cedahm
06-30-2010, 04:04 PM
So had planned 8 nights on island with the family, and ended up staying 2 more by my lonesome.
As I noted in my brief report, Fishing was good. Those fish in a lot of the well-known places are getting pretty da*n smart.
Days are blurred, so I may screw up the timing or sequence, but oh well, that’ll happen after 10 days on the E:
Saturday after arrival, hit Savannah for the first of many times. Fish were tough as usual. Standard cast 12 feet in front and hope they went that way, most of the time they didn't, when they did, they'd ignore it. Switched to the little #8 hover-style tan and white crab and finally got a nice one almost in front of the volleyball net. 3 Wild runs. Great to be back. Then hit Balara Bay, not much going on there. Saw a few singles, but they were nervous and just kind of cruising.
Sunday - mostly hung with the family on the beach in front of the house (Sun Dancer on Club Med) all of a sudden started seeing singles cruising the wash. A quick run to the house for the rod and fish on. Nice 3-4 pounder. Stalked up and down and got another just up the beach. A good start.
Next few days were mostly spent on bones in the wash in front of the house when tides were good, alternating walks with the rod with playing with the family. I landed a bunch of fish off the beach (and missed or LDR'ed several more) before the people started showing up and the fish left (more on that later). One was in the 7-8 pound range and ran me the length of the beach and back.
The rest of the week is when Savannah really came together. I went back at dead low looking for tailers on the edge of the grass and that's when the Tabory fly (I'm now dubbing my version the 'SS Minnow' ;) ) came into it's own. Missed the first 3 that ate it: first 2 since I was so awestruck that the infamous SS fish were turning to flies, 1 to a wind knot, but calmed down and had a ball there. The fish that ate weren't the REALLY big singles (mostly, those fish were just moving quickly and purposefully out from the beach towards the sound for no apparent reason and wouldn’t respond one way or the other), but all the fish caught were respectable and generally if there was a tandem or a school of 3-4, it was the bigger of the bunch that ate it. Tended to be better about 3/4 of the way to the point up from the parking spot. The key was the fly and getting low, like crouched in the water on all fours kind of low. Seems obvious, but it's easy to forget to do that when you see fish coming. And to emphasize - the fishing there is still really technical, it still requires spotting them a good distance out to get a plan/stalk together, making fairly long, sometimes backhanded or difficult crosswind casts and a solid presentation, but they will eat on occasion. I think summertime has a lot to do with it, also. Should also note that even the new fly wasn't magic...the technique and the presentation are still the key. I was still throwing 14' of 4X fluoro everywhere.
Also hit the Harbour a couple times. Lots of fish on both sides, but they're getting as bad as the SS fish. Only one little one from a school of 4 that was crashing baitfish.
Hit Half sound once, bad tide - looked at Ten Bay a couple times, but always too many people. Hacked into a couple of old ocean side favorites on what I think was Thursday and more fish cruising the wash that ate a tan rabbit or sili-legs gotcha like they hadn't eaten in a week.
