Fishing in and around Abacos Islands

[Bakermanjr]

As many of you may or may not know, I will be visiting these beautiful islands in May of 2010 for about 2 weeks. Getting married there, and having my honeymoon there as well. Now, being that I will be there for so long, and missing the start of the fishing season where I live (South Louisiana, Northern Gulf of Mexico), I am contemplating bringing down one or two rods, with some assorted tackle to fish in the early morning hours, maybe take a day to seriously try and fish hard.

My question is, to all of you island fisherman, what should I bring, that would maximize my catching? I have everything from light tackle(Freshwater stuff), to medium weight (speckled trout, redfish), to the heavier stuff (tuna rods/reel, some trolling outfits). And what type of artificial baits work down there, just to have something tug on my line, not so much looking to take this ultra serious like I do back home, but knowing I could be fishing, and not fishing, may just drive me nuts.

Also, for bait, would bringing a castnet in my luggage be ideal, or can I just pick up bait with a sabiki rig, or do I even need bait?

Thanks again for everything, May can't come soon enough for us, look forward to seeing everyone when we get there.

[Tolerance]

Instead of dragging all your stuff down here, you might want to do some reasearch on the dozens of local fishing guides and outings--everything from bluefin tuna to marlin to bonefish flats--they would provide your gear too (and sometimes even lunch of fresh conch). As you can imagine, bait is really easy to buy here (usually ballyhoo or conch guts), but equally easy to catch on a hand line from any dock or beach (grunts and the like). Darned if I would risk losing my pole...of course I enjoy hand line fishing best anyhow...

[ranno]

Dont worry about the cast net, to much weight.If you had 2 rods, I would go with a 12lb & 30lb spinning rod out fit.Artificial anything will work.Bomber lures 6&8 inchers for trolling.Yellow feather anything will work well.Bring some gulp lures and double pack them so the stink does not get out.I fly fish for bones alot so this is last recommendation.Bring a 9wt.,use fluoro-carbon, 12lb tippet.Any fly that has a sandy/brownish color and rubber legs should work.Smaller is better! If all else fails, hire a guide.These locals are pro's,the best of the best.Trust me on this one.

[HALF-A-HAMIAN]

Check with your air carrier, as recent length limits have been imposed on rods/rod tubes. If you have 3-4 pc. trvel rods that would fit in your checked baggage, that's ideal. Your 'spec'/red equipment will do great. If you charter for larger, they have equipment, or you can rent at a few places.

[tabblet]

My family and I were there during June, we're serious about our fishing. We brought 6 rods and reels ranging from small penn 360 spinners to larger 6/0 conventional reels. Inshore we were able to knock out the grey & mangrove snapper, as well as plenty of grunts, etc. In about 200'-300' of water we caught triggers, small grouper, blackfin tuna, cudas, and cero mackeral. We also had several cut off....either cudas or sharks. Offshore we were "chunking" left over fish parts and would have two rods free-lining with either a ballyhoo or a chunk of squid/cuda while I worked a large yellow or white jig. You can troll skirts, ballyhoo, or cedar plugs but the "chunking" worked very well.

I would also recommend taking a day out with Robert Lowe... we went with him and hooked into dolphin including one about 30lbs as well as yellowfin/blackfin tuna... our largest tuna was 50lbs. Highly recommend Lowe, great captain!

[SnapSlap]

What island is Lowe on?

[R]

Robert Lowe fishes out of Hope Town, but will pick you up elsewhere for fuel cost.
Robert is a fine man, and a GREAT fisherman - you can't go wrong with Robert.
Google - seagull cottages and you can find them.

R.