How to Find the Best Bonefish Fly Fishing Destinations

A few weeks back, an excellent new book on all things bonefish came out. More than just a collection of fishing stories, Bonefish Dreams is a map of the modern saltwater fly fishing world – shaped by decades spent chasing bonefish, tarpon, permit, and other sport fish across the globe.

To call Frank Foster, the book’s author, an avid fly angler would be an understatement. He’s fished in seventeen countries – many of them several times – and few people are better equipped to write about the world's best saltwater fly fishing destinations.

Here are a few of those spots from Bonefish Dreams that stand out.

Bonefish Fly Fishing in the Bahamas

Much of Bonefish Dreams centers around time spent fly fishing in the Bahamas, and for good reason. From Andros Island to Abaco to Grand Bahama, the country has become the center of the bonefishing world – with endless white-sand flats and some of the best sight fishing on the planet.

Fly Fishing Cuba for Bonefish, Tarpon, and Permit

Cuba gets far less attention than the Bahamas in fly fishing circles – which works to its advantage. It features opportunities for bonefish, permit, and tarpon in fisheries that still feel relatively untouched.

Bonefish Dreams visits Jardines de la Reina and Cayo Romano — two very different fisheries on Cuba’s south and north coasts, respectively, each with its own appeal.

Fly Fishing Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula for Tarpon

Off Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, tarpon are often the main attraction – though there are opportunities for snook and bonefish too. Foster writes about time spent around Isla Holbox, fishing deep water from panga boats using sinking lines.

It’s a very different style of tarpon fishing than poling flats, but no less exciting — especially when big fish are involved.

Seychelles Fly Fishing for Bonefish and Giant Trevally

If there’s one place Bonefish Dreams made me want to book a flight to immediately, this would be it: enormous schools of bonefish on white-sand flats – plus giant trevally, triggerfish, and the Indo-Pacific permit (cousin to the Atlantic permit, and even harder to catch).

It’s considerably farther than the rest of the destinations on this list, but might as well throw it on the bucket list.

Florida Saltwater Fly Fishing: Tarpon, Bonefish, and Redfish

For all the miles Foster has traveled with a fly rod, his home state occupies a special place in the book. Born in Miami, he writes about several Florida fly fishing hotbeds — the Keys, Boca Grande, Homosassa, and more — where anglers can target everything from bonefish and permit to tarpon, snook, and redfish.

Seeing new places is part of the joy of the sport, but you don’t always have to go far for great fly fishing.

How to Choose Your Next Bonefish Fly Fishing Destination

This is hardly a complete list of places to chase bonefish — or the tarpon, permit, snook, and other saltwater fly rod fish that often come with them. It doesn’t even cover every destination Foster visits in Bonefish Dreams.

But if you’re looking for a jumping-off point into the world of saltwater fly fishing, you can’t do much better than this book. It’ll leave you with a long list of places you want to visit, plus practical tips on how to get there and fish them.

More than anything, Bonefish Dreams captures what keeps anglers coming back to these places year after year.

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