An Angler's Journal

Bermuda, August 1, 2005

James and Steve rigged ballyhoo for trolling on the way out to the bank. Two baits off the outriggers, and two off the downriggers on the stern. It was a beautiful and very still morning. We saw a few tuna swirl as we headed out, but nothing ate our baits as we arrived at the deeper water and switched to marlin baits. This time, three baits followed the boat, each riding the near side of successive crests from our trailing wake. These too went unmolested much to our disappointment. But there was no time to morn -- the main event was upon us, and James wasted no time setting up a nice, oily chum slick behind the boat.

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We downed a few Kaliks before everyone made it to Nassau from points north, but allsix finally made it, with rods and luggage intact.

Turks & Caicos is a funny set of islands. they still net bones on the flats around the more populated regions. You have to get out-island to catch fish with any consistency. Barr is (IMHO) the best guide on T&C. Some others swear by Arthur Dean, but for my money, Barr is the man. Tell him I sent you out with him. Ask him to take you to the Man o' War Bush at the eastern extreme of the islands. He may charge you extra for gas, but it's well worth it. As for DIY angling, I have not had much luck with drop off or wading from shore. Stick with Barr, you have a better shot at some great angling.

Please let me know the results of your trip. Quid pro quo!

Tight lines,


--Luyen

Joe M. writes:
Luyen,

Thanks for getting back to me. I have some fishing questions about the Turks
and Caicos , any info. would be greatly appreciated. It sounds like you are
familiar with the area. We ( my wife and 2 daughters) will on Provo in the
beginning of April. I may book a guide for a day or do a drop off but would
like to fish on my own as well. Finding the locations and the fish is almost
as much fun as fishing to them. Here is what I have found out over the past
month or so: I've been in contact with some guides ; Barr Gardner , Ed
Messick and Silver Deep and the airboat charter on South Caicos and will
probably go with Barr if I book one unless you have other suggestions.
I have checked out the boat rental and had a skiff booked at Windsurfing
Provo but when the conversation turned to fishing he told me no fishing was
allowed from his boats. Also contacted a kayak rental over on the NE side of
the island and was told the same thing. I did find one other place but they
were about the same price as a guided trip for a day. They both said it
creates a bit of tension with the local guides. I will probably book a guide
for a day even though they are on the expensive but also like to get out for
a few hours here and would like to do that on my own. I'm thinking of
shipping down an inflatable kayak to access any flats or shoreline spots ,
there are some relatively lightweight models that seem like they would
perform well for that purpose. What do you think , would that be worth
bringing if I can't find a rental?
So any locations that you care to share that I can access by car , bike ,
foot or kayak would be most helpful. Any boat rental tips as well.
As far as locations I know about there's Turtle Lake , Flamingo Lake , The
little Five Cays along the south shore ,Pine Cay and a flat just off the NE
side of the island. Thank you again and I look forward to your reply.

Best Regards ,

Joe M.

Arrived in Sanibel yesteday afternoon for our annual vacation with Rachel's folks. Fished Ding Darling today for the first time this year. Lots of snook milling around the culverts, but didn't seem to be interested in eating. Had one fish follow the fly at the second culvert. Lots of snook popping bait under the roads, but no takers on flies or shrimp.

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Many thanks.

--Luyen

The fall run hasn't yet begun. Lots of fish in the New York Bight, but not the lunkers one might expect at this point in the season. Maybe it's the warm fall weather this year; maybe it's the relentless wind scattering bait. The gannetts are out, and the big gulls, but the bunker are nowhere to be seen. Still, there are bass and blues working the usual spots and Ralph and I get into them at Breezy Point, Sand Hook, and tight against the Coney Island shoreline.

I never did manage to find the big bass this fall. Then again, between the kids, work, and windy weekends, I didn't get much time on water. So this year, I took a few extra moments admiring each fish I caught.

Nothing refined about summertime angling in the Bight. The bass are few and far between, and the species of choice -- by default -- is the bad-ass bluefish. This toothy malcontent was holding in an eddy along some shoreline structure. Ralph and I had hoped to pull an unsuspecting bass from the rocks, and for a few heart-pounding moments, I thought I had indeed set my hook into a lunker linesider. But it was a big blue. And yes, for those keeping score at home... I whacked it and grilled it for dinner.

July at the Gulls.... As relaxing as saltwater fly-fishing gets. Simple and fun. None of the monsters that characterize the season's extremes; but none of the foul weather or scary swells, either. Josh and I hadn't fished together for some time, and we were happy just to get out on the water together. We left Three Mile Harbor at 8AM, and were into fish by 8:45. None of the bass topped 26", but they fed with abandon, taking small chartreuse and olive flash-tail Clousers. I boated twenty in all, and went home to Sag Harbor tired and sated.

July Fourth Weekend, 2003 -- Fished the Monocacy for a few stolen hours Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. After a long spring, summer had kicked in with a vengeance -- the temperature was in the 90's all three days, and the humidity was verging on unbearable. With both kiddies waking up at dawn's early light, I decided to fish the nearby spots, rather than push my luck by making the trip to the Little Lehigh, or prospecting along lesser-known stretches of the Mo. So Berry's Bridge it was. The water was high, but not extraordinarily so; and it was clearer than I anticipated. The first pool failed to produce a single rise. I worked it for twenty minutes on Friday with a Yellow Humpy trailed by a bead-head nymph. As I left the pool, I seined the stream for clues, and the net yielded a smattering of olive scuds, but little else of interest. I headed to the second pool and fished a big Elk Hair Caddis with another nymph dropper. Only when I switched to a Lil' Evie did I manage to yank out my first trout of the weekend -- a small, six-inch brownie. I lost one good fish, and pulled out two more before the fishing got tough. All fell for the dropper. Afterwards, I hurried down to the falls across Center Street on the far side of the pull-off. I knew I was pushing my luck at this point, but I was in desperate need of another tug. On my first cast, I pulled out another small brownie on the Lil' Evie. After missing a large fish, I hooked and landed a feisty 16" brookie and called it quits.

