Good friend Mike Skiba invited me along to fish with local Andros guide Hermon Bain. This would be my
second trip with Hermon over the last 3 years. Fishing with Hermon reminds me of fishing with Craig. If you’ve fished with Craig, you know what I mean! Hermon knows where the fish live, is incredibly enthusiastic and puts you on fish. Our destination for the day was north Andros, the Joulters. My first time.
The weather was forecast to be sunny, with light winds. Optimal for seeing the huge schools of bonefish that live there. Well, the weatherman was wrong. Clouds came and went, and it was pretty windy, which resulted in milky water. Plan B. Head up a creek. We headed to a spot that Hermon described as having far fewer schools, but lots of singles and doubles that eat aggressively. That translated to big fish in my head.
It didn’t take long to start running into fish. The first few we cast to were a little finicky, but that changed quickly enough! Bam, fish on. My biggest to date, around 5.5 pounds. Skiba takes the bow. 3-4 fish feeding towards us. Cast, strip, fish on! This was Skiba’s biggest to date, and he fought hard for about 6 minutes! 7 pounds on the scale! I’m up again. Was a little short on what Hermon estimated to be a ‘digits’ fish, 10 pounds or more. Shit. Oh well. A few more fish show up in the distance. Get a good cast out, strip, nothing. We then realized they were permit! Oh well. Next couple of fish come in to view quick. Cast, one strip and on. I am into 100 feet of backing immediately, Hermon is screaming, “Might be a permit, we’re gonna be here a while!” He wasn’t completely wrong. We get one look at the fish before he’s running again and realize he’s a huge bonefish. As he gets closer I realize I have a lifetime fish on the fly rod. We get him to the boat and on the boca grips to weigh him. I couldn’t even guess what he weighed, especially after seeing a 7 pound fish earlier. Ready? NINE POUNDS! Holy wow. This is something I won’t soon forget.
Lots of adjectives come to mind when I think about that fish and that day. I’m sure they will evolve and develop in the months and years to come. An experience and memory of a lifetime, with good friends, in a beautiful place. Thats why we fish. That’s one of the reasons why we come to Andros Island
.