Green Turtle Cay Report

[BamaBonefisher]

Hello all,

For the sake of ease of travel and accommodations, I chose to go to Green Turtle Cay in the Abacos. It ended up being a great experience, despite my fishing efforts.

I'd wake up 'round 5 and fish the sunrise/ rising tide; each lunch and crash, and then go hit the flats until dark. Overall, I got exactly what I expected. Big bonefish. SMART bonefish.

As a person who has fished Belize numerous times, I cant emphasize enough the 'shock' factor of casting to +10lb bonefish. It was like throwing Gotchas at sharks. The tails seemed to be the size of my arm (haha). But, also I cant emphasize the frustration of fishing to big fish! I had shots at +50 tailing fish over the week and a handful of chances against cruising/schooling fish. I ended the week with only 2 bonefish. One was 7 and the other had to break 10. Life-changing for me!

But overall, I don't think that style of bonefishing is for me (heed my words, those trying to go out there on your own)- it is racked with frustration, late night tying sessions, and "what the hell do you want" cursing rants at our finny friends. Maybe once I'm sick of small bonefish, I'll love this educational challenge, but that time is now.

As for the specifics, I used Abaco Island Rentals which put me in a luxurious apartment for $90 (UNbelievable deal). Fished Town Flats, Gillam Bay, Coco Bay, and a couple random ditches. All the tailing fish were found on Town Flats, which I now know probably see at least 2 anglers a day. SMART fish. Gillam Bay had a few cruisers, and oddly, Coco Bay didn't have anything. I caught a few pencil sized barracuda, but I did not see a single bone the 4 times I biked up there to fish. For me, I loved the lowest tide and fishing until the water got too high, or it got dark. Tailing fish just get my blood racing. Also, without a boat I was bound to my feet.

I got the peace and quiet I needed, met some incredibly warm and kind people, enjoyed some cracked conch and Kaliks, and caught the 2 biggest bonefish of my life. The small town feel of the island makes the trip worth every penny. I hope this report helps anyone looking into the area, and feel free to contact me!


Thanks for ya'll's help,

[raggpt12]

nice report ... what did the big guys finally take ??

[widdoes]

Had a similar experince on New Providence Is. (Nassau- there are no bonefish there :brow) a few years ago. Every morning I would cast to (the same?) 3 bonefish, 2 in the 7-8 range and one at LEAST 2ce as big (Mother- THE HUMAN?). Everything- clousers, crabs, gotchas, charlies, bitters, puffs, Royal Wulff- OK, not that- but everything else- nadda. These fish don't see anglers everyday, but they do see people. They aren't shy, but they sure are smart. Threw my rod at them a few times.
Still, what a rush!
Great report and glad enjoyed GTC. Haven't been in a long time, but used to love it!
-Widdoes

[Nassau Frank]

Merry Merry Widdoes,
There still are no bonefish on New Providence.
At least not at my desk ;)

[Bonecrusher]

nice report, enjoyed the read.
One of the secrets to catching big tailers is patience. You can't worry about making the absolutely perfect cast because as much as we may envision that in our dreams, the reality is that the fish are moving, the wind is blowing, the sun is creating glare, etc, etc. What you really need to do is put youself in position to make a good enough cast meaning, you don't need to drop the fly 2 feet in front of his face for him to find and eat it. You need to lead him and let him come to the fly before you start stripping and catching his attention.

If you're in super skinny water and you have big bone rooting around, they are on high alert. Any sound, vibration, etc out of the ordinary is going to get their attention and decrease your chances of fooling him.
If you've fished for bones a long time, you've undoubtedly had fish were you made one too many casts because you were trying to be perfect and you ended up spooking them. After you get done cursing yourself, you promise to have more patience next time. Happens a lot.
So, what you want to do is determine the general direction the fish is feeding, particularly in skinny/calm water where line slap is going to spook him, you need to lead him 10-15 or more feet. Just let the fly sit on the bottom. It can be excruciating waiting for him to get close enough, be he will. When he's within 2 feet or so of the fly (you obviously have to know where your fly is), start some short strips. Most times, the fish will rush the fly and hammer it, doing his own tail slapping as he's trying to tail on the fly and pin it to the bottom. To me, this is the most exciting moment in all of fishing.
Man, I wanna go somewhere right now!

[Lineas Tenso]

For several days we observed a very nice school of big bones from our 2nd floor condo porch BUT we were leaving for the tarpon flats. I had to get vocal to drag our guide away from the bone fish, esp. after he lost one to coral. Then we had two days of high wind and it was on. I noticed that the bones kept returning to a small patch of sand. I cast my "table junk MOE" to that spot and waited, waited, waited, and then got an eater: 6lbs. and my first Florida bone.