Bahamas Bone Fishing Report

I just returned from a business trip to Freeport, Bahamas. Since I had an extra day, (Saturday), I brought an eight weight rod and booked a fishing guide who was suggested by another FAOL member (thanks Keith). I was picked up at 7am by the guide service along with several other fisherman from the hotel. We all piled in a minivan and drove about 60 miles to remote fishing villiage and we were paired up with guides and boats. I was fishing by myself so it was just the guide and me in a Maverick fly fishing boat with a poling platform. We started off with a 25 min. boat ride. The scenery, wildlife and environment were awesome. The wind was blowing a little more than one would hope for fly casting and I was having a difficult time casting from the boat deck. I spooked a lot of fish by landing the fly on top of the school or by slapping the water. Other times I just could not get my fly where it needed to be. We poled a while with no success and moved to a flat where I began wading. About noon time I had worked out some of my mistakes and I was getting better at spotting fish from long distances approaching. I landed a cast just in front of a small approaching school and stripped a couple of times and a respectable sized bonefish took off with the fly and began a long run. Unfortunately for the bonefish, he fell victim to a 4 foot long shark which was lurking about. The guide spotted the shark and instructed me to retrieve the line and fish as fast as possible when we both observed the splashing headshake of the shark at the end of my line. I reeled in my line and I felt both dissappointed and excited at the same time. After moving to another wading flat I hooked into another and this time It was a total success. The fish took the fly and ran. I had good line control and brought the fish right back to me after a 5 min. battle. Another half hour later I hooked another and had the same success. I manged to catch three total and after catching two others I felt no dissapointment about havng a shark steal my first catch because after all, it was nature not a break off due to lack of finess or poor knot skills (I tied my own leaders). I did feel bad that I was unable to release the fish unharmed.

I am really glad that I siezed the opportunity to fish for the mighty bonefish. I may never have the opportunity again. It is also a right of passage for many anglers and it has boosted my confidence and skills. These are not easy fish to catch (so I have been told).

Congrats

Glad you had fun and glad you got into the bones

Harold

Hey Swoosh,
Did you fish with Perry? My wife and I fished with him for a number of days. He consistently put us on fish even when the weather was bad. That area is very pretty. Lots of sharks! What was your "go-to" fly?

Keith

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"Time's fun when you're having flies." Kermit the Frog

Nice "Fishing Report", are you going to post this there too?

Too bad the guide did not see the shark first. It's their job to keep those things from happening, it's one of the first concerns of the 'Guides Association', but maybe he is new and not a member.

Since you asked everyone on here for information why won't you tell us so others can learn or are you maybe just keeping it for yourself? Like, what hotel, how much he charged, name of the village, length of your leader, # of tippit (if you did use one), brand and type of fly line and how it performed in the warm (temp?) water, size of the motor, the full name of the guide and the phone number?

How much was the wind blowing really (25+/-) and would it have it kept a 'trouty' guy from fishing? What was the size of the schools and how big were the fish you did manage to land?

I can understand you not telling us anything about the flies. some guys are pretty tight about that stuff (tied or bought, who selected the fly, guide or you) what knots wre used.

Castwell,

I'm not sure what you mean by "are you going to post this there too?". Where? On the General Discussion board? Sorry if I upset you by doing that the last time. I was in a hurry to get some information.

The Hotel was Sheriton Port Lucaya.

The guide service cost $400 for the full day.

I'm not sure of the name of the village, though someone in the group referred to it as Clearwater Key. It was on the south east side of Grand Bahamas and in the middle of nowhere.

My leader was tied by me, using a formula I got from Phill Shook, author of "Flyfishing the Texas Coast". Four sections of mono tapering from 30lb at the butt to 10 at the tippet with the length being the same as my rod plus some for trimming (around 11 feet, but each is a little different as the blood knot tags sometimes vary).

There were two flies which caught fish, ?The pink Puff? and a shrimp pattern in beige (unknown name). Both flies were suggested/provided by the guide (kept them both). I tied them on with the improved clinch knot.

The flyline is Scientific Angler Air Cel 8wf F. It performed just as well in the Bahamas water temp as it did many times before in the GOM along Texas Coast; good enough to catch fish.

The full name of the guide service was Captain Phil and Mel?s Bonefishing. The guide?s name was just GT (doubt he is a member of a guide association). I was originally advised to call Captain Perry?s Guide service, but he was booked and referred me to Capt Phil. Look them up on the internet for numbers.

The wind was blowing 10 to 15 mph SSE and it did not keep this trouty guy from fishing, but it challenged me plenty.

The school sizes varied from pairs of fish to as many as 10 or 12.

I did not weigh or measure any of the fish I caught, but none were shorter than 20 inches by my estimation (fisherman usually exaggerate but this is my honest estimate). The guide estimated the fish to be around 5-7 lbs.

Oh yeah, the boat was powered by a Yamaha 85.

Nice Fishing Report. Good info you supplied. Sharks eat bones everyday-so you feeding a shark is no biggie. Don't feel bad. You helped the shark grow stronger http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/biggrin.gif

JC meant why not put your fishing report in the "Fishing Report" section

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Rich

Thanks Rich,,, but, he was in a real hurry.

Quote:

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Nice "Fishing Report", are you going to post this there too?

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I thought the words FISHING REPORT might have been a big enough hint. Wrong again!!!

Nice report.

I have found that the best way to save the bonefish from the shark is to completely relax the line, no pressure at all and drop the rod tip down. The shark will loose interest and the guide can tell you when it is safe to bring in the fish. If the shark returns, simply let the line go slack again. To work, this requires close coordination with the guide.

Pulling them in as fast as you can and up in the water column is a sure way to feed the sharks. Your guide should have known that. Try it, it works.

tks Meadowlark2,,, or 'pop' the fish off fast. Hard to do if the guide has you on a heavy tippit, or worse yet, a spinning rod which is nearly impossible to bust off. I agree, the guide was lax on this one, even though others defend him.