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Grand Bahama Island is considered one of the premier destinations in the world for sport fishing. If you’re ready for a good fight, then strap yourself in and get ready to hook onto a marlin, sailfish, blue, and yellow fin tuna, bonefish, or barracuda—to name a few.
One of the world's best game fish—the bonefish—not only likes the waters of Grand Bahama Island, but is more at home here than anywhere else in the world. The flats off Deep Water Cay, in the East, are praised year after year by fishing writers from around the globe. The Old Bahama Flats off West End also yield great catches.
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Fly-fishing, particularly for bonefish, is quickly gaining popularity on Grand Bahama Island and throughout The Islands of The Bahamas. Next to golf, it is the fastest growing sport. The best time to go fishing is between April and September, though winter is good too. |
In addition to independent fishing guides, there are several water-sports companies, marinas, hotels and picturesque lodges in the Eastern and Western areas that cater to the sport exclusively. They would be more than happy to lead you to the best fishing grounds—for a reasonable price.There's so much fishing in the Bahamas that it could, and has, taken a lifetime to explore the waters from Walker's Cay in the north down to Crooked Island in the south. Few places on earth look so good when winter winds howl, and it's an easy trip from the United States and Europe. There's so much to do other than fish that wise visitors leave time for Plymouth history and Freeport or Nassau duty-free shopping. Just stay out of the straw market when there are three or more ships in with passengers in full shopping fury!So if you wade the flats for bonefish or permit, jig or bait for reef action or seek to enter the high tech, big ticket world of offshore fishing, you'll find suitable venues, skilled guides and decent resorts.
Walker's Cay
Walker's Cay is the most northerly in the Bahamas. It's probably no accident that it's just across the Gulf Stream from Fort Lauderdale either. Most of the action here is offshore with massive numbers of charter boats after all the big game fish mentioned below. However, given the "larger the fish, longer the wait" axiom of fishing, we like to jig and bait fish shallow and deep reefs and wrecks for all sorts of amberjack, groupers in more flavors than one can imagine, barracuda and more. This is the place for reef addicts! Even better, if you sneak away from the big fish action you'll find a rather tidy assortment of bonefish flats that seem to get little attention, and may hold bigger fish, than those anywhere else in the Bahamas but Andros. Such seems always the case. "Secondary" species and locales may often produce better action than the advertised "loss leaders" that get hammered by those who skip their homework.
Green Turtle Key
The fishing resorts are fine here, their food, and as usual in the Bahamas the seafood, is superb. Local manners seemed a vast improvement over those in town. So this seems a dandy spot for permit and bonefish beginners with lots of flats to wade and some interesting reef fishing if you check with locals. You can catch and release bags of bonefish -- well maybe not as many as Christmas Island, but it's a shorter flight! You'll also find a killer reef off nearby Treasure Cay and offshore angling that's much like Walker's Cay. You'll find an interesting small town and the local bar offers some lethal local rum drinks too!
Cat Cay and Bimini
Think about Cat Cay and the image appears of massive Bluefin tuna taken during the early summer tournaments that hit famed Tuna Alley. Other bluewater species like Wahoo, sailfish, dolphin and smaller white marlin offer nifty options and the chance for some light tackle action. But you need not risk mal de mar to fish out the day. Both fly and line class world record bonefish 13-16 pounds were set nearby. So hire a guide for the day and fish the flats as he poles along. If you want to split your costs, get a group and try the nifty inshore wreck fishing which produces barracuda, jacks and a batch of other species.
Chub Cay
Most who visit here fish for marine monsters in the deeps of the Tongue of the Ocean, and the area's close enough to Nassau to collect day trippers too. The marlin action includes both blues and whites, but the massive drop-off from the reef to stygian depths offers up a host of reef fish too. A surprising number of bonefish lurk on the little-fished flats to the north. This is a nice spot with good access to the bright lights.
