At The Other Shore Club in Green Turtle Cay, they have a sign over the dock master's office which reads, “A Bad Day Fishing is Better Than the Best Day Working!”.  There is a lot to be said for that philosophy, but even better yet is a good day fishing!  Let’s focus for a moment, not on the world class fish or even the one suitable for mounting, but on those best suited for the dinner table.  First realize that bigger is not always better.  The larger species are more likely to give you fish poisoning (ciguatera) and are invariably less tender.  Even though the commercial fishermen prefer the larger specimens, that is typically because they get more marketable fish for the same amount of cleaning effort.  If you watch them closely they will almost always keep the small ones for themselves! My point here is stay legal, but don’t be embarrassed to come back to the boat with a few small fish for supper.  

TROLLING

Trolling a simple lure behind my sailboat usually produces enough fish for about half our meals.  Now I’m talking about ocean trips, particularly in the Gulf Stream, the channels, and in the passes.  You just have to keep the line in the water and check it frequently for seaweed, the fish won’t hit a lure that’s all tangled up with seaweed!  I usually use a Rapalla lure or a Clark spoon and try to get enough line out so that it is running under the surface.  I use twenty pound test line and a nylon or stainless steel leader on a rod and reel. We seem to get spanish mackerel and dolphin this way and both are excellent eating.  Some of my friends use a simple hand line with a similar lure tied to a rubber shock cord.  Supposedly, this shock cord takes the place of the rod and reel and doesn’t clutter up the boat, but I never got the hang of it and lost a lot of lures that way. Trolling like this across the banks has been futile for me.

Editor’s Note: Darrel is absolutely right about trolling in passes, but I gave up doing this because it can interfere with making the pass without running aground! An example, late in the day I’m at the helm, with a bow lookout, running one of the unmarked passes south of Rudder Cut in the Exumas. Sey Colen is trolling and sure enough gets a strike! He hollers at me to stop. How can I oblige him, with a tricky pass to negotiate, a current and a crosswind, and only inches under our keel? I slowed as much as I dared, and he reeled in a big spanish mackerel while my heart was in my mouth. We cleaned him on the beach at Children's Cay and had an excellent fish dinner. Never again, I concentrate on traversing the pass. Reel up before you enter the pass.

Off Bimini, trolling for something better, I caught a barracuda on a spoon. They’ll strike anything that glints. He comes at it like a silver streak, one of the fastest fish in the ocean.

LOBSTER (or CRAWFISH)

Lobster (or crawfish) is probably the most sought after seafood in the Bahamas, and rightly so.  Not only is it tasty and healthy, it has made many a Bahamian rich.  They are not as plentiful in shallow water as they once were, but after all you only need one per person to make a meal.  Less will dress up a conch or fish dinner quite nicely.  These “bugs” may be anywhere!  If the weather is right, look for them on the shallow reefs outside the cays, or on the ocean side of the rocks which extend off some of the cays.  They will typically “hide” under a rock, ledge, or piece of coral with their antennae protruding. In unsettled weather, a few can sometimes be found even on the rocky lee side of some cays.  I use a spear and Hawaiian sling, and am happy with that.  In Florida, spearing this same species is illegal so they are commonly grasped with a gloved hand or “tickled” into a net.

CONCH (pronounced CONK)

This is an important food source for the Bahamian people, and if you spend much time in Abaco, it will become important to you as well.  It is a mollusk that lives in a sizable hornlike sea shell.  You’ll see the empty shells piled ashore everywhere.  A close inspection of these empty shells will allow you to see what the flared lips looks like and where to knock the hole in the shell for cleaning purposes.  You will frequently find the live conch beds not far from these piles. 

Conch like to feed on red algae which you’ll sometimes see growing on sparse turtle grass.  Look for them on the bottom in places where there’s an accelerated current, as between cays, over shoals, or around bends in the shore.  You’ll find conch in water up to 40 foot depth where soft coral grows on soft bottoms, perfect conditions for algae to grow.  You won’t find algae or conch in very deep water.

Scan the bottom from your dinghy using a glass-bottomed bucket, or use a snorkel mask.  Do your diving when the current isn’t strong so you won’t be carried away.  It is always a good idea to have someone else in the dink.  If you have to dive alone, anchor the dink and dive “up-current” from the anchor, never the other way!  When you make your dive, look for other shells.  Frequently you will find more nearby.  Experts may come up with six to eight shells on one dive.

