Silver Shadows and Screaming Reels: Kayaking for Bonefish

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part 1 of a 2-part series on using kayaks to pursue bonefish on the fly. Read Part 2 here. 

This article was originally titled "Kayaking for Bones" in the June-July 2025 issue of Fly Fisherman.

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Precision fishing in beautiful places, screaming runs, backing peeling away from your reel, fly line cutting through the water with the sound of a ninja sword—there are many reasons why bonefish are so much fun to target with fly tackle. Maybe you’re new to it and just enjoy DIY kayak fishing. Maybe you’re a seasoned bonefish angler and want a new challenge. Hunting the gray ghost from a kayak is a worthy and sporty one.

Catching my first bonefish from a kayak was as memorable to me as my first time catching one with a fly I’d tied myself. I’ll lay out the playing field in hopes of helping you land a silver trophy.

Bonefish are commonly the first saltwater flats species fly anglers target, for various reasons. In the scenic locales where they live, bones tend to be in shallow water, they’re relatively plentiful, and they often travel in small schools. Trout anglers traveling to the tropics for the first time are often accustomed to some level of sight fishing, and may already have suitable gear. And while it takes time to train your eyes to spot bonefish, trout anglers “get it” pretty quickly. They’re called gray ghosts for good reason—you’re often looking for moving shadows more than actual fish. And if you’re lucky enough to find them tailing in the shallows—their tails and backs exposed above the surface while their noses root around in the sand—they make even more obvious targets.

Kayak Style

The standard formula for targeting bones is from a flats skiff. A guide stands high on the stern poling platform, calling out directions and distances. On the bow casting platform, the angler, fly line laid out neatly, waits to cast when the guide spots the fish.

When you’re kayak fishing you’re on your own. You must spot fish yourself. There are fewer eyes on the boat, and you’re much lower to the water than a guide on a poling platform. This is a far less optimal angle, and there’s no large, clean deck to keep your line clear from snags. Kayak fishing presents a greater challenge—and greater rewards—than the traditional method. You do it all yourself.

Kayaks also offer various physical advantages. Smaller than flats boats, they cast smaller shadows, produce less fish-spooking hull slap, and create much smaller pressure wakes while moving through the water. Often, the fish don’t seem to even notice a kayak.

When you do hook up, you can use the kayak as part of your drag system, to help you move when a bonefish takes off on a blistering run. Often, bonefish will wrap you around corals near a reef, or around mangrove roots in shallow bays. Standing on a flat, you can run or move only so far to chase a fish—it’s similar on a flats boat. But by letting hooked bonefish pull against the kayak, and moving the kayak, they remain closer, with less line in the water, and are less likely to wrap you up and break off.

Then there’s the obvious cost factor of hiring a guide with a boat for a day or more, versus using a kayak you may already own, or can buy for a fraction of the cost of a typical week’s worth of guided trips. Guided fishing in the Florida Keys regularly runs more than $1,000 per day.

The Destinations

If you want to target bonefish from a kayak in the United States, the Florida Keys is your target destination. A drive down to the Keys is both memorable and gorgeous, and the mangrove islands peppering the island chain harbor many species of gamefish, including bones. You can find them anywhere from Key Largo to Key West. Farther north, Biscayne National Park is a well-known and accessible bonefish paradise.

These areas offer great expanses where you can discover locations and favorable tides on your own. There are also kayak-fishing guides, including Randy Morrow of Lower Keys Kayak Fishing (lowerkeyskayakfishing.com), who will save you a lot of time. They already know where the fish are, and will lead you there using your own kayak or theirs.

That’s the reality of kayak fishing in the ocean—it’s a big place. Unlike a flats boat that can quickly cover miles and run from one flat to another searching for fish, in a kayak you’ll likely be able to get to just a couple of flats in a day. Knowing where the fish actually are for certain—based on water temperature, winds, tides, and time of year—is extremely valuable for planning your day and getting solid chances at casting to fish, instead of just looking for them.

I’ve always focused my efforts around Cudjoe Key and Big Pine Key. On my last trip I stayed at Parmer’s Resort on Little Torch Key, roughly a half hour from Key West. From Parmer’s there are good kayak-fishing opportunities just 30 minutes away in both directions, and a few public launch ramps. There are some good bars and restaurants, and I personally prefer being out of the busy downtown Key West scene. I go to town just for dining, or for fly-fishing supplies at The Angling Company.

