By Geoff W. Colmes
Those of you whom have pursued bonefish in North Key Largo over the years will remember the enormous schools of large 8–11 pound plus bonefish that would appear in the late fall and early spring. Some of us referred to these unmistakable bonefish as the “humpers” or “pushers.” Not always the easiest bonefish to hook on fly being that they were fast moving and seemingly itinerant but nevertheless exciting, challenging and a really welcome sight - year after year. They weren’t just a couple of rogue schools of big fish… at times on days with light breezes especially on the lower phases of big tides, upwards of twenty-five schools, some containing 100 -200 fish would travel up or down the shoreline at intervals of sometimes less than five minutes allowing you to see the distinct oncoming pushes of as many as ‘five schools deep’ in the far distance – hence their name.
Over the past seven years these particular fish have all but vanished in this area with the exception of the occasional school of various sized pushing fish. I want it make it clear at this point that my knowledge of Albula Vulpes is based on my experience as a full time fishing guide and fishing for them since I was 12 years old… but certainly not based on fact or science. Searching for as many answers as possible, the best I have found in my research is that bonefish reach sexual maturity between 3 and 4 years of age, at which point they are typically between 17 and 19 inches in length and that they may live in excess of 18 years and that bonefish spawning occurs year round. Sexual maturity is reached at two years and near developed females may be as small as 9 inches (25 cm). In the Florida Keys, bonefish spawn in deep water where currents disperse the developing eggs and larvae to estuary locations. Bonefish are less reproductively active during the hotter summer months, while spawning peaks from November through June. There are actually two species of bonefish in our waters - Albula Vulpes and Albula Garcia That being said, one thing that was obvious is that these were older mature bonefish… some well upwards of 28-30 inches and I’m just guessing but perhaps 10–15 years of age. It was also evident that the fish being so similar in size, shape and dark color that they had to be close to each other in age.
I first encountered these apparently geographically specific “superschools” over twenty-five years ago in 1980… and saw the last of them in 2003. What happened to them - where did they go? The one conclusion that seems logical in my opinion is also the worst case scenario. If the last significant sightings of these schools was in 2003 and they were mature fish of lets say 15 years of age, now in 2007 they would be close to twenty years of age making it unlikely that any of those same fish are still alive.
That speculation however leaves more questions than answers. After discussing this with many veteran fishing guides and anglers these were some of the questions.
Q. If all those fish died why didn’t anyone see any dead bonefish?
A. How often does anyone see fish that have died of natural causes such as old age? Bonefish spend a majority of their time in deep water. Even though these fish were similar in age it’s unlikely that they would grow weak and fall to predators all at the same time. This process of attrition would be ongoing and take months, perhaps years and more than likely never be witnessed by anyone.
Q. Okay, so it’s obvious up until their disappearance around 2003 that there had to be new generations of these fish filling in the ranks year to year. So where are the new generations at this time?
A. That’s the tough question. Is it possible that the later generation of these fish’s offspring didn’t make it because of eco/environmental reasons? Was there a void in their spawning cycle? Or did the younger fish simply go elsewhere; Middle Keys, Bahamas? Some guides and anglers suggest that the numerous hurricanes in the early 2000’s had something to do with their disappearance. Again more questions than answers.
Q. Were these later bonefish the last generation or family of bonefish that demonstrated that kind of predictable behavior in that specific area and why?
A. Maybe we’ll never know.
Bonefishing in North Key Largo can still be outstanding with plenty of all sizes around but certainly not as well distributed as in earlier times and it’s not quite the same without my old friends “the humpers.” To this day when I’m fishing in North Key largo, I’ll almost always spend some time on the deeper side of a shallow flat on low water and will see the occasional school of big fish and I'm always hoping that they are those big black bonefish making their comeback… I’m still in denial I guess!
To sum it all up I guess I looked at the “humpers” as kind of a phenom but sadly these things don’t always last. With the exception of a few lulls over the past several years after numerous tropical storms and hurricanes, bonefishing in general from Islamorada to Key Largo has been outstanding. The bonefish are around on any given day… pushing, tailing and mudding down the same old flats from the Lower Keys, Florida Bay to Biscayne Bay and if you look hard enough you just might find that there’re around in healthy numbers!
