by Mary L. Peachin
Captain Dennis Evenson just couldn’t stomach the thought of another gut-hooked bonefish dying. The bones may be plentiful on the flats around Little Cayman, where Evenson has fished for 15 years, and most of the time, he catches bones on fly. But when his clients used conventional gear, the fish kept swallowing the bait.
A few years ago, Evenson started catching tarpon on circle hooks, and he liked the way the lip-hooked the fish. If he could catch bonefish on circle hooks, he reasoned, perhaps he could avoid killing them. So last year, Evenson called Captain Harry’s fishing supply in Miami. Todd Richter, manager of the fly department said he never heard of fishing for bonefish with circle hooks. Since bones don’t have teeth and their crushers will spit out a hook, there should be no reason to use circle hooks, but Evenson still thought it was worth a try. He ordered a case of 2/0 Eagle Claw circle hooks.
On days when he can’t fly-fish, Evenson hauls out a 6-pound test spinning outfit and ties a circle hook directly to the line. He threads strips of squid onto the hook and tosses the tentacles into the water for chum. If the fish are hungry and take the bait, it’s almost a sure thing they’ll be lip-hooked, as long as the angler does not try to set the hook. Evenson doesn’t know why the circle hooks work on bonefish, but they do—which is precisely the point.