Remember the daily bag limit, but if you have conch which you can’t use right away, save them for later.  By piercing a hole in the lip, you can string several together and drop them four to six feet into the cooler water.  They will keep six to seven days like this.  If you’re getting under way this won’t work.  For a short trip, you might try storing them on deck in a wet burlap bag or under some wet towels.  I wouldn’t trust this method for very long particularly not in the summer heat!  Besides, it leaves a real mess on the boat!  You’ll do better to clean the conch ashore and put the conch steaks on ice.  I’d rather have warm beer and cold conch than the other way around!  If you can’t keep them, leave them for someone else, there will be more at your next stop.  Take only the ones with the well flared lip.  It takes up to five years for a conch to grow to maturity.

REEF FISHING

Reef fishing is another excellent way to put food on the table.  On a good day, you can easily take your small boat out to one of the “inner reefs”.  Don’t try this on a blustery winter day!  Anchor in the sand, and if you snorkel, go take your pick for supper.  Again don’t get greedy, you’re not after a trophy, the big fish are smarter and will quickly learn just how long you can hold your breath.  They will wear you out teasing you, coming out of their hole just as you run out of breath, hold some air in reserve and the joke may be on them.

The snapper and trigger fish seem to always come back for another look.  If you stay put and get another breath of air these fish will almost always come back to you for another shot-be ready!  The grouper will go hide in its hole.  Note where their hole is.  The fish will either stay there or come back to it later.  Many grouper holes will have sufficient depth or a second entrance, so that you can’t see the fish by the time you get there.  However, remember what I said, that grouper is territorial and will stay in, or come back to the same spot. So go on about your business, say looking for lobster, all the while planning a return for your grouper in five or ten minutes. There is a good chance that he will be in the same spot where you first encountered him.  Shoot for the head, you don’t want to mess up the fillets and a “gut” shot might only injure the fish, allowing him to get away and die later.

Don’t overlook the grunts, this family of underrated fishes often make excellent eating.  They are much less elusive than say the groupers, but still require a skillful shot.  They require patience when it come time to clean them, because they are typically small.  Unless you’re feeding a picnic, the work is worth it!

If you don’t dive, or if you never got your shot at that grouper, this same spot can be quite productive if you want to just sit in your dinghy and fish with your rod and reel or hand line (be careful).  I use the same rods with twenty pound test line, which I have on the big boat for trolling.  I replace the Rapalla lures and Clark spoons with 1/4 oz. jigs.  Yellow seems better than white, but who knows on any given day?  If you have some of the left over scraps of conch, dress the jig with some conch.  If you don’t have any conch, try some plastic worms or tails on the jig.  Don’t forget to go back and cast this irresistible morsel toward the grouper you left behind!  Remember he is probably in or near the same spot.  If this isn’t the best fishing you’ve ever had, write me.

Editor’s note: We’ve had excellent luck bottom fishing over reefs from the big boat. Water was deep enough so we couldn’t see the grouper, but man did they take our bait!

If all else has failed and you had to eat the steak or the chicken for supper, give it one more try before you call it a bad day fishing.  Take the dink in just about sunset and walk around to any of the many rocky outcroppings, which are so common on the ocean side of many of the cays.  Try the above tackle, preferably with conch.  So many of the Haitians living in the Bahamas feed their families this way. It’s not as popular with the Bahamian people because they usually have boats and get their fish during the day.  Frequently, the Haitians work a regular job during the day, and will fish like this with a hand line, after hours.  It will work for you too, but if you use the hand line, wear a glove!  

TURTLES

Turtles were once a valuable food source and a significant source of income for Abaco. Several species provided pace names for Abaco landmarks (Green Turtle Cay, Loggerheads, and Hawksbill). Most species are now on the endangered list, although you will occasionally see turtle on the menus.

Some turtles may take 30 years or more to mature. Their natural life expectancy is estimated at up to 50 years. They may migrate thousands of miles to return to a nesting area. They may have some sort of a homing instinct which allows them to return to where they were hatched, but we do not know how they do it. Turtles sleep at night in deep water, where they may stay for hours without breathing. During the daylight hours when they are more active, they swim near the surface, having to breathe every few minutes. Little Harbour is a good place to watch for turtles.