Cat Island Bahamas
 

just a Fyi, just got back from Cat island of 2 weeks of vacationing. I took my own fly equipment and it was very good bone fishing without a guide. I stayed in a VRBO just 2 minutes outside of New Bight.
My rod was a 4 piece TFO 9wt and a 3850 Sage reel, it was the perfect setup. I tried the 12lb bone fish leaders but had way better luck on the 10lb.The fish seemed to see the 12lb if you can believe that. I had great luck with a white/greenish Crazy Charlie"s and Gotcha"s
I was fishing litterly 100ft outside my door for bones and caught some Nassau Grouper as well. The flats I had to fish was endless.

Great first post!!!

Good show! Sounds like a blast

Congrats! A DIY trip in a foreign country is impressive, especially for salt species. You ever fly fished salt before?

yes, belize ,placencia, costa rica now Roatan Honduras next year...

Looks awesome, I too luv the do it yourself fishing, really satisfying catching and not paying the big bucks!
Early morning adventures as the sun comes up stalking your prey, awesome sunrises and sunsets too!:sHa_shakeshout:

Nice pics. How was the VRBO place?

Perfect accommodations, well equipped. Fantastic bed!!! Couldn't expect anything more. GREAT location. Close to groceries, gas and liquor store. Secluded beach. Had the whole beach to ourselves for 2 weeks. Very close to the Fish Fry-good eats and a great place to hang out with the locals!

Awesome. Bonefish are so addicting.

Awesome. Thanks for Sharing! I'm heading to Mexico (South of Cancun) in April. I'll have my rod with me as well...Can't wait!

Just an FYI for those that are heading to the Bahamas to do some Bonefishing in the next couple of months.

I did that trip several years ago on a whim I had about Bonefishing.
To cut to the core, I learned the hard way .. after paying a locally renown guide for two and a half days and not one Bonefish. Learned later, they migrate at that time of year.. no bonefish anywhere near there.
Due diligence required.

what time were you there?

April ... fishing the West side out of Freeport. Our renown guide was a guy named Bonefish Foley.

Likely spawning in daisy chains at the time. No interest in feeding. Best when fishing to be in an areas that has other species to chase...just in case.

Very little is really known about bone fish movements,,,but they do leave the flats from time to time often in response to weather ( "they can smell the weather, mon" as the guides will often say),,,,, or to spawn in deep water as Sundance mentioned which can occur around any given full moon (but not necessarily every full moon) during the year.

Usually you cannot predict these events ahead of time , though you could plan your time your trip away from the full moon if you are concerned about the possibility of the bones spawning in deep water. However that said, over the last 27 years I have bone fished in over 15 different locations for bone fish spending from 2 to 6 weeks per yearand have only experienced the situation twice where all bones left the flats to spawn during a full moon.,,, and given the strong tides that occurr around full moon have had some of my best fishing around full moons.

Now the weather on the other hand, wind and cloud, has certainly put a much bigger damper on bone fishing,,,, the reason I am writing this is 25 MPH winds today are keeping us onshore in the the southeast Bahamas.

Great post. Nothing better than successful DIY trips. Congrats on nice catches.

Worse bonefishing I had was in Cuba where on one day the tide was low and the wind was blowing off the flats so almost no water movement.

Otherwise overcast days are challenging.