The best time is the last hour of ebb and the first two hours of the flood tide. They feed on small shellfish and fish, shrimp, sandworms, crabs and clams, and they eat some sand along with it. They have very hard bone-like upper mouths which overlap the lower mouth. Your hook will not penetrate the hard roof of a bonefish s mouth, which is why you have to keep his head up at all times with tension on. If you re lucky, you ll hook him in the side of the mouth, which is tough.
Live bait is more productive, though some fishermen prefer artificial lures or fly fishing.
We ve always used shrimp, though crayfish, crab, or conch will work also. Our guides provided spinning reels on two piece glass rods of about 6 ounce in weight. The reel should have 300 yards of 6 or 8 pound test monofilament line, because they ll take 100 yards fast. Don t use any sinker. The plop would spook the bonefish-they d scatter in all directions.