“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.