Bahamas Fishing Regulations: What’s Really Happening
As of January 19, 2017, new Bahamian fishing regulations are in effect and confusing both anglers and authorities.
I was recently on South Andros for the G&G Bonefish school and our group was the first to be issued Bahamian fishing licenses on the island. Implementation is a little messy but flats fishing in the Bahamas is operating as usual.
Here’s what you need to know about the new Bahamian flats fishing regulations.
Who does it affect?
The great majority of anglers will see no real difference fishing under these regulations. You will be required to buy a license ($20/week, $60/year), and for the time being, buying that license is a little cumbersome, but it’s very inexpensive. Anglers fishing with lodges or independent guides can count on help getting their licenses. DIY anglers will have to get licenses on their own, and will be restricted to wade fishing or single-person water craft.
There are only two groups who are really negatively impacted by the regulation. Anglers who DIY fish with a boat. Folks who, for example, own a second home in the Bahamas and have a boat, will have to hire a guide. That’s silly but it’s the law. Still, that’s a small group of anglers and if you are one of them I’d suggest you get busy organizing and lobbying for a change in the law. The other group negatively impacted are the guides themselves. All guides now have to pay a $150/year license fee, which they are not happy about. Interesting for a law which was supposed to support guides. If you are not in one of these two groups, once you have your license, the new regulations will not affect you.
How do you get a Bahamian fishing license?
This is where it gets tricky. The new law was put into effect without any mechanism to fulfill license applications. There will eventually be an online license site, but for now the process is quite cumbersome. When I landed on South Andros, even the local officials had no idea the law was in effect. This meant two things:
Read More »3 Ways to Improve Your Fly Casting on the Flats
About ten years ago, I embarked on my first international saltwater fly fishing trip, with a couple Texas boys I’d previously met while chasing peacock bass in the Amazon. The saltwater trip took place down in Mexico, specifically the Ascension Bay area. Our primary target fish were bonefish but we kept a constant lookout for permit and tarpon. The two born and raised Texas boys had grown up fly fishing in the salt, and they both had more than enough testosterone, ego and skill to handle the demanding fishing conditions. I on the other hand, had never experienced first hand the difficulties that saltwater fly fishing brings. I really struggled with spotting fish in an unfamiliar environment and managing my presentations in 25 mph winds. I’ll never forget the humbling feeling of defeat after our first day of fly fishing on the flats. My counterparts landed a dozen bonefish a piece while I only managed to catch one. Just about the entire trip I was plagued with the feeling of being under-gunned on the water. The wind totally kicked my butt and I missed numerous opportunities because I couldn’t cast far enough to consistently get my fly to the targets my guide was calling out.
At the time, the only problem I saw in my fly casting was I didn’t seem to have nearly as much power in my casting stroke as my buddies. That was true, but the real problem was I didn’t have the competency to diagnose what I was doing wrong and neither of my buddied did either. All they kept saying, over and over to me, was that I needed to work on my double-haul.
Read More »Pay to Play
Something a little different this morning…
I’d like to have a friendly discussion with you, our readers, about something that I’ve noticed popping up on social media more frequently than I can remember happening in recent past. Over the past few weeks, I’ve caught a handful of posts, either an article or a video, that showcases an angler grinning ear-to-ear while holding a slab of a rainbow or brown trout that he or she just caught on a private, “pay to play” piece of water. Good for them, right? Well, some of the comments that have been posted and shared in response to some of these photos and videos might lead you to think that these anglers have made a deal with the devil and forsaken all that is holy in the world of fly fishing. Now, I can certainly understand some of the negative feelings that some anglers might have towards privately held and stocked sections of water that often require deeper pockets in order to fish their kempt waters, if they allow access to the public at all.
There are all sorts of private, “pay to play” waters that exist across the country. My home state. The Southeast. Throughout the Western states. Everywhere. And it’s not even limited to just trout fishing. There’s a small lake just down the road from my house that’s locally known for producing monster bass. You can fish there too as long as you can pony up $12,000 for the initial membership fee and monthly payments of $150. Places like these have been around for a long, long time, and there is no doubt they’ll be around as long as there is enough water for fish to swim.
I’m not writing this article as a way to call anyone out or “bash” these opinions in any way, nor do I think they are completely wrong. This isn’t about hurt feelings or defending anybody. I’m more curious about the rationale behind the reactions and opinions. The anglers that oppose private water, just like everyone else, are entitled to their own opinions and beliefs. I think we all would agree that there’s nothing
Read More »Sunday Classic / Should You Be Sharpening Your Hooks More?
Casting all day long, searching for that beast of a brown. I’m giving it everything I’ve got. I know that’s what it’s going to take if I want a decent shot at landing a big mature brown trout. I’m looking for a 20 plus-incher and they never come easy. And where I live, you’re lucky to get a few opportunities at legitimate wild brown trout of this caliber all year long. We’re approaching a bend that’s known for holding butter slabs and I present a perfect cast right against the deep undercut bank. The retrieve begins, strip strip, pause…, strip strip, pause. Without any warning my six-inch articulated sculpin gets slammed and my fly rod just about comes out of my hands. It’s just been devoured by something very big, and I think it’s what I’ve been looking for. I set the hook hard and my rod bends as the fish breaks the surface thrashing violently, shades of butter are spotted. “It’s a brown!” I yell, but two strips and two head shakes later my fly pulls loose and the beast swims away. My prized catch is lost.
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / Diplomatic Immunity
The Winter 2017 issue of Southern Culture on the Fly is alive and well, With Diplomatic Immunity.
