The Islamorada fishing community was sent into shock. "When people came to Islamorada to fish, they had to go to Bonefish Bob's," said Capt. Charlie Owens, a close friend. He will be missed by all including myself.

Robert "Bonefish Bob" Berger came to Islamorada in 1992 and opened Bonefish Bobs. Bob sold used tackle and high-quality flies, but it was his personnel touch that kept him in business for 14 years.

Many visitors who came into his shop didn't have a boat or couldn't afford to hire a guide. Bob had a couple of nearby places in Islamorada he'd send them to look for bonefish on foot. As more anglers searched the Internet, fly fishing enthusiasts traded tips about how to explore exotic locations. When the subject of the Florida Keys came up, the name Bonefish Bob was often recommended. A visit with him became a ritual for many fly rodders making pilgrimages here.

When a fishing mega-store opened just down the street, Berger told friends not to worry. He said, "They'll never beat my customer service." Some of the remarks below illustrate how Bob lived that promise. Send your comments . Please note dates and names with any photos included.

Tight Lines,
Jim, Judy, Robbie & Wendy Berger

Captain Jeff - Palm Bay Florida

Wanted to share a story with you all from last weeks mini-season in the Keys. Thursday afternoon we broke out the fly gear in anticipation for Friday mornings Bonefish stalk.

After putting everything together, I noticed that my drag on my reel had only a 1/4 turn before it locked down. I took the reel apart & observed that the drag spring was missing. I had just had the reel service @ a local fly shop in Melbourne so needless to say, I was shiat out of luck. On or way down to Robbie's, we stopped @ Sandy Muerett's & BPS with no help in sight. The repairman @ BPS recommended Bonefish Bob's but warned us to "hang onto our wallets."

As we walked through the door, we were met by the Old Salt himself. I explained the predicament I was in & he searched high & low for a spring. Bob had the same reel in the used cabinet & was willing to give me the spring out of that reel. I respectfully declined & said I would make due. Bonefish Bob then reached into the counter & handed me a spooled (9) nine weight reel & said "just use this & bring it back when your done."

I reached into my wallet to retrieve my license & Bob asked "what's that for, just bring it back when your done." I then tried to hand him a $20.00 dollar bill for a deposit & again Bob said with a smile, "just bring it back when your done."

My buddy & I just stood there with our mouths open & finally I was able to say "thank you." We then spent the next 1/2 hour talking with Bob about Bonefishing, duck hunting, & retriever training.

Prior to leaving the shop Bob recommended several flies & I also bought a long sleeve fishing shirt. Even though I had never met Bonefish Bob before, I would highly recommend his services & experience.

His shop is like a fly fishing museum of the Keys!!! There all still some good people left in this world & Bonefish Bob is one of them.

Jake P. - St. Augustine FL

Brought back memory of a visit I had with BFB about 4 years ago. Had fished with a guide in KW who showed me some tarpon flys tied by BFB. He said BFB tied best flys to be found in Keys. So, when I was in Islamorada for long weekend a few months later I stopped at BFB's about 10 a.m. the morning after a LONG PULL and late night arrival. Mr. B. sized me up the instance I poke my head in the door and proceeds to chastise me for being in there on a "morning like this" (it was beautiful and little wind). Tells me about all the bonefish he had seen early that morning on a flat right next to the highway and about some caught recently on flat just behind his shop.

Finally gets around to asking what I need and I tell him that I hear he ties best flys to be had. He agreed with that assessment and asked what wt rods I was fishing with, what I wanted to fish for and where I was planning to fish. Then he recommended two shrimp patterns and a crab pattern. I bought 3 each of shrimp and I think one of crabs....very expensive...I think crab was close to $10!! He then pulls out a photo copy of chart and marks several places he recommends for BF, Snook, Tarpon and Permit.

It was worth the price of the flys just to chat with the fellow, not to mention that the shrimp pattern is still my favorite fly to cast to this day!

I ALWAYS stop in at Bob's shop whenever I'm down in the Keys. He's a true gentleman that runs a real fly shop-- not just a clothing store disguised as one... His shop is truly a rare find in a day where all fly shops seem to be the same. He's a class act that has helped me out more than once.

This June when I stopped in with my 7 month old son, Bob went to the back of the shop and brought him a BFB T-shirt. I tried endlessly to pay for it, but he wouldn't let me do it. Fantastic guy with a great shop.