Internationally, Belize is an incredible destination for a fly-rod grand slam—a bonefish, a tarpon, and a permit in the same day—and has some great kayak-fishing opportunities as well. The big factor in Belize is, obviously, first finding a kayak to use, since you’re not flying with one unless it’s an inflatable. Luckily, many Belize resorts cater to North American anglers, and some have embraced kayak fishermen and keep kayaks on hand for you to use.

El Pescador Lodge on Ambergris Cay is one option, and the town of San Pedro is situated right on a large, sheltered lagoon that harbors various gamefish species. You can fish there no matter what direction the wind is blowing.

My other favorite is Belize River Lodge. I flew there in 2018 and filmed an episode of The Kayak Fishing Show with Jim Sammons, and we left Jackson Mayfly kayaks with the lodge for clients to use. To save time, we loaded the kayaks onto pangas and transported them out onto the flats. We spent our days paddling the flats and catching fish from the kayaks. I recommend checking with any lodge before you travel internationally, and make sure the kayaks are present and operational.

Tackling Bonefish

I’ve always used 8- to 10-weight rods for my kayak fishing, with medium- to large-arbor saltwater reels and at least 200 yards of backing. You should expect bonefish to take you deep into your backing.

For flies, carry Bonefish Bitters, EP Spawning Shrimp, Mantis Shrimp, Gotchas, and small crab patterns with varying head weights for different water depths and types of bottom terrain, from grass bottom to sand to coral reef. In general, you’ll be casting to fish swimming in water from a few inches to a few feet deep.

If you read any article or book about catching bonefish, you most likely will learn you need to be able to cast accurately 40 to 60 feet in breezy conditions. But I’ve often caught them much nearer, and in a kayak you can be very sneaky, so I’ll just focus on the “you need to be able to cast” part. Why? Because snagging your line while trying to cast—or when a bonefish runs after the take—is the number one reason you’ll miss hooking up at all, or fail to land a fish if you do. You must have a kayak that allows the line piled at your feet to shoot freely. If that line snags on a foot peg or an eyelet or the tag end of a bungee-cord knot, you won’t make the cast you need when it matters most.

Similarly, after the take, that fish will generally take off on a long, blistering initial run. If that line is wrapped around anything on the kayak, or your rod butt, finger, toe, whatever, it’ll pop off almost instantly before you can untangle it. Trust me, when you’ve worked hard to get the shot you’ve been after, and get that take you’ve been waiting to feel, it’s demoralizing to get the pop and limp line. Been there, done that. I’m guilty of all of the above.

Kayaks simply don’t have the clean, wide surface real estate to lay out your line like a typical flats skiff. Most modern fishing kayaks do have the necessary stability to stand and cast, which I highly recommend for both easier sighting of fish, and of casting. Look for models more than 32 inches wide, and more likely up to 35 inches.

Pedal-driven kayaks, while popular with some anglers, are a nightmare for fly fishing. Remember the whole “you need to be able to cast” part? Just imagine your fly line piled over and around two bike pedals. Good luck with that. Give me a clean standing area and a paddle, please. You can also pole with the paddle by pushing the blade against the bottom while you’re standing.

Also be mindful of finer kayak details, such as foot pegs. They are notorious fly line grabbers. Some are removable or can be slid out of the way when it’s time to fish. Some fly anglers bring a towel to spread out over the kayak floor, to create a clean surface to lay their line out on—but in my experience you’ll still inevitably end up with a loop of line around the corner of the towel at a critical moment. Some people use a stripping basket to improve the situation, but I find them very awkward, especially when transitioning from seated and paddling to standing and casting.

As product manager at Jackson Kayak, I created the Mayfly to address these specific challenges of kayak fly anglers. We eliminated foot pegs in exchange for a movable single-piece footrest the line can drape over. We “skirted” the T-knobs, which basically leaves no undercut features to snag a fly line. The standing area of the floor was widened for increased stability, and tackle storage was hidden behind snag-free doors on the sidewalls. The goal was basically to turn the cockpit into a big stripping basket. We lowered the sidewalls to minimize drift in windy conditions, because accurate casting becomes much harder when both you and the fish are moving.

 Once you spot the fish, you need to prevent the kayak from moving, which brings me to another very helpful tool, the Power-Pole Micro Anchor. At Jackson we collaborated with Power-Pole to develop that system, and molded our kayaks with inserts in a standard pattern so it could bolt right on, no drilling required. With a push of remote control button on your life jacket, you send a motorized stake down into the substrate, immediately stopping your kayak and anchoring it in place.

