Bahamas Fishing - Client Report - Combo Bonefish/Tuna Trip on Fly

11/14/2007

Best Time: April, May, June
Where: Grand Bahama
Description: Fly fishing for Bonefish & Bluewater Fly Fishing action for Tuna/Dorado
To book the trip: 1-800-638-7405 or email us:
Combo Bonefish/Tuna on Fly

Report By Ken Hawkins & Sal Miciotta
Day 1: On Wed day of arrival we were greeted with slightly high winds, but still way under Lammers effect levels, so we didn’t go offshore and did some afternoon bonefishing. Waded around and got some good shots at tailing fish. Saw some nice fish but they were pretty tough. Found a nice secluded back bay and got tight to a couple 4 pounders. Saw some real hogs coming out of and milling around a creek, it was like an aquarium the best visuals on bonefish in their habitat I have ever seen. Sal had a real nice tailer bust him off in the mangroves the fish totally tailed up on his fly three times before it got stuck. We had a bunch more shots at fish but I think official numbers were one fish each.

Day 2: The weather was calling for high winds offshore and they were worried about the offshore being off a little due to previous windy conditions so we decided to hit the bonefish hard all day. Unfortunately very overcast skies were the conditions for most of the day, I got one real nice tailer to the boat in the morning and figured that was going to be it for the day as vis was very poor. As tide swung over from high to out going our guide made the call of my fishing career. He took us into a big lagoon you can only get into at high tide and we waded around for tailing fish. On the walk in a string of three nice fish moseyed right on by us about 15 feet to my right, caught a glimpse of a huge fish going behind a mangrove just off my right shoulder so I plopped my fly right on the forward side of the mangrove not more than 20 feet away. It turns out however there was a smaller fish ahead of the hog right behind the mangrove and he just crushed the fly after a strip or two 10 feet from where all three of us we standing. Got that one to my feet it was 4 or 5 pounds. So far the guides call that there will be fish in here and they will be decent sized seemed true. We wandered around a little more and Sal had a few shots at tailers, in super skinny water very cool shit, as I was standing there a nice fish appeared to be swimming right at me as I stood in ankle deep water surrounded on all sides by mangroves, got a good cast to it and a nice fatty ate, and then took off around the mangroves, I ran after it which was pretty ugly as the bottom was pretty muddy but I did finally clear all the line from the mangroves and got it in open water and got the nice 6 pounder to me feet. The guide suggested I cross the little channel and look for tailers on the other side as they should be coming out once the tides starts dropping a little more. As I crossed the channel I hear what sounded like a person falling in the water turns out Sal had hooked a real nice fish that basically flipped its self over trying to tail up on his fly. Once on the other side I started looking in the mangroves for tailers and sure enough I see a fish and start praying it comes out to me so I can get a shot at it as the mangroves are pretty dam tight and as I wait I see another and then another. For the next 2 to three hours I just stood around in the same area and fish came in from all angles tailing and waking. This was by far the greatest sight fishing experience of my life. Must have broken off 5-6 fish, pulled the hook on at least another 6-8 had at least another 8-10 tail up of try and eat my fly. I landed probably 6 others smallest being 6 pounds one was markedly larger than the 6 pounder I got a picture of and the rest were roughly the same size. Totally epic experience, it was really like one of those stories you read about but that never really happens. Sal stuck a few more on the other side but was not getting the luck and lost a bunch of fish that he had hooked up.

Day 3: We woke to a sweet weather forecast and were going to go offshore all day to try and make up for the previously missed offshore afternoons. After a 30 minute run or so we started seeing some birds then breaking fish saw a few Yellowfin rolling and busting bait but mostly they were small Skipjack and moving very quickly. After a while of chasing them and trying to chum them to the boat to no avail we made a run. Found some more birds and fish on a weed line and got a couple Yellowfin behind the boat, Sal immediately hooked up to a nice one but busted him off shortly there after. Another fish was in the slick for a few more minutes but would not eat the chunk fly. After a while there we made another move and found a more pronounced weed line with Tuna breaking around it. I was up on the bow. As I was flailing around up front a nice Mahi came and tracked my fly that had picked up a big weed clump. I cleared the weed and tried again with a fast retrieve and the fish crushed the fly. With that fish hooked a bunch more come to the boat and we had a blast with them for hours. I ended up getting a nice bull out of the mix that actually had a tandem hook trolling apparatus in its mouth. Great action was had by all with the Mahi some of them were decent fish too. After all the Mahi action you could want we went back on the hunt for Tuna. We found a pod of breaking fish and I was able to stick small Skippy but again no yellows, headed back to the barn around 9 pm and a bunch of beers made for a long day.

Day 4: Unreal weather forecast put us back on bonefish in the morning, offshore in the afternoon. We each got a bonefish in the AM but the real highlight was the permit. Sal got a real nice fish to turn and inspect his fly and I got a real little one to turn. Saw quite a few permit this day so it was very very cool. Did catch a few small jacks and a few things that look like small permit but have long dorsal and anal fins, can’t remember what they are called not too exciting but cool to see them tailing with the bones in skinny water. Headed offshore in the afternoon got into a great feed with Skippy’s everywhere and Tuna busting pretty good. Got one into the slick right away and Sal hooked up again. Unfortunately the guide had handed Sal one of my rigs due to the fly on it and it is left-hand retrieve and Sal is used to the right which makes fighting fish of this nature extremely difficult. Also it turns out the guide didn’t adjust the drag so the fish dumped about 400 yards of line and after anther 50 as the spool started showing adjustments needed to be made. We cranked up the drag and Sal tried to stop it but my 14 wt. didn’t make it. Tip section broke. After this they did mange to stop the fish and started gaining line, not exactly sure what was going on but the captain and mate took turns hand lining the fish the fish in as Sal was getting some line back on the reel. After about 45 minutes of this crazy ass fight the #50 powerpro line broke and off went the fish. After that couldn’t find anymore Yellowfin so we wrapped it up.

Day 5: Nicest day weather wise of my bonefishing career. Unfortunately bonefish it turns out were in deeper water spawning for the most part so they were few and far between. I did mange to land two smallies and hooked up two nice fish but busted them off. One of the good fish I got to eat after jumping out of the boat and running them down the beach, it was like roosterfishing a little. Sal started the day with shots at a school of small permit following a shark but no love and then later he had an unreal shot at two huge permit and both fish took a look at his fly but no love. I had another shot at a school of baby permit but nothing done. Did manage to catch a cool Mangrove Snapper and had shots at some much bigger ones. Very cool fish to see on the flats. I actually had a shot at what had to be a #50 Cubera Snapper on one flat, it was unreal the thing was huge and in such shallow water I couldn’t believe it. Felt so funny throwing a fly at it that was exponentially smaller than its eyeball. Certainly couldn’t have landed it with the 8 wt. but super cool to see. I also had a shot at a tarpon swimming down the beach we thought was a barracuda till it was too late, it didn’t really care too much about my bonefish fly I put in front of it. Finally got a pretty nice Cuda on the fly rod, great take 20 feet from the boat and some a sweet jumps. Overall very cool trip and great place. Love not being locked into bonefish type lodge type situation; get to eat at various restaurants in town and many other non-fishing vacationers about. Rooms are very nice water actually comes out of the shower head etc etc.