Big Hole River Journal

John describing the tarpon he hooked

Current conditions at my house

Current temp: 85 wind E10

Current conditions at my house in Montana—-I don’t want to  talk about it.

Well it’s adios Andros tomorrow morning. Really can’t believe how the time has fled.

Pretty exciting action Saturday night at the government dock. John and Bob were both fishing there. Bob was in search of tarpon with this tarpon rig up. John had on a sabiki rig which is small beads with small hooks (#12) and  is rigged to catch bait  fish such as pilchers, shad etc. It is fished  with a jigging motion. He was doing  this when his line went super tight and shot out in the harbor and then this big tarpon comes flying out of the water. He made two great jumps before before becoming unhooked. Bob was standing right nest to John when all this took place  and verified every bit  of it. Amazing, maybe we need to change tactics going after these big boys. But hooking one on a sabiki rig??? This has to be a first and I would  like to hear about it if not.

I hear the Butte , Mt. airport has been closed last  couple  days due to snow. From what I hear and see I don’t tink we have to  worry about snowpack getting to average  any more.

Local gals---Hanks Place

Blanket Sound

Fish on, Blanket Sound

The other day on the way back from Red Bays I decided to stop and check out the fishing at Blanket Sound. I had not been there yet this year and not sure why not. It’s a great place to wade fish  with white sand bottom and a huge flat. It was low tide and I waded out toward the channel you see in the pic. I found the fish in the real shallow water just this side of the channel and they were cooperative, very cooperative.

These gals were eager to pose when they saw I had a camera. This was here at Hanks Place last night. Every Saturday night he has BBG and music on the dock bar. Not quite sure why they all were wearing white minis and didn’t ask. They were having a good  time. I would  have danced with them but I got this bad knee you  know…..

East of Fresh Creek (Andros Town)

inside the reef

Current temp: 80 Wind E25

Talk about a blow, this is  the fourth day and forecast to not let up  until Friday. Off in the distance in those pics you can see the reef. Inside the reef the waves are six feet of better, more than I would  like to venture out in. The tanker ship which brings diesel fuel to the  power company has been tied to the government dock for the last four  days. When he doesn’t go out you know it’s bad.

This is one reason when you plan a trip here you want to give yourself as many days as possible. There are a few places you can go up the creek and get on a lee side  but you are very limited esecially when the wind is blowing this strong.

I have not made a conch salad for quite some time now. I got too much flac from all the girlies who whined about it  being way too hot. When I make it and add the goat  pepper, I figure if a  little is good, then more is better. I will admit that last batch was a bit warm and even had the Montana  boys wimpering a bit. If you noticed Hank was bitching like crazy about  it being too  hot but he ate a big bowl. The sweat was streaming down his face but he kept eating.

Frank corrected Chuck’s comment on the  Big Hole ice  conditions. He said around his  place at  Troutfitters it is still  iced up and  that  Chuck needs new glasses. I would assume  though that  from Wise River down stream it is  all open.

I also heard they closed  Silver Bridge. Don’t know if  it is temporary or if they are planning  on building a new one. I don’t see  anything wrong with the old one but a few minor  repairs. Frank said  he would try  to find out the facts.

Hard to tell from that photo but that was a really big bonefish. Top pic was taken Saturday. Talk about perfect conditions, no wind and not a cloud in the sky.

It was that day Dennis and I went up the creek specifically looking for tarpon, and guess what—-we found em. I will not say who was doing the casting but rather say we were doing it. On the first tarpon we found we did one too many false casts and lined him big time. Needless to say he instantly blew out of the country. No more than 100 feet away we spotted another one. At first we weren’t sure if it was a log on the bottom or a tarpon and then it moved it’s tail. This time the cast was a bit short but the fish came right after it and put his nose on the fly and stopped. Here we go again I thought just like the ones on the west side that day. We did short  slow strips and he kept his nose right on it. Finally he was almost to the boat and there was no more room to strip. Rather than make another cast and spook him we decided to just stop and leave the fly suspended there. I was told this by a friend of mine who guides  in the keys. He said at times like that just stop stripping and quite often it will pick it up. Well  all of a sudden the leader and line straightened out and TARPON ON. I was worried it would get tangled up in the  mangroves that  were right next to us but it went passed them and headed for open water. We were both astounded it ate the fly like that and within 15 feet of the boat. We commented to each other that we both had our cameras this time and would be getting shots of this big boy. He made a hard run to open water and all of a sudden the line just went limp. We thought maybe broke off and or our knot broke but when we reeled  it in all was fine. No pics but we hooked him and had fun. We were sure there would  be  more around and then the clouds moved in and visibility in that area went to about 10 feet. Next decent day Tommy and I will be going back there and we should find them again. Fun stuff. It was coming back and I waded this flat and caught that big bone in the  pic.

The pic of a happy Dennis with just one of several big bonefish he caught on the west side. He and Tommy Kee went there yesterday and they had a great time. They also had several shots at tarpon with one they said would go at least 150 pounds. No hookups were attributed to botched casts and not having the right fly. Oh well, maybe next time. As for the bonefish, they said they weren’t really stupid but more cooperative than the ones here on the east side.

