Well, the numbers are in from the Fall bonefish census and the picture is not rosy. Numbers are way down. The Miami Herald (America’s most bonefishy newspaper) break the story.
About 60 guides and anglers who poled across the flats from Biscayne Bay to the Marquesas Keys west of Key West on Oct. 23 counted about 200,000 bonefish — way down from the mean estimate of 339,595 over the past eight years. Ault said the past three fall censuses have been below that mean but not nearly as low as the latest count.
Nice to see Joe Gonzalez getting recognized for the effort he’s put in to helping out…
Some South Florida flats guides — especially Miami captain Joe Gonzalez — have taken up the cause of bonefish research.
Gonzalez, 50, has tagged more bones than any other captain — about 1,700 during the past seven years.
Here are the folks doing the work.
Joe G with a tagged bone. (photo from Sam Root)
