It's very hard to find info for FF'ing in Aruba although I did locate one gentleman's report who found bones on the island. I will be visiting myself next winter to a family timeshare so am very interested.
Since it's such a ridiculously rare thing let's start a secret society called the Aruba Bonefish Club, dedicated to getting husbands of vacationing wives to their bonefish forays while on the island! :devil:
I'll search out the info. In fact I think he's a registered member of the forum...
I guess I will have to bring my fly rod now! Hopefully catch my first bonefish. Anyone out there have any first hand information? I will definitely post a report when I get back.
Just confirmed I will be there next February. Although it's far from being the Bahamas, I am a little excited about it because it's so unexploited and unknown.
So... who else has fished there or wants to be a member of the Aruba Bonefishing Club?
I really like Aruba. Spent a week working at the power plant there about 7 years ago. Not you typical Carribean island, developed, pretty commercial and the floura and fuana are desert like. The people are great and I guess that's what grabbed me more than anything. The natives I worked with were multi-lingual (5 languges typically, though independant now the Dutch ties are strong) and had spent time working in Europe (Netherlands for the most part) at major refineries. The resort area along Palm Beach on the west end of the island is more tropical in terms of floura, and obviously a large consumer of water from the desalintion plant. You can travel around the island on your own feeling secure, relative to other Carribean islands. One note of caution is that the resorts employ off island people and you need to take care of your valuables in your hotel room.
It's been a few years since I've heard from my friends there but I need to re-initiate contact and try to get a little insight on the inshore fishing opps.
I was in Aruba for 2 weeks in late April early May tis year. Only fished two mornings and both times around the airport - nice looking flats and did see one tailing bone and several rays but no shots at fish. Snorkeled up at Arashai but saw no bones. I do not think it is a great spot of them but nice place to visit. Had some great shore and boat dives with just a young dive master at one of the local shops - just the two of us one day and one other fellow the second trip!
Well thanks to all of those who supplied me with info. It helped me catch a few small bones on the fly rod, I also got lucky and caught a pretty nice one on the spinning rod in front of where I stayed. So for those of you who go in the future definitely bring your gear because they are there. Saw some either huge palameto or possibly permit at Baby beach, but didn't get a chance to fish for them. I will post some pictures of the big one when I get my film back.
Nice job! You've started something with it. I am nominating you the first grand poobah of the Aruba Bonefish Club! Anyone second the motion? :hehe: :smokin:
Major,
Actually I just remembered someone had posted the link on this site. If you do a search on Aruba I believe you'll find who originally posted it.
edit
Ah ha, just did the search and, as it turns out, it was the Major himself with his intial post. Thanks a bunch.
Attached is a picture of the biggest bonefish by far that I caught in front of the resort we were staying at, called the the Dutch Village. I caught the fish in front of an audience that formed at the tiki bar located on the beach. What a great way to catch your first bonefish! This fish I caught on my spinning rod on a white bucktail with a green grub trailer after seeing breaking fish about 100 yards off the beach. I got all excited charged out after them but couldn't get close enough by wading. So I headed back to the beach and fished in front of the bar where one local told me there were supposedly Snook. So I fished the area and all of a sudden my drag started screaming, I thought I had a barracuda and was waiting for my light line to break. I fought the fish for atleast 10 minutes until I finally got a look at him and saw he was a bone, my first bone! The other bonefish were much smaller, (pictures not developed yet) probably averaged around 9 inches, were caught in front of the fisherman huts just south of Malmok beach on pink crazy charlie, size 6. Some beautiful flats with some tailing good sized bonefish, but the only place I saw them was in this 40 x 40 foot marked off beach area. The only problem was the jerk kite boarders that worked there showing up around 9 am and buzzing the area repeatedly. For anyone heading to aruba, make sure you bring your gear. You may get some funny looks but the bonefish are definitely there. All the fisherman locals said there are bonefish everywhere, but they don't really fish for them. I thought I also caught a permit, but it turned out to be a Palometto. I saw the long black dorcel fin cutting through the surface and almost had a heartattack. They are scrappy little fighters on the fly rod. I caught a bunch of them, most were small, but I did see a huge school of large fish at Baby beach swimming with all the tourists. I am almost positive the largest one of the group was a permit. If you want more specific details just let me know I could go on and on.
Juro,
The Dutch Village is one of the first resorts in what is called the low rise hotels. It really doesn't have any flats but there are bones around, so it would be blind casting. The best flat I found was infront of the fisherman huts. Get there early and search it out. I only had two days at the end of my trip to explore, so time spent searching might be rewarding. I didn't get a chance to do it but, I would get to Baby Beach early and try to fish it. There were barracuda, huge palametto (could have been permit) schools, and I bet there are bonefish there early. THere is another beach there that looked promising, I believe it is called ROgers Beach. You pass it right before you get to Baby Beach, it looked like where the locals would swim. Good luck and post a report to the club when you get back.
Going to Aruba 7/23/05 spoke to other Massbass member who has spin fished there, just walking Eagle beach, and up toward wreck and windsurf area. He got bones (also Jacks and cuda's). Used bucktail jigs. My Friend Bill and I will try this. I also ordered some small plastic shrimp and crabs. Also some clear bubbles for trowing flies with spin tackle (I know you fly guys are whincing, but you got to do what you got to do).
Anyone have any other thoughts. I figure nothing better to start the day then walking the surf line, looking for tailing (or feeding) fish and casting. I figure 6AM to 9AM will beat most swimmers etc.
It is even more civilized than the 4AM to 7AM trips I take looking for stripers all over Boston Harbor and Cape Cod (also Maine and RI).
IMHO with spin gear you'd probably be best off fishing plugs off the gravel shoal at the base of the California lighthouse. I saw some serious busting action there one day and it's a good spin spot.
Another good spin spot would be the Spanish Lagoon bridge which is a known tarpon spot. Fly fishing is not very practical there but a spin rod would have the advantage from the bridge. Also if you drive down the east side of the lagoon there is a park with access to the inlet, looked pretty fishy - again a good spin spot but no room for fly.
The entire surfline along the western shore of the island would be promising for jacks.
If you drive around there are all kinds of places to park and cast, one is just past the bunker bar and always has the attention of the local fishermen.
As far as bones, I've only fished them with a fly and the trick is to not splash anything heavy near them when you spot them. Since the fly line can carry with zero weight, it's ideal for this purpose. Maybe when blind casting for bones, which I have never done, a jig or other lure is effective (as you and others mentioned). Worth a try.
The locals I talked to about arashi say they hooked them on shrimp while fishing for snapper and other 'desireable' fish at night... on hand lines!!
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Fly Fishing Forum
163.8K posts
38.8K members
Since 2000
A forum community dedicated to fly fishing and sporting enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about safety, licenses, tips, tricks, rivers, reviews, accessories, classifieds, and more!