If you’ve fished on tropical waters like Bermuda, The Bahamas, or the Florida Gulf Coast, chances are you’ve come across bonefish.
Bonefish have a streamlined torpedo shape that makes you think of a shark. The body is sleek, with shiny silvery scales that reflect like a mirror. This camouflage makes the fish challenging to detect by predators and anglers.
Bonefish require some skill to catch – it doesn’t bear the nickname “Silver Ghost” for no reason! So can you eat bonefish? Yes is the short answer.
While most people seldom eat this fish, it’s pretty tasty if you prepare it properly. However, if you choose to eat bonefish there are several things you should be aware of.
Keep reading as I’m going to share what I have learned about catching, cooking, and eating this silvery fish. After hooking a few myself over many decades I think I can tell you why are bonefish so popular.
Why are bonefish so popular?
Bonefish is a relatively common aquatic species that you can find in different seas and oceans, including:
● Atlantic Ocean
● Gulf of Mexico
● Pacific Ocean
● Caribbean Sea
The fish has an extensive range and changes its habitat depending on the day. The fish is known to go into deeper waters when it isn’t looking for food and can stay in depts up to 300 ft.
Bonefish will swim into shallow waters when the tide is in as it looks for crabs, worms, and small fish to eat. The fish is known to hunt in waters as shallow as 4 inches.
Below are some key facts about bonefish.
● Speed: Bonefish are solid and fast swimmers and can reach speeds up to 30 mph with rapid acceleration, making them difficult to catch. When in trouble, the Silver Ghost will travel up to 100 yards before you’ve even set up your cast.
● Unique Snout: Bonefish has a one-of-a-kind snout, and for a good reason. The fish will use its extensive tip to sift through the soft seabed, searching for worms and crabs. The granular teeth are specially designed for grinding through crustaceans and mollusks.
● Weight & Size: A full-grown bonefish can weigh up to 8lbs. In comparison, you can find larger fishes around 16lbs. females are typically larger than males with a lifespan of 20 years.
● Breathing: Bonefish is hardy and can thrive in brackish backwater or shallow flats. Its bladder can process oxygen in water and oxygen from the air. This advantage helps the fish to migrate back and forth from deep water to flats and back.
● Migration: Migration isn’t a seasonal event but a daily occurrence for bonefish. Bonefish make short travels from deep waters to flats when hunting.
All these attributes make bonefish an attractive, exciting, and challenging fish to catch and it’s why bonefish are so popular amongst saltwater anglers.
Is Bonefish Poisonous? Can you eat Bonefish?
Hawaiians are known to eat bonefish, but this culinary fondness doesn’t extend to many other cultures.
There are just so many bones in the fish, making it a challenge to clean and eat. (And yes that’s why bonefish and called bonefish because as their name suggest they are full of bones.)
So can you eat bonefish? Yes but only the smaller fish, less than six inches, are safe to eat. Larger bonefish are likely to have a toxin known as clupeotoxin.
We often find this poison in bottom feeder fish. Unfortunately, it isn’t a toxin that you can neutralize by cooking. Symptoms include dizziness, chills, headaches, and rapid heart rate.
The 50% death rate is high enough to make you avoid this fish if the numerous bones don’t serve as a deterrent.
Does Bonefish Taste Good?
Bonefish is eaten in places like Central America and Mexico, including Hawaii. The fish tastes great but can be very hard to cook because of the number of bones in the flesh. You will love the unique taste once you master taking out the bones.
The fish is perfect for delicacies like dumplings and stews. While the fish is shown a lot of love in Hawaii, the Bahamas people are known to bake bonefish whole! Therefore, the question, “does bonefish taste good?” depends on the method of cooking.
How To Catch Bonefish
Many anglers enjoy catching bonefish primarily due to the difficulty of hooking one. The fish is so sought after that it has evolved into a sport called bonefishing!
Bonefishing is popular worldwide because of the fish’s ability to take a fly. If you carefully prepare your fly, there’s a high chance the fish will take it.
However, the art of bonefishing requires smooth stalking skills despite their predictable behavior.
Even though they are speedy fish, bonefish are still prey to other fish species like sharks and barracuda. The fear of predation pushes the fish to the wet flats making it difficult for larger fish to have them on the menu. One tip is to fish close to feeding stingrays.
Stingrays disturb the sea bottom when hunting for food, and this causes prey items like shrimp and crab to come out into the open, making it easy for the bonefish to catch.
If you’re not close to a stingray, try casting at the outskirts of the incoming school and gently work your way across it so you don’t spook the fish.
