Another great adventure that Betty and Steve MacKenzie enjoyed fly fishing for big bonefish on Andros Island. Thanks for the trip summary you two. Looks like an excellent adventure!
Second week of December we traveled from Calgary to Atlanta and down to Nassau in the Bahamas. We then took a 15 minute flight over to Andros Island- the home of large bonefish.We had booked a week with Big Charlies Bone Fishing Lodge after reading about it in a Western Canadian sporting magazine. It was exactly as described in the magazine- an affordable, basic fishing lodge for 8 guests, with good boats and good guides. During the week we were treated to very tasty Bahamian cuisine featuring a lot of fresh seafood and a complimentary fully stocked bar!
The lodge was built by and operated by Bahamian Big Charlie and his Moroccan wife Fatiha.
The other 6 guests were retired professional men from the USA who have been going there twice a year for over a decade. Dinner table discussions were very interesting and we heard from one ex-Olympic athlete who was an equestrian in the 1960 Olympics.
The first morning Betty caught a personal best bonefish that the guide estimated at 7 pounds.
There are miles of shallow crystal clear waters amid many small Islands, so there was usually a place to get out of the wind a bit. The guides are skilled at positioning the boat to give you the best wind to cast with no matter if you cast right or left handed. From their elevated poling platform the guides can spot incoming fish whether they be large singles or schools of 45 fish. Other wildlife spotted were turtles, dolphins, big and small rays and barracuda. I finally landed a good barracuda on the surf casting rod I always have along in case the opportunity presents itself. Imagine a northern pike on Nitro in two feet of water. We lost a day due to wind and weather but were able to do some exploring around the lodge. Everyone was very friendly and spoke perfect English when around the guests and a local dialect with each other. You must take all of your own equipment and we fished with 8wt. rods with tropical floating line. Tippet was 15-16 pounds and we fished several variations of the Crazy Charlie shrimp fly. All in all it was a fun and interesting trip that we think we might do again.