This was the first trip to the west side for Dennis and he can’t wait to go back. Conditions were good with light east wind and lots of sun.

Current temp. 85 Wind SE10

Stoned Architect

Don’t know  what kind of drugs that guy was on when he built that house but I bet it was good  stuff. This is just north of Andros Town near Love Hill.

What a perfect day it was today. Winds less than five mph and blue sky all day. Tommy and Dennis went to Red Bays and I’m waiting for a report from them. They could not have picked a more perfect day to go there.

As for Hank and I it was back to a little competition bottom fishing outside the reef. It was pretty even for awhile and after we moved to another drop he started catching four or five to my one. I accused him of not throwing any chum on my  side of the boat. He said you saw me throw a conch  shell on each side. But I told him he never put the chum in the shell he threw on my side. I’m not sure how many fish we caught but it was a lot. I have a big plastic wash tub I keep in my boat to use as a stripping basket and it was near full. Strawberry grouper, yellowtail snapper, porgy’s, grunts etc. All pretty tasty fish.

Another great day forecast for tomorrow with temps. approaching ninety.

Ocean Flat

Current temp. 77  Tomorrow forecast 86 wind SW10 partly cloudy.

I was on an ocean flat  yesterday and what  day it was. I had walked for quite some time without seeing anything. I picked a rocky point ahead as my final walk. Getting closer to the point two schools of fish  came out  of nowhere. I got a bonefish out of the  first  school and then made a long cast to the second. Well wouldn’t you know it but this school consisted of a bunch of small  permit. I wound  up getting three permit and three bonefish and I didn’t move more than twenty feet. Finally they had enough of me and moved up the shoreline.

So last night I go to the dock to see about getting a tarpon.  I had one shot at one but no luck and there went my chance at the grand slam. The night before I had a big tarpon that this Bahamian kid spotted for  me that came for the fly, rolled and either just missed it or  refused it at the last moment.

The day in Nassau with Hank was just a lot of fun and I was laughing all day. The dentist I went to wound up to be a childhood friend of Gogie’s from Red Bays.

We rented  a car and  of course Hank did all the  driving. Other than the fact he tried  to kill  me a couple  times it was ok. One time he pulled off  a roundabout and  another car  almost tboned us. Another time he was talking about  driving in the states and before I know it he  is  driving on the right side of the road. I almost crapped my pants and was yelling,  left,  left. At the airport going through  security was the highlight. He kept setting  off the alarm even after emptying all his pockets  etc. The security  lady there was not very nice. So  after setting off the alarm about five times he said I have no problem taking my pants off  too  if that’s what you want. The one lady behind the xray machine told him to go for it  but the other one just scowled. By this time I was laughing hysterically. There were other humurous  events but their best told over a couple kaliks.

Read Jan’s comment on Jungle Pond to get some real facts about Forfar and Jungle Pond.

Soon to  come is the story of a day in Nassau with Hank. Pretty funny stuff.

Audrey and friend in Jungle Pond

Jan and Dr. Hall in Jungle Pond

Close Ocean Flat

Current temp. 64 (cold) wind N10 Cloudy

It was cold, cloudy and windy yesterday. Not a good day for fishing by  any means.

Audrey and Jan came by and asked if I wanted to go on a road trip and Jan would show us Jungle Pond. I have heard her talking about this place before so I said sure, too wet to plow anyway.

They had made  arrangements to meet Dr. Hall from Nassau and friend as they were also very interested in seeing this place. At first I will have to admit I was kind of a skeptic. I knew Jan was a plant freak, I mean horticulturist, botonist or what ever their called.

This place was actually amazing. We walked through pine forest for a ways and then all of a sudden we come to this depression and it’s almost like walking into a Jurassic Park setting with hundreds upon hundreds of orchids hanging on the trees. I expected at any moment for a platotyrexsauris or some ting like dat to come charging through  the ferns at us. All the plants seemed larger than normal.

This place was originally discovered by an employee of Forfar. Forfar is an educational facilitator here on the island for science, education and marine research . Jan asked me not to disclose the exact location and I respect that. Hell I probably couldn’t find it again anyway. All in all it is a pretty cool place.

Jan will comment on this post and give some history of Forfar and more info on the Jungle Pond.

Couple days ago I was driving just a couple miles  north of  town and I took this little  road down to the beach.  I was basically looking for pilchers which we use for bait when bottom fishing. I didn’t bother bringing my fly rod along as I thought this close to the settlement their would be no bonefish around. The wind was out of the west which made for good  conditions there. It was approaching low  tide. I decided to take off my shoes and wade out a ways just to see what I could see. At first there were three bonefish right in front of me and then a school of about ten came by. A little further and another school of around eight showed up. I hurried back to the truck and back to my room to get my fly rod. Didn’t take long before a hookup. I had never fished this area before being so close etc. With low tide and west  wind I be dere lots from now on.