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
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