I've been going to Islamorada for twenty years and Bonefish Bob has been there offering unique and quality fishing products and advice as far back as I can remember. He's always genuinely interested in what you're going to do and has always been willing to help out with advice as to where to go for Bones, or Tarpon, or hide from the wind. Stuff in his shop might be pricey compared to WWS, but I make it a point to buy something every time I'm down because he truly represents fishing in the Keys, not to mention maintaining his Keys style demeanor as a one man shop vs. WWS.

Was down in April and bought a sun protector head band, as I've got plenty of BFB shirts. Was down a couple years ago in the fall without my boat or kayak, and I asked him what I might try. He asked where I was staying (Breezy Palms) and, after recommending a couple of flats, told me to just flip a shrimp between three and 10 feet off the the rock jetty between 5 and 5:30 in the afternoon. Come 5 PM my wife and I go out on the jetty, sit down in two chaises, pop a cold one and I flip a shrimp over the side.

Two guys are walking by after docking near the end and ask me what I'm fishing for. They laugh when I tell them I'm bonefishing (from a chaise with a beer). While we're talking, I get a tap and a strike and line starts peeling of the 4300 as a bonefish heads straight out towards the light. A fun fight later and there I stand with a nice 6 pound bonefish. The two guys look at each other in disbelief as I look at my watch--5:15--and say, they always come thru between 5 and 5:30.

I'm sorry to say I'm teary eyed reading this post [about his passing]. I've spent many hours with Bob in the shop and on his skiff. He was one of the gifted. The times we went fishing he was spotting fish that I couldn't see--HE WAS NOT WEARING SUNGLASSES. It never ceased to amaze me.

I do not believe the suicide story at all. Here was a man who made his name in the tire business and gave up a lucrative career to become Bonefish Bob. He loved Golf and Cribbage as much as fly fishing and consistently trounced my dad at the game. Every year Bob would tell me to ride my motorcycle up to Ennis and he'd show me trout fishing like I'd never seen before, I never made it up there.

Bob Berger will always be one of my Flyfishing Heroes and I hope he and Bob Nauheim, Bill Schadtt,and Mike Fong are all watching over us and enjoying our following in their footsteps...mtd

As I sit and write this comment my eyes are welling up with tears over the loss of Bonefish Bob. I, like many others, spent countless valuable hours sitting with Bonefish Bob talking about our favorite subject. He was a kind, gentle,man with a true passion for life. He told me that he would stop fishing to watch the sun go down everyday it was his way of thanking god for the good life that he was living.

As a frequent visitor to the Keys my wife knew as soon as we got our suitcases unpacked I would be off to talk to Bonefish Bob. She would put her bathing suit on and would go lie by the pool for she knew I would be gone for hours. Under his tutelage I caught my first bonefish and tarpon on a fly. He would reward anyone who caught their first bonefish, tarpon or permit on a fly with a pewter pin of that species. I wear my tarpon and bonefish pin proudly on my fly fishing hat. I guess I'll never get a chance for him to give me one for catching a permit. He will be missed.

I just heard about Bob's passing and had to write a couple things.

During the 80's when my family first started to make numerous trips to the Keys a year, we met Bob when he was working at Chittum's. On one trip we were staying at the Cheeca Lodge and my son at that time was 10 years old. He wanted to catch the small barracuda hanging out at the Cheeca's pier. We went to see Bob at Chittum's - I told my son to go talk to Bob about what he wanted. From across the store I saw Bob motioning to my son to put his elbow on the counter to arm wrestle him. Bob, of course letting him win, told him he just wanted to be sure he had enough strength to pull those barracuda it. I was touched.

I came to know him better as the years progressed. My brother owned a condo on Plantation Key. When I visited Bob last November and told him of my brothers passing he had tears in his eyes.

Bob will be missed. He was part of Islamorda.

We were all devastated to learn of Bob's demise and in such tragic circumstances. As a family we visited Florida Keys two years ago and were all charmed by Bob. He was so helpful and seemed from a by-gone era when people had time for each other and cared. Bob was a fountain of information and without hesitation offered a rod and the right flies for me to try my hand at bonefishing, and of course, just where the best places (and times!) for catching. Any future visits we now make to the area will be tinged with sadness that we shall not be seeing him again - the shop was just a delight.

