Destinations: Crooked and Acklins islands

NOTE: Crooked and Acklins islands remain far from the prying eyes of those wanting to impose new flat rules that put limits and could impose Draconian penalties on foreign anglers. Those who dare fish in a rented skiff or with a non-sanctified guide – November 2017 update, the law is currently not enforced

By James T. Bailey, Esq. / A November Experience past

Will Esposito and I know that fishing Crooked and Acklins islands, Bahamas, were possibly the best bonefish destinations in the world? And maybe the best possible Bahamian destinations for a shot at a tarpon and a permit, albeit a bigger tarpon, is a better option in May and June.

Arranging for a place to stay and getting lucky

The parents of a friend of mine winter on Crooked Island in the Bahamas. I wanted to fish there, as did Will, my law partner. I phoned my friend Ray to get some info, but he said I better contact his dad because he hadn’t been to the island for a few years. Mr. Findlay was as congenial as I remembered him to be. He offered his cottage for ten days for $2,500, and use of their car was included; a steal.

The cottage was on the beach in Majors Cay, about three miles from the Crooked Island airport. Mr. Findlay, an excellent fly angler, gave me some great tips, including the names of fishing locations. A couple of guides told us where to find groceries and places to eat, who to contact if the car had issues, who to call for household services and medical needs information, etc.

Cash works in the out islands of Crooked and Acklins, but raveler’s checks and credit cards don’t work until the resort; there are only a few, and they closed in August and September.

Will and I booked flights from Washington, DC, to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida – touching down in Nassau, the Bahamas, on a Friday night. We splurged on an excellent dinner and great wine at my favorite restaurant in Nassau, Greycliff, which is always pricey but very good.

The following day, Will and I took a Bahamas Air flight to Crooked Island (1 hour and 50 minutes). Neither of us had been to the Bahamas late in the fall or so far south. Wow, is it buggy?

Arriving Acklins Islands

In early November, there were few tourists – just Crooked or Acklins Islanders, all 800 hundred or so. In ten hard days of fishing, we did not see another fisherman on the flats while fishing with the guide, Jeff Moss. The Findlay’s recommended Jeff. He is dedicated, accommodating, easy to get along with, and knowledgeable. The islanders we interacted with were very friendly, easily engaged, and accommodating.

The colors of the water were almost psychedelic and stunning

Every day, most of our fishing was wading hard sand bottoms flats that stretched for miles and miles and some sea-grass flats mixed with some soft marl and coral outcroppings. Each morning, we hooked up with 12 to 15 bones in the 3 to 5-pound range. We never fished in water deeper than a few feet. Will and I must have seen a thousand tailing bones in our ten fishing days. We got better and better at seeing the bones as the trip days wore on, but we relied heavily on Jeff.

Delivering the goods

Casting, it turned out, was more productive in the long-range, up to 70-feet, with one, two, or three false casts. We let the fly line drag behind us with at least 80 to 90 feet of fly line (holding leader) and let the line/water tension complement a quick delivery. The scenarios for bone appearances are small ones in a herd and fast-moving in four or more feet of water, tailing, or stopping only occasionally to feed. There are singles, which are always big animals, and that is also true when there are just a few together. The weight of the fly is the most critical factor. Never pull a crab pattern. A crab will only dive for the bottom and will never try to run. A shrimp will run.

Will and I each got on bones in the double-digit range and a few in the 7- to 8-pound class. Almost all the more significant bones were caught in the evening. We got lucky, but Jeff said that does not matter much. Jeff said,” The bones are always here, but an incoming tide brings the XL single bones in late in the day along with the occasional more significant permit. The flats you are fishing have not had much angler activity since maybe it was likewise with many of the creeks, channels, and mangrove-bordered water we fished – inside the Acklins Bight and south to French Wells and beyond to Windsor Point and west to Acklins.

Sun-up to noon-ish, then again in the afternoon

Bonefishing in the Bahamas. Public domain image.

Most days, we fished just after sun-up to around 11 am, then it was too hot for us, or just plain too much sun, we’d head home if the trip were a reasonable distance.

Back at the dock, it was time for a Kalick’s, then relax in the shade by the cottage between swims in clear, turquoise water. At around 3:30 PM, Jeff would pick us up, and we’d be on the flats again at approximately 4:15 PM. It was tarpon-permit time – we went south or west.

