I was bone fishing on Savannah Sound on Eleuthera, yesterday and there were a couple of Lemon Sharks cruising just off the shallows in the green water. I fish here a lot and have been telling myself that the bonefish I catch and release, will live to fight another day. I tell myself this because I don't see sharks there very often. These boys were tailing, thirty feet from me and were four feet long. The sharks that I've seen on the sound are usually smaller, not much bigger than the
bonefish I was catching.
Lemon Sharks are born on the flats and live out their early years there. They are fast and agile. I presume they feed on bonefish "when they can". I further presume that those same two sharks that I saw, cruise the same green water, out a little deeper, where I can't see them. Those two and a whole lot more.
This troubles me. I am an avid bone fisherman and up to now have had myself believing that because I increased my tippet size to cut down the fight time, use barbless hooks and practice good catch and release methods that I am doing it right. I have read that the mortality rate among released bonefish is about 40%. I tell myself that sharks and barracuda have to eat too. I was told by a scientist, who is a heavy hitter in bonefish research, not to ascribe human emotions to fish. That it is another ball game. Yet sometimes, when I release one of these tough little bonefish that has given me so much pleasure, I feel that I have made a contribution to the natural harshness of life in the sea and am compelled to look upon the human condition, my condition, with wonder.
For a look at a first rate example of catch and release please go to...