Andros Pics

[joshr]

Finally got pics from my Dad's camera from our trip to Andros (fishing with Charlie neymour out of Nottage's Cottages on the North Bight) last month. Here are a few...the two larger bones were 7 and 10 lbs.

--JHR

[Wild Bill]

Hey Josh-

Looks like a great way to spend some time in winter. Nice looking bones. Out of three trips to the Bahamas, I have yet to break into double digits.

[Lov2Fish]

Joshr- Thanks for sharring pics from your trip! Nice fish and pictures, weather and water look great too. You must have had a good time!

[SageBoy]

Very nice pics. Especially the last one.

[MarkZ]

Nice pics...last one's a beauty, what did it weigh?

[venture]

Hey Josh,

One thing about Andros........their ten pounders are usually smaller than most. Must be the scales they use, or perhaps where they geographically are within the Bermuda Triangle. Anyway.....nice fish.

When I went to Andros about 6 years ago, I found that anything over 3 or 4 pounds in Andros was large for that island. I once fished the side of that island called "land of the giants". I was amazed how many 3 and 4 pound fish where labeled 6 and 7 pounders..... The biggest one I got was perhaps around 6....a good fish for that place. On the other side of the island the fish averaged a lusty 2 pounds. I did manage one that went a whopping 7 inches. I wanted to keep it to mount it but threw it back.

The largest bones I have ever seen consistantly were in ST John (US Virgin Islands) and Harbour Island Cay in the Berry Islands. Usually there are not as many bones there, but there are some singles that are quite large even pushing over 10. I once pulled my fly away from a shark.....but it turned out to be the biggest bone I had ever seen. Spooked him pretty good.

Glad to see you and you dad got away together and went fishing. That is something to really be happy about. You are a very lucky guy. Hope to hear from you soon...... I am keeping my boat in Huntington this year and not slipping it in Montauk. I will be steaming there on occasion for offshore trips during the summer and fall.

Howie

[joshr]

Howie--

Both the 7 and the 10 pounders in those pics were weighed on a boga. Not sure what time of year you were in Andros, but Dec-Feb the bights are known for large concentrations of big fish, and we saw tons of double digit fish in the 4 days we were there.

--Josh

[teflon_jones]

I landed an 8 lb'er in the South Bight in Dec 04, and saw more than a few others that were in that weight range, but nothing bigger. One of these days I'll get me a double digit'er! :)

[venture]

Josh,

Good to hear back from you. Hope all is well. To answer your question, I was at Andros in Mid April 1993.....Andros Island Bonefish Club. Nice folks, decent food, and decent guides. Fished on what looked like the Carib side, and also the "Other" Side, which they called "the Land of the Giants". Had to take a ride through the center cuts of the island to get there. Caught perhaps 6 - 10 fish per day when the weather was good but nothing over 5 pounds if you could save them from the lemon sharks. Saw a few that went "bigger" but don't want to speculate on size. Most of the fish on the white sands flats of "the Land of the Giants" averaged around 3 pounds.

I assume you went at a much better time, especially if you saw "tons" of decent fish. Or perhaps luck was not on my side. I did take note that every 2 pounder I caught, the guide said it was 4..... and the very occasional 5 always was 8. Nice flats.......really big.

Howie

[uncle4]

Hey Howie. I fish (mostly wading) 3-4 days/week. I regularly
get a dozen quality shots at bones, and usually get 3-10
fish per half-day trip. I've found that most fish are 3-6#,
and I've had a couple of 8-9# in each of the past few weeks (I
wade with a boga.... I'm pretty sure an 8 on the boga means
an eight). I'm only now getting out to more DIY wadable flats,
but think that many 13 year-old reports of "nothing over 5"
doesn't give this fishery it's due.

I'm waiting to get on the west side, both for bones and
tarpon. Not having fished there, I can't give you _my_
honest impression.

