Southern Style: Spanish Wells Fishing

We are staying in Spanish Wells for another week. There have been many days with pretty gusty winds so moving was not ideal. This is a nice spot with lots of restaurants and things to do. We also wanted the chance to do a little fishing from Spanish Wells.

Once we did get a day of calm weather, Keith and I did some fishing. We took the big boat out instead of the dinghy and it was probably good we did as the seas were a bit bigger than forecast. Keith really wanted to catch a Wahoo as it was the only meat fish we had not caught as of yet. Today we finished the fishing "grand slam". We have now landed a Tuna, Mahi, Grouper, and finally a Wahoo aboard Southern Style.

There were a lot of barracuda biting today, but we also hooked into several Wahoo. One broke the fishing rod right off.

The damaged rod

Unfortunately the one that broke the rod we were not able to land in the boat. The other rod went off as well and that fish broke our 50lb braid line. WOW! Keith is now going to invest in some bigger fishing tackle.

After the broken rod and line, Keith spent 30 minutes regrouping and repairing the damage. He took the nice reel off the broken rod and put it onto another surf rod he had in the engine room. Then he re-spooled the other reel with new line and he was back to fishing.

There were two Wahoo, however, that we did get into the boat. We had both rods go off again at about the same time. While I reeled on one, Keith was working on the other and the boat was on autopilot. My fish got its tail end bitten off, I assume by a shark. Keith got his in all in one piece, but it was a Barracuda. Oh well, that is how it goes sometimes.

About 30 minutes later as we took the boat over the same spot, the reel went off again. This time Keith got Wahoo number 2 to the boat in tact. We had some Wahoo sashimi for dinner.

Keith with his Wahoo - not big, but glad to have it.

The two Wahoo we got in our cooler ready for cleaning.

You can see my half of a Wahoo... darn sharks.

Two nice days in a row is a luxury around here. Keith wanted to fish again the next day with a 17 foot rental boat that was available. Unfortunately, we awoke to an explosion around the head/toilet pump. Keith worked on this problem all day in (as I would politely say ) less than ideal working conditions. He manage to get the "situation" fixed, but not until 4:30 PM. So much for fishing that day. While he was rebuilding the head, I was able to take a little kayak ride around the island.

Going into the mangroves

The one lane bridge connecting St. George Island to Russell Island

Lobster boats are common here along the docks of Spanish Wells. Harvesting Caribbean spiney lobster is a large part of the island's commerce. If you think the boats look like shrimping boats, you would be correct. Most are old shrimp boats brought from the states and converted for the lobster industry here. There are some interesting videos about the lobster trade here on Spanish Wells if you google "bahamas lobster pirates".

Lobster Boats