Slinging Fiberglass in the Bahamas

[Divin' fool]

Headed across to Walker's last Friday on my buddy's 38' Hatteras for 8 days of Diving, Spearing, Drinking and Offshore fishing. Both crossings were easy with 3'-4' seas and South winds.
Day 1: went thru customs and set up the boat for fishing and diving. Most offshore boats were catching monster Yellow and Blackfin Tuna! Biggest of the day was around 80#. Many boats were following the birds and getting up to 7 fish. A few big Mahi also came to the docks along with some nice Woos. Everyone was stoked for fishing the following day.

Day 2: Headed offshore and promptly hooked up and boated a nice Sail at 400 feet. Yehaw.... an hour or so later a 30# Cuda.... then nothing for 4 hours! Around 3pm we saw huge flock of birds, we trolled over to them got a short strike. Then another and another. Dang!! WTF! On our next pass the stinger line starts SCREAMING..... Somebody get the rod!!! Before anyone could grab it the rod holder bends over and a Penn International 50 goes shooting through the air and lands 50 feet behind the boat!! Oh Crap.... there goes a paycheck =( . We all look at each other... stunned. The rest of the day consisted of Cudas and big Ciros.

Day 3: Decide to go diving and shooting off of Hidden Rock behind Grand Cay. AWESOME dives with grouper and caves everywhere. We're having a good time and shooting quite a few Grouper and Snapper..... I got a nice Hog on my stringer.... that's when I see the 8' Bull Shark circling me- oh chit. I ease over to the boat and throw in the fish. The man in the gray suit decides to sniff my fins! :crook: I take one off and scramble up the latter like a monkey.... damn that was too close. We finished the day with 5 Hogs, 6 Grouper to 20# and a set of dirty swim trunks.

Day 4: Trolled most of the day.... 1 Cuda and 4 knockdowns =( WTF... we're in the Islands.... Walker's Cay.... the most productive fishing grounds in the world! NOT!

Day 5: Good diving and shooting in the morning and 50 Conchs in the pm. Of course the offshore trolling was incredible that day. Over 75% of the boats that went out caught Tuna. At least we got to sample the fresh sushi and Tuna steaks from our habour buddies. Fresh Conch salad was great too.

Day 6: While diving I get another visit from Mr Hammerhead. An 8 footer that followed me around for over 10 minutes, fortunately I did'nt have any fish on me. Finally tally at the end of the dives..... 5 hefty Grouper to 30# and a pile of Conch.

Day 7: Fishing sucks again..... so me come in early and do some spearing.

Overall a great trip. Walker's is an awesome place to visit. The fishing is usually great and the water is crystal clear. Some of the best diving and T-back watching around. Guess I'll have to wait till next year to enjoy it again!

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid65/pc15d2d84d219617ab5703e17ea045563/fbe8be3e.jpg

The man in the Grey suit lurks around

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid65/pdc584c5f45379f853bbe26505a5f0187/fbe8be47.jpg

Some nice blacks

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid65/p163e9573e6acc9c5d8048109d9ca8971/fbe8be4c.jpg
Nassau

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid65/pa499b2f10892916b65f1b3af8d7c2afa/fbe8be4f.jpg

Walkers “C" dock (check out the one in the pink!)

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid65/p09862730511bcecd798829fe714541b4/fbe8941c.jpg

Bruce smacks a nice Black

[joens]

A close up of the one in pink would have been better than the picture of Bruce but O well. sounds as if you had a good trip.
Joens

[Divin' fool]

When Bruce sends me the digitals you are going to F-ing drool over her awesome ass tucked into a T-back:eek:

[PaulR]

From of the looks of that 4th picture, you must have been docked right across from jason. If you don't know who jason is, you need to go back to walkers :D .

Looks like a fun trip.

Was there a boat named "clean livin" on c dock?

[Divin' fool]

Paul... you know Jason? Is he the mate for Big Dog? (Clark) Funny thing but Clark's dad and my dad were best friends back in Venice (two very wild characters) in the 50's and 60's.

[slipknot]

That big sport above the "hot pink" looks like the 62' Ocean Bet-A-Buc,I know he has been over there fishing the BBC,did you happen to notice the name?
Nice pics, I wish I had some of that conch salad about now.:D

[Divin' fool]

I think that boat is the Dutchess. She's been over there for many years. The MOJO was also there...at least 60'.

[PaulR]

Paul... you know Jason?
Hell yeah I know jason. No he doesn't mate for big dog, he mates for a privet boat that i can't think of the name of.

Theres alot of cool guys over there. Ishmull, jason, clark, billy black........

Are you sure the grouper in your last pic isn't a yellowfin? I just noticed the yellow on his pec fin.

[Divin' fool]

I think Jason crews for the Funny Feeling too (Clark is the captain). We had some good times on the dock with those guys. Every night they fix more food than they can ever eat. Seems like everybody hangs out on the "C" dock.

May be yellow fins... I just call em' blacks.

[slipknot]

Thats not the Dutchess,she's the 1st. one with the tower.
NBD,just thought i'd ask.

[KRISISREADY]

HAD A COUPLE OF FRIENDS GO OVER TO THE BANK FOR FATHERS DAY WEEKEND AND THEY DID OK GOOD BOTTOM FISHING AND NOTHING TOO BIG WHILE TROLLING

[DINK]

We took our first trip to the Bahamas, on our boat this year. Unfortunately we did not get any diving in. We were too busy running around and exploring and figuring out how to get to our next destination. We planned to dive, it just never really worked out.

Our Fishing was outstanding, we went out trolling off Manjack, just to check it out and were out for 2 hours and landed a 60# Wahoo, then headed in to find a place to drop anchor. Seeing it was our first time over there, with no real guidance, we tried to settle in fairly early each day. The second day of fishing we landed a 250# Blue Marlin off of Manjack, it took 3.5 hours to get it to the boat, after breaking the rod 2.5 hours into the fight. Of course, by the time we got her to the boat she was DOA. What a shame, but she tasted great! The third day fishing we actually just trolled from Marsh Harbour to Manjack on our way to Allans-Pensicola, not a lot of luck there just a 30# dolphin and a few storms.

We went to Walker's also, but were experiencing electrical problems, so we did not get the opportunity to go tuna fishing as we had planned. Docked our boat on C dock also right between the Dutchess and Dutchess II. The plan is to return again this summer, but leave from Port Canaveral this time and go straight over to Walkers. :)

Next years vacation will lend itself to hanging out in one area, fishing and diving for a few weeks...

Thinking of getting a mount of the Marlin, can anyone recommend a good taxidermist?

[kitefisherman]

DINK: Great report! Check out New Wave Taxidermy in Stuart (http://www.newwavetaxidermy.com/). They do the best replica mounts that I've ever seen. They did a 165 pound yellowfin tuna and a 60 pound cobia for me. Everyone I know who has had a mount done there has been thrilled.

[DINK]

Thanks for the lead, I will check them out. The molds posted on their website look good.