The phone beeped and I pulled it from my pocket, it was a reply from Des, I had just sent him a text informing him that I would shortly be boarding American Airlines flight 733 from Miami to Provinciales Island, Turks and Caicos. The message simply read ‘spawny bartard’, he was right as usual because I was off for a few days self-guided Bonefishing!

It all began about a year before this, when a business trip took me from Washington to Caracus via Miami. The meeting in Washington was on the Friday, the appointment in Caracus not until the Tuesday, so I opted to spend the weekend in the Florida Keys fishing, who wouldn’t? I had read a few articles in various magazines about the virtues of fly-fishing for ‘Bones’ and decided it was time to have a go.

Islamorada promotes itself as the worlds game fish capital, so what better place to start? Well, in my opinion, not Islamorada! The fish there see a lot of pressure from resident anglers as well a huge number of visitors. After two days guided fishing and the best part of $1000 I had only hooked, and lost, a couple of bones. They had nearly ripped the rod from my hand and, after a blistering first run, were lost to the dreaded hook pull monster, but they had left me wanting more. The second trip was later in the year when Des, Phil, our partners/wives/girlfriends/’significant other’ (delete as appropriate), and myself took a long weekend break in Islamorada. We had a day out Big Game fishing followed by a guided day on the flats, which did not produce any fish, and next to no real chances. It was obvious these keys fish had seen it all. With no experience of this form of fishing it was going to be a long haul before a fish was landed. However the guides had suggested trying the Bahamas or Turks and Caicos, where there were more fish with less exposure to anglers.

In June 2003 I had to spend a few days in the Bahamas at an exhibition and conference, it’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it. This seemed a great opportunity to try some Bonefishing and so I set about researching the potential. It was fairly obvious that South Andros was the place to go, but there seemed to be little ‘self guiding’ and the package deals with guides were around the $2000 for a three days, plus flights! I could not justify that kind of money for a bit of fishing, however, during my research I had picked up on a venue in TCI (Turks and Caicos Islands) that seemed to offer self-guided Bonefishing, on the doorstep of the accommodation and was priced at $100 per day.

Harbourclub Villas and Marina is based on the southern side of Provinciales Island and sits between two saltwater lakes, Flamingo and Turtle, but also has a number of Ocean side flats accessible from the accommodation. The website very much focused on the Bonefish potential, with tales of visiting anglers having had some great sport. After a phone call to the owners, Marta and Barry, I booked myself one of the villas for five nights and reserved a Bonefish guide for a day as a backup. I checked the availability of flights and my best route was to fly back from the Bahamas to Miami and then out to TCI. I replied to Des, ‘It takes a lot of practice to get this spawny’.

Inside the Harbourclub Villa

The plane touched down at Provinciales Airport at 2.50pm. Customs and luggage collection was a painless affair, by 3.15 I was in the taxi on the way to the IGA supermarket, for some provisions, as per Martas’ suggestion. I arrived at 4pm and was greeted by Barry. With his help I was soon settled into the villa and admiring the view down Flamingo Lake. I had been up since 4am and was tired. I could have got the rods out and got straight down to it, but decided to take a stroll round and get my bearings first. It was hot, very hot, and I was glad of a couple of pints of water when I returned at around 6.30pm. I spent the evening sorting out the gear and reading all the articles on fishing at Harbourclub Villas which Barry had kindly dropped in for me. From the jottings it appeared that Turtle Lake was the better prospect, I decided to take a walk down there in the morning.

Flamingo Lake and Turtle Lake are linked via a narrow channel that runs under the road just down from the accommodation, Turtle Lake is then linked to the Ocean via a short ‘canal’ on which Turtle Cove Marina sits, and is located at the back of the Villas. Where the ‘canal’ joins the Ocean it runs onto Caicos Bank, which goes for some 21 miles offshore before hitting the Atlantic. So what? Well with all this to move over, the ocean tide time is not the same as the lakes, or as they should be called, lagoons. My plan to fish around the turning of the tide was shot to pieces, when I arrived at the channel between Turtle and Flamingo the level was nowhere near where I expected it to be.

At 7.30am I entered the lake just to the right of the channel and found the bottom to be very soft, sinking up to my knees immediately, one of the articles read the night before warned of this but stated that it got better as you waded out, and so it proved to be. Turning right, I headed up the edge of the mangroves. With the sun in my face and a rather gusty wind blowing, the fishing was hard work, this concerned me but I decided to persevere anyway. These concerns were soon forgotten as I caught sight of a ghostly Bonefish tail, after a little adjustment in my position I could make out Bonefish shadows, there were about six fish and they were going away from me, quicker than I could wade without causing a commotion.

Turtle Lake, plenty to go at!

It was not until the North East corner of the lake that I caught up with them again and could see their shadows on the sand, you rarely see Bonefish, just their shadows. Dropping on to one knee I waited as the fish tuned left and started to head down the north bank. Judging them to be in range, I started to false cast and once a little line was airborne, took the shot. It landed a little short and too far in front, so quickly stripping a few yards and getting the line airborne again, took another shot, this time the fly landed about five feet in front and right on the line. One of the shadows jumped forward immediately and I started short fast pulls, the shadow followed and then everything went solid. The pause seemed to last for ever, my heart had stopped, I knew it was a fish, then the water erupted and a silver flash shot off toward to the blue water in the middle of the lake. Very soon twenty yards of backing had gone and my hand was burning from the spin of the reel. The fight lasted another few minutes as I gained line and held off another couple of strong bursts. I remembered that when bringing the fish to hand you must get them on their back, this stops the struggle. The fish was not big by Islamorada standards, but a real Caribbean treasure all the same, about 3lbs.

