We have been getting some requests for a current fishing report from our lodge Andros South. What perfect timing as just a few days ago myself and Deneki’s Director of Sales and Marketing, Bryan Burke, returned from a trip to our favorite flats fishing destination. It was an incredible week where like most trips to Andros South, it was filled with bent rods, good food and plenty of laughter.
We arrived into the Congo Town Airport on January 16th where we were welcomed with cold Kalik’s and clear skies that luckily stuck around for the week. The weather in South Andros this time of year is typically dry with an average high temperature of 77 degrees. This is considered “early” in our season on the island but is one of our favorite times to visit. We had pretty much perfect weather for 5 of our 6 days of fishing. And the only day that wasn’t considered “perfect” still had great light and visibility, just was a little windy. Our spring season on the island fills up the quickest but the months from October to January are a very underrated time to visit. This time of year actually produces a slightly larger average size of fish and more opportunities at the big single and double cruisers as some of the smaller schoolies are off in the deeper water.
The best producing flies for the week were relatively large and had plenty of orange tied in. Andros is not a location where you need sparsely tied bonefish flies on a size 10 hook. My favorite hook for the large bonefish of Andros is #6 800S from Umpqua. Traditional patterns like the Gotcha always produce here but I find it fun to twist up some different variations for the fish (examples soon to come in future Fly Tying Friday posts!) The best flies were large and bushy. I was tying in 2 inch segments of craft fur over an orange body with orange rubber legs. As with all my bonefish flies, I tie them with two different amounts of weight. I had a dozen with lead eyes and a dozen with bead chain eyes. I would vary up which one I fished based on how deep of a flat we were fishing and how spooky the fish were. A shallow flat with calm wind calls for the bead chain eyes as they land softer on the water. For the deeper flats, especially those on the West Side of the island, I liked the lead eyes and would just cast a little further in front of the fish so that the fly didn’t splash right on their head. My best fly for the week was a variation on Bruce Chard’s White Tiger. Learn how to tie this fly from one of the world’s best saltwater guides HERE!
The almost perfect weather led to some incredible fishing for the week. Most days saw us head to the West Side of the island where we regularly encountered both schools of bonefish and shots at singles and doubles as well. The schools we came across weren’t just made up of small fish either. On average the single or doubles of cruising fish were larger but most of the schools we saw still were made up of fish in the 3-5 pound range! As those of you who have fished for Bones know, these fish are incredibly strong fighters. Every single day of the trip I got to see my backing, and most of the time that initial burst was follow by a blistering run directly back at me. We had a couple shots at bones in the double digit class as well but these trophies were able to elude us this trip. Still multiple fish in the 7-8 pound range were landed and rumor has it a guest recently landed a 12 pounder!! Photo soon to come!
To add some diversity to the trip, we always had both a spin and fly rod rigged up for the Barracuda that roam the flats. The photo below is my personal best ‘Cuda landed on the Cutthroat Cuda Tube. These are such an underrated fish to targer. They are spooky, tough to feed, fly out of the water when hooked, fight like hell, and can even bite through 30 pound wire! If you have never targeted these water wolfs on the flats, you are missing out! Our season at Andros South really picks up over the next few weeks. We will keep you posted on what is happening down in the Bahamas so continue checking back! Don’t overlook the early season opportunities that exist on Andros. Have any questions? Drop us a note!
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