I have gone to the north end, but not with a rod. There looks
to be a lot of decent DIY wading up there, and will report as
soon as I've wetted a line there.

I hope this cheers up you gloomy New Englanders. ;)

Uncle 4

[venture]

Hey Uncle,

Thanks for calling me out on a thirteen year old report. You're right. But thats the last time I was in Andros..... wish I could give an update.

You sound like you have it made. It's 25 degrees here. You can't beat wading! And 3-6 pound bones are perhaps a good average. On Eleuthra, I remember wading every morning for two weeks and not seeing anything over 3 pounds. But it was great because its the stalk and presentation that's so seductive about bone fishing. And wading a really skinny flat on incoming tide is truely Zen. Its really the only way I like fishing for them.

So if I wanted to go to a nice luxurious place to sooth my soul, and have some nice cool drink by a really nice beach and pool, and WADE some flats solo, where should I go. Don't mind a guide for the first day just to show me where to go.....and then take it from there. Perhaps you can give me some suggestion.......a place fitting for my wife and I to also relax for a week....

Look forward to hearing back from you.
Howie

[joshr]

Howie--

I was just down the road from AIBC and fishing with a legendary guide. We did not go all the way over to the West side as the conditions weren't right for it, but we did get far enough into the Bight to be just a couple miles from that side.

Anyway, I can honestly say that the days I was there, if you were a solid caster with good flats experience and you had wanted to focus on 3-5 lbers and go for numbers, you could have caught pretty much as many as you wanted.

I do think fishing with Charley Neymour contributed to the numbers of big fish we saw...he knows the water SOOOOO well. But I also think the time of year contributed.

Can't wait to get back there.

--JHR

[MKDeceiver]

I'm right with Venture..Any info that fits his criteria much appreciated...I'm looking to throw together a trip to the Bahamas for the end of March...I prefer to wade on my own. Maybe pay a guy the first day, but after that I want to stalk the flats on my own..

Thanks

MK

[venture]

Josh,

I love to wade Solo. On Turks and Caicos the guide you recomended dropped me off at the flats every morning at 7am and picked me up at 11:00am. I was back at the resort with my wife for lunch every day. It was perfect. Everyday I had at least 10- 12 shots wading, half a dozen hook-ups, and averaged about 2 to 3 fish landed. Tailers, and cruisers, and some big ones at that.

I am looking to do that again, but not in T+C. I would much prefer Andros. Do you know if this can be done in Andros.....where a guide drops me off for a half day and picks me up? Let me know..... I would love to do that in early April.... I would consider Andros IF they have a nice beach club where we can "chill in style" when not fishing.

Howie

[joshr]

Howie--

Kamalame Cay in North Andros is a very luxe resort, and the guides out of there will fish you all along north andros all the way up to the Joulters. I don't know about the wading opportunities or whether the guides would do the drop off/pick up thing for a modest fee. AndyF, who's a regular on this site, went there a couple years ago with his non-fishing wife and said it was great...I'm sure he'd be happy to give you details about he resort.

I would email Steven Vletas (author of The Bahamas Fly Fishing Guide)...he knows all the islands very very well and will have good advice about where you can do that kind of trip well. I think you can get his email addy off his website http://www.bahamasflyfishingguide.com

Let me know where you decide to go!

--Josh

[AndyF]

Howie: Kamalame was superb. It is an extremely private, small resort with a staff of good local guides. Mine was great. (Forget his name but could find out). I would be very surprised if they wouldn't drop you off wherever you wanted for solo wading, but I would recommend using a guide for at least part of the trip. We did some great wading in the Joulters where we ran into some huge schools (like schools of 100+ bones) followed up by stalking individual, larger fish from a skiff on other days. My wife loved it and didn't fish. Great food. Kind of pricey. I booked it through Frontier Travel.

