Forgive me as some of this is a partial repost from a report I gave in the fly fishing section, but it nevertheless applies to the offshore portion of this trip:
I had the honor of accompanying some great anglers to the Bahamas last week for some offshore fishing as well as some fly fishing for bones. We left Charleston at 3:00 AM with the boat in tow as we headed down to Fort Lauderdale to make the crossing. On the way we ran out of gas and literally coasted into a gas station with no less than 10 feet of movement to spare (a feat that was also repeated on the return trip). We arrived in Fort Lauderdale with just enough time to make the crossing to the Bahamas before customs closed if we hauled arse. The only problem was that the seas were 3-5. Needless to say, it was a interesting ride over with some electronics making the ultimate sacrifice. We made it to Bimini with just enough time to check into customs thanks to speed of the crossing (prop checks were in abundance). After we unloaded the boat at our home for the week we were off to the Thirsty Turtle to sample some of the island’s culinary delights. When we arrived at the restaurant we were disheartened to hear that we were too late for the Wahoo bite and too early for the dolphin.
The next morning we had lines out in the water as the sun was rising and in not more than 20 minutes we had what we knew was a nice fish on. Steve battled the fish for approximately 45minutes he wanted to give up, but no one on the boat would let him. Needless to say he prevailed. The fish was so large we had to cut his head of to get him in the fish box. The day continued with three more hoos boated before we returned to the dock. The following day we boated one nice hoo and too many cudas to count. The next day lead to some black fin that were landed, although one managed to become shark bait before it was boat side. The following day we found a nice weed line and worked it for hours with no knock downs although we saw a marlin on the weed line when we pulled u
Sounds like a great trip.
I can sympathsize on the barracuda, they are everywhere around bimini.Especially love to tear up all the ballyhoo. The locals love to eat them suckers, garners a bunch of favors if you bring a few back for them.
those are nice Wahoo congrats on the crossing and fish.
thanks for the report
“Destiny” 35ft
Contender and “Scintilla” 20ft Keywest, Manning SC
Its in my garage. I forgot to bring it to you yesterday. Yea, your half of our boat ran great in the bahamas!! Sorry you were not there to enjoy it. It was a great trip!!
Its in my garage. I forgot to bring it to you yesterday. Yea, your half of our boat ran great in the bahamas!! Sorry you were not there to enjoy it. It was a great trip!!
I wanted to give a big thank you to Z Man Lures, The Charleston Angler, and Firefly Vodka for the “assistance” in making this trip a true success. The Z Man Luers and the TCA items raised the fish during the day and every drop of the Firefly Vodka was consumed by the crew at night.
One thing we figured out real quick about Bimini was that the hoo bite would peak at the outgoing tide and we also needed low light to shadow the lures. The first morning there was perfect as the tides turned around 7am. Day two was ok, but after that it was over.
I will correct shadowgrass on one minor thing. We did get several lucky strikes from hoos on mono with no cutoffs the entire trip. However, we actually only lost one high speed hoo rig. It was late in the afternoon and the deadly San Sal Candy lure was on the port side running about 75 yards back. I had another (less expensive) red and black high speed rig ~30 yards behind it on the starboard side. I heard a hit on the san sal and then noticed the line on the other 50 went limp. The only thing I can figure is that ■■■■ hoo was so hungry for that San Sal Candy that he must have had his mouth wide open when he came across our wake and cut the other line. Hoo knows?? All I know is that after this trip that poor san sal candy looks like a rag doll now. Replacement skirts will be ordered soon!
I dont know where the Mahi are at on their migration trail, but they were definatly not at Bimini last week. We only saw one Mahi all week. He no meat on his bones and was floating upside down at the boat ramp in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.
Again, thanks to Z Man, The Charleston Angler, and FireFly for the support!! We really appreciate it!
Jonathan, glad to hear you guys had a good trip and caught some nice ones! Great job on the big wahoo. Glad to hear the lures worked, and nice to see that 50 in action rather than collecting dust in my garage. Let’s fish sometime soon.
One of the guys who when on the trip knew someone who lived in Ft. Lauderdale and we were able to park it at their house. It was a pretty good haul from the landing…
If I can talk a few guys into going back in August, I would make the crossing again in a heartbeat. There is nothing better than filling the box with fish, looking a your watch and its 11am. Then decide to make the 20 minute run back to the house to clean fish, eat lunch and catch a nap before the afternoon bite turnes on!! Even though I have been there, the thought of being in 1000ft of water in less than 2 miles from the dock is still hard to for me to fathom. I am truly spoiled now. The 12hr day to run out of Charleston is going to be even harder after that trip.
Hey Smith…
made the trip a couple years ago myself. Drove down to Dinner Keye Marina and left out of the ramp. Left the truck and boat trailer there at the ramp. Ran over to Bimini, got a friend with a couple condos at Bimini Sands. Nice units with dockage out front. Decide to go back, theyd be a nice place to stay with the cut just out front of the units. Learned high speed trolling there myself for the first time. It was awesome! Has Bimini Bay finished with their marina?
i made that trip several years ago for my college spring break. we had about the same luck fishing that you did. caught a couple wahoo, some dolphin, couple tuna, and approximately 1000 barracudas. judging from the pictures all over the walls at the complete angler, it looked like hemingway dried out all the big marlin and tuna many decades ago. bimini was a really cool place to fish and visit though. i’m sure ya’ll had a blast.
Wish I hadda been there.