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Eleuthera Report 10/28-11/4

2K views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  MartyG 
#1 · (Edited)
Good afternoon -

Just got back from Eleuthera and as you might expect it was a little rough down there in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

The Caribbean side (west) was a washing machine of chalky blue/green/white water for the first four days with the harbor front street of Governor's Harbour and Tarpum Bay buried in turtle grass, sand and water. Needless to say with fish fry's and other harbor activities scheduled, the debris was cleared up quickly.

Not so in some of the other less popular bays such as Receiver Beach near Coco di Mama and Ten Bay. It didn't matter much as they were unfishable anyway. This also resulted in a terrible shortage of grouper for a few days since the fisherman couldn't get out to their fish traps. :frown:

The Atlantic side (ocean/east) was the same for a few days but cleared halfway through the trip. To make matters worse the moon was in a spring tides/full moon phase. High water along the beaches and to the tree line on Savannah Sound.

The weather was actually quite nice with highs in the very low 80's and cool nights in the mid 70's except toward the end of the trip where it hit 67 at night and the locals starting wearing down parkas. W/NW winds of 5-10, sometimes up to 15, most of the week and turning to 5-10 from the E/NE the last 2 days. No power for the first 3.5 days. Then intermittent until I left.

I fished the beach at my N. Palmetto Point rental house (ocean side) with minimal luck. Some medium sized bones. Some palometas. Saw some sharks and rays.

Savannah Sound was more generous. The low tides were mid afternoon and from noon til low tide even though the flat was mostly covered finding cruising groups of 2's and 3's wasn't hard. And they were eager for tan #6 gotchas. At near low tide finding tailing groups of 4-8 bones was easy as well. However I couldn't get any takers with the gotchas (tried different sizes and colors) or crabs. They of course were big fish so I really wanted to get a take from the tailers. Even when I lined them sending them scurrying they returned almost immediately and started tailing again.

New spots I tried were Winding Bay and a creek nearby. Being a well protected bay the waves were very small so seeing the single bones cruising the waters' edge was easy. Not lots of them but enough to be worth the walk. Some blind casts into the turtle grass with #6 chartruese clousers yielded a hook bending mutton snapper.

There is a creek leading to some mangrove flats between Winding Bay and Half Bay where I caught some smaller bones and a cuda.

Overall I tried to discover some new places and new techniques both of which improved my experience. Number one was positioning prior to casting to make sure I wasn't dragging the fly perpindicular to the fishes predicted path.

Tippy's, Ronnies and the Fish Fry were all dependably terrific. Already preparing to go back in January or February.

Marty
 
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#5 ·
Hey Marty

Sounds like you made the most of your trip given the fact Sandy came along about the same time. I'm heading down next week for a few days. My wife is already there and reports constant wind from NE at 20-30 mph. Hope that subsides some in the next few days, but if not, I'll cope with the conditions as you did.

I've looked around a little at that creek and mangrove "ponds" you fished between winding Bay and Half Sound but haven't fished there. Did you wade the creek? How did you access to fish it? I want to give that a try.

My new (untested) theory for the Savannah Sound tailers is to bury a small snail imitation fly in the sand, back up a ways and stand there waiting for a bone to come along and dig it up as that's what I think they are doing. Only problem is I may have to wait for years, so I think I'll look for more cooperative fish!

John Pool
 
#6 ·
John,

If you're driving south past Tarpum Bay take a left at the Shell station. Near the end there is a fork with a sign that points to the public access beach. It leads to the very top of Winding Bay. Rather than taking that left to the beach you can continue on that road and drive past the driveways of the homes on WB. The very last one will take you to the flat & mangroves but it is still private property. I guess you could blaze your own trail since you can almost see the flat from the public part of the road.

I accessed the small flat behind the last house on the south end of Winding Bay by walking along the sea wall that was built along the creek next to the house. There were workers cleaning up the beach and one of them was a fisherman cleaning a cuda on the sea wall. He walked be back there so I presumed the owners weren't around so it was OK.

The flat I fished was quite small but there are fish in there.

If you need more details just PM me.

Marty
 
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