It was his knowledge and kindness that we shall all remember. What a sad loss for this world and particularly the Islamorada community. Our sympathies to all his surviving family and friends.

I just read that Bonefish Bob passed away in May. My heart aches. My husband and I stopped in to see him every year when we went to the keys. We loved him. Sometimes he'd be alone and we'd have an opportunity to talk to him uninterrupted, sometimes he would have friends all around, just being with him or playing cribbage (my husband's favorite game). I would pick out annual gifts for my husband, also Bob, and I loved to look at Bonefish Bob's books. We would always come down in February to get out of the Pennsylvania cold for 10 days or more.

Visiting Bonefish Bob was a life changing experience for my husband who, because of him, decided we'd settle down in the Keys as soon as we can. Bonefish Bob was a hero to my husband and I'm sure he must have been many a man's hero.

Last time we decided to come down in December, Christmas 2005, instead of the following February. We talked to Bonefish Bob who convinced us to take our next trip in October 2006 instead of Feburary 2007. Our anniversary is in October and Bonefish Bob had been telling us flats fishing was so much better in October than in February. He said to call him first and he would give us tips on places to stay and, of course, places to fish at the time. He was so kind to our 4 year old grandson (who was with us in December) and gave him a giant bait that looked like an octopus. Bonefish Bob said he was Santa.

I was just starting to plan our trip. I don't even know if we want to go now. It won't be the same, he was a big part of our trip. It is so sad and such a great loss. I can't even read the story on this web page yet. I'll wait till tonight when my husband's home. I read "he took his life" and stopped. Last year I was faced with the possibility of a terminal illness and I thought long and hard about my family and how they'd suffer. One thing I know, and it hit me immediately, is that Bonefish Bob simply knew how to live, that was a part of who he was. He choose how to live when many of us only dream of it. I don't know what happened, but maybe he simply choose how to leave, too.

Regardless, he deserves much respect.

I am Bernd Ziesche a Flycasting Instructor from Hamburg in Germany. I met Bob two times several years ago. I found his shop while visiting the Keys for a guided Flyfishing trip.

There were many shops around. Bigger ones. Way bigger ones. Just nearby.

But it was only Bob Berger who I can really remember today. And that is because of how he was to me. He was definitly one of the most finest persons I've met in my life yet.

He was really special! A wonderful man and a very knowledgable Flyfisherman. It was Bob himself who got me up on a good 9 pound bonefish on "Annes Beach".

"Hey Bob, whereever you are fishing now (I am sure it is a beautiful place) - please leave one or two Bones left for me !"

I visited the store only a few times, but enough for it (and for Bob) to be special in my memory. My Bonefish Bob's hat is one of my favorites; I wear it often, even when far from Florida, as this photo from Chesapeake Bay shows. [click on pic for a larger view]

Hi, I read recently about the very sad passing of "Bonefish Bob". As the girlfriend of a fishing fanatic, we would visit the shop every year. I like fishing but could see that everyone that came through the door wanted to compare fish stories and ask Bob the same questions over and over. Now, I have been in my share of tackle shops, and heard a few fish stories, but this shop was special.

Bob was endlessly patient, but I thought he may want a change in conversation during the hours my boyfriend would look at every item in the shop. So, having said all there was to say about fishing, and after he taught me in 2 minutes to expertly throw a fly ..... I asked him about his family and where he was from. He lit up and told me about Maine, and lobsters and big "rockfish" etc. We are home builders in NJ and he very proudly showed us pictures of the awesome homes his son was building. It was clear he was so close to his family.

What a nice, patient, genuine, kind, intelligent, sweet man. A keys treasure for sure. He reminded me of my own father so much. He was a boat builder and was endlessly patient with the people who were so enamored with a time long ago. Anyway, I will remember Bob and the lessons he taught me. Rest well my kind friend.

I first met Bob when our family (wife, daughter, two sons) started to visit Islamorada in 1998. I am a fly fisherman and went across the road from Cheeca Lodge to check out his store. As would anyone, I was immediately struck by Bonefish Bob's charismatic but low key presence, his warmth, his generosity. From that time until last year I visited each year, often several times a year, and spending a few hours with Bob was always a strong punctuation mark to any trip.

Two episodes of his warmth and kindness come to mind, among many.

