Mayaguana Bahamas Bonefish Wrap-Up

DIY Fly Fishing in Mayaguana for Large Bonefish!

For those up to the challenge of DIY (Do-It-Yourself) bonefishing for large fish... Mayaguana has what you are looking for. However, that being said, Mayaguana is not your typical destination. Bonefish at Mayaguana do run on the larger size compared to most places, but you are not going to see the big numbers and huge schools as you would in other places of the Caribbean. On average you are looking for 1-5 shots a day. Good days more obviously. This Bahamas bonefishing destination is for anglers looking for solitude, a little bit of challenge, and the chance of a 30plus inch bonefish. I would not recommend this place for an inexperienced flats fisherman.

This was Mike and I's second trip back to this remote locale, and this time a couple good friends Nick Durrant and Scott Rod / Bauer Reel factory rep Dan Marshall would be joining us too.

The week started off fairly consistent with everyone getting numerous shots at fish and landing most that were hooked up. By the second half of the trip a bad East wind had picked up and made the fishing a bit more challenging. The fish seemed to go off the "bite" with the change of wind even though we had good shots at fish. We did manage a few fish though the last couple days and mixed up the bonefishing with different species of jacks (yellow tail and blue runners), as well as barracuda, and even had some great shots at a permit that was easily in the 20lb class or better. Permit are rare in Mayaguana and to see one (actually we saw 2 smaller ones earlier in the week) was an awesome site.

"Shorty", the owner of the Baycanner Beach Resort - (great place to stay, excellent service) was nice enough to run us down to the far end of the island to a location referred to as Booby Caye. Booby Caye is only accessible by boat and is rarely fished, it is home to iguanas and a nocturnal rodent thought to be extinct called a hutia. We got a glimpse at a wild iguana, but have yet to see the later.

On another excursion we hired a local bonefishing guide and Mayaguana connoisseur named "Scully" (Vincent Cartwright). Scully is certainly extremely knowledgeable about the island and can help anyone visiting the island for the first time find bonefish as well as other activities like diving, site seeing, etc. Shorty, the Baycaner's owner, can also set you up with a walk/wade guide by the name of Trevor who is also knowledgeable on where to find the bonefish based on tides and time of the day.

We didn't catch huge numbers of bonefish on this trip or any true monsters, however we did learn a lot more about this special, secluded island and are already dreaming of when we can come back to chase it's trophy sized bonefish.