GREAT EXUMA

When Ruth and I were vacationing on the tiny island of Great Exuma, I had my first experience with these shallow water speedsters. I stood in a small boat, while my guide, a gentle white-haired Negro, waded and towed it while looked for elusive and wary fish.

Bonefish are a pale silvery color, very hard for the amateur to see against the white sand background. They can be located when they are feeding, by the sand they stir up, or by their tails waving above the water. I was using a spinning rod, with a small sandcrab for bait. The guide finally pointed to where he said a bonefish was, and said to cast three or four feet ahead of it. In a few seconds I felt a gentle nibble and waited for the fish to take off with its vaunted lightening speed. Nothing happened, except that the guide gently said, "Oh dear!" He then explained that I should have struck the instant I felt the bite. After that, we did catch several three-pound fish, and indeed they made the real scream on their long runs. For some reason, they never jumped.

WALKER CAY

Another time, on Walker Cay, my brother and I went after bonefish in another small boat with another Negro guide. This one didn't wade; he quietly poled the boat. Dave was in the bow with a good spinning outfit, while I was in the middle with a defective reel. We spotted a school of big fish ahead of the boat. The guide had Dave cast his shrimp ahead of the fish. He didn't tell me anything, so I just cast mine at random behind the boat where it wouldn't be in the way. Lucky me! I soon felt a nibble, set the hook, and a big fish streaked across the flats. He almost broke the line when he went around a rock, but he finally gave up. He weighed nine pounds - a good fish! Dave went out the next day with the guide, and caught another. Bonefish are inedible, but the guide took the fish home to his large family, probably to make stew.