It was about 20 minutes to get to the south of French Wells, a good bone and tarpon fishery (creeks, channels, mangroves, and more Bight flats). On each trip south (Crooked Island), we saw a few tarpons most days – animals to about 35 pounds (most smaller) but aggressive. We always sawbones and fished them – hooking up later in the afternoons to more prominent bones in the 6-pound range, and we cast to several singles that Jeff said were 10- to 12-pounds. We engaged permit late in the day on incoming tides. They were mostly smallish, 15- to 20-pounds, but not as shy as any encountered anywhere I’d fished. Neither of us got an eat. We saw larger permits, but they were out of range and gone. PermPermidon’t’tly.

The fish are not wise because they do not get pressured – making the fishery one of the best in the world for bones and probably the best in the Bahamas for a shot at getting the Holy Grail of fly fishing – bonefish, permit, and tarpon in one day. Will did it twice in 10 days.

Scared to death, and then, the best day ever

Image courtesy of Weblog Bahamas. Click on the image to visit a website.

We had gotten lucky with afternoon rain storms except for the last day when we got pounded by a flare-up storm. We were too far west (Acklins Island) to make it back, so we weathered out the storm anchored in a channel – tied off to mangroves. It was sunny, then black, then howling wind, then raging surf and a blinding downpour. However, it was a short event and the best fishing I’ve had. In the cooled-down water, it was a mixed bag: three mutton snappers, two poons and one permit, and two big bones (7- and 10-pounds). The latter just before sunset on my 8-weight. Will was as content as I because he, too, had a Grand Slam that day. We headed in when the mosquitoes started harvesting us.

The toolbox – a 2017 update

Never arrive at a destination with less than two fly rods, less than two reels, backup fly lines for both, and plenty of leader material.

Updated 2017: Winter wind is an issue on the flats from the Florida Keys through the entire Bahamas chain of Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, and Cuba. It starts spottily as early as fall, ramps up in January and February, and lasts into April. Heavy flies are the norm for bones and permit as both pescados primarily feed on the bottom, think mudding, and need to get the fly down.

Think fast. A soft action rod can complicate casting – in some cases, render it useless on high wind days with heavy flies

Today’s top-end, so-called, fast action rods are not at all troublesome to cast – even for those of us who preferred slower action rods in the past. The big, name-brand rod designers have figured out fast action fly rods. These new, fast-action rods tend to make distance and accuracy mutually attainable goals. The old argument of fast action rods not being fly cast friendly on short shots still holds water, but much less than even five years ago.

The robustness of these new rods affords what was once only a nine could punch through on windy days with a lead-eye fly; a seven can now suffice. That would also be relevant to lifting and turning bigger fish. That saidsaidI’vevend the new, fast action rod I own a better ball player in the 8-weight when hunting flats animals in the Bahamas to Belize.

You will not save money going from a nine to a seven or eight-weight rod purchase, but both are noticeably lighter – less fatigable. Five days in the brilliant sunlight of the Bahamas flats, zipping around in a flats boat at 40 mph all day, and trudging around wet lean toward tiring – every ounce counts.

Choosing a line for bonefishing is now about choosing integrated fly lines or loop-to-loop add-ons along with running lines, Polyleaders (Versileaders), and MOW tips (sink tips measured in grain weights). It could be a parts business, but it is well worth it.

The most straightforward explanation regarding the new fly line options can be examined fully here…

Bonefish / Permit fly options

Tan Gotcha.

Tan, tan Gotchas, #2 size tied with bead chain eyes; Peterson Spawning Shrimp in a #2 – tied with small lead eyes, which make the large fly swim correctly when stripped Veverka’s’s Mantis Shrimp in a #2 and a #4 for shallower water, anDean’s’s Tan Woolly Crab tied with lead eyes – for deeper water (over 3-feet). Capt. Lenny Moffo Merkin, with or without rubber legs – must ambulate like a crab and Clouser Minnow. We also had a lot of luck witJeff’s’s concoctions, especially so with bones, they looked a lot like DuanBaker’s’s Crab Fly, which is highly recommended (#1, #2, #3 and #4). They outperformed all others, except maybe Dean’s yarn crab. Tan is the best color.

Tarpon fly options

Capt. Lenny Moffo Merkin, Stu Apte, Apte Two – all in 1/0 and #1 and #2, Toads – lots of different colors and styles #1/0 and #2/0, Clousers and Lefty’s Deceiver in #1 and #2. Merkins and Toads out-performing all others.