Land to Ocean Warrior: Fishing Nassau Harbour

A 22-pound barracuda caught by Freddie. Jason McPhee, Breon Cox, Laron Dean, Freddie, Jeffrey Burnside Jr., Reuben Rahming, Breon Scott, Cadero Pratt and Shandrea Burnside. PHOTO CREDIT: Reuben Lorenzo Rahming.
A 22-pound barracuda caught by Freddie. Jason McPhee, Breon Cox, Laron Dean, Freddie, Jeffrey Burnside Jr., Reuben Rahming, Breon Scott, Cadero Pratt and Shandrea Burnside. PHOTO CREDIT: Reuben Lorenzo Rahming.

[dropcap]F[/dropcap]inding good fishing spots on New Providence and Paradise Island could be a task. Most times we are left feeling trapped in our own country because of the lack of access to the coast line. Many times it is hit and miss as we hope that a gate is left open or an unrestricted pathway.

Today, however, we were fortunate to be able to fish the Paradise Island side of the Nassau Harbour. Mid-day is seldom a good time to rock fish New Providence due to the heavy boat and tourist beaching traffic. Thus the need for this location.

Tips on fishing Nassau Harbour.

  1. Find a spot away from the boating lean and h a location that affords you at least 100 feet of water unlikely used by boaters. 
  1. Respect:
  • The tide by fishing into a pick tide or ebbing tide. This is the critical time when the tide has picked high or low. This is the magic hour, and fish will take this window to migrate, reposition themselves, and hunt.
  • The bottom, it’s a harbor so think garbage on the bottom. Regardless of your luck at the magic hour, the tide will eventually walk the line into a snag.
  • The current, you may use it to some advantage, but you won’t beat it. Example: you may increase the sinker size to hold your bait in place only to lose a fish to a snag as you retrieve it.
  1. TARGET YOUR FISH: When fishing expect anything but set a target type of fish with the above tips in mind.

RIGGING:  We used two whole 6- to 8-inch jacks as bait and using a #8/0 treble hook attached to a wire lead. The lead is inserted from the tail through the body and out the top of the head. This allows the tribble hook to sit and look like a tail and then we attached a balloon cast into the ebbing current and LA-TOW! Breon Cox and Cordero Pratt had a 20 minute fight to land this 24-pound jack, which was hooked by the side of its body enhancing the battle, Freddie landed a 22-pound barracuda, and in third place Laron Dean with a massive grunt and I’m sticking to that story!!

To see the video follow these links to witness the battles

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