It’s that time again.  I understand there is something happening with basketball, which I haven’t watched since Jordan retired (the first time). There is another March Madness happening and that is happening over at Cheeky Fly Fishing.

This has the brackets you might expect, but instead of Stanford or Cal or Sonoma State (holla) there are fish.  The first one in the first bracket is… of course… BONEFISH.

This event benefits the Bonefish and Tarpon Trust.

There are a ton of prizes on hand from great sponsors like Patagonia, Yellow Dog Fly Fishing Adventures, The Fly Shop, Fishpond, Teeny and Thomas & Thomas.

It costs you $5 and that goes to help bonefish and tarpon.

Great job Cheeky.  Hope it is a great success.

Yeah… just a gentle reminder…

Let’s keep those fish swiming.

Well… this is interesting.  Looks like bones have been on the decline in FL for a while now and the Bonefish and Tarpon Trust is going to try and get to the bottom of it.

UPPER KEYS — Bonefish are among the most iconic of Florida Keys sportfish. But with the local population of the legendary “gray ghosts” believed to have declined over the past several decades, a prominent conservation organization is seeking to find out why.

Read the whole story here.

The prey study comes on the heels of a dissertation completed over the summer which concluded that the South Florida bonefish stock has declined 70 percent since anglers descended in large numbers upon the region and began targeting the species as a premier sportfish.

Wow… 70%.  That’s shocking and sobering and maybe a little depressing.

Knowledge is the key here so I’m glad BTT is on the case.

The Bonefish and Tarpon Trust (BTT), Belize River Lodge and Frontiers Travel are pleased to announce the inaugural Belize River Lodge Bonefish and Permit Tagging Challenge to be held May 12-18, 2012. Anglers participating in this special research event will spend plenty of quality time fishing and will be rewarded with great memories and the knowledge that they have made a difference in conservation—all while staying at one of the Caribbean’s best fishing lodges. There will also be a number of chances to win new gear donated by top manufacturers for this departure.

Frontiers is offering a trip that I wish I could go on.  They are doing a “Bonefish and Permit Tagging Challenge” in May of next year with BTT at Belize River Lodge.  How frigging cool would it be to be there doing that with those folks?  Damn.

If you have the scratch, do this.

Ah… I love it when favorite things come together.  In this case the Bonefish and Tarpon Trust is heading out to Aitutaki to get all learned up on the Cook Island Bones.  Cool.

Aitutaki sounds like a really interesting place and while I have yet to travel there myself, I’ve long enjoyed hearing from Butch Leone as he tries to get the locals on the conservation wagon.  Things are moving forward there, or at least is a generally positive direction.

The Bonefish and Tarpon Trust, of course, is pretty much awesome and if you love bones (or permit or tarpon) this is an organization that should be getting some of your hard-earned (or fairly stolen) money.

Here’s a link to the story.

On May 31st Mike Berardi, fishing out of the Belize River Lodge with Pedro as his guide, caught a bonefish that I had caught and tagged on March 19th, the first recapture of a tagged bonefish in Belize.

via Bonefish & Tarpon Trust.

Tagged bones are beginning to be recaptured.  This is a good thing. Recaptures tell us all sorts of things about growth rates and fish movements and from there policies can be developed that really help the fish.

Way to go Bonefish and Tarpon Trust!

Support BTT

Bonefish & Tarpon Trust continues to be one of my favorite nonprofits.  Support them if you can.  If you are REALLLLLY into bones and conservation, head to Key Largo in November for the Symposium.

yeah... what he said.

Key Largo, FL: The Fourth International Bonefish and Tarpon Trust Symposium will take place on November 11^th and 12^th, 2011 at the International Game Fishing Association Hall of Fame in Dania Beach, FL.

Held every third year, this Symposium promises to be the largest and most informative to date. Two full days of presentations on cutting edge scientific research of bonefish, tarpon and permit from fisheries scientists around the world is scheduled, as well as panel discussions, fly casting seminars and tying clinics by some of the world’s noted flats anglers. On the final night an “Evening with the Legends” banquet will be emceed by author and angler Andy Mill, participants include; Joan Wulff, Bob Popovics, Lefty Kreh, Flip Pallot, Chico Fernandez, Sandy Moret, Rick Ruoff, Mark Sosin, Ralph Delph, Steve Huff, Bill Curtis, Stu Apte and George Hommell.

Leading up to and as part of the Symposium, Bonefish and Tarpon Trust will be auctioning multiple guided days of fishing and special one of a kind fishing adventures with expert guides who have donated their time to benefit BTT. For more information on these auctions and to submit your bids please go to www.tarbone.org and click on the the “Symposium Auctions” button.

Space is limited, so be sure to register early. All interested anglers are welcome. For more information and a complete schedule of events, please visit www.tarbone.org. We can also be reached at 239-283-4733 or info@tarbone.org.

With some practice and experience, all the questions and answers will become second nature so that you are simply “doing” as much as thinking about what you are doing. And when you finally slip your hand over that big fat bonefish, the feeling of accomplishment is great. After taking a few thousand bonefish myself over many years, I still don’t take any part of the pursuit for granted.

via “Close to the Bone” | MidCurrent.

This photo was in a post about bonefishing written by good ole’ Chico.  I’m glad (and I bet Aaron is glad) that when it came time to select a photo of Chico with a bonefish they picked this one… the fish in the water, the release likely to be a good one, the fish probably surviving.

Here are some examples of pictures of bonefish that were also pretty good for the bonefish.

Minimize Air Exposure.  Minimize Handling.

Here's Aaron himself. The fish is in the water. That's good.

Another good pic from Aaron, this one underwater. Underwater cameras are coming WAY down in price. Pick one up.

A nice fish and not a lot of air exposure. A+

Three pretty good examples of getting the picture and doing so in a way that the fish is less likely to get munched upon.

Alright, I told Aaron Adams that I’d make this week’s posts all about handling bonefish correctly… so… that’s what I’m going to do.  Monday to Friday will be dedicated to showing fish being handled and released well.

As far as the catching part goes, just fish as heavy a tippet as you can and have enough drag to make progress in getting the fish in.  Don’t overplay the fish… that’s a pretty easy concept.

In terms of the release portion of the issue goes you just have to be aware that every little bit longer you keep the fish out of the water increases the likelihood that it will get munched on when it is released.  These aren’t trout.  Just because it swims away doesn’t mean everything is OK.  If it swims away, but is tired… well… the odds that a cuda or shark will eat it go up a fair bit.

Here’s Dr. Adams…