A little love for two-hand rods, and the wife. Some cold water, some saltwater, and some far flung water. Some fly tying and some tying one on. To understand the world, you have to understand a place like S.C.O.F.
S.C.O.F.: DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY
Read More »8 Elements of Fly Design to Follow for Imitating Trout Food Sources
When tying fly patterns, it’s very important that you try your best to incorporate several different elements of fly design to increase their effectiveness. No one knows with complete certainty what order or priority trout rank each element of a food source or fly pattern, but most anglers agree that the value or ranking of the elements often change depending on how long a trout has been selectively feeding on a specific food source, at what frequency the specific food source is being eaten, and how diverse or consistent a trout’s diet is at the present moment. The order of the elements that I will talk about in know way ranks the importance of the elements. Instead, fly tiers should look at them together as a whole, and try to include as many as possible or as a check list of the features a fly pattern should have when completed. Doing so, they should find there fly patterns more effective on the water for fooling and catching trout. In this post, I will specifically talk about eight different elements of fly design that fly tiers should pay close attention to when tying fly patterns at the vise.
Read More »Fishsaver
I’M STARTING TO THINK THAT IT’S NOT MY COMPUTER MONITOR THAT I’M SAVING.
Here’s something you probably haven’t thought about. If you are a regular G&G reader, it’s likely that your picture of what goes on behind the curtain is more dramatic than it actually is. You might be tempted to think that I am always on the bow of a flats boat or on the sticks floating a river somewhere or knee-deep in a steelhead run, and for an average of one week a month, that’s fairly true. What you probably haven’t pictured is what goes on the other three weeks of every month, which is less exciting.
In most homes there is a room where you don’t take visitors. In our hundred-twenty year old home, which is short on closets, there certainly is. A room full of camping gear, suitcases, fabric remnants, and more than a few cameras and fly rods. In the corner of that room there is a small antique desk with two very large computer monitors and a laptop. That’s the Gink and Gasoline world headquarters. My version of a Bond villain’s secret island with underground fortress.
I don’t mean to take the polish off, but most of what you see online is a result of the days spent here, not the ones spent on the river. It’s an awesome job, but it’s a job. Anyway, my trusty Macbook Pro, which has chugged along like a Timex for over ten years finally became functionally obsolescent this year and has been replaced by a shiny new iMac. I’ve spent much of the week between Christmas and New Years migrating data and getting the new machine up to speed.
Part of that transition has been updating the screensaver. For decades now there has been a folder on my hard drive named Fishsaver. In that folder are hundreds of images of fish, which scroll across my computer screen before it drops off to sleep. I’m sure all of you have something similar, but this one is special. Not because it’s mine but because it has actually taken over my life, and not just because I spend way too much time looking at the images.
I started the Fishsaver back when I
Read More »Sunday Classic / The Finer Points of the Ready Position
I’VE TALKED ABOUT THE READY POSITION BEFORE BUT IN TEACHING THE BONEFISH 101 PRIMER ON OUR TRIP TO ANDROS SOUTH, IT OCCURRED TO ME THAT SOME OF THE FINER POINTS BEAR REPEATING OR AT LEAST MORE THOROUGH EXPLANATION.
A good ready position is vital in making a quick and accurate presentation. It will save you the embarrassment of pulling a fly out of your pants, or worse, while you watch the fish you’d hoped to catch swim away. It’s a simple thing but easy to screw up. Here are a few points that I consider important to the ready position.
THE LEASH
The leash is the amount of line outside of your tip top. The length of your leash should be, fly line at least the length of your rod plus your leader, so 9 feet of fly line plus, let’s say, a 12 foot leader to equal 21 feet of leash. This should be enough line to load your rod quickly and start shooting line immediately. It’s also enough line to make a fast short shot at the occasional fish that gets up your skirt.
As important as having a good leash is maintaining it. What I mean by that is keeping up with what your leash is doing. A good leash is no help if it’s stuck under the bow of the boat or dragging a clump of grass. Keep an eye on the current and wind conditions to figure out where you need to hold your rod to keep your leash out of trouble. Sometimes I find it helpful
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / Stones in the River
A new novella from Jason Tucker of Fontinalis Rising.
Long before he was my friend, and a G&G contributor, Jason Tucker was one of my favorite writers. I stumbled across his site and it inspired me. Without knowing it, Jason was instrumental in the forming of Gink and Gasoline.
I have read the first chapter of his novella, “Stones in the River,” and I can already tell you I love it. Jason’s writing is vivid and authentic and lends a grit to a story uniquely his own.
Jamie Simpson is a regular guy, working a job in his hometown in North Carolina, until the day that he wins the lottery. He’s determined not to change, but before he even gets the money his whole life is turned upside down. With time and money on his hands there is only one place he thinks he can go to figure it all out- Alaska. There he discovers new friends, an enigmatic lover and newfound adventure, but will the price be too much to pay?
CHECK OUT “STONES IN THE RIVER”
Read More »Light Where You Need It
THE SUN HAS DIPPED BELOW THE HORIZON AND THE EVENING CHILL IS IN THE AIR.
You’ve got maybe thirty more minutes to fish if you push it. The hatch is on and you can hear fish rising all around you as you struggle in the waning light to change your fly. The fish keep rising and so does your blood pressure but the eye of the hook continues to evade you.
That sounds familiar doesn’t it? I know my eyes aren’t what they used to be. I’ve used a clip on head lamp for years but it frustrates me. When I lift my head to look through my bifocals the light is shining over my hands and I always feel like I’m spooking fish with that lighthouse on my hat. Then I saw my niece and nephew playing with their Christmas stockings. They had the answer to my problem.
Read More »