IA Born Report post Posted December 27, 2017 The week before Christmas, we took a family vacation to Abaco Island in the Bahamas. We stayed at Treasure Cay and it was amazing. Of course, a trip to Abaco isn't complete without a bonefish fishing trip. It's the bonefish capital of the world, after all. The Marls is absolutely amazing. Jacob and I were in one boat and Minnie and Syd were in a different boat. Catching a bonefish has been a dream of mine since I was at least Jacob's age. Catching one on my fly rod is a relatively recent dream. I opted to forego the flyfishing for bones so that I could fish alongside Jacob. It was worth it all. We were in bones most of the day. I had three bites, but lost them, including a good one that broke my line at the boat. Jacob had a take, but didn't get the hook set enough, but that was enough to get him addicted. During a lull in the bones, I rigged my 9wt for sharks, after seeing multiple 2-4 foot black tips and a couple of -foot bonnet heads 10 feet from the boat. I cast to two different 3-foot black tips and they both turned and followed my fly, but passed it up. Later in the day, I cast to a 4-foot black tip and it took my fly, but I couldn't get the hook set right. The bend in my rod and that tug! But still, it was an amazing experience! By the end of the day, I won the first fish landed bet, finally catching my first bonefish. Addicting isn't even a good enough adjective. 10 minutes later, I helped Jacob catch his first bone. I knew as soon as I saw it, he'd won the biggest fish bet! Putting my flyfishing dream on hold was worth it all to watch Jacob fall so far in love with fishing. He badly wants to go back after bones. Who can blame him? When we met up back at the boat ramp, I learned that Syd landed a great bone, too. I cannot wait to plan another bonefishing trip! I just wish I could get the videos I took to load. The Marls This is a tradition pic Tailing bones There's a three-foot black tip in that photo My first bonefish Jacob fighting his first bonefish Jacob's first bonefish Syd's first bonefish On our third day on Abaco, we lounged on the beach; nothing exciting, but pure relaxation. On our fourth day, we did a mixed-bag trip that included bottom fishing, visiting the famous swimming pigs, and going to a cove where you could swim with, and feed, stingrays. Today is just pics of the fishing. We caught rock hind, strawberry grouper, trigger fish, and a parrot fish. I caught two of the trigger fish, but, generally, got outfished (again). I think my favorite part was watching the kids enjoy the action. When it was time to wrap up the fishing part, Jacob was genuinely bummed. He'd have stayed and fished all day (can't blame him) and it was hard for me to tell him that we couldn't! We had quite a few fish, but we ate very well for two nights after that! 8 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Elkaddict Report post Posted December 27, 2017 I would love to do that! Did you hire guides? Rent boats? Might need to check into this! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
IA Born Report post Posted December 27, 2017 I would love to do that! Did you hire guides? Rent boats? Might need to check into this! We hired guides for both trips. The Marls is such a vast expanse of flats and mangrove islands that you could get lost unless you're very experienced. The guide was telling us stories of inexperienced people heading out into the Marls and having to be rescued because they couldn't find their way back. We stayed at the Bahama Beach Club on Treasure Cay ( Our condo was the one to the left of the condo with the car ports in the far right of the main page. Ours overlooked the beach. If you go to Abaco, I can definitely recommend some bonefishing guides. The main one I contacted (great reviews) had shoulder surgery, but he put me in touch with a trusted friend of his, who was our main guide, who brought his colleague so my wife and daughter could have the second boat. If you go, I'll give you all of the info I have. My son and I badly want to go back and chase bones with fly rods now! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
metau Report post Posted December 27, 2017 The Bahamas are a special place. Bones are highly addicting, and I'm glad your family had an amazing time. When you decide to head back, let me know and I can point you to some lesser known locations on the islands. And take your fly rod next time. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
IA Born Report post Posted December 27, 2017 The Bahamas are a special place. Bones are highly addicting, and I'm glad your family had an amazing time. When you decide to head back, let me know and I can point you to some lesser known locations on the islands. And take your fly rod next time. That would be awesome! We definitely want to go back. I had my 9wt fly rod with me, but I chose to spin fish so I could fish with my son. Our guide was good with two people spin fishing at the same time, whereas only one person could fly fish. I didn't want my son sitting there getting bored and it was great to fish right next to him. After seeing a 4-5' black tip, I strung my fly rod up with bite wire tippet and started casting to sharks. We definitely want to go back, though! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jim Report post Posted December 27, 2017 What was the price of the guide trips for a day? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
