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RIDICULOUS! Winter bonefish clave

11K views 96 replies 18 participants last post by  grizz0707 
#1 ·
Last year I had the idea to expand the scope of our claves to the sunny archipelago of the Bahamian chain. We never did it but Eddie and I explored the possibilities by finding a place in Exuma he knew about and found the adventure quite interesting and rewarding. We found fish regularly, hooked up all but one time out, and I lost a bonefish that I would estimate at 11-12 pounds to a broken leader and loss of breath. This is the winter for the first annual "ridiculous clave".

Last year on the web I found properties that could accomodate 10 people for less than $300 each for the entire week; including a mini-van, 17ft whaler with 70hp motor, two sea kayaks. This property was on Deadman's Cay with 91 private acres.

Since then the search results have been clouded by new sites so I am re-starting the search and ask that anyone who can help me find the right accomodations please help out.

I am intrigued by Acklins as it is the most uninhabited of the chain, and is known to be a stumble from the front door and hook bonefish type of destination with over 1,000 square miles of bonefish flats. However it involves a lost day in one direction due to connections.

I would like to stay away from the popular islands as this is primarily a DIY trip, although a percentage of the time with a guide is recommended.

I am thinking once we find the den of bonefishing iniquity we will need a pre-payment to join, which should be around $250-300. This will secure the property and if you need to back out you will have to sell your share or lose it. This is the only way we can allow others to make flight reservations, plan vacation time off, etc. It will be a Sat-Sat rental in a particularly miserable time of year to emphasize the sense of escape.

Step #1 - please post the details of places you find on line. We will choose one from the resulting list.
 
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#9 ·
Luv2flyfish said:
Juro,

When is this tentatively taking place? If its like March....I'll be home from the desert and VERY interested.

Jay
Jay -

March might work... but most likely it will be February when it's coldest and most miserable in the northern hemisphere.

I guess we should consider storm seasons and other factors. Early April was nice last year.

Any input on seasonal trends in the Bahamas is appreciated.
 
#11 ·
Deerhaawk -

Thanks for the suggestions! I hear T&C is nicer, although that would be more important for the "couples" clave down the road. I think we would only care about proximity to the nearest carribean bbq joint, cold Kaliks, and bonefish flats. What would the flight / lodging cost be for these places?

For comparison: R/t flights to Nassau are about $348 from Boston in mid-Feb. If one of these $148 per person / wk cabanas works out, that could get the cost down to $600 flight + lodging for an entire week. Many places provide a car, bikes and kayaks.

But the playing field is wide open, anything that makes sense will be considered!
 
#13 ·
Thus far:

Your city to Nassau approx: $350 adv purch / sat stay round trip
alt: your city to Ft.Lauderdale, Bahamasair to destination
($326 Seattle to Ft.Lauderdale in mid-Feb)

Nassau(Ft.Lauderdale) to Eleuthera (or other island) approx: $128-$150 round trip

Lodging shared approx: $150 per some of the options found thus far

Approx cost for the week: $650 plus your personal spending.

I would assume that with $50 each we could fill the kitchen to capacity. We found a place in Georgetown where nightly BBQ specials cost $6 and you could barely walk if you got a side of peas and rice with a beer.

I might ask for the airline ticket for an Xmas gift, cutting my pocket spending down to about $300 while simultaneously getting buy-in from the commandant :)
 
#15 ·
Eleuthera

If you didnt want to fly from Nassau to Eleuthera there is a high speed catamaran run by Fast Ferry called the Bo Hengy that is about $100 round trip. Most days it goes to Spanish Wells then on to Harbour Island. Some days it goes to Governors Harbour...

Keep me in the loop on the next trip...I would be very interested

frank in Winthrop,MA
 
#16 ·
Thanks Frank!

That's a great option. It's cheap and there are three times of departure on Fridays from Nassau.

One caveat is that the aerial photos from the small plane were directly responsible for locating great flats, and might be worth the trouble at least on the way there.

