GRAND BAHAMA
[dropcap]C[/dropcap]apt. Billy Black, Duchess Sportfishing, reports the water off of Grand Bahama is warming up quickly, which will bring small blackfin and skipjack tunas north. Blue marlin will be following them, since these tunas are a marlin’s favorite food. Mahi will be migrating through with the summer squalls and weed lines, and occasional large wahoo will be spawning in the warm waters.
Capt. Billy has been having great success for yellowfin and blackfin tuna with yellow, pink and green lures—he calls this setup the bleeding dolphin. On a recent trip, Capt. Billy went one for three on blue marlin using his purple and black short slant head.
This time of year, Capt. Billy likes to troll lures a little faster in the calmer waters to create more commotion in the spread. Another reason for doing so, is to cover more territory to increase the percentage of strikes.
LONG ISLAND
Capt. Luke Maillis, Reel Addictive Charters, recommends deep dropping or diving for lobsters this time of year. Pelagic species are cooling off elsewhere but deep dropping for grouper, snapper and escolar will keep you busy and put food on the table.
Capt. Luke targets escolar either day or night with the same rigs used for swordfish. Instead of squid, he used split tail blue runners for bait. During the day, he targets them around rocky ledges from 1800 feet to 2500, deep dropping with electric reels and fishing the bait 50 feet off the bottom. For those who have never caught an escolar, they don’t fight much when hooked until they are pulled up into the sunlight, and when gaffed, they go crazy and will beat up everything and everyone in the boat, so be sure to lock them in the fish box right away. Escolar make excellent sushi and sashimi and are known in sushi bars as white tuna. Capt. Luke cautions readers to limit their consumption to no more than 6 to 8 ounces of meat to keep themselves from running to the toilet. “The meat is saturated with waxy esters and omega 3 oils. It is very healthy for you, but in very moderate amounts.”
SOUTH ELEUTHERA
Chad Melton, Ocean Fox Cotton Bay Scuba Diving and Deep Sea Fishing, tells us that sight fishing will be key in August. Look for birds, structure and weeds. Fish will look for cover to keep cool and ambush any passing bait. “It is my experience that if you stay 15 to 20 yards away from the structure while trolling by, you will have better results for trophy fish.”
In August, Chad says trolling dead baits, lures and deep swimmers should produce a mixed bag of fish. And, if offshore isn’t producing what you want, try deep swimming baits and top water dead baits trolled over structure and sand in the shallows. Shallows being water 60 feet to 15 feet. This can produce mutton snapper, rock grouper, yellow tail and plenty of barracuda.
For more reports and fishing forecasts from across the Bahamas, visit www.coastalanglermagazine.com/bahamas.
