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| Andros South Lodge |
When winter was lingering on well into July I was having an email exchange with Capt. Bruce Chard in Big Pine Key and was complaining about the weather and said I’d need a bonefish fix one day soon if it kept up. He replied saying he had one spot left for his November trip to South Andros and a spot left on the charter flight out of Launderdale that could actually make the travel acceptable. I signed up for a week at Deneki’s Andros South Lodge and the opportunity for sun and warmth in November.
Friday, November 11
It was going to take at least 2 days to get to South Andros so the first day was simply getting to Ft. Lauderdale where I could spend the night and be ready for the flight to the island the next day. The first leg of the journey from Seattle to Houston went smoothly and the layover was just right. Getting out of Houston however was a bit of a problem. We backed out of the gate on time then sat, and sat, and sat. Then we started moving, back to the gate. Turned out a seat wasn’t going into the full upright position so we delayed 1 hour total to get the seat fixed. So, we arrived in Lauderdale late, then baggage claim took forever and finally I had to wait 45 minutes for my shuttle to the hotel. I finally arrived at the hotel about 2 hours later than I had planned but I had made it. I walked over to the Islamorada Fish Company for a blackened grouper sandwich then headed back to read and get some sleep.
Saturday, November 12
Our flight out of Lauderdale didn’t leave until 2 p.m. so I had plenty of time in the morning. I did a 5-mile run, had breakfast and a latte (my last for the week) and then headed over to Outdoor World for a few last minute supplies. Amazingly I had booked the hotel where everyone was staying for the Tarpon and Bonefish Trust seminar and was thus surrounded by fly fishing legends at the hotel and at the adjoining IGFA Hall of Fame and Museum. After getting my supplies I hung out at the museum waiting for Bruce to arrive for lunch. During this time I got to meet Lefty Kreh and watch him cast, got to meet Andy Mills and Flip Pallot plus a few fly tyers and others in the industry. I felt a bit celebrity struck by the whole thing though everyone was nice and willing to share stories.
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| IGFA Hall of Fame | The “tarpon” side of the building |
Bruce and a few of the guys on the trip showed up a bit before noon, we packed up my stuff and headed for lunch back at the Fish Co. After that we took off for the SheltAir terminal and our six seater plane which would take us to Andros. It was a pretty smooth ride for a little over an hour then a bit of a wild landing in the cross wind that was hitting the runway at the Congo Town air strip.
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| Our charter | All aboard and ready for take off |
Once landed we were shuttled to Andros South Lodge where we got our rooms and had a bit of time to hang out before dinner. I was staying at the Conch House with Bruce, literally a house constructed with Conch shell.
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| The Conch House | Beach at the lodge |
It was pretty windy so the beach was a bit wild out there so I didn’t bother trying to fish. Another group that was supposed to arrive before us on Bahamas Air was stranded in Nassau and didn’t end up appearing until 7 p.m. after which time we had dinner and a brief meeting about the week ahead. Tomorrow I go fishing…
Sunday, November 13
The day started out looking a lot like yesterday, it was cloudy and windy. After breakfast we took off in the vans for the launch at Little River. I fished the day with Josie as a single so had plenty of time to fish. We headed out through the river and across the cut in the island to the west side where we headed south to the first of many flats for the day.
After a few messed up casts to fish I connected finally and landed a nice 5-6 lbs. fish, my first bonefish of the trip. On that single flat I got several other bones in the 2-3 lbs. range and lost another one. All fish came on a #2 Spawning Shrimp. If the sun was out we managed to find fish almost all the time but the sun was only out about 5-10% of the time, the rest of the time we were pretty much blind. Add to that the fact that the wind was 20-25 mph in the morning and it was challenging fishing to say the least. Before lunch we did a few other flats and I ended up hooking 8 and landing 4 of them. 3 came off due to a bad hook-set and 1 was eaten by a shark but at least I was batting .500 by this time.
We had hopes that the sun was going to come out more in the afternoon and when we started there was a bit more. I had a shot at one big 10+ lbs. bonefish in a nearly perfect set-up had it not been for the wind. My fly went too far in front of the fish and Josie told me to pick it up and re-cast. As I went to pick up the fly the fish from about 25’ away tore after the fly. The fish was a bit neurotic after the fly left the water and went airborne and I managed to get off another cast before spooking him. Bummer. The sun never got better, in fact it got worse within an hour though the wind dropped to around 20. I did manage to land another 4 bones in the afternoon so was 8/12 for the day.
After returning to the lodge I did a run up the beach north of the lodge for about 4 miles and then tried to swim but it was a bit cold so I hit the shower and joined everyone for appetizers and dinner.
Monday, November 14
Today broke with clearer skies and much lower wind and was looking like a nearly perfect day to fish. I fished with Gene from South Florida and for a guide we had Charlie. We left the launch and headed south for quite a while before pulling into Hawks Nest Creek to start the day looking for bones. I was up first and promptly missed the hook set on the first fish that took – twice! After having a couple other fish refuse my Spawning Shrimp I decided to change flies and Gene got the first fish to the boat on a big Gotcha. I got up and pretty quickly got a fish on the Andros Bonefish Special I had bought at Outdoor World, which became the fly I stuck with the rest of the day.
