Catching Bonita

Bonita are one of the most fun to catch fish in open water all you need is a med to light tackle rod, and plenty of time.
I would suggest a 8 to 17 pound class rod, or a 6 to 12 if you really want to spend time, landing the Bonita. a 30 or 40 size reel,
which in some brands is a 3000 or 4000 if they want to make the reel seem more special.

Line I prefer 10 to 12 pound mono, but 10, 15, 20  pound test braid is fine, now I use a 40 pound test forocarbon leader
about 2 feet, you only need a few inches of leader, but I want to be able to retie at least once, I do not like the long 3 4 foot leaders as it is hard to cast and get the lure where you want it.

Now what do you use to catch these mighty fighters, the way to figure that out is what are they eating?
Answer is Glass minnows or you may call them anchovies,
2nd question would be how big does an anchovies get?
answer is about 2 to 4 inches, very thin and small bait, So will casting a large 1 once 4 inch spoon get you a hook up.
Nope you will cast your arm off, and go away thinking the Bonita just were not biting. But you watched them eat on front of you
the whole time, So re-think and re-size,

                                                                               

I like a pompano Jig below you can see a Pompano Jig
                                                                                this is a banana Jig or crazy or silly, But it is really a Banana Jig
    

  designed for walleye but is used now mostly for Pompano
 They come in different weights I prefer for Bonita the heaver the better
 more casting distance and with the feather even better, kind of
 a jig and buck tail combo.

 

 

 This is a Pompano jig it has a very heavy head and
 a small buck tail, or Mylar tail which ends right
 at the end of the hook, making it small enough
 to really attract the Bonita but heavy enough to
 cast out at them, this is almost perfect My best Bet

 

 

 

 

 

 This is a cast master spoon
 or Berkley makes one called a splinter Spoon
these spoons are again small but heavy for their size
giving you a glass minnow presentation with
 the weight needed to cast

Small and heavy is the key, under 3 inches total length,
and heavy enough to cast, bright colors seem to help,
 as the glass minnow are shiny and glisten in the sunlight
                                             making each one have a rain bow of colors,
  So silver is better than gold, Chart use, pink, Mylar small jigs and spoons rule the catching world of the Bonita,

The way to fish for Bonita is to hunt them watch the surface of the water for a boil, Yes if you have ever seen a pot of water on your stove start to boil over the top that is what a school of Bonita looks like when they are feeding.
The Bonita move so fast and hit at the bait so hard the surface of the water will seem to rise up often 2 feet above the surrounding waters, it is the coolest thing to see,

I do not cast right into the school I try to cast past the main body of fish and bring the lure back through the school, If I can not do that I will cast close along the edge of the school, and pick them off. If you cast right into the school you take the risk of spooking them and if they sound, "Stop feeding & dive deep where you can not see them" If they Sound they not show up again and you have lost your chance, So don't spook them, cast past the school or off to the side,

Catching Bonita

 

Bonita are one of the most fun to catch fish in open water all you need is a med to light tackle rod, and plenty of time.
I would suggest a 8 to 17 pound class rod, or a 6 to 12 if you really want to spend time, landing the Bonita. a 30 or 40 size reel,
which in some brands is a 3000 or 4000 if they want to make the reel seem more special.

Line I prefer 10 to 12 pound mono, but 10, 15, 20  pound test braid is fine, now I use a 40 pound test fluorocarbon leader
about 2 feet, you only need a few inches of leader, but I want to be able to retie at least once, I do not like the long 3 4 foot leaders as it is hard to cast and get the lure where you want it.
IF I am using Braided line I would say either 10 or 15 pound and Still the 40 pound leader I can land them and actually get more hits on 25
But I do lose some chaffing through the 25 pound leader.

Now what do you use to catch these mighty fighters, the way to figure that out is, what are "they" eating?
Answer is Glass minnows or you may call them anchovies,

2nd question would be how big does an anchovies get?
answer is about 2 to 4 inches, very thin and small bait, So will casting a large 1 once 4 inch spoon get you a hook up?
Nope you will cast your arm off, and go away thinking the Bonita just were not biting.
But you watched them eat on front of you the whole time, So re-think and re-size, way down.

                                                                               

I like a pompano Jig below you can see a Pompano Jig

                                                                                this is a banana Jig or crazy or silly, But it is really a Banana Jig
    

  designed for walleye but is used now mostly for Pompano
 They come in different weights I prefer for Bonita the heaver the better
 more casting distance and with the feather even better, kind of
 a jig and buck tail combo.