[venture]

Hi Andy,
I used Frontiers twice, once to go to the Midjiardera in Iceland back in 81 and again in the mid ninties to go to Quepos in Costa Rica. Both trips were perfectly handled by them. They had the river rights in Iceland at that time so you had to go through them to fish that river....which I think is the best river in Iceland. The Costa Rican trip involved several transfers, a car rental and two different lodgings, and one charter boat for three days out of Quepos. It was seamlessly handled even in its complexity.

Looking at the Kamalame website, yes.....the booking is quite pricey, yet all inclusive of meals etc........except for the guides. Would you book it through Frontiers again or would you go direct? Seems like an easy trip to just book direct. Did Frontiers offer a special package? I ask because the "inclusive" room rates in this place are close to a grand a night without a guide. I would love to book.....but what is the best way? Perhaps I should just look up what the deal is at Frontiers.

Howie

[AndyF]

Howie--I have no idea whether it is better to book direct. I think what Frontiers offers is the ability to put together the entire travel package, including the short puddle jumper flight to Andros and all tolled it might be cheaper than booking direct. However, it is easy enough to get travel on your own so I would call direct, price the flights and then compare. The Frontier staff were very helpful.

I'd love to go back.

[Hawk]

Hey Josh, thanks for the info on Andros and Notages a while back, I just got back last night from my fishing bachelor party: fished Charlie two days and Barry one day good time was had by all, we put some nice fish in the boat Charlie is clearly the guy to fish with if you want to target big-bonefish.

[bigdog1001]

Hitting Kamalame next week. Plan to fish the Joulters at least two days. I think there may be a reasonable shot at Permit up there. Regarding size for Bonefish. I fished Grand Bahama a couple of times 4-8lbers with a few larger spooky singles. Bimini however had a number of small schools of 10-15 fish some of which were well into double digits (the whole school). I did manage one 12.5lber. Funny thing, the big fish was not as "hot" as some of the smaller 6-8lbers but still put up a good fight on an 8wt.

Very pricey at the Kamalame but it has had many good reviews.

[Hawk]

I fished the Joulters a couple years ago in really crappy conditions(pratically a monsoon) and still caught fish so if you get good weather I am sure it will be very good though I think the fish run a little smaller but make up for it in numbers. I have heard that there are regular shots at permit around there aswell, my brother actually had a school follow his fly right to the boat yester in middle Andros.

[joshr]

yeah, Charlie is about the best guide I have ever fished with, including several well known Keys guides...did he make fun of me for popping off that 17-18 lber?

Did you stick any double digit fish? Tougher to do this time of year than when I was there in Dec...we saw a lot of big boys in the Bights in Dec. Incredible.

--Josh

[Hawk]

Yea put one in the boat popped another off, saw more than I would have thought in that class anytime of year. My brother and another buddy each hooked at least on also; shark got one, backing to flyline knott got another, boy that guy was not happy. Charlie knows his big bonefish that is for sure.

[bigdog1001]

Resort is spectacular.....pricey but worth it, especially with a non-fishing wife.....mine got the Wife's Revenge Spa Day treatment and loved every minutue of it...she also got her PADI certification...

But I digress.

Fished the Joulters three days......all conditions very close to optimal....no clouds, not too hot (83-85) and decent winds (under 15knts).

Maybe it was the neap tide keeping the big boys off the flats but I would say this is the land of the Micro-Bone!

Avg. size 2.5lbs? Caught a couple of solid 4-5lbers and broke off one that looked a bit bigger (6?).

Bimini/Grand Bahama and especially the Keys all had much bigger fish....

Wading the Joulters was a lot of fun and a good work out. Guides had no trouble finding fish, but could not seem to find the bigger singles, doubles etc. Just big schools of hungry baby bones.....we did mix it up with some Barracuda, Jacks etc.

Did not see a single Permit or Tarpon.

I did manage a couple of the Bones around the back side of Kamalame.

Long pants are a must if you go - the Doctor Flies will whack you hard on any bare skin, especially after doing some wading.