Fishing the Abacos

Kind of out of sequence...but here are some thoughts on fishing in the Abacos....

Every year on these trips to the Bahamas I learn so much about fishing. On our first trip here the largest rod, reel & line combo was a Shimano TLD25 with 40# test line. Gary P. did reel in a Blue Marlin with that rod the first day out on that trip, but Freddie told me, "you need heavier tackle if you want to fish here." We did not make a clean release of that fish and he took the only lure I had that resembled a "Big Fish" lure. I now have a couple rods with 60# line, a couple with 80# wire line and a couple Penn 80's with what we think is 100# line. They were used when I bought them (E-Bay) and already spooled up. The Worldwide Sportsman said their line weight tester did not go that high when I had them checked out. I also have a box full of large trolling lures, heavy leaders and humongous hooks. Freddie still says, "heavier hooks, heavier trolling feathers and nothing smaller than 30# test on spinning rods." Don't get me wrong, we still reef fish for Yellowtails and other assorted small reef fish, but you just never know what you might catch. Here is a review of how we did this year.

Dolphin......the bite was really slow this year. The best chance we had to load up on them was the first day out before we left the US waters near Key Largo. We got on an incredible weedline and caught and kept a couple but since you are not supposed to take fish into Bahamian waters until you have cleared customs and bought your cruising & fishing permit, we drove off and left the best looking bunch of dolphin we have seen in awhile. Other than that, we picked up an occasional fish now and then.

Wahoo.....not the best time of year for Wahoo, but found them in several areas and caught a few nice ones. Not any monsters like last year. Also lost a couple at the boat, one trying to pull through the door and the other trying to gaff it off the transom. I think now the best bet is to try and pull them alongside the boat and gaff them. At least it worked well on the last one we caught with just CJM and I on the boat.

Tuna.....only Blackfins this year, no Yellowfins. The BF's were OK size, good to eat sushi style or seared. A couple times we got into them and could have kept a bunch but only took enough to eat.

Marlin.....we had all the right baits this year including a squid daisy chain as advised by Nathaniel Gilbert from Cat Island. We always had a "Big" lure in the shotgun position. We trolled the edge outside the out islands of the Abacos as suggested by the bathymetric fishing charts. We saw other boats coming in with flags flying during the three Billfish tournaments we witnessed. All that being said, the only one we caught was on a rigged, feathered leadhead on the wire line. Unbelievable!

Snappers.....other than the one terrible day we had near Treasure Cay, the reef catches were very good as usual. In addition to snappers, we caught Big Amberjacks, Big Yellowjacks, Big Muttons and some really nice Grouper.

Grouper.....not only did we catch some really nice ones on the reef, we caught a really nice one, about 30 pounds, trolling with the wire.

Best baits.....Billy Baits were the best for the tunas. Rigged ballyhoos did probably best for dolphin. Obviously the wireline rigs were the most consistent on all types of fish. Good thing I had rigged up a second rig this year. A side note about the wire. I was trying to find 100# wire. The last I had purchased at the Worldwide Sportsman. I asked a guy working there where they kept their wire trolling line. He said, "we don't stock it because no one uses it anymore." I said, "I do." Well, they actually did still have some and it was available on line. Could only get 80# test though. As you might have guessed, I am going to pick up a few extra 200 yard spools before they do decide to do away with it.

CTM