The rest of the morning we fished around the creek working the edges of the mangroves. I ended up with five bones to the boat and missed a few more. Gene ended up getting fish that ran directly into the mangroves and broke him off multiple times. All the fish we saw were in very small groups, often 2-3 fish.
After lunch we headed north into Grassy Creek. There we fished the mangrove edges again on the fall as fish began to pull out of the mangroves. Pretty much immediately we had hooked up and the fishing continued to be pretty good much of the afternoon though both Gene and I were having more hook-up issues on fish that ate the fly but no more break-offs. I got one really nice fish again of about 5-6 lbs. which was the runt of the group of fish, the others with him were easily over 10 lbs.
After the big fish we got into a few larger schools of bones for the first time on the trip. Gene hooked up on the school and while he was playing his fish I hooked up in just a few casts so we had our first double of the trip. This was exciting enough but as Gene got his fish close a lemon shark came in hot and tried to grab it. Gene launched the bone airborne and into the boat away from the shark. I let up my drag so my fish would stop panicking while Charlie scared the shark away then I tightened up and landed the fish which would be the last to the boat for the day though we each missed a few more takes.
Tuesday, November 15
Today was another great day of bonefishing at Andros. I fished with Louis Cahill, a professional photographer out of Atlanta, and our guide was Norman. The weather started out windy but clear and much warmer than the last few days. We headed out in the morning to Grassy Creek where we fished the entire day on flats that I hadn’t been on yet.
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| Louis with fish on! | Louis with a typical Andros bone |
The morning was pretty productive and we had fish consistently the whole time and several of them were very nice fish in the 4-5 lbs. range. After one frustrating session on deck where I basically had 3 strikes on fish I sat down to re-group while Louis got into fish and then when I got up again I had a shot at a very nice single fish. I got off a good backcast to the fish and the fish ate in a few strips then took off deep into the backing running up along the mangrove edge before deciding to pile into the mangroves a bit. We could see the fish splashing around several hundred feet from the boat. We got close and Norman jumped out untangling my line from the mangroves and the fish was trying to go out again. After all the untangling I tightened up again and the fish was still on and this time he stayed deep and out of the trees so we finally landed him. A very nice 7 lbs. fish, the second largest bonefish I’ve ever landed.
After lunch we continued to do well for a few hours back in the flats in Grassy Creek getting fish pretty consistently. We moved up to the flat by the wreck in the late afternoon where we saw a few fish bet never got any to eat. Oh well, we’d boated about two dozen bonefish already for the day and that wreck was calling. We headed over to the wreck and Louis threw a big heavy shrimpy pattern at it and pretty quickly had a Yellowtail Jack on. We traded off for a bit and I got a few jacks and a small snapper, Louis got a few snapper and finally hooked a large Mutton Snapper which pulled back into the wreck and finally wrapped up on some railing and broke free. It was a fun way to end the day.
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| The wreck | Stripping streamers along the hull |
The ride back on the outside, however, was not too fun. It was wet the whole time but coming around the one rocky open point was terrifying. We had waves breaking right at the lip of the deck in heavy water while Louis was telling me about how flats skiffs got sunk by a wave cresting the bow as I’m watching water hit at the bumper of the bow. Luckily we got through the rough water thanks to Norman’s skilled hand at the engine and we got into smoother water for the rest of the ride to the landing. I was very happy to hit the launch and touch ground again.
Wednesday, November 16
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| At the launch |
The day began with rain and clouds and on checking the forecast it looked to be pretty overcast and windy so I was prepared for a not so great day. I fished today with Greg Shaw from Austin and our guide was Josie. We headed back to the west end of the island again like I did on the first day but to new water. We found a very nice light sand flat and I got up and off we went. The first group of bones we found I got a cast off a bit short, began to pull up for another cast and got grabbed by a baby barracuda which, unfortunately, ate my good bonefish fly. I sat down and Greg got up to fish while I tied on a new tippet and fly. Greg fished a bit then cracked off a fish and had to retie a leader so I was back up. I had a few refusals on the Andros Bonefish Special, Josie though it was due to the darker color of the fly compared to the flat but he told me to try it on one more fish – that fish finally took and I landed an average 3 lbs. fish.
Greg managed to get the next fish, another average bone. We had a few more follows, a few refusals, a few missed grabs and a few messed up casts due to the wind. While sitting I switched flies to a light tan and pink fly and when I was up I got a shot at a decent fish and connected. Another nice bonefish that took me way into the backing twice and I finally landed a 4 lbs. fish.
After this flat we seemed plagued with bad light and flats with very spooky fish that we could often not even get a cast off to. We moved quite a few times in search of sun and finally stopped to eat lunch only to have the sun come out and light up the flat and once we got up to fish the clouds appeared. We ran back into the channel and headed to some flats on the inside. Here we again had bad light and most of the fish we saw came out of glare and were past us by the time we spotted them and casts were long and to fish moving away. I had one group of fish follow nearly to the boat but never take the fly, the lemon shark swimming nearby may have had them a bit spooked. Greg had two nice fish follow a pink fly and then turn away when they got close, obviously not wanting to eat that fly. We had a few grabs that we missed too. At least being on the inside the ride home was not life threatening when the day ended. A good day fishing even if it wasn’t the best day catching but the fish we got were nice fish.