 

 

 This is a Pompano jig it has a very heavy head and
 a small buck tail, or Mylar tail which ends right
 at the end of the hook, making it small enough
 to really attract the Bonita but heavy enough to
 cast out at them, this is almost perfect My best Bet

 

 

 

 

 This is a cast master spoon
 or Berkley makes one called a splinter Spoon
these spoons are again small but heavy for their size
giving you a glass minnow presentation with
 the weight needed to cast

Small and heavy is the key, under 3 inches total length,
and heavy enough to cast, bright colors seem to help,
 as the glass minnow are shiny and glisten in the sunlight
                                             making each one have a rain bow of colors,
  So silver is better than gold, Chart use, pink, Mylar small jigs and spoons rule the catching world of the Bonita,

The way to fish for Bonita is to hunt them watch the surface of the water for a boil, Yes if you have ever seen a pot of water on your stove start to boil over the top that is what a school of Bonita looks like when they are feeding.


The Bonita move so fast and hit at the bait so hard the surface of the water will seem to rise up often 2 feet above the surrounding waters, it is the coolest thing to see,

I do not cast right into the school I try to cast past the main body of fish and bring the lure back through the school, If I can not do that I will cast close along the edge of the school, and pick them off. If you cast right into the school you take the risk of spooking them and if they sound, "Stop feeding & dive deep where you can not see them" If they Sound they not show up again and you have lost your chance, So don't spook them, cast past the school or off to the side,

Trolling for Bonita is a Wow, They slam the lures. But again I am using very small Lures for trolling.
a storm Twitch stik, or a Yo-Zuri 3-d fingerling small size, or Crystal minnow.
The Rapala X-Rap in the 8 or 6 size are excellent as they will not break or get pulled apart by the Bonita.

 

Trolling for Bonita is a Wow, They slam the lures. But again I am using very small Lures for trolling.
a storm Twitch stik, or a Yo-Zuri 3-d fingerling small size, or Crystal minnow.
The Rapala X-Rap in the 8 or 6 size are excellent as they will not break or get pulled apart by the Bonita.

Start at about 2 M.P.H. to get your set out. 2 m.p.h. is so there is not a lot of pressure on the lures, once everything is out and set I find I catch the most fish at about 4 m.p.h. I learned to troll on the great lakes, where if the fish were not hitting you slowed down, going slower and slower until the fish liked the speed, here in S.W. Florida, I will be trolling 3.5 to 4 m.p.h. and if I see fish either by eye or on the fish finder and I am not getting bites I go 500 R.P.M.s faster and faster until the fish start to bite, I have ended up at 7 to 9 M.P.H. which is quite fast for trolling. Now each time I go a bit faster I have to check my set. "lures out behind the boat" make sure they are pulling properly. With the smaller lures quite often I have to let out more line to keep them in the water. More line equals more weight and holds the lures down so they can grip the water. So keep an eye on your set.

 and I will use a Rapala Which will dive 15 feet on a rod in my back right side rod holder.
This lure is to get their attention, and can be replaced by a 1/2 or 3/4 once Rat-L-Trap. Some to let them know your lures are there.
On the other one on the back of the boat I will use the storm or another lure which will dig pretty good.
Then in the two rod holders close to Mid ship. I will do the X-rap 8 or 6 and on the other I will use the 3-D Yo-Zuri.

Where to troll? Well I like trolling the Crab trap buoys, Why? well each crab trap has bait in it and that bait attracts crabs and bait fish large and small,
So each trap has a "Chum" Package in it. So in effect you are trolling a chum line. It is not necessary to troll right next to the buoys which are placed by the crabbers in long rows, anywhere within 15 feet will do nicely. Now why not troll spoons they are highly effective on Bonita. The answer is that spoons tend to spin and now-a days most people use braided line and un-like mono line you can not effetely get the twist out of braide3d line. With mono filament line "plastic" you can remove your lures and swivels and drag bare mono behind the boat for a minute or two and the water strips the line removing all of the twists you reel back in basically "new" line tie your leader and spoon back on and troll again. To reduce the line twist Sampo ball bearing swivels are the best removing 85 or 90 % of the line twist but they are pricey, Expensive so I use the A.F.W. Ball bearing swivels which seem to keep about 80% or better of the line twist down and are much, much more affordable. While you can drag mono line to remove the twist, I have had little luck dragging braided line, it may even make the twist worse.
So if you wish to troll Spoons use a rods tat you don't use much any more and have it strung with 12 pound clear mono filament line.
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Recipes for Bonita,
I have been looking around the web, & here is what I found
there are links to cooking sites, and appeare to be safe and good stuff
on these web site, If you are looking for great ways to cook please visit them.