After the family left, tried to find Starved creek access road. I have the old directions and a good map, but the only road I could get into (after a missed turn and a long walk) that SHOULD have been the road that follows the shoreline south of Wells Bay was blocked off about a mile south...so, slog back to truck up some recently carved road, guzzle some water and a Kalik, drive south to look for the other road in and from my map and some figuring, I had already missed that one too, so just started looking for roads to the caribbean side. Turned down a nice white rock road, so drove in there a ways before hitting a locked tall fence, but a beautiful mangrove creek system just a few hundred yards to the right (on the 'correct' side of the fence). Ripped up my feet and legs getting in through a LOT of broken coral and then sank through a ton of stinky muck until I hit the first part of a big flat with several large mangrove cays that looked like it'd be wadeable. 2 seconds in, saw a couple shadows near a mangrove stand, cast, take...snapper. Turned out to be lots of them. If it was the end of the session, 2 of those would have been a nice dinner, but I had a while to go yet so released them all. About 15 minutes after messing with the snapper, found a relatively hard-bottomed section to walk and started moving...saw the biggest bone I've ever seen that wasn’t in a picture. Easy 12 pounds. Sadly, he was about 100' out in front when I saw him and going away from me into the wind (which was the only way I could walk and keep the sun relatively behind me), I made a futile shot, but I wasn't even close and he dissapeared. After that, as I approached another big mangrove cay, started seeing singles and tailers. Not very big, but fairly easy pickings on small gotchas and my last little tan crab (which I lost coming up in about a sentence…). I got to the point where I was going to cross the marl and make a circle back to where I started, assuming the bottom would hold, and hooked a really nice one. After a few blistering runs, had him almost to hand, but by that point, I had moved out further from the mangroves and sand and I was buried to my knees in muck and, as noted, I was alone and a long ways from anything ...I bent over to try and get the forceps on him and nearly fell over forwards. I then realized it was the fish or me and had to break him off. Killed me to leave that fish with metal in his mouth, but if I'd fallen over forward and gotten my arms stuck as deep as my legs, I might still be there. About 5-10 minutes later I'd extricated myself and decided to just follow my tracks back. No more fish, but that's a neat place and if I had a partner or a kayak, it would have been easier on the nerves to explore deeper into the creeks without worrying about getting stuck.
Then it was on to the Davis Harbour area, where there supposedly have been some Permit. It looked pretty "Permit-y", and about 5 minutes in, saw some shadows just off the shelf from shore, quick shot with the crab, rushing take...forked tail!! Could it be??....nope...just a big jack. But fun nonetheless and caught some more jacks, triggerfish, small snapper and random reef critters and had some fun.
Ended up that night back @ Savannah. Once again brought a few more to hand and I called it for the day after talking to a bunch of guys that were just arrived and scouting some places. Gave them a few flies and showed them some of the ‘main’ flats to look @ and headed out for some fun @ Tippys.
The last morning, I just fished the Harbour. Hooked one and lost it and got refused by a few others. Packed up, sadly, got some fritters @ the Beach House, had a few more Kaliks watching the Brazil match and a long trip home started. Have really missed not going a couple of years. I’d forgotten how much I love that island for everything it is, non-fishing and fishing alike. Some people just find ‘their place’ and Eleuthera is that place for me.
Couple of other notes on the island in general:
We’ve always stayed on Club Med (First Mon Soleil and more recently Sun Dancer). It’s the most wonderful beach for swimming, snorkeling, seclusion (and, more recently, bonefish to boot). But – we were disappointed that in the last 2 years, there has been a HUGE plantation home built at the corner by the rocks, one across the street from Sun Dancer and 1 in progress next to that. Also, more people seem to be coming in from other places, It really felt crowded this time.
Obviously, your definition of crowded is a little relative on a place like Eleuthera, but where we’d generally share that wonderful beach with 2-6 other people, this time it was 10-20. They were all really nice folks, my kids had a good time (especially the toddler) playing with them, but still – it used to feel like “Our” place and felt a little more ‘resorty’ this time around
More real estate signs than I’ve ever seen there. Like 30X more. Suppose it’s a function of the economy, but you literally can’t go a half mile from Current to Rock Sound without seeing a sign. I don’t know if that’s going to be good or bad.
The new bar/restaurant – Beach House – just two doors down from us, was good and a really nice, more laid back (again- relative thinking there :)) alternative to Tippys.
I love Tippy’s.
I stayed @ Pineapple Fields the last couple days alone and it would be a really nice alternative to a beachhouse if you’re only fishing or if it’s just a couple and you don’t NEED a beachhouse or are looking to save a few bucks. Really well-constructed, comfortable, pool, etc. Stumbling distance to Tippy’s, to boot. Having TV and internet was oddly welcome (usually not my style on vacation, but was nice to watch parts of the World Cup and the coverage from back home).
