Fly Fishing the Bahamas

Grand Bahamas Island is the northern most of the 700 islands that comprise this nation. The island is roughly 150 miles in length and has numerous small towns and settlements scattered throughout. The capital of the island is Freeport, which is a bustling mix of local enterprises and tourism oriented hotels and businesses. Freeport has plenty of shops, a decent nightlife and a casino in the Port Lucaya district.

This expedition takes place on the remote, eastern edge of Grand Bahamas Island where the principal quarry is big bonefish! Though guests can also expect to get shots at Barracudas, Shark, Jacks, Snappers and even some Permit! Pacific Angler Expeditions is featuring this location because we feel it offers an outstanding value in a location that conjures up images of a Bahamas that is difficult to find these days. This is a remote location where our guests will get a glimpse and feel of how the Bahamas used to be before it was discovered by tourists.

Aside from this locations’ “undiscovered feel”, the quality of the Bonefish angling is as good as any we know of in the Bahamas. The average sized bonefish is 4-5 pounds and much larger fish are common. There will be shots at 8 to 10 pounders during the week; the deciding factors are your presentation and your nerves!!

This area is an enormous mangrove estuary that covers hundreds of square miles of flats, creeks and islands. It is a wonderful ecosystem that offers an excellent variety of angling situations where guests can fish from the skiff or wade the flats. The fishing area could not be covered completely in 10 trips and this is one of the reasons why we like this location so much. Large channels, which the Bahamians call creeks, run through many of the outer islands and it is a common sight to see tailing Bonefish in tight against the mangrove shoreline as you head out to the more remote flats in the area. Guests can expect to fish singles and doubles, as well as large schools of 100 Bonefish or more. One of the best aspects to this location is that the guides can always find sheltered areas to fish when the weather turns inclement. The 17 foot Maverick skiffs with 85 HP engines have a very shallow draft and they can get into all the sheltered bays, wind breaks and leeward flats so that lousy weather has less of an impact on the trip than it does in most other saltwater locations. With a minimum of 8 years each of guiding experience, and in some cases a lifetime on the water, our guides’ keen vision will find the fish.

The guides will pick up and drop off the guests at the dock in front of the house each day. The normal day is 8 hours in length and begins at 8 am and ends at 4pm. At night, guests can throw a plug into the channel out in front of the pier and catch 50 pound Cubera Snappers and big Jacks and Sharks. You never know what will be on the other end of the line!

The Bonefish angling is so good you can leave the dock and be into tailing fish within 2 minutes. The average run; however, is about 10 to 15 minutes in length. We like to run north when the weather allows, to fish the virtually untouched area between Grand Bahamas Island and the Abacos. The Cross Cays are midway between the two big islands and they always produce large number of tailing fish. We also love to get into the back lagoons on the north part of the mainland. Vast mangrove bays and creeks criss-cross and ribbon the area and we will usually see at least a couple of Permit up there whenever we go.