Boxing Day, the day after Christmas, was our last real fishing day in The Bahamas. (The following day we went scuba diving instead!) So far we had been very successful in finding at least some fish in every place we looked, so I was very excited to go explore the Inner White Sound of Green Turtle Cay.
After a warm-up day of fishing on Great Abaco Island we headed to Green Turtle Cay for some real Bahamas bonefishing…
Over some fifteen years of bonefishing in Hawaii an impression of what bonefishing in The Bahamas would be like gradually formed in my mind. I imagined a place where little bonefish traveled in bunches – sometimes vast mobs, across endless sunny flats. It was a place where you could have 100 shots a day at feeding fish and never wade deeper than your knees. This Winter we headed north from our Eastern Caribbean outpost to finally hunt some Bahamian bonefish. The reckoning had come!
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We went to the Bahamas over Christmas to do some diving and fishing. It was fun and I plan to write about some of those adventures later. On the way back from the Bahamas we stopped over in Miami and made a trip to Captain Harry’s Fishing Supply (the tackle shop nearest to our motel). I was inspired to do some shopping by a 2017 article I found in the travel section of sportfishingmag.com called Fishing Caribbean Islands Casting Poppers and Stickbaits, written by a fellow named Julien Lajournade.
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Most of the fishing opportunities around our Peace Corps post are from shore and best suited to spin-fishing with lures. Some of the fishing has been productive, some not so much. I am still learning what to expect when I go fishing, and trying to develop a method that maximizes my chances of having a good day.
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It’s December now, and hard to believe that we are already a quarter of the way through our Peace Corps service here in the Eastern Caribbean. As anticipated, I have had to do quite a bit of exploration and experimentation to fish successfully here. One surprise was how rugged the larger islands in this region are. The coasts are steep and rocky and I haven’t found any fishable flats yet. The snorkeling, especially on the leeward sides of the islands, has been amazing. One afternnon, while exploring a small point, I discovered an underwater cave. When I peered into its dark recesses I was excited to spot a school of Atlantic threadfin (moi in Hawaii) and I became determined to catch some.
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Poor crabs. Everything likes to eat them. I’m pretty sure even crabs eat crabs. If you ever really need to catch a fish in saltwater, try throwing a live crab at it. It’s probably the simplest but most effective saltwater fishing technique there is. Just spool up a light tackle rod with some good monofilament and tie a sharp hook on.
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“Middle-aged” volcanic islands in the tropics are often capped by dramatic mountains. (Younger mountains are taller and smoother, like Maunakea on the Island of Hawaii; older islands have sunk, leaving low, flat islands like Kiritimati.) Although they are not actually that tall, for example Mount Kaala, the tallest point on Oahu, is just over 4000 feet, these volcanic ranges are quite majestic. covered in verdant foliage, shrouded in mists with slopes that have been eroded into steep and manifold cliffs. When it rains, the cliffs come alive with waterfalls, which make their way to lower ground and then combine into streams and small rivers, eventually winding their way to the shoreline. Tidal currents and wave action from the ocean often create sandbars at the mouths of these rivers, blocking the freshwater from entering the sea. However, after a heavy or prolonged rainstorm, the flow of the stream can overcome the blockage and burst through the sandbar.
Tara now holds an International Game Fish Association world record for landing a 9 lb. 15 oz. Pacific Bonefish on 8 lb. test monofilament. Congratulations Tara!
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I have an odd shape to my head which makes it difficult to find hats that fit. Imagine taking a clay ball between your palms and smooshing it a bit on the sides. That’s my head.
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The Fishing Dojo 