I had been in the sun for about an hour now and for a pale Brit’ it was more than enough, so started to head back. Feeling very pleased with myself, I failed to notice the shadows moving in parallel with me. It was a real Simpson’s ‘Doh!’ moment. There was a shoal of around fifteen Bonefish twenty yards to my right, I stopped, dropped to one knee and started stripping line off the reel, two false casts and I let it rip. The size 8 brown Gotcha landed 10ft in front of the fish, assuming I had overdone it I started a fast strip and about six fish broke off and set chase. The fly was taken as the leader hit the tip ring, therefore the fish could not have been more than 25 feet from me! No pause this time and after shooting past me on the left it did an arch round the mangroves and set off for the blue water. This fish was smaller at about 2lbs but the fight was spectacular all the same. These fish can put a real bend in your rod, even a #9! Now it really was time to get out of the sun. I was back in the shade of the villa at 9.30am recounting the battles to Barry who, as a none angler, patiently listened to this over excited Brit’.

I fished the evening in the upper part of Flamingo Lake. Fishing from about 5pm, until nearly 7pm, without seeing a single fish, let alone casting. The following day was the guided day. I was booked with a chap by name of Barr (nowt wrong with that name!). He had been recommended by Marta as a well respected Bonefish guide. Additionally his name had featured in a couple of articles I had read on Bonefishing in TCI.

The day did not start well with the smoke alarm waking me at 3.45am, letting me know the battery was nearly dead, it was to continue that way. There was no way I was going to be able to sleep after that. Barr collected me from the accommodation at 7am as arranged. It was a short ride to Gillys bar and key, where the flats boat was waiting. We soon were on our way and 40 minutes later arrived at Parrot Cay, the home of some guy called Bruce Willis and some rather famous Bonefish. However today they were a little camera shy. We saw a few but I had only one real shot, which I fluffed in film star style, with a tantrum and lots of choice words that were definitely certificate 18.

Barr seemed very keen to get us onto a flat the other side of Parrot Cay, but when we went to take a look it was still very flooded. The high winds were holding the water up there, winds that were unusually strong for this time of year apparently, but I was grateful for their ‘cooling’ influence. Barr pulled in on a flat a little further west. We jumped out of the boat and started wading, it looked very promising but after a couple of hours it was obvious there were no Bones here.

We then moved in on the area Barr seemed keen to fish. As soon as we arrived fish could be seen moving between the boat and the mangroves. Quickly I stripped some line from the reel and made one false cast before letting go, it landed well short, but one of the fish turned and came charging over, I made one strip and he was on. After blistering but brief fight and the fish was alongside the boat. It was comparable to the fish I had been catching in Turtle Lake.

A Turks and Caicos Bonefish

After releasing it we spent the rest of the day on this flat, but only spotted a couple more fish which were out of reach. Barr suspected the high water temperatures were responsible for lack of Bonefish, the wind, which had been blowing for a couple of weeks, was holding the water up on the flats. This meant that the tide changes were not replacing the warmed water with fresh, cooler, ocean water. It made sense, all the fish we were seeing appeared very soon after the waters started to rise onto the flats, but they would disappear after a very short period of time. Wading on these flats was like taking a stroll through a very large hot bath. No further opportunities came our way and we parted company around 3.30pm.

The sun and heat at this time of year make for difficult fishing, not so much because it puts the fish off, but because it is so uncomfortable. If the water is being changed with the tides the Bonefish will be present on the flats. These conditions are more a problem for the angler and guide alike. As a PWE (Pale White Englishman) these conditions can make you feel ill, the factor 45, a good hat and drinking plenty of water do not stop you feeling as if you are being cooked alive. This was a frustration, spending so much time in the villa when I could be out fishing. The guides recommend November to March when the temperatures are much cooler, you can fish all day and the bones will stay on the flats for longer. I too would suggest avoiding late June, the temperatures are brutal!

I could not face fishing that evening and opted for a night off. On the Sunday morning I went to the southern flats of Turtle Lake and very soon spotted some fish moving in the mangrove roots. My problem was the wind was coming directly at me and it was a bit of a hooley, so I waded out into the lake and got back in behind them. They had not moved far, I gave the rod a quick flick, letting the wind do the rest. The fly landed about 10ft from them, I could not see how many turned towards it but very quickly everything went solid, after a typically enthusiastic fight a pristine Bonefish was returned to thrill another day. A few more fish followed.

Returned to thrill another day.

I took an early break from the fishing and retired to the villa. The previous couple of days being exposed to the sun had really taken it out of me. That evening I took the camera down to Turtle lake and filmed myself stalking, and landing, a Bonefish. During the initial run the reel handle caught the back of my hand and broke off, fortunately I had a spare, but it does demonstrate the power of the Bonefish's initial charge.

The next, and final day, I fished a short morning session on Turtle before going off to the ocean side for a go on the flats. This proved fruitless and because of the tides needed to be fished during the day, in the hottest sun, which had the effect of knocking me off my feet, I fished no more on that trip.

A great experience and all the more rewarding having self-guided my first Bonefish. I cant recommend this enough, but the local guides don’t like the ease at which a visiting angler can get onto fish, they are pushing to change the access rights to Turtle and Flamingo lakes, so get in touch with Marta and Bob for a great self-guiding holiday before it's too late …. Just make sure it’s a bit cooler when you go!