IA Born Report post Posted December 27, 2017 What was the price of the guide trips for a day? Bonefishing was $500/boat and you had to provide your own lunch. That seemed to be the norm (+/-) for the local guides who weren't associated with the big lodges, like Abaco Lodge. I contacted three different guides and only one (Justin Sands) emailed me back. I knew he was our guy until he said he was having shoulder surgery. But he pointed me to Danny Sawyer, who was great. He also mentioned Buddy Pinder, but I never heard back from him. If (when!) we go back, I'm trying to decide if I'd stick with Danny (known good guy) or give Justin Sands my business since he was my first choice to begin with. The multi-package fishing/island hopping/ray swimming trip was $675 for the day and we had to bring our own food and drinks. We opted to grab lunch at a nice place on Green Turtle Cay, but brought our own bottled water. The open water charter could have been an all-day fishing trip, combining trolling and bottom fishing, but my daughter really wanted to see the famous swimming pigs, so did a combo trip of bottom fishing, seeing the pigs, having lunch at Green Turtle Cay, and then going to a cove to swim with and feed sting rays. It was an amazing thing to see and experience. I had to grab my son's hand out of the water because a small (2 foot) lemon shark swam right up to him as he was holding a piece of fish for a sting ray to eat. We didn't notice the shark until it was about 1.5 feet from him. My wife got a great pic from up in the boat, though. I'll try and post that one tomorrow. Open water fishing charters ranged from $600-$1000/day depending on the size of the boat and what you were fishing for. My son and I could have spent all day fishing, but we had to honor the family commitment! 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
metau Report post Posted December 28, 2017 Those prices sound spot on for the time. I've chanced it and gone at the end of hurricane season, before the fishing season really gets going, and managed slightly lower prices with lunch thrown in, but most of the lodges are closed and you have to find your own guide. Tons of sharks everywhere, glad you saw that one headed for your sons hand. I usually go with a 8 wt and 10 wt set up with LA reels for bones and tarpon, with a 6'6" MH spinning rig set up for Barracuda or sharks in the back of the skiff. If you head that way again without the family (unless they enjoy total seclusion), check out Andros. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Heat Report post Posted December 28, 2017 Looks like you all had a blast! Right On! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
IA Born Report post Posted December 28, 2017 Those prices sound spot on for the time. I've chanced it and gone at the end of hurricane season, before the fishing season really gets going, and managed slightly lower prices with lunch thrown in, but most of the lodges are closed and you have to find your own guide. Tons of sharks everywhere, glad you saw that one headed for your sons hand. I usually go with a 8 wt and 10 wt set up with LA reels for bones and tarpon, with a 6'6" MH spinning rig set up for Barracuda or sharks in the back of the skiff. If you head that way again without the family (unless they enjoy total seclusion), check out Andros. Andros is also on my list, but I wanted to check out Abaco the first time. I'll be getting an 8 wt for bones and (hopefully someday) reds, and my 9wt my all-around for small(ish) tarpon, cuda, and small sharks. After that black tip took my fly, that got my totally addicted to chasing small sharks with my fly rod! I think my wife would love Andros since half of the island is a national park. She'd love the birding and general exploration. My son would be ok fishing all day, but I'm not as sure about my daughter. Guess we'll have to plan a trip and find out! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CatfishKev Report post Posted December 28, 2017 Congrats, those triggerfish are cool looking Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zeke-BE Report post Posted December 29, 2017 Thats soooo cool! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Coach Report post Posted December 29, 2017 Man, that is so awesome - I'm officially jealous. Thanks for posting! Those big triggers are some of the best eating fish, IMO. Used to spear them with a Hawaiin sling in Rocky Point. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HuntHarder Report post Posted December 29, 2017 I went to Abaco a few years ago and it was a pretty good time. We chartered a boat to go deep sea fishing and that was pretty amazing too. We caught black fin tuna, mahi mahi and wahoo's. The Wahoo are amazing to eat and fight like the dickens. We actually stayed in a really nice house on the ocean. Our next door neighbor was a bone fish guide and he took one of our guys out for a day. They caught an ungodly amount, trying to remember, but im thinking it was like 15-20 bonefish on a fly rod. I know he was worn out at the end of the day. Looks like your trip was a lot of fun and makes me want to get back there. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SunDevil Report post Posted January 4, 2018 that is cool! sounds like a great trip! I was just down in Rocky Point between Christmas and New Years. I got out fishing one day. We were catching bone fish on sabikis and using them for bait. I know bone fish are huge sport fish in some parts of the world. Very interesting that in other parts of the world they are easily caught and used for bait. thanks for sharing your trip with us. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
