“It’s a double!” shouted Steve Woodsum, standing knee-deep in blue-green Caribbean Sea, 90 miles off the coast of Venezuela. He and his fishing partner, Bob Shaw, had once again simultaneously hooked a pair of bonefish.  

A tiny Trislander jet had dropped them off two days before in Los Roques, a Venezuelan archipelago that is little known to most Americans but has emerged as one of the hottest bonefishing spots in the world (see our slideshow).

Bonefish are strong, fast, and, due to the abundance of bones branching through their flesh, nearly inedible. But neither their strength nor undesirable meat can spare them from globe-trotting fly fishermen looking for the next frontier in sport fishing. Every year, hundreds of wealthy businessmen armed with polarized sunglasses, graphite rods, and flies with names like Gotchas and Pink Puffs descend on Los Roques to stalk and catch these small silver fish, according to travel companies. The peak season here begins in February and runs through July.

“Bonefishing in saltwater is becoming more than a sport, it’s becoming a status symbol,” says Alex Gonzalez, who runs the Pez Raton fishing lodge and organized Woodsum and Shaw’s trip. “It’s something that people have to do, but not everyone can afford it.” Gonzalez would know, having spent 20 years in bonefishing hot spots worldwide, such as Christmas Island and the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean, as well as the Bahamas and the Florida Keys.

Bonefish usually weigh between four and eight pounds and are among the fastest fish in the sea for their size. They swim into flats—level areas in water two to four feet deep, to feed off of small minnows and crustaceans. Most bonefishing sites, like Los Roques, are picturesque tropical islands known for their island charm, white-sand beaches, and fruity cocktails. But it is in these flats that fishermen spend many tiring hours under the sun, wading through the water and soft, slushy sand.

Woodsum, Shaw, and eight other friends are a testament to the exclusive group that takes part in the sport. Woodsum founded private equity firm Summit Partners in Boston, and Shaw is a real estate investor in upstate New York. Their fishing group included the chairman of pipeline company Teppco Partners and a chef who has prepared salmon terrines for Martha Stewart.

Each paid $600 per day for a six-night, all-inclusive fishing trip in Los Roques, about half what a trip would cost in the Seychelles, but a mighty sum in Latin America. It is money well spent, says Woodsum, because bonefishing forces you to forget about everything but the task at hand.

“The sport itself requires a lot of concentration,” he says. “You’re forced to focus on fishing eight hours a day, and you don’t have time to think about work.”

Russ Candler, an entrepreneur who has invested in telecommunications used by the United States military and who was in charge of the Atlanta Olympic Village in 1996, explained the luxury of pulling a small, bony fish out of the water.

“These trips are to go to a faraway destination to catch a fish that you’re just going to throw back,” he said as he was heading out one morning in a 26-foot skiff with a 115-horsepower Itec motor. “This is just for enjoyment.”

This group of fishermen came to “sight fish,” a style of fishing in which you stalk your catch before you cast. It takes patience, stamina, and acquired skill to be able to see and hook a bonefish in the shallow flats. Luckily, the fish in Los Roques are plentiful and don’t spook easily. Gonzalez says that while hooking 10 fish a day in a place like the Bahamas is remarkable, it has simply come to be expected in Los Roques.
 
“I love the hunting aspect of bonefishing,” Woodsum said one evening over beers with his buddies on the porch of the Mediterraneo Fishing Lodge, just before heading to a four-course meal including ceviche, roast chicken, Spanish wine, and Cuban cigars. “You have to see the fish first and cast in the exact right spot. You can see it take the fly and that makes it very exciting”

Woodsum and Shaw scored a record catch on just their second outing, the same day they managed the “double.” By the afternoon they both looked like fishmongers, having caught and released so many that their clothes were covered in scales and sludge. At one point Woodsum was pulling a bonefish out of the water every 10 minutes.

In the evening the men arrived at their fishing lodge tired, dirty, and sunburned. For many, this style of fishing would be considered hard work. But for these anglers it’s leisure at its best.

“There’s nothing like bonefishing,” says Curt Chesley, the chef, who from New Hampshire. “You just get out there and relax.”