t able to fix it before the fish darted into the distance. “Oh great.” This was not the way to start the afternoon. “Here we go again,” I thought. But only a few moments later, I was casting to another swarm of bonefish, and all at once four or five fish rushed at my fly. BAM! The ghost was hooked and running, taking off yards of backing at what seemed like the speed of light.


Wow, what an exciting fish! They don’t fight in the same manner as tarpons (size being an obvious reason), but their paniced sprints are truly wild.


With the bonefish landed, I passed the rod to my dad. The “tournament” was pretty much wrapped up with that last fish of mine, and we sons really wanted to see our father catch a fish.
For that to happen, we decided to net some bait fish and duck back into a cove near the dock to my brother’s house. I jokingly protested that the use of bait offended my ethical and moral values as a fly fisherman, but we all knew there were sure to be snook and snapper in that area. And, I’d much rather see my father smile than have my way. Fly rod or not, reeling a fish in is fun, and a few snapper can brighten anyone’s day.