[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his sure was a fun year on the water with good friends and great people. Sometimes I wonder if I should be getting paid for this because I enjoy helping my clients catch fish just as much as they enjoy catching fish.
December is a great time to be out on the water and flats in east Grand Bahama, We haven’t had any strong cold fronts yet so the water temperature is great on the flats. We had some high tides, higher than our normal new moon tides, but we were still finding some fish. Sometimes the hunt is just as enjoyable as the catch. As a guide fishing the flats, you learn to track the bonefish by the feed marks they make on the bottom. Not every guide can do this, but I can tell old tracks or recent or even if the fish is still in the area so just like a guide that hunts for animals must know his stuff, in tracking so must a fishing guide. It isn’t just all about site, so to me that’s what makes sportfishing so much fun,
I apologize about getting off topic, but fishing is my passion! We are finding lots of fish on the flats, like bonefish, shark, barracuda, jacks and permit. One thing that I don’t see much are people fishing for sharks here in Grand Bahama. We have lots of types of shark and they are so much fun to catch on fly. We caught a few on fly a few days ago and man that was fun! Casting that big shark fly in front of his nose and seeing him strike, it was frightening but great at the same time. Man did I enjoy that strike!
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: After this article appeared in print, we had a reader email us stating it was illegal for fish for sharks in The Bahamas. Like many, we were wrongly under the assumption it was illegal to commercially fish for sharks, when in fact our shark “go-to” experts, Jillian Morris Brake and Grant Johnson, confirmed it is illegal to even target sharks on an recreational level, even if the intent is to catch and release. Accidentally hooking a shark is not illegal. Anglers must release the shark back into the sea unharmed. Thank you reader for contacting us. Your email led to us researching the 2011 Shark Fishing Amendment and talking to experts in the field. We will help educate anglers on this issue. For those who would like to read it, you may view the 2011 Shark Fishing Amendment HERE.