Tracy&James | Wednesday, 15 April 2026
If anyone asks “how's the fishing going in the Bahamas”, my initial response is “it's very very windy!” however it is also amazing. Besides catching the fish, there's lots of ospreys pretty much on every flat we go to (they seem as common here as red kites in Oxfordshire), plus rays, a few of which I have nearly stood on before they have startled and fled away. The one positive about the strong winds is that they keep you cool in this heat, a downside is that besides making the casting tricky, the constant waves can drag your fly line before you've started to strip the fly, sometimes causing the hook to snag something on the bottom. I've had this a few times where the snag has such a hold of the fly that I can't move it and I've just had to frustratingly watch the bones move around where the fly is – where I could have got a take, or if not, could have recast a few times to improve the chances of catching one of them. On these occasions I pray that the bone may dig up the snagged fly, however this has only happened on one occasion that I remember.
Another frustration of bonefishing is later in the evening when they are tailing but in shoals as this makes it tricky to work out where to cast. For example I saw a shoal coming towards me tailing in the evening sunlight and cast ahead of them, but before I could move the fly, another single bone swam under my fly line, spooked and then the shoal spooked too.
However, just having shots at bones is fantastic, there's been lots of them and it's interesting to watch the different responses the bones have. Casting to the left of one bone didn't spook it, yet casting to the right did. Some bones leap towards the 'plop' whereas on the same flat others 'flee'. The ones that jump to the fly, then follow and reject it are infuriating.
Cudas on the other hand are a totally different type of frustration – they can just sit nearby and slowly move around as you cast at them trying to annoy them. On a few occasions they will eventually take the fly, but more often they just swim calmly away. One tactic we have is for one of us to catch a fish on the light rod, whilst the other has the 10wt ready to go, though on this trip it has just meant whoever has the lighter rod catches lots of fish whilst the other just holds a rod. As soon as you change back to the lighter rod, the cuda will then reappear.
This trip the sharks seem to be my main frustration as I've only had one take from a shark and the fly came off in the run. Most sharks I have cast to haven't seemed interested, though I'm still hoping to catch one before the end of the trip.
One of my successes for this trip is catching triggers as I've had a few now, one of them was big and fought long and hard, as my sore arm was testament to after the fight. We often find the triggerfish here a little spooky and they will flee if you try to cast to them, however this trip I've kept trying just in case and managed to get a few.
Whilst away I have been also sorting out the BFCC calendar and now have quite a few dates set for the year. We are supporting three shows around the UK and also have three meetings arranged (Cheshire, Jersey & Essex) plus one with GAIA in October, though there are a few more that I am trying to organise. It's always a challenge to sort the dates that are good for key people such as instructors with the availability of the venues, plus avoid any work commitments that James and I have, such as my monthly visits to Scotland. Maybe I can arrange a BFCC meeting when I'm there sometime, in between working and fishing of course.
We'll be back in the UK at the end of this month and I'm hoping that the weather will be good for some river fishing. It will be nice to not be blasted by the wind to the point that I'm worried my cap might fly off. Whatever fishing you get chance to do, tightlines.
Cheers, Tracy