All in all – great trip, both fishing and otherwise. As always – please feel free to PM me more questions.
Best,
Chris
As I noted in my brief report, Fishing was good. Those fish in a lot of the well-known places are getting pretty da*n smart.
Days are blurred, so I may screw up the timing or sequence, but oh well, that’ll happen after 10 days on the E:
Saturday after arrival, hit Savannah for the first of many times. Fish were tough as usual. Standard cast 12 feet in front and hope they went that way, most of the time they didn't, when they did, they'd ignore it. Switched to the little #8 hover-style tan and white crab and finally got a nice one almost in front of the volleyball net. 3 Wild runs. Great to be back. Then hit Balara Bay, not much going on there. Saw a few singles, but they were nervous and just kind of cruising.
Sunday - mostly hung with the family on the beach in front of the house (Sun Dancer on Club Med) all of a sudden started seeing singles cruising the wash. A quick run to the house for the rod and fish on. Nice 3-4 pounder. Stalked up and down and got another just up the beach. A good start.
Next few days were mostly spent on bones in the wash in front of the house when tides were good, alternating walks with the rod with playing with the family. I landed a bunch of fish off the beach (and missed or LDR'ed several more) before the people started showing up and the fish left (more on that later). One was in the 7-8 pound range and ran me the length of the beach and back.
The rest of the week is when Savannah really came together. I went back at dead low looking for tailers on the edge of the grass and that's when the Tabory fly (I'm now dubbing my version the 'SS Minnow' ;) ) came into it's own. Missed the first 3 that ate it: first 2 since I was so awestruck that the infamous SS fish were turning to flies, 1 to a wind knot, but calmed down and had a ball there. The fish that ate weren't the REALLY big singles (mostly, those fish were just moving quickly and purposefully out from the beach towards the sound for no apparent reason and wouldn’t respond one way or the other), but all the fish caught were respectable and generally if there was a tandem or a school of 3-4, it was the bigger of the bunch that ate it. Tended to be better about 3/4 of the way to the point up from the parking spot. The key was the fly and getting low, like crouched in the water on all fours kind of low. Seems obvious, but it's easy to forget to do that when you see fish coming. And to emphasize - the fishing there is still really technical, it still requires spotting them a good distance out to get a plan/stalk together, making fairly long, sometimes backhanded or difficult crosswind casts and a solid presentation, but they will eat on occasion. I think summertime has a lot to do with it, also. Should also note that even the new fly wasn't magic...the technique and the presentation are still the key. I was still throwing 14' of 4X fluoro everywhere.
Also hit the Harbour a couple times. Lots of fish on both sides, but they're getting as bad as the SS fish. Only one little one from a school of 4 that was crashing baitfish.
Hit Half sound once, bad tide - looked at Ten Bay a couple times, but always too many people. Hacked into a couple of old ocean side favorites on what I think was Thursday and more fish cruising the wash that ate a tan rabbit or sili-legs gotcha like they hadn't eaten in a week.