What Do I Need to Catch Bonefish?
There isn’t a single sure method to catch bonefish. You can try anything from light tackle to the more popular fly fishing method.
For bait, the preferred choices are cut conch, small crabs, or live shrimp. Various lures are effective, including crab imitations, skimmer jigs, and tiny plastic shrimp.
Fly Fishing for Bonefish
Some of the best fly-fishing flies for bonefish include:
● Crazy Charlie
● Gotcha
● Bonefish Slider Fly
● Pillow Talk
● Alphexo Crab
● Christmas Island Special
You can find many effective flies, including the more current Dorsey Kwan and classics like Crazy Charlie.
Observe The Tides
Bonefish migrate every day for food and to evade predators, and the tide is an essential factor in why they do so.
These fishes feed when the tide is low, and that’s the time to observe bonefish tailing. However, you can still find these fishes at high tide but usually around the shallow water’s edge.
Tailing Bonefish: How to Approach
Firstly, tailing is a behavior you often find amongst bottom feeders when hunting for food. Their tails point skyward while sifting through the sea sand, revealing where they are as the water surface breaks.
Do not follow your instincts when you angle for tailing bonefish by casting your bait into the middle of the school. The fish spooks easily and will be miles away before you blink.
Your best bet is to single out a target, preferably at the edge, to increase your chance of success. Gauge the speed and direction before placing your bait at the school edge.
It would help if you were delicate and precise in your casting. Always cast towards the sides and give an extra foot or two if you’re unsure of your skill. The higher your precision, the likelier your chances of getting a catch.
Feeding Habits & Diets
This fish is carnivorous and mainly searches for prey in the flats to find small fish, crabs, and other invertebrates like snails and worms. Bonefish prefer to hunt solo or as a splinter group to find food.
How To Cook Bonefish
Bonefish are challenging to catch and challenging to cook. Before you get into the cooking, let’s look at preparing this fish:
● Make an incision in the belly to take out the guts.
● Rinse properly to get off the blood
● Carefully scrape the scales with a knife. Start from the tail to the head.
● Leave the scales if you want to filet, or it will be harder to separate the meat.
● Hold the bonefish by the tail
● Remove the flesh from the bones with a spoon
● Ensure you take out the bones within the flesh
You can cook bonefish in two ways – one way really, as the other method doesn’t require heat. The first is to eat the flesh raw, like sushi or ceviche.
Alternatively, you can bake the fish or deep-fry it. It isn’t the best to eat bonefish whole because of the many bones you’ll encounter. A suitable method is to filet the fish and bake it with sauce and seasoning.
Another approach is to put the fish on the grill and enjoy it as a light snack with friends. You can make bonefish taste better by pairing it with grilled corn and vegetables.
Where is the Best Place to Catch Bonefish?
Bonefish are prevalent across the oceans. So it’s no surprise there are many places where you can go fly-fishing for this fish. Some of the best places to catch the Silver Ghost include:
The Bahamas
The Bahamas is a fantastic place to fly fish for bonefish and is the location for some of the biggest bonefish worldwide.
Anglers will be spoilt for choice with the numerous flats from Andros Island to Abaco and the Grand Bahama. Moreover, the island is a short trip away from the U.S., making it suitable to fly fish for fun!
Belize
Belize has the world’s second-largest barrier reef worldwide. Despite its tiny size, it has numerous saltwater flats – a suitable habitat for bonefish to flourish.
Anglers are a common sight in this country, attracted to the bonefish swarms as they tail in the shallowest waters. The bonefish here aren’t as large as what you’d find in The Bahamas, but the quantity makes up for the quality, and they are just as skittish.
Seychelles
Seychelles is a hidden African gem for bonefish because it is unknown by most anglers. But, this island country in faraway Africa has some of the most pristine saltwater flats for bonefish fly fishing. Plus incredible wading opportunities.
Besides the large and plentiful bonefish, there are numerous fish species to snag. Such as triggerfish, milkfish, trevally, and bump-head parrotfish.
Final Thoughts
So why are bonefish so popular? In a nutshell:
Bonefish is an acquired taste for eating. If you choose to eat bonefish make sure you only keep the smaller fish to avoid the risk of clupeotoxin.
While the fish isn’t popular as a culinary delight, it’s still a most sought-after and popular angling fish. Due to the sheer difficulty and mastery required to catch the “Silver Ghost”.
It’s no surprise bonefish are so popular with anglers worldwide going bonefishing to test their mettle against this elusive fish.