The next day yielded similar results. I pulled out a nice, 12" wild brownie at the second pool (this time on a bead-head Hare's Ear nymph), a tiny 'bow, and another 8" brownie. The other two spots produced nothing but tangled terminal tackle and beads of sweat on the brow.

Sunday, I went out for an hour with my friend (and photographer) Ken Schles to show him the Mighty Mo'. I caught nothing at the second pool, and managed two tiny brownies at the falls. The stream is in its full summer glory -- I forgot my thermometer, but it was certainly in the 60's; and while it was not running as low as it was last August, the fish seemed to be hanging tight to the deeper, swifter-running lies.

Welcome to my angling weblog. This site is the newest form of what started as a Word-based, personal fishing journal in 1998. As my journal grew and became increasingly unwieldy it moved to a hand-coded HTML website. Needless to say, this too became impractical. I hope that implementing the journal as a 'blog will allow more people to share my entries, and that it will encourage others to contribute their own angling information to the web as well.

Welcome, and tight lines!

Luyen Chou

May 4, 2003

Sumin creeps up on a pod of Eleuthera bones.

May 4, 2003

We returned to Deep Crack on Saturday evening, this time parking further north and wading in near the mouth of the creek that filled the flat. The tide was dead low, and we staked out hoping to see fish come up onto the shallows out of the creek. I made the big mistake of wading further inshore thinking I might find fish back where we had seen them in the morning. As I crossed the channel towards the mangrove island, I saw a big push of fish move by me at high speed. I pointed them out to the rest of the gang and headed further inshore. Big mistake. While I wasted precious minutes stalking some small, local snapper, which I mistook for bonedogs, the mother of all bonefish pods had settled in around Thorne, Alex and Sumin for an evening bight. They bagged a bunch of big bones before I made my way back fishless.

May 3, 2003

Dusk at Deep Creek, Eleuthera.

May 3, 2003

Alex caught and snapped this Eleuthera native.

May 3, 2003

An exhausted moment of solace for four weary anglers on a secluded Eleuthera bonefish flat.

May 3, 2003

Thorne reluctantly left the flat to pick Alex up at the airport. Sumin hooked and lost a fish. Almost as soon as Thorne left, the bite was off and the tide turned around. Sumin and I waded for the next two hours spotting few fish.

After a few frustrating hours, we worked our way back from the ocean and spied Thorne and Alex wading the waters around the mangrove island. They hadn't seen many fish either, but Alex managed this nice bonefish just north of the mangroves.

May 3, 2003

Thorne had to pick up Alex by 9AM at Rock Sound airport, so we boogied down to our newly-discovered Deep Creek flat in the early morning. After driving out to the point and walking along the creek inshore towards the flat, we decided to drive back along the dirt road, park, and check out the flat on the ocean side of the road. Almost instantly, as we waded the warm incoming tide, we began to see wakes and other tell-tale signs of pisctorial activity. Thorne chased some fish into the mangroves on the far bank. Sumin headed towards nervous water on the opposite shoreline. I poked around the mangroves with Thorne, but decided to go fish with Sumin after a few minutes. As I waded his way, I nearly anxious and restless minutes of indecision. Sure enough, I walked over a pod of five or six fish. Backing up, I stuck a ten foot cast to these fish, and a small bone-dog pounced on the fly (a #6 Bonefish Scampi).

Friday, May 2

Early AM, back to Savannah Sound.

We see almost no fish, despite beautiful conditions. After heading back to the shack, Sumin decides to rest until the evening tide. Thorne and I decide to do some prospecting.

We hit Winding Bay, then drive south towards Bannerman and explore an ocean side point where a creek fills a flat bisected by a narrow dirt road. Making a note to come back with the rest of the gang the next morning, we pick up some Kaliks and head home.

Our "secret" flat at the southern tip of Eleuthera.

Thursday, May 1

Because of a foul-up involving Sumin's flight to Nassau, Thorne and I ended up making the puddle jump to Eleuthera without him on a chartered Cessna flown by the aptly-named chater company, "Million-Air". The weather wasn't encouraging -- a steady rain and gray skies ushered us into do-it-yourself bonefish paradise. Thorne pointed out some flats around the Governor's Harbor airport on the way in.

As we waited for Sumin's plane to arrive, Thorne and I broke out the rods and fished the Airport Flat (ocean side, due to strong west wind). We saw a single fish cruising the shallows, but little else of note. As we left, we chatted up another angler who shook his head discouragingly, and complained of tough fishing all week.

Still waiting for Sumin's Bahamas Air flight to arrive, we headed down and fished the Governour's Harbor flats (again, on the ocean side) on our way down to our rented bungalow. We see a couple of fish, but the conditions are tough, and the fish are super wary.

After meeting Sumin at Cartwright's Cottage, we headed to Savannah Sound, where Thorne had had consistent success on his previous visit, for a final look see at dusk. The flat was completely protected from the wind, and we did see a few fish, but failed to hook any before night fell.

Is it the tug of the flyline or the beauty of the fish that makes angling such an addictive sport? Consider this photo an argument for the latter. As unusual a stream as the Little Lehigh is, it certainly holds some beautiful trout. This big brownie was no exception.