During that first visit, I took my 3 kids out with Capt. Bob Trosset out of Key West. We'd never been fishing for large game fish before, so it was out first try. To my amazement, within an hour of the outing, my 11 year old son hooked a tarpon that, from a distance, looked awfully big. After a 50 minute battle which the boy handled himself (he was a strong kid, but nevertheless just 5'4" 125# at the time) he pulled in a 6'6" 155# tarpon. It was a thrill.

When we got back to Islamorada I took him into Bonefish Bob's to buy a hat to celebrate the accomplishment. I got the one with the netting on the front. Bob then took it in hand, and after I told him the story of my kid's giant tarpon, Bob paused, went into a drawer, took out one of his pewter tarpon pins, put it on the hat, asked my son to step forward, and placed the hat-with-pin on his head as if it were the Medal of Honor. The boy felt bigger than the tarpon.

A year or so later, when my boys were learning fly casting, I took them to Bob's and talked with Bob about it. He asked me to come back at 5pm. I asked why. He just said "come on back, and bring the boys." When we returned he closed up the shop, took two fly rods and a kind of leather apparatus that held the wrist to the rod, took the boys out into the parking lot, and gave them a 45 minute casting lesson. I'm trying to dig up the photos of it to show you. When I offered a tip Bob refused.

So in those two stories, I believe, are encapsulated the tale of a warm, kind, affectionate man of deep character and generosity. Whatever may have cause him to declare an end to his beautiful road, he deserved whatever goodness he lived before the end, and left countless episodes of kindness in the thoughts of those of us who remember him.

I feel so lucky to have known him. And how I miss him.

My, I am so sad to learn of Bob Berger's death. I was rooting through my desk drawer just this morning and ran across Bob's business card on the back of which years ago he wrote several recommended locations for me to wade fish. This must have been ten years ago. I thought I would Google him to see if he had a website and read the sad news. One of my treasured fishing possessions is the khaki Bonefish Bob's cap that I bought at the time, is just about worn out. I wonder if I can get another. I shall see.

My regards and sympathies to his family and all his treasured friends.

I was sad to read that Bonefish Bob was gone. I just found out as I get ready to start planning another trip and went on his site. I met him a couple of years ago on a long overdue holiday. Actually I met him twice. The first time at a local bar where we had a few drinks and talked of many things,our wives (his ex, my current) of bonefish, tarpon, permit and jacks, of local guides and fights I was still to have. We spoke of music and Buffet and cars, we spoke of Sawgrass camp and the Darling refuge and my childhood memories of his chosen world.

I bought and he bought and when he left the bartender said with pride "that was Bonefish Bob did he tell you any spots to fish at"? I just smiled and went to bed dreaming of pole (900 and something) with his instruction to walk directly off the beach 75 feet. Once there I was to spin around and cast his fly almost on the beach and gently strip it through the "ditch" created by the surf. I followed his instruction and although no bones graced my line that morning, a fast cruising pair almost ran into me before whipping away in a cloud of sand.

A few days later I snapped the pole on my rental boat. I checked the fine print on the contract and learned that this simple pole cost $600 to replace. I was off to Bonefish Bob's. Bob thought that was absorbadent as well. Approximately 1 hour later with a couple of stores recommended an instruction list from Bonefish and a borrowed hack saw (once again from Bob) I set to work repairing the pole. No one ever called me about that pole.

He was a good man. I hope I measured up. I wonder if he can fish where he is, I'm pretty sure he can.
Thank You Bob

I am so sorry to hear of my good friend Bob passing. I was just checking on line to see what was up with him, and found this story. I first met Bob when he worked for Chittum's and I sold them custom rods, for a long time. It is my friend Christ Kishish that sent him the poem after we had made a trip to the keys and fished with Bob, and had a great time with him and Jan. Bob had visted me at my home in Minnesota, and I am shocked to have found out we lost him. He was a one of kind, old Maine'er and he was full of BS and always great fun to be with. I sent my friend Christ the link to the site, and I am sure you will hear for him as well. I have moved 4 times in the last 4 years and had not talked to Bob for over 2 years, so now I feel the lost, and should have been better at keeping in touch. He will be missed!!

David

Was greeted with very sad new returning from Argentina. Was a great friend, willing to share all of his knowledge with you. He will be greatly missed.

May God be with all of his friends and family. In honor of BoneFish Bob a donation will be made to Trout unlimited.