I found this sweet deal that will allow you to save some coin on hotel stay… Check out www.oldbahamabay.com which is just by customs check-in in West End.
Right now, you can buy a $100 gift certificate for $50. You have to purchase before Dec 25th and use them before September 30, 2013.
You can cross over from the Palm Beach area to West End which is about the equivalent distance of going from the Charleston Jetties to the SkinneeWest Banks (also known as the “SouthWest Banks” by the uninformed).
Also, if you have never done it before and you want to, I can give you enough tips about the area (where to fish, what to catch), etc for you to have fun… Fishing and free-diving is pretty darn good there.
One correction. I just got my gift certificates in the mail today (certified mail so you have to be able to sign for them). The website says June 30, 2013, but on the actual gift certificates, it says September 30, 2013 which is even better!!! I corrected the original post to reflect the correct date.
Yeah, it’s a cool little trip. I’ll be back in Charleston in 7 months, and have never had the interest in trailering my boat outside of Charleston, but after our experiences down here, I think it will be something that I will want to do a lot in the future. It’s definitely worth the haul if you get the right weather.
I did it this past year in May. Got an invite from a friend that keeps his boat at the Jib in Jupiter, 32 Invincible. WE HAD A BLAST!!!
Fishing was great and we hit the weather perfect , as you can tell from the picture! It is an easy trip(compared to fishing offshore SC) and well worth it if you can do it!!
I hope to go again this year!
I tried to put a picture on this post but it was to big!
Do you have to book in advance? The only problem for me would be I have to have a nice ocean to cross in my little boat. I guess I would just have to have a “Plan B” which would be riding in the taxi and leaving the boat if things were snotty…
When is the fishing good? When are the seas typically the calmest?
Most of the resorts\places to stay in West End will let you cancel the day before if there is bad weather. Yes, you could catch a taxi to Freeport for $70 and hop on a plane or take the Ferry back across to Ft Lauderdale. You don’t really have to book in advance.
Depends on what kind of fishing you want to do. Wahoo is pretty good in the winter and the bottom fishing is pretty good year round. Yellowtail snapper seem to be more in the summer months… Also, I’ve seen several reports of consisten catches of YFT between Lucaya and Bimini that seem to also peak in July\August, but have not tried that myself (requires too much fuel for my taste).
My cup of tea would be heavy in the trolling–and preferrably close by for laid back trips. How close are the typical fishing grounds? Realistically I would probably need to go in the summmer months–how is the trolling then?
For wahoo, the trolling grounds start about 300 yards from the customs check-in point… For yellowfin in the Northwest Providence Channel, I think it’s more typical to run at least 10-20 miles out and search from there… I’ve done the wahoo stuff successfully over there and it’s easy fishing. I haven’t done the yellowfin stuff over there because gas prices are really high there and it’s a lot of “run and gun”. For wahoo and spearfishing, I can carry enough fuel over there to get me back without having to fill up in the Bahamas. Also, while targetting wahoo, we have caught blackfins, dolphin, and even had a sailfish on for about 30 seconds. All within the sight of trees…
Again, my only experience in the Bahamas is with the West End area, so I am sure that things could be different on the eastern side or further south.
We are actually going to attempt to cross this weekend weather permitting, but it’s 50-50 at this point…
Just remember that you are crossing the gulfstream and you should avoid a N or NE wind if possible which is headed the opposite direction of the gulfstream, which can stack them up a bit…
The better wahoo fishing is in the winter but weather is more sketchy. Summer crossings and summer weather patterns are typically more calm, but people aren’t really catching wahoo that time of year from what I have seen.
We tuna fished, caught lots of blackfin’s (15 per day), a few yellowfin’s(2 per day), (lost several!), a few dolphins and fought a blue marlin on a tld 25 for about 1 minute, just before she spooled me! Chased birds for the tunas! At one time we were over 75 miles to the north/northwest? This was 05/20 weekend! Fished hard but lot’s of fun!
Thanks for all the info. Sounds like if I go in summer I’ll plan on trolling close in with a backup plan of bottom fishing…waking up at 8 or so and trolling within sight of land sounds like the ticket!
Ya’ll bringing ballyhoo over or trolling lures mostly?
I take bait, but always have lures on board. You pretty much want to be self-sufficient when you get over there. You don’t want to have to rely on the locals for anything. It might not be that you get what you need and if you do, you will pay a lot extra for it. It’s not too hard to get ice in West End though.
