Florida Keys and Key West Fishing Charters and Guide Service specializing in Tarpon, Permit, Bonefish, Redfish, Snook and Sharks on the Backcountry Flats and Inshore waters of Islamorada and Key West
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BAYBONE MET WITH HORRIBLE WITH CONDITIONS

The Mercury Outboards Baybone tournament was held at the Westin Hotel in Key Largo. The event began on Friday with the Superfly tournament and the Baybone was held on Saturday and Sunday.
The rules for the Baybone require that a "Baybone" be caught which is a combination of a permit and a bonefish.
 
One angler could catch 100 bonefish but would be beat by a score of one bonefish and one permit. These rules are consistent with the other Redbone events.

In the Superfly, anglers are allowed to select only one fly pattern and attempt to catch a Permit and Bonefish on the same fly pattern. This year’s event was met with heavily overcast skies, torrential rains and lightning.
 
I fished with Carter Andrews of Crooked Island, Bahamas and we landed a bonefish on my fly, the Puff Daddy, at 9:15 am. We had very good bonefishing and cast to tailing fish for most of the day. At about 11:00 am, Carter hooked another bonefish but lost him. After running from storm after storm, we eventually ran out of time and had to return to the dock. Very few teams were able to record a fish but, the team of Tim Hoover/Jim Bokor landed 5 bonefish and Tony Traad/Frank Deluca landed 4. Our team finished 4th in this year’s Baybone Superfly.

On Saturday, the wind picked up, skies darkened and the rain poured. We ran through more torrential rain and had to stop several times because visibility was less than 30 feet.

It took an hour to run from Key Largo to Islamorada where we were completely soaked to the bone. A stop in Johnny Morris’ shop found us in some new raingear and a more comfortable outlook on the day. Finally, we made it to our spot and were able to land a bonefish and loose another. In these conditions, I was glad to land anything and get a score on the board.

Upon return to the dock in Key Largo, we met up with the rest of the soggy anglers and found that we were not in bad shape. Rick Murphy/Borski/Mahaffey team landed 7 bonefish but 2 were undersized. Hoover/Bokor landed 3 bones, Joe Rodriguez/Kal Blumberg landed 2 bonefish and a few other teams recorded one bonefish. Not a single permit was caught on the first day.

Day two looked markedly better and we began our trek towards the best permit water. I thought that a score of two permit and 2 bonefish would be pretty good so we set our sights on catching 2 permit and a bonefish.

At 9:15, Carter Andrews hooked and landed a permit that measured 29 inches. With the rest of the day ahead of us, our expectations were high. A few cloud banks moved through and we had a tough time seeing fish. At 2:15 Carter hooked and landed a very nice permit of 32 inches or about 25 pounds. We ran as fast as we could to a good bonefish spot but ran out of time before we got there. We made our way back to the dock and were hit with a wall of wind that was a sustained 30 knots. This made our trip home rough and bumpy. I began to think that maybe the wind had been blowing like that all day and that maybe our score might not be so bad.

Finally we made it back to the dock and turned in the card to discover that we were in the lead with only 1 boat remaining out. I could not believe that our score held up, but I found out that the permit fishing in Biscayne Bay was non-existent. I cringed when I was told that the boat that was remaining was Hoover/Bokor.

If they landed one permit, they would beat us and I fully expected that to happen. Not only did they land a permit, but 4 permit and 3 bonefish to give them a commanding lead over us and the rest of the field. That is a great day and anyone who fishes that well deserves to win a tournament such as this one.

I was pleased with a second place finish when I consider the competition. Mark Krowka and Bob Branham long considered to be the deans of the Bay, Rick Murphy, Andy Thompson, Joe Rodriguez and Paul Tejera are all guides who know the area and have earned my respect. I was glad to be competing with this caliber guides and anglers and feel a great sense of accomplishment competing with them in their home water and winning.

Congratulations to Tim Hoover and Jim Bokor and all of the other winners of the Redbone series. In this series, all proceeds go to fight Cystic Fibrosis. Not only are the anglers and guides winners but all of the competitors, Mercury Marine and ultimately those who suffer from Cystic Fibrosis. Thank you Gary and Susan Ellis for creating such a wonderful tournament series for such a great cause! For information on this tournament series, email Permitfly4@aol.com to find out how you can become involved.