Conference wahoo::fishing

 My parents have a place on Paradise Island (you'll love it), but unfortunately
are not interested in fishing. :-(

 Given the location, I would expect that you may have a shot at marlin and
wahoo, as well as the ever present mahi mahi. I think that yellowfin tuna
and perhaps blackfins will be present. I'm not sure that Paradise Island
is the best spot to fish from. It may be worth your while to go to Freeport.
I really don't know, though. It's probably a good idea to head to the docks and
talk to the captains to see what's biting and costs. I'm sure someone down
there will have some advice for you. :-)

 Don't forget to get some sun while you're down there. You don't want to spend
the _entire_ time in your room. :-) :-)

 Congrats, and have fun (and we expect a full report- of the fishing. :-)

 The Doctah

    Isn't Freeport a plane ride away from Paradise ? She's a good sport,
    but I don't think she'd be to thrilled if I said we had to fly to
    another island in order to go fishing....then again...:-) 
    
    I'll check with the local captains when I get there, the only problem
    with that is they're in business to make money, and I'm sure many
    will tend to mislead you in order to get your business, rather then
    sending you to another spot that might offer better fishing....The
    hotel concierage (sp?) may be helpful, but I wonder if they get
    a comission from the local charter service for setting up trips.
    
    I wonder if I should bring a surf rod ? Does anyone fish from shore
    down there ? 
    
    Marty

    Your bride likes to fish??
    
    Call it off!!!!
    
    How the hell are you going to get away from her?
    "Honey, I'm going fishing with the guys."
    "Great, I'll get our tackle and wait in the car."
    
    -SSS-

  Whoops. You're right. I meant Nassau. %*}

 If you find the docks and find an old timer hangin' around, you should be
all set as far as good information goes (as to whether you should fish from 
Paradise Island or if you need to go to Nassau or someplace else.) My dad
says there is a shuttle from Nassua to Freeport (and presumably other 
interesting places.

 There is some bonefishing in the flats around some of the islands. Having
never been myself, I don't know if Paradise Island is one of them, but I would
presume it is. Permit are also regularly taken on the flats. Make sure you
have plenty of line on the reel. :-) 

 Best o' luck to ya,

 The Doctah

    Permit taken REGULARLY ? Not fly fishin' they ain't...
    
    --Bandito
    

 Well they take the bait regularly. :-) :-)

    Thanks for the info Doctah...what's a permit ?
    
    Marty

 It's a type of jack which will come into the flats. It is an extremely 
powerful fish, making long sustained runs and is a difficult catch. It has
a body shape typical of the jack family, and can be extremely difficult to
move due to its body shape. They are usually caught on live crabs or shrimp.

 I found a back issue of Salwater Sportsman that had an entire section
dedicated to fishing the Bahamas. (June 1988) Here's some info you may find
useful.

 (This section talks about Andros Island, which is south-southwest of Nassau)
and requires a plane ride:

Tackle: 9 or 9.5' flyrod with 9 weight line for bonefish with at least 200
yds of backing. Bonefish flies tied on #4 or 6 hooks are preferred. 

 "For spin fishermen a six to seven-foot medium weight freshwater rod and reel
and a reel spooled with 8 or 10 lb test will do the trick for bones. Be sure 
that your line capacity is over 250 yards and that your drag is as smooth as silk.
Bring plenty of bonefish jigs. In creeks a medium salt water rod of seven feet
is ideal. Spool your reel with 12 or 15 lb test, bring plenty of bucktails in 
the 3/4 oz range, some poppers, and a few swimmers. Be sure to have lots of 
everythingl these fish will go through your tackle in a hurry. Tube lures
are a must for barracuda and wire leaders are recommended for all creek
fishing." p82, SWS, 6-1988

 Nassau seems to be in the middle of the islands, so shallow water species are
going to be the most likely quarries unless you want to get into serious
dollars. Reef fishing ought to be accessible easily from either Nassau or
Paradise Island. Expect to catch any of the following species: mutton snapper,
cubera snapper, Nassau grouper, red hind (strawberry grouper), yellowtail
snapper, barracuda and yellowtail grouper.

 Evidently it is not out of the realm of possibility for you to go offshore for
migratory (read: awesome! species).

 "While regarded mostly as a gambling paradise, Nassau does offer a respectable 
fishery. Captains  specializing in shallow water trolling regularly find
mackerel, grouper, mutton snapper and barracuda. Those who pursue bottom
species often do well with large yellowtails, Nassau, and red hind groupers.
Though never really tapped, the offshore fishery produces kingfish, dolphin, 
*wahoo*, sailfish, marlin and tuna. The best seasons for the migratory species
seems to be from April to July. Yellowfin tuna often pass through in impressive
numbers, with many fish pushing 100 lbs. It rarely takes more than 25 minutes
to reach the offshore grounds from popular charter docks.

 Charters are available through the Nassau Yacht Haven, PO Box SS 5693, Nassau
Bahamas, (809) 322-8173. Captain David Moree operates a 33 foot Chris-Craft
and Captian John Pratt runs a 31 foot Bertram. The Hurricane Hole Marina, PO
Box N 1216, Nassau, Bahamas (809) 326-3600, has approximately 20 boats
available." pp 91,129 SWS 6-1988

 Now if that isn't good info, I don't know what is. ;^)

 The Doctah

 And remember, we want a written report!

    Well, I'm back....The fishing was great...most fish were on the
    small side, but non stop action. We decided to go through the desk
    at the hgotel to arrange the charter. They set us up for a half
    day with 5 other people. The cost was 60$ each. The wife was pleased
    that we didn't spend 600$ like I had mentioned we might have to
    before we arrived :-) I was a little weary about having seven
    people on the boat as I figured we'd never get many fish per person.
    The boat was a 38ft cabin cruiser with 3 fighting chairs in the
    back. The "Riptide" with captain Pedro Brown and his mate Jesse...
    Well, we must have boated forty fish....the action was non stop!
    We caught a mixed bag of Barracuda, Yellowfin Snapper and Jack Fish.
    The biggest fish was a cudda in the 5ft range (reeled in by yours
    truly). It jumped out of the water 3 times, and proceeded to scare
    the sh*t out of everyone after the mate brought it in the boat, as
    it tried to bite everything in sight...
    
    Fished once off the Jette near where we stayed. Didn't catch anything,
    except some rays, and a good view of all the topless sunbathers
    :-) ! Looking forward to a return trip,
    
    Marty

    Welcome back Marty and congratulations on a nice day's catch.
    Hope the rest of your vacation was as enjoyable and the weather
    was good for you.
    
    My fist time in the Bahamas was this past December/January for a
    week at the Jack Tar Village on WestEnd same island as Freeport.
    This was my "second" honeymoon and my new wife who love's to fish
    as much as I do wanted to do some fishing.  Since Jack Tar has everything
    included we went for half-day trip for $0.00 and caught a varity
    of acquaruim fish that we wanted to release but the mate kept them.
    I guess those brightly colored fish are yummy.  Including angel
    fish.  Boy those have some sharp and long teeth that made a grinding
    noise as they snapped.
    
    We saw flying fish on that trip and it was a neato sight.
    The biggest fish was a snapper going about 15# but upon entering
    the boat that afternoon they had a Wahoo on board caught earlier
    that morning.  It was about 4ft long and probably weighed 30-35#??
    A very streamlined fish.
    
    Dick "Tuna-Tail"

    Dick,
    Tell me more about "Jack Tar". It sounds great! You mean fishing
    trips are included in the package ? Sounds to good to be true...
    
    Marty

    
    Marty,
 
       	This was my first time every doing one of these "all inclusive"
    trips and it happend to be Jack Tar Villages which are at a lot
    of island resorts.  I guess it's similar to Club Med or whatever.
    I've never done one till now so not sure how Club Med works.
    
    The fishing trips are half day deals on a daily sign up basis first
    come first sign up kinda deal.  You go to the club house and sign
    a list for the next day's trip either morning or afternoon.
    They even have "drinks" on board. Basically the local Rum Punch
    drink that you get upon arrival.  My wife and I loved it so we wanted
    to know what that "Rum Punch" drink was called.  Having seen names
    like "Bahama Mama" or ""YellowBird" etc etc.  Anyway that drink
    was called "Rum Punch" so needless to say we got zapped on that
    one.  It is very good though.
    
    What's included in this package is:
    Charter Flight from Boston to Freeport, Bahamas
    		(We made a stop in Nassau but did not deplane)
    		
    7-nights at the Jack Tar Village (You can ask to pay a few $ more
    				      for a nicer room which we did)
    All meals All you can eat Buffet style.  They serve the drinks.
    	Pretty good all around food.  Great Coffee, omlettes, doughnuts, 
    	Rolls etc.  Main dishes were Steak, Roast Beast, Chicken etc
        with some Local stuff included.  The Fried Conk is awesome.
    	Something like a Elephant size Clam neck.  We wanted it again
        another night but they never served it that way again.  Our
        only dissapointment of this trip.  But they did do some Creole
        style Conk and it was nice and spicy.  But I still prefer it Fried,
    	I had it once before down in Puerto Rico while on a business
        trip.                                                         
    
    All drinks are free as much as you want.  We are not much to take
    	advantage of it  but we did enjoy guzzling down many many Rum Punch
    	drinks as they went down smooth.  Although one evening we did
        tackle some Bahama Mama's and we vaguely remember having a 
    	great time somewhere???  I did have some beers but when your
        there the drink of the island is anything with Rum in it so
        we pretty much stayed with Rum stuff.
    
    I thought for the one price we paid that it was well worth it and
    my wife and I would do it again.  It's nice to not bother with $
    after you get there.  The only thing we paid for was to go up
    and do ParaSailing.  $20 and well worth it.  My wife had to come
    up with me since the day was too windy for one person.  She was
    kind enough to go with me but we shot straight up when they let
    go the harness and it took three try's to get us down onto the
    floating dock.  In fact her feet touched the water on our final
    approach.  We were the first and only one's that went up that day
    due to the high winds.  My wife didn't have to pay as I was the
    only one that wanted to go.  She lost her "cookies" on the dock
    and as a reward they gave her a "T" shirt "ParaSailers do it higher".
    I had to buy one...$10.00 so we matched.
    
    You can also pay for Scuba gear but I found out that doing snorkling
    is better since the fish are right on top of the reefs and in less
    than 4 feet of water hugging that reef.  I went out far to about
    10ft to 12ft depths and no fish except a Baracuda and a Manta Rey
    that was about 6ft long.  All the small colorful fish stay in shore.
    including large Parrot Fish that eat coral. They were about 2ft
    to 3ft long and have the same colors as a Parrot hence the name.
    We were snokling with about 25 of them all around us crunching the
    reef.  We saw spiny lobster's and I saw an Octupus it was great.
    The water is the clearest anywhere due to the corals in the water.
    
    Woops this is kinda too long for here
    Hope I haven't bored you or any others
    
    Dick "Tuna-Tail"
    
    They take your picture and give you an ID card which is used to
    	get the drinks/meals and activity things like:
    
    Free Snorkle Gear, SunFish Sailboats, Bike's,  You can get one built
    for two also, Golf (Asesome course by the way), Tennis, etc etc
    
    They have nightly entertainment for dancing etc.  It's great to
    to see how people dance after they start with Rum Punches' for 
    Breakfeast.
    
     

    Dick,  Can I be so bold as to ask what this ran you both??
    
    /Tim
    

    Sounds great! Hmmm, now, when can I plan my next vacation....
    
    Marty

    
    Tim,
    	You sure can be bold to ask the $.
    	And if I could remember here I would tell you.
    	I have the brochures and cost etc back home.
    	I stumbled