Tracy&James | Sunday, 7 April 2024
I am sitting on a beach relaxing as I write this, as we've been fishing every day for the last 2 weeks and we both needed a break from wading. It's also a very cloudy day so sight fishing would be difficult. We've struggled to find bones for the last few days even at flats that are usually high in numbers, catching only one or two between us. We're wondering if this is as a result of the low coefficient tides or perhaps the large numbers of fly fishers on the island over the Easter weekend. It's possible that these flats have been fished so extensively that the bones have gone to hide somewhere though we're not sure where.
Obviously we can't resist going for a walk with our rods along this beach we are sunbathing on. It's one we are very familiar with and have caught lots of snappers, jacks, pompanos, etc on and James has cast at lots of sharks from the edge of a deep blue hole. However today we noticed that the dimensions of the beach had changed as someone had been using a digger to move sand from the shoreline and dump it higher up to raise the height of the beach. There are some works ongoing to develop a new hotel and resort and clearly a new wooden structure (perhaps a veranda for sunbathing or hopefully a new bar) was being built next to the beach for this venture. It's sad to note that the people managing this activity have no regard for the damage they do to the surrounding environment, as the water was churned up and we saw no fish at all as they have probably all avoided this area and a large amount of shallow rocky habitat, that hosts the prey items they may have eaten, has been destroyed. All for a commercial opportunity – whereas I know any large developments have to perform an environmental impact assessment, such smaller ventures can clearly just go ahead and destroy the ecology with no regard to the future impact.
On a more positive note, we have had some good bonefish and have surpassed the numbers caught in our previous (5-week) autumn trip already. Also I caught and released a 4ft shark on my own at one flat as James was elsewhere (but in the same area and was contactable by walkie-talkie). Normally we would wait to go for sharks when we are together as it makes it easier to release if there are two of us. Though on this occasion there were about 7 sharks actively chasing fish on a large sandbar and I couldn't resist casting at them. I knew they would happily snaffle my fly if presented well and after nearly getting a take from a smaller one, which I flicked the fly away from, I targeted the biggest shark and first cast had it pulling line off my reel down to my backing. Releasing it wasn't too tricky on my own as I was able to beach him and manipulate the fly quickly out of its mouth then grab it by the tail and drag back into the water, where he swam away. When I started saltwater fishing, I didn't really fancy trying to catch a shark, nor would I have ever attempted to catch one whilst fishing on my own, however I seem to have become much more adventurous the more I do. Previously I would never have swum across channels as James does, however nowadays with my new backpack, I am quite happy to do so, although I do make sure James is close to keep a look out for big sharks.
We're hoping that over the rest of our holiday we might find some bigger sharks to cast at and also that the bones reappear on some of the flats we fish. Though the mangrove channel we fished yesterday had quite a few bones there but without sunlight I kept spooking more than I cast at – I did manage to get one and thankfully stopped it from running into the nearby mangroves to land it.
I have had a few problems with my flats boots this trip with one pair degrading inside so much that they hurt if I wear them for too long whereas the other pair have holes in their soles but are still comfortable. I'm wondering if I can mock up a hybrid by taking the soles of one pair to attach to the others though I doubt we have the right adhesive with us to do this. I have already spotted that my local fishing tackle shop back home has two pairs of good flats boots that are my size and they have kindly put them aside for me to collect when I return home. I do find it difficult to find good flats boots in my size at a reasonable price. I have paid for expensive ones before (or rather James did as a present for me) but they were never really comfortable and didn't seem worth the cost.
Whatever you are doing this weekend, tight lines,
Cheers
Tracy