After the family left, tried to find Starved creek access road. I have the old directions and a good map, but the only road I could get into (after a missed turn and a long walk) that SHOULD have been the road that follows the shoreline south of Wells Bay was blocked off about a mile south...so, slog back to truck up some recently carved road, guzzle some water and a Kalik, drive south to look for the other road in and from my map and some figuring, I had already missed that one too, so just started looking for roads to the caribbean side. Turned down a nice white rock road, so drove in there a ways before hitting a locked tall fence, but a beautiful mangrove creek system just a few hundred yards to the right (on the 'correct' side of the fence). Ripped up my feet and legs getting in through a LOT of broken coral and then sank through a ton of stinky muck until I hit the first part of a big flat with several large mangrove cays that looked like it'd be wadeable. 2 seconds in, saw a couple shadows near a mangrove stand, cast, take...snapper. Turned out to be lots of them. If it was the end of the session, 2 of those would have been a nice dinner, but I had a while to go yet so released them all. About 15 minutes after messing with the snapper, found a relatively hard-bottomed section to walk and started moving...saw the biggest bone I've ever seen that wasn’t in a picture. Easy 12 pounds. Sadly, he was about 100' out in front when I saw him and going away from me into the wind (which was the only way I could walk and keep the sun relatively behind me), I made a futile shot, but I wasn't even close and he dissapeared. After that, as I approached another big mangrove cay, started seeing singles and tailers. Not very big, but fairly easy pickings on small gotchas and my last little tan crab (which I lost coming up in about a sentence…). I got to the point where I was going to cross the marl and make a circle back to where I started, assuming the bottom would hold, and hooked a really nice one. After a few blistering runs, had him almost to hand, but by that point, I had moved out further from the mangroves and sand and I was buried to my knees in muck and, as noted, I was alone and a long ways from anything ...I bent over to try and get the forceps on him and nearly fell over forwards. I then realized it was the fish or me and had to break him off. Killed me to leave that fish with metal in his mouth, but if I'd fallen over forward and gotten my arms stuck as deep as my legs, I might still be there. About 5-10 minutes later I'd extricated myself and decided to just follow my tracks back. No more fish, but that's a neat place and if I had a partner or a kayak, it would have been easier on the nerves to explore deeper into the creeks without worrying about getting stuck.
Then it was on to the Davis Harbour area, where there supposedly have been some Permit. It looked pretty "Permit-y", and about 5 minutes in, saw some shadows just off the shelf from shore, quick shot with the crab, rushing take...forked tail!! Could it be??....nope...just a big jack. But fun nonetheless and caught some more jacks, triggerfish, small snapper and random reef critters and had some fun.
Ended up that night back @ Savannah. Once again brought a few more to hand and I called it for the day after talking to a bunch of guys that were just arrived and scouting some places. Gave them a few flies and showed them some of the ‘main’ flats to look @ and headed out for some fun @ Tippys.
The last morning, I just fished the Harbour. Hooked one and lost it and got refused by a few others. Packed up, sadly, got some fritters @ the Beach House, had a few more Kaliks watching the Brazil match and a long trip home started. Have really missed not going a couple of years. I’d forgotten how much I love that island for everything it is, non-fishing and fishing alike. Some people just find ‘their place’ and Eleuthera is that place for me.
Couple of other notes on the island in general:
We’ve always stayed on Club Med (First Mon Soleil and more recently Sun Dancer). It’s the most wonderful beach for swimming, snorkeling, seclusion (and, more recently, bonefish to boot). But – we were disappointed that in the last 2 years, there has been a HUGE plantation home built at the corner by the rocks, one across the street from Sun Dancer and 1 in progress next to that. Also, more people seem to be coming in from other places, It really felt crowded this time.
Obviously, your definition of crowded is a little relative on a place like Eleuthera, but where we’d generally share that wonderful beach with 2-6 other people, this time it was 10-20. They were all really nice folks, my kids had a good time (especially the toddler) playing with them, but still – it used to feel like “Our” place and felt a little more ‘resorty’ this time around
More real estate signs than I’ve ever seen there. Like 30X more. Suppose it’s a function of the economy, but you literally can’t go a half mile from Current to Rock Sound without seeing a sign. I don’t know if that’s going to be good or bad.
The new bar/restaurant – Beach House – just two doors down from us, was good and a really nice, more laid back (again- relative thinking there :)) alternative to Tippys.
I love Tippy’s.
I stayed @ Pineapple Fields the last couple days alone and it would be a really nice alternative to a beachhouse if you’re only fishing or if it’s just a couple and you don’t NEED a beachhouse or are looking to save a few bucks. Really well-constructed, comfortable, pool, etc. Stumbling distance to Tippy’s, to boot. Having TV and internet was oddly welcome (usually not my style on vacation, but was nice to watch parts of the World Cup and the coverage from back home).
All in all – great trip, both fishing and otherwise. As always – please feel free to PM me more questions.
Best,
Chris