An Editorial on Angling, Travel, and Elitism...

An American author I have a good deal of respect for stated that there were "...two Bahamas." He writes that Nassau, Paradise Island, and Freeport were the places where tourists go and were extensions of Miami. He then concludes, "the other is the outer islands, the real Bahamas."

After I encountered these statements, I asked Bahamian guides and citizens about their feelings and ideas about the real Bahamas. Most of them had not the slightest idea what I was talking about. When I asked about Nassau, Paradise Island, and Freeport specifically, the general feedback I got was that this "real" Bahamas thinking was indeed curious and would be the same as excluding New York, Washington, D.C., Las Vegas, and Miami from a map of the real U.S.A.

Although many Bahamians live on other islands, this does not imply that they are proud of all of their island nation. In fact, it's up to Bahamians to determine the real Bahamas, not an American. For instance, traveling anglers will find none other than the fabulous Pinder brothers offering flats fishing charters out of the Freeport/Lucaya area on Grand Bahama Island. I have fished these flats as well as the more isolated flats of Water Cay on GBI's north side. The bonefish-in both cases- were swimmimg over real Bahamas flats with real Bahamian guides with an equally joyous American angler.

It sometimes happens that when outdoors writers choose to live in rural country environs, they take a kind of "wilderness mind-set" with them in their travels and subsequent writings, and often imply that any other vaguely populated or well-travelled destination might not be the peak experiences one can attain. The problem with this point of view is that it simply does not speak for the actual views of many other traveling anglers, as well as lodges and citizens of the destination country. I have spent and will spend many hours on remote Pacific atoll flats, such as Fanning Island. Their beauty is striking and should be experienced- but from an angling point of view, I've gotten far better dollar-spent and effort per hour results for trophy bones right off the Miami skyline.

The point, here, is that good traveling and fishing is where you find it, not where someone tells you where it should be. Catching a permit on fly should not have a mandate to travel to southern Belize and drink from a chalice to celebrate your catch. Be open to the fact that nearby Key West might be a better, cheaper, and more exciting alternative that may offer far greater chances at trophy-sized permit. I delight and celebrate the fact that Key West offers so much when the fishing day is over...and so might you. This is only one example in our big, wide world. When it comes to angling and travel, be your own judge!

Jan