There are two huge benefits to that. One, you don’t have to take your eyes off the fish in order to stop your kayak. It’s hard to see those fish, and easy to lose them if you’re fumbling around with anchors or manual stake-out poles, let alone making extra noise. The second big benefit is the lack of movement. If you spot a fish at 40 feet, and by the time you get line out you’ve drifted 10 feet farther away, now you’re facing a much tougher cast.

There are fewer variables when you are stationary and just the fish are moving. It’s like having the extra set of guide hands on a poling platform holding you in place. Even if you don’t see fish yet, it’s a handy tool for posting up in a prime spot on a flat, or maybe where the tide is pushing through, to wait and look for fish before making a move—which requires just another push of the wireless remote to retract the pole and be free to move again.

You can of course use a small manual anchor and a trolley system rigged on the side of the kayak to help you stop the kayak and hold a preferred angle for sighting or casting in wind or current. It’s essential to be able to stop and hold your position.

Another option for that insert pattern molded into the stern is mounting an electric motor. Some kayaks can even accommodate a motor on one side of the stern and a Power-Pole on the other.

The ocean is an immense place to search for fish, and there’s only so much time in the day. Modern electric motors like those from Torqueedo or Newport Vessels can be very handy tools to give you more time fishing and less time paddling, and open up more ocean for finding fish. Paddling against the tide 2 miles back to a launch site isn’t much fun. With a good electric motor, you can relax and enjoy a drink on the way back. It may mean that if the first flat is a bust, you can run a half hour and have a chance on another one instead of saying “Oh well, there goes my day.”

An electric motor is also an insurance policy when you’re fishing in unsettled tropical weather conditions, and I’ve outrun more than one thunderstorm with them. Just remember to pay attention to your battery level and range, and still always be prepared to paddle back from wherever you are.

Good fishing kayaks generally have a comfortable, removable framed seating system. A comfortable seat is welcome during long paddles, even though most of my day is spent standing. It’s also nice to pull the seat off the kayak and carry it to shore if that’s your choice for lunch, but I’ll typically just sit and eat on the kayak.

Aside from a well-designed kayak, a good carbon paddle, and maybe the Power-Pole Micro or elector motor, I carry a waterproof backpack of some sort with rain gear, food, extra fly boxes, cameras, phone in a dry case, emergency gear, etc. Sometimes I bring a hard or soft cooler for cold beverages.

I generally fish barefoot or in thin flip-flops so I can feel when I’m standing on a loop of line, and I keep a pair of good wading shoes under the seat for any actual wading. Kayaks aren’t just for casting from. It’s perfectly fine to access a flat by kayak, anchor up, and wade fish the flat if that’s your preference. Wading for bonefish is a joy, and sometimes the kayak just helps you get out there.

Tactics and Techniques

Whether you’re alone or with a guide, you’re still basically on your own while kayak fishing. Guides, and transporters, are great for knowing where to go and when, but unlike a guide on a skiff, they’re always going to be some distance away, viewing the scene from a different perspective. So judging distance and direction is largely on you.

Kayaks can be great for getting close to the fish—often in skinny water. Be mindful of your movements and where you cast shadows. Even take note of the shadow coming off your fly rod and try to mitigate it. Be mindful of sounds. Paddles and rods banging the kayak turn it into a drum in the water. A kayak can be quiet and stealthy—if you use it that way. Sometimes when the fish are super close, it’s best to just freeze and hold really still and wait for them to move a little farther away to make your cast.

Once you’ve found fish, made the right cast with the right fly, gotten an eat, made a strip-set (not lifting the rod), and you’re watching a wake peel across a flat is when you make the decision to move, or not. For me, that’s generally a function of water depth and obstructions. If I’m on a big, wide-open flat largely free of mangroves or corals, I generally stay put, and fight the fish with my drag and rod.

If there are a bunch of obstructions for the fish to thread my line through, I generally pull anchor or Power-Pole up as fast as possible and allow the kayak to move.

If you move the kayak, less line comes off your reel, meaning fewer opportunities for the fish to wrap it around something and break off. With less line out, you can also raise your rod tip and let the line go over the top of a little mangrove instead of around it. You can often land a fish faster from a kayak—which is better for the fish in terms of recovery—than you could simply standing still and using only your reel’s drag.

When you do get your line wrapped around something—and you inevitably will—there’s only so much you can do. One technique is to actually let slack into the line and spool a bunch off. Sometimes that fish will actually calm down a bit when there’s no tension, giving you enough time to clear the line from the obstruction, put it back on the reel, and resume the fight.

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Damon Bungard worked for Jackson Kayak as product and brand manager. He and his family live in Blacksburg, Virginia.

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