After the day of fishing I did another 4 mile run on the beach and then fished the harbor a bit with a Clouser on my 9-weight and Greg was casting there too. We didn’t get any takes but the water was a bit high so I couldn’t really got out to where I wanted to be. After dinner we had another movie night before calling it a day to get ready for tomorrow which looks to be the best day weather wise of the trip.
Thursday, November 17
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| Perfect Sunrise |
Today dawned clear with light wind and was looking like a stellar day, I even swapped out my 9-weight for a 7-weight rod to go along with my 8-weight. I fished the day with Everett Boy from Cape Cod and our guide was Elle. On leaving the landing we headed west again for the day.
We started up just inside of the area I fished yesterday and had very similar conditions all morning with tough conditions to see the fish. Everett went up first while I re-rigged my 7-weight with a lighter fly for the light bottom and skinny water. In the early part of the morning we had a few shots and refusals, the fish did not like my Spawning Shrimp so I changed over to a #2 Gotcha on the 7-weight. Everett connected first and got a fish that had come out from under the boat and ran out, he cast and managed to cast to it and the fish had turned and took the fly. Next up I managed to hook a fish pretty quickly, set up and the fish began running and then just suddenly came unhooked under tension, WTF??? A bit later I finally got a good cast to a fish that was heading towards the boat and connected solidly and managed to land another nice 3-4 lbs Andros bone. Then the clouds rolled in and we were stuck under a big dark cloud with drizzle for almost an hour. Amazingly Elle spotted a few fish in this horrible light and was effectively leading the blind in trying to cast to them.
The light came back and we fished through lunch while we could see but were running fish over and not really getting decent shots at them. We finally moved more inland to some flats where the light was only good if we were poling upwind which Elle did for the next two and a half hours. I had a fish that I had to cast about 50’ upwind to just as we started, hooked up, the fish ran and again popped off for no good reason. A bit further up the flat I saw a fish off towards shore and slightly upwind about 50-60 feet out. I made short cast then gave the 7-weight all it had and got the cast to the fish, stripped once and connected. This fish made the whole day for me, a tough cast to a fish I saw before the guide and I managed to land it.
A few flats later Everett got another fish to eat and he stayed connected to it in a small school of fish. I got back up with the last few minutes of the day. A small group of bones was heading towards us but out of range. They turned and ran to shore then I lost them. As we came to the final point a nice fish appeared, I got off a good cast, he followed and then ran off. Oh well. A tough day but a good day on the water and the one fish made me pretty happy.
Friday, November 18
The last day of fishing dawned clear but with a pretty strong breeze already in the morning and a forecast for winds in the 25-30 range. I fished today with John from Maine and the Keys and our guide was Charlie who I had a few days previous on a very good day. We headed west which was the only hope of minimizing the wind. We passed the small palm island I had fished a few days back and continued north and inside into some sheltered water.
John was up first and literally within 10 minutes had a bonefish on where we had a perfect setup in a corner, two casts and a fish. I got up next and pretty quickly had two refusals on the Spawning Shrimp so we changed flies to a Chardy Special and in about 10 minutes I had a fish eat, set the hook and pretty far into the first run the fish came unhooked, just like yesterday. As my time was running out we saw a fish close to shore, I got off a decent cast and hooked up, landing a nice bone. The morning pretty much went like this, we would go between 5-25 minutes and get a fish on. One fish I got was pretty decent and ran me deep into the backing twice, another 5 lbs. bonefish to the boat.
After lunch the wind picked up quite a bit and made fishing tough. I managed to pull the fly right out of the mouth of one fish before finally getting into one with minutes to go until swap time. The rest of the afternoon we spent running fish over which we would see too late. I had a few good shots at fish which I pretty much messed up totally, including one tailer that was a tough cast but not that hard. If I’d have switched to the 9-weight instead of the 8 I probably would have been able to make the cast.
All in all a good week of bonefishing, I had three of my top five days of bonefishing all in one week and managed to land fish in the 5-7 lbs. range almost every day of the trip. I found the guides at Andros South all excellent and the staff was very friendly. We had a pretty good group of guys on the trip which made it fun and I hope to fish with some of them again in the future.
Gear
If you had to take one rod to Andros it should be an 8-weight, I fished the 8 about 75% of the time. On the non-windy day I was able to fish my 7-weight all day though it was kind of ridiculous by late afternoon. On the really windy day, and rigged for cuda on other days was my 9-weight. If I was only to take two rods it would be an 8 and a 9. All rods were rigged with appropriate weight Bruce Chard fly lines and I used Bruce’s standard 12′ bonefish/permit leader for everything ecxcept my cuda rig.
Fly wise I did good with with following patterns:
- Peterson’s Spawning Shrimp #2
- Andros Bonefish Special #2
- Gotcha #2
- Chardy Bonefish Specials #4 – tied in Gotcha colors or a pink variation