Get an edge on the Silver Fox: sub-par weather can be a bonefisher's friend.

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The angler who first called a bonefish "The Silver Fox" must have fished in the Florida Keys and Biscayne Bay. The bones are big, and some days they are foxy beyond belief. But you'll score on Florida bones if you bone up on the little tricks to put the odds in your favor. Beyond the obvious--pole silently, don't line the fish, don't slap your fly line down, wade-fish if possible--catching a big bonefish boils down to picking your days. Calm mornings and glistening tails make a bonefisher's heart sing. But in truth, Florida fly fishers chasing bonefish have the best luck when it's breezy, where it's a little deeper, and when the light is kinda lousy.

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May is typically breezy, and that's a good thing. June can be breezy too, and rainy days are on the increase. And that's an even better thing. The waters of Biscayne Bay and the Keys remain clear unless it's really howling, so you can spot cruising fish even in diffused light. That wind-ruffled surface makes it tougher for fish to detect you at a distance. It also seems to take the edge off the fish. In fact, when the wind really cranks, bonefish tend to swim into the wind and feed aggressively, often digging hard in soft bottom, raising muds that are easy to spot. You just have to get the wind at your back whenever possible, which is doubly good because the fish should be cruising your way.

Unlike when fishing for spooky tailers on a slick day, windy conditions allow you to shorten your leader a bit, and that short leader will better turn over a bigger fly, which according to most veterans, is exactly what big Florida bones prefer. Try a crab pattern on a No. 2 or even No. 1 hook.

Cruising bonefish are normally easier to catch than tailers (due to the fact that deeper water makes the fish less spooky). To spot them, you'll need to fish between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. (summer hours) for best visibility. If you can get out when it's overcast, your chances of hooking up soar. Fish will be hard to spot over solid turtle grass, but where there is broken sand and grass bottom, they stand out pretty well. Where shallow enough, you can see wakes of moving bones; otherwise look for movement, anything that catches your eye.

Another super scenario is fishing after summer afternoon thundershowers abate. The belief is that the cooling effect of the rain turns bonefish on, but there is evidence that summer rainfall only lowers water temps a degree or so, if that. Perhaps it's the afternoon cloud cover after an otherwise hot, sunny day that puts bonefish in a feeding mood? It's something for debate. Whatever the case, I have enjoyed many multiple-hookup flyfishing afternoons on Biscayne Bay after storms.

By Mike Conner, Associate Editor