Abaco Trip summary (Bahamas DIY trip)

[JHbowhunter]

I love the outer Bahamas. The fishing I have experienced in Abaco and Exuma are indescribable.  Last week was my 3rd trip to Abaco - first trip was to Marsh Harbor and now been to Green Turtle Cay two times in a row (2012, and now 2016).   I would retire there, without question - if I could afford it. Real estate is not too bad, but the cost of living is off the charts.  $18 for a 28 bottle case of water. $48 for a case of Sands Light beer (excellent beer btw - Bahama brewed). $8 for a box of cereal. Everything here has to be shipped in. Gas for the boat was about $4.00 a gallon.    

 

Anyway - the trip started with a reunion with my Son who is a freshman at Nova Southeastern in Ft Lauderdale. I flew to FLL Saturday 2/27 and got on a small plane to Treasure Cay with my son, and from there a short ferry ride over to Green Turtle Cay. 6 days of fishing would ensue.

 

It was historically cool there for the past several weeks, and even so during our stay. Fortunately the wind died down a bit. The water temps on the sound and flats where I planned and geared up for bonefish was ridiculously cool at 66-69 degree water temp. The offshore reef to 500+++ feet was "ok" at 73-74 degrees.  It was supposed to be the best time to catch Wahoo, but it was the worst offshore fishing anyone has seen there, and we far exceeded what the local pros did there in our first 5 minutes of fishing...

 

I rented a 21' Sailfish CC from Sunset Marine in Green Turtle Cay (I am the Captain now - total DIY), and rented a small cottage with a  dock in center of town. Could not find a better setup if you tried. We headed out on our first trip to try and drag some expensive $25 Wahoo lures from the offshore reefs to the edge of the deep all day, with a block of chum and some bait to end the day with.  5 minutes starting from the reef, the 8" Halco LaserPro swimming baitfish plug gets hit, and I landed a 20lb cow Mahi (dolphin fish). There were several more following it,  my son tossed a 10lb spinning outfit at the other fish with a 2" minnow plug and hooked up instantly with another big mahi... I gaffed mine and after a long battle his pulled the hook. WOW - what a way to start the trip, the offshore fishing is going to be insane... Nothing else rest of the day except for a 10lb Almaco Jack that hit a 2" Drone spoon back in by the reef, and the one and only hit on the Wahoo Whacko lure that smoked a bunch of line and then somehow cut the 80lb braid despite 3 feet of cable ahead of the lure. We think it was a wahoo, it must have turned with his mouth open and cut the braid.   We tried chumming the reef to no avail, just a small blue runner that I rigged up to troll around the reef right away and we jumped and lost a 5 foot + Barracuda instantly on that.

 

The locals told me they got shut out all week on the offshore, nothing was caught other than the nice Mahi we got plus a smaller 10lb Mahi the next day that we got ( also on a Halco plug.)

 

The rest of the week for us was GREAT on the reef, the only flats we tried for bonefish had me battling a 35lb lemon shark on 10lb tackle for 20 minutes until it cut the line. Never saw a bonefish, but as I said the inshore water was cold and the air never got above 75 entire week.  We caught 5 different species of Jacks, including Amberjack, Black Jack, Almaco Jacks, Yellow Jacks, and blue runners. We 3 grouper species - Gag, Nassau, and Stawberry.   We caught Barracudas and reef sharks.  We caught Margate snappers and Yellowtail snappers. We caught big queen trigger fish. To me the best catch was my son jigging up a big Cero Mackerel (13 lbs) on 10lb line, with a small yellow bucktail as they continually invaded our chum slick, hit the squid, and cut us off. We had been losing those extremely toothy critters all week jigging small bucktails...     Every day we put in at least 3-4 hours offshore trying to get a wahoo or some other pelagic, to no avail. We found diving frigate birds in the 500 foot+ range, leaping flying fish and schools of "something" but they would not hit. I don't think they were big fish.

 

We ate fresh Mahi, Grouper, Snapper, Cero Mackerel, and Yellow Jack (best eating jack) every night (depending on the day). We also fed a village.  My son is also much more "grown up" than trips of the past. I felt like I was away with one of my buddies, and now my son is like my best friend.

 

I would say best vacation ever - for many reasons...  

 

Hope you enjoy the pics...

[3Blade]

Nice pics! Looks like you guys had a great time!

[BowhunterNJ]

Awesome pics and trip!  Very nice! :up:

[LPJR]

Good times right there, looks like gorgeous water. 

 

You guys caught an awesome variety of fish! 

 

Nice!  

[Cousin Brown]

Love it....

[Rusty]

WOW, what a great trip!    

[timbouy]

Some great pics. I am ready to head back.

[JHbowhunter]

Some great pics. I am ready to head back.

What part of Bahamas do you frequent?

[smoking gun]

Trip and pix are epic man

[timbouy]

What part of Bahamas do you frequent?

I was just down in paradise island but used to day runs from Fla with my parents neighbor before you had to go through customs.

[Bucksnbows]

Some tasty vittles you caught there!  Looks like a great trip.  Thanks for sharing it.  Today's weather has my climbing the walls of my office because all I want to do is fish.  But I got out for half a day yesterday for some trout action.  Too much work today..... 

[DRBetz]

Looks like a fantastic time, I'm jealous. Thanks for sharing.

[chris n]

awesome 

[Ms Grit]

Looks like some awesome fishing and beautiful water.  I may have to pick your brain in the future . . .