Here is a great report from one of our subscribers Brett Coakley fishing along side is wife Jessica while staying at The Treasures of Andros. Sounds like they had a wonderful time with guide Tommy Kee on the west side. I have not fished with him but looks like someone I should try out. Thanks Brett and Jessica. “Hey Rod. Back from the islands! I wanted to send you a note to summarize our success/failure. In short, we had a great trip. on our own, we found fish almost everywhere, got casts to some, made lots of bad casts, got wrapped up and tangled in lots of flyline, hooked ourselves a few times, made good casts to few, MISSED a ton of fish, but hooked and landed our share. Jessica did great overall, but struggled in the wind at times, which was relentless- and got worse each day as the week wore on. Although I’m not a bonefisherman per say, I am a pretty good fisherman overall (I think) and was able to put 2+2 together and figure things out. We found fish in the channels like you recommended, but I failed to make it happen with any of them. The fish just seemed to be on the move too much. The tide would mess with my presentation too much as well. On cruising fish I did much better, and by the last day was very efficient with them. I was over 50% on the fish I had shots at that last day. We did book a day with a guide, and went to the west side from the village of Red Bay. Boy, what a cool place and well worth the $$$. Lots of dumb bones too, which helped us a lot. Jess lost a really nice one over there when her NEW gel spun backing got bound up on her reel. Luckily our guide poled us after the fly line that was now zipping across the flat. We lost the fish, but got my new, 60$ line back and re-attached it. Over the course of the week we saw some true lunkers, but I think the biggest one we landed was about 5#. Man did I miss a lot of fish over the week. They would follow, I’d feel the bump, make a strip strike, and miss them. It happened over and over. It had to be in the dozens when I think of the number of fish I truly missed strikes on. Of the 150 flies I tied for this trip, we used 3. J A light, almost white gotcha with lots of flash on the west side, and a Verkas mantis shrimp, and tan gotcha with an orange butt non the east side. Anyone need to by some flies? Aside from watching Jessica catch a 5# bonefish, I had two truly special, private moments there. The first happened on my first day, and the second happened on my last…. I walked up from our rental to a small flat at a creek mouth after dinner the first day since I knew the rising tide and low light conditions would likely bring a fish or two onto the flat that was dry earlier in the day. Sure enough, a nice bonefish was grubbing bottom right next to the beach, but I spooked him as I foolishly bumbled along the shoreline. I gave him a few minutes and came back, only this time a little more stealthily. There he was, same area. I made a short cast from the sand way ahead to keep from spooking him and gave a small strip, followed by a long slow strip when he got closer. He rushed in, and nearly ate my Verka’s mantis shrimp on the beach itself. He was off like a rocket; I soon realized I had WAY too little drag pressure on him… However, I was able to slow him down and finally get my hands on my first Bahamas bonefish. The last of our two days fishing were spent in a rented kayak in Fresh Creek. We found plenty of willing fish, and most importantly, a nice flat where we could put the sun and wind at our backs. Jess and I waded parallel to shore about 100’ from each other in the prime cruising zone. Near the end of the flat we split up, since I wanted to explore a small cluster of mangroves at the mouth of a creek, and she wanted to check out a little bay separated by a small spit of sand. I saw a dark spot in the water that I thought was a patch of turtle grass at first, and worked slowly toward it. Then I saw what it was, about 6 bones mudding and tailing along, their tails looking like beautiful crystal sickles dancing in the sunshine. I crept up to about 60’ and made a cast near them. But the mud from their roto-tilling kept them from seeing the fly. They were now at 50’, I made a cast, but again, they didn’t see the fly. They were now at 40’ and didn’t see the fly. Now 30’. Again. Now 20’. I squatted down and got as low as possible and barely flicked a cast beyond a rods length next to them. Right as it was sinking, I saw one break rank and inhale it. He was small, maybe 2#, but the experience will be with me forever. We stayed at the Treasures of Andros . Although far from luxurious, it was clean, and bug free (most important). Hot water availability was spotty as was the WIFI. Trevor (owner) and Mario (manager/caretaker) were super friendly both before and during the trip. The Ford Escape they rented us was the perfect vehicle for the island and its crappy roads. We fished the west side with Tommy Kee, an independent guide recommended by Trevor. He was 100$ cheaper than other guides, so I was a bit skeptical at first. […]
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