However that's not as important as getting there and the option of taking a fast ferry is very valuable indeed, thanks!

This flat was located by plane, the road identified by shape. There was an incredible mangrove inlet that pushed water out on the ebb, and there were 150 or more bones gathered there when I stepped into the water. I hooked up immediately, then waited for Eddie, who got a fantastic head-on shot and hooked up on his second cast. The next day, Eddie and John both landed multiples at the same spot. I saved my luck for the afternoon at another flat, where I hooked and landed a few including a 6-7 pounder. Right after that I hooked and lost the 11-12 pound beast, a fight I will never forget.
 

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#20 ·
That hurts!

I am looking out my window at the cold Atlantic and snow on the ground and I have to look at those pictures of Bahamian flats!!!!! grrrrrrrr

I have done Spanish Wells and Harbour Island and mainland Eleuthera.
There are many flats on Eleuthera but you need a rental car because they
are so spread out as some of you already know but it is a good DIY site.

I, personally would like to see Acklin's or one of the more southern islands because I have never been, but no matter where you all decide count me in.

Juro...have you ever communicated with Mark Dougherty on the boards..he is a wealth of info on the Abacos...in fact he and I were going to do a trip but it got ruined by the hurricanes...I will have him chime in with info.
 
#22 ·
Awesome news Sean!

Jay things might work out afterall for your return from the middle east in March; I found out that the Seattle fly show is Feb 11, 12, 13, 2005 at Meydenbauer Center, Bellevue and hope to attend the Kaufmann's Spey Days on the Skykomish the following weekend so I might be SOL for any additional time off in February.

Late Jan; early or late March or early April work best for me.

Flyfishing Forum will have a booth in Wilmington March 12-13. I'll make the Sandy Clave in May, then the flats light up around here.
 
#23 ·
Juro,

I've missed the Sandy Clave the last 2 years due to "unforseen obiligations." I am making the next one come hell or high water. I cant bank on being back for the show in mid feb. Its hard to tell. I am working out some post-military employment kinks as we speak. That'll ultimately determine what my schedule works out to be. If I can swing a trip like this, I will. I'll do a little research on bahamas weather pattern trends. But, its looking good and I shouldnt be employed until the first week of June (when the fishing season starts in AK).
 
#24 ·
Bahama Weather Info

Current historic complete weather data in any time duration format you wish can be found at the following link. I did a monthly view for the months of March looking back over the last 4 years. I do not know if the precip. data is accurate or incomplete. The Icon said rain, but the precip data was blank.....on all graphs I could dig up. I dont know if its accurate. It has to rain sometime...right? Anyhow, this link should give the planners a better idea.

http://www.wunderground.com/history/station/78073/2004/3/14/MonthlyHistory.html#calendar

Weather Underground Kicks @$$! I went to NOAA first, but Goverment websites when looking for usable data arent very friendly.
 
#25 · (Edited)
Abaco anyone ?

I have fished Abaco a few times.....the Marls , Cherokee Sound..Robinson Bight,,,
I have stayed in places for $75 a night (2 bedrooms, fully equiped) and have split the costs with a few other folks for a 4 bedroom , 2 full bath with laundry for $1700 a week (On Casurina Point) I have some good contacts there for meals
that are out of this world for $15 a night !!! I usually DIY a fw days and guide a few....here is a link for the casurina point house...cool place....hope this helps...
and YES i am up for a trip !!!
http://www.jrsbonefishabaco.com/rentals.htm

:smokin:

One more decent place in Cherokee.....
http://poloscottage.com/
 
#26 ·
Moving ahead...

First a few points:

I respectfully suggest that we only post direct links and such if accompanied by a cost estimate and summary of it's endearing characteristics. We could easily get to the point where we have too much information, which is better than not enough but still let's keep this very focused.

Secondly, we need to settle on some core parameters: What, when, where, who (then how, how much, etc).

What is a given; when is next, then where.

When:

I would like to do this in December, March or April. Any thoughts on timing out there?
 
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