Help on bone fishing Bahamas.

[mike hagan]

I need a lot of help in technics and equipment to use when fishing for bone fish.

Will be heading to Exuma in late December and would like to try some fishing for bone fish.

Never used a fly rod before so if I can get around without using one would be good

1.What type of equipment should I bring .can you use spinning reels or do you have to use a fly.

2.Type of bait to use ,flies,small cranks ect.

3.Fishing from a boat or kayak,or walking the flats.

4.Any particular spots I should be targeting.

5.Best time of day to fish.

6.Will be staying near Moriah harbour but I believe this is a marine sanctuary,if anyone knows this area can I fish this area or do you know where in this area you can fish.I hear out near the bridge that goes to little Exuma is good.

7.Can you eat bone fish.

 

Any information would be greatly appreciate , thank you in advance a good fishing.

[Greencoachdog]

Spinning tackle will work just fine!Spool up with 4lb. test fluro for the clear water.

 

Bonefish eat small crustaceans like crabs and shrimp, so maybe a small crawfish imitation may work if you want to do the artificial thing. Live bait will work the best, live shrimp and Peeler crabs. You can catch your own Peeler crabs on concrete seawalls with a fine mesh net, they live inbetween the oysters and run all over the walls.

 

Wading the flats will work, and so will a kayak or other small boat.

 

Bonefish are unfit to eat, unless you like Carp (very bloody and strong tasting). If you want to catch something for the table, Mangrove Snappers, Hinds, and even small Barracudas (less than 24") are great!!!

[FishHeadRic]

Hey Mike, I've got a friend that spends a lot of time down there. He actually invited me last year but I just couldn't come up with the cash at the time. He spends a lot of time going after the Bones and Mutton snappers. The resort he always stays at gives him a set of kayaks free with the Bungalow.

What he does is he takes the kayak into the mangroves and casts live shrimp at the fish. You're going to need a light action long rod. If you have any steel heading gear, a 10'6" rod will work perfectly. Match this up with a 2500-4000 sized reel spooled with 4-8 lb line. Just make sure the reel you use has a super smooth drag! (If you do hook a bone fish you're going to need it!) Try to stay away from any sort of braid. The bones spook super easy! P-line floro-clear in the 6lb test would do you perfect. You're also going to need a bait creel that you can put on a rope and drag behind you for the live shrimp. Not sure if he gets them from the resort or if he seines them up.

Basically what he does is he'll paddle into the mangroves and then get out of the yak and leash it behind him. It's all sight casting so you're going to need a good pair of Polarized glasses and a hat. You might also want to wear really light colours, tan, white, light blue. These fish will be able to see you. I've done some bone fishing in the keys and I can honestly say it's not that easy. They spook really easy and they're really hard to get close to. You'll have to look for their shadows on the bottom. It's really hard at first but once you do spot one and know what to look for it gets a lot easier. They'll be in shallow water a lot of the time. Down in Florida I would look for them rooting around the mangrove root edges and on the flats just adjacent to deeper drop offs caused by the currents. (Bends in the water flow) When you do spot one you'll have to anticipate it's path and cast in front of it. I was just using split shot about 1 1/2-2ft in front of a #10 sized hook. I was using little crabs. I think with the shrimp you can just hook them right in the back or right behind the eyes. If you do get your hands on some live peeler crabs just pull off the claws and send the hook into one of the claw holes and then pass it out through on of the leg holes. Another option you can go to is head down to Wilson's and buy yourself a couple of fly patterns. Crabs, Shrimp... They have a bunch of them down there in the slide drawers for about 2-4 bucks a pop.

As far as the best time to fish the flats you'll have to check the tides on a day to day basis. As a general rule of thumb moving tides are best. Two hours before high and two after are best up here. It'll also depend on how much the tides influence the rise and fall over there. Here on the north shore of long Island the difference on tide between low and high is almost 10 feet. On the south shore its only about 4-5ft. Bay of Fundy it's something like 20-25ft.

My buddy stayed at the Exuma Vacation Cottages. He fished right across the way for where he was staying. Here's a link to the place he stayed. http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p164993 I think there might be parts deeper into the mangroves that will be off limits but a quick call down there should clear all of that up. Here's the #. 1 800 532 9058. Valarie is the person you'll wanna talk to.

BTW Bone fish are not really kept down there. They're the major sport fish for the area and keeping them might not be looked at as kosher. You wouldn't want to even try eating them anyways. They're boney as hell, thus the name. If you're looking for something to eat just try casting those shrimp into the deeper waters and catching some yellow tail snappers. Best eating fish in the warm water.

 

 

FHR

[mike hagan]

Thanks guys .

wonderful info.

All I have to do is catch them now.