Fishing in paradise

Palm Coast Observer
Opinion

For this week’s column, we’re taking a trip away from Florida and going on a fishing expedition in the beautiful Bahamas.

On March 23, my wife, Lori, and I boarded a Cessna 441 twin-turbo prop plane in New Smyrna Beach for a 1 hour, 20 minute flight to Treasure Cay. After landing and going through customs, we hopped in a cab for a 1.5-mile ride to the ferry. The ferry took 20 minutes to reach our final destination: Green Turtle Cay and the Green Turtle Club and Marina.

After settling in our room, which was directly on the water, we headed to the watering hole for some adult refreshments.

The next day, we rented a golf cart and toured the island. With the island only being 3.5 miles long with only one road, the tour didn’t take very long.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I got the cart stuck in some soft sand, and we had to wait for another cart to come along to help us out. Oops!

In New Plymouth, we had the best fresh conch salad ever. It was made right there at a dockside stand at the pier.

After heading back to the club, we touched base with our bonefishing guide, Capt. Rick Sawyer. We made the necessary arrangements for the next day.

It was windy the next morning when Sawyer picked us up. We headed across the Sea of Abaco to fish the leeward side of Treasure Cay. The water on the flats was crystal clear, but it seemed to be void of fish. The captain jumped around to a few different spots and finally started to find fish on the falling tide. After casting my fly to a few fish, I finally landed a 3-pound bonefish. In all, I snagged five bonefish — the largest weighed around 6 pounds.

We also saw some lemon sharks and loads of green sea turtles.

The next day, we fished the leeward side of Green Turtle Cay. Although it was a little breezy, there were bigger fish there. They were finicky that day and just didn’t want to eat.

I did, however, land one about 3 pounds. I also had barracuda, bluerunners and a couple of jacks. I also hooked into a couple of 10-pound-plus bonefishes that day, but because of my own mistakes, I broke them off.

I learned a couple of valuable lessons from Sawyer that day about flyfishing for larger bonefish.

Believe me when I tell you that I’ll be ready for them next time. I could go on and on about our trip, but it’s time to wrap it up.

Jack and Cheryl, from Palm Coast, whom we met at Jolly Rogers: If you happen to read this, give us a call.