COVID bonefish bust out in the Bahamas

 Have you ever heard any of those old time Southern preachers shout during a Sunday sermon, "Can I get an Amen from the congregation?" Well that's what the past 15 months have created -- pent up/ spun up fervor to the point folks are about done with it.  Most everyone's ready to break out. 

Well, bone fishing  seemed an awesome way to break out... and for amazing scenery and fly fishing - is there a better spot on the planet than the waters surrounding Emerald Bay, Great Exuma, Bahamas?

I think not. 

With Carole and her army of butlers waiting on her by the pool at Sandals serving her endless Rum Runners to go along with coconut shrimp and whatever else she fancied, I had the green light to pursue what I love best.

I hired local guide Bonefish Stevie whose ritualistic chants on the water "C'mon bonie" always seemed to draw these muscular titans out of the mangroves into the flats. 

Using my Orvis Access 908-4 tip flex and Hydros reel I was amply armed and ready for the challenge.  Using an extra long 16 lb fluorocarbon leader and a #6 pink shrimp -- soon it was game on. 

Over the course of a couple of mornings, I landed upwards of 15-20 bonies as Stevie liked to call them.  Even the 14 inch little guys were beasts fully capable of peeling out line and doubling over an 8 wt rod.  

In times past it was strictly sight fishing, but on this trip one day was sight fishing off the mangroves and the second day was fishing the shallow flats.  That's where a guide is worth a million bucks.  There are flats everywhere, but the fish are not.  Stevie would stop in some spots, and I'd be scratching my head, but sure enough it wasn't long before "fish on" and off to the races again.  

 

I landed two really amazing fish on the trip.  If you watch the video I thought I lost the biggest not once but twice.  Stevie told me the bonefish wrap your line the soft sand and around anything they can find to give the "oh crap" I lost it feel... and he did - twice. 

Fly fishing the flats for bonies presents a few challenges in both casting and landing the fish. In casting, it's always windy, and invariably the cast I needed to make most of the time was off shoulder into the wind! Not easy but over the course of the day it gets better. It certainly makes one relish those opportune down wind double-haul casts and the chance to really let some line fly. 

When landing fish, again you can see in the video, once you hook a fish and you have 20-30 feet of line at your feet -- it's troublesome.  If the fish cooperates and gingerly took off at a steady speed, no problem feeding the line. But that's not these guys' MO.  Instantly they double your rod over, then as your trying let some line through your line finger to get the fish on the reel, they start thumping the rod violently, which if you're letting line out simultaneously, the line is flinging everywhere -- in the air, around elbows, wrists, buttons, rod butts.... funny afterwards, but like drinking from a firehose while it's happening. 

On the trip we spooked, although spooked isn't really the right term, as tarpon don't seem to be spooked, intimidated, threatened by a whole lot on the flats. Next trip, I'd like to have a separate rod rigged with a large streamer ready to take a shot on one. 

Lots of reef and lemon sharks roamed the flats. 

And barracuda... all over the place. I did land a few and was fortunate to not have my tippet cut through each time.  ALL TEETH - talk about an apex predator.

In a perfect world I'd love to have the opportunity to learn the trade, guide, have my own boat, down here in the Bahamas.  Learning the tides is key, but paying your dues on the water is the ultimate ticket.  Maybe that'll be my 3rd or is it 4th or even 5th career?

Tight lines until I journey up to northern New Hampshire later this summer.

By the way, I've got the greatest wife in the world!