A Week of Bonefishing and More...

Last Friday started the summer travel season with a bang. A quick though tasty booking on Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas was the first venue where ship travel often subverts from the joy of new climes and digs to simply looking for any excuse to pursue new flats. This short cruise became a bit of both.

The first port of call was Nassau. All too often, New Providence for me is simply an in-between stopover or hub before connecting to Andros or Long Island. Not so this time, and I was glad. I'd thought again of one angler/writer's haughty dismissal of Nassau as an "extension(s) of Miami" and chuckled to myself. The day ashore was taken up with shopping and lunching on Bay Street. Although the original Straw Market had burned down, another one had risen close by. This gave me a chance to add more items to my wooden fish sculpture collection. Some of these artisans have been at it for over twenty years. It's always a rare treat to find a well-sculpted bonefish amongst the tipped-down groupers and Bahama Mamas. This day went by like a spooked barracuda or even faster, like Alberto Gonzales' memory.

Since port of call number two was Little Stirrup Cay in the Northern Berry Islands, I'd packed two ultralight spinners and a handful of weighted Gotcha flies. I'd studied the flats carefully and had surmised there had to be some bonefish there: I'm glad to say I was right. The best flats actually appear in the above image: they lie past the extreme jutted-out point of land on the left side of the island (as it was shot). If you're attempting this via cruise ship (and the island changes names to Coco Cay), get away from the crowds and vessels and walk out to what's called Wanderer's Beach. Keep your eyes open and find the two metal stakes offshore. Work the area from there to about two hundred yards west. You'll find the bonefish here are large for the Bahamas, as they average from four to six pounds. Also bring some Steelon leader material for the many barracuda that materialize on these flats as the tide gets up.

Sadly, the cruise was over in another day. I'd grappled with the inevitable post-trip longings by working an oceanside flat a few days later off Miami and had five bonefish to seven pounds released in three hours. The heat of summer's approach is building. But for now, the conditions should keep the grey ghost an all-day affair for another month or so. And what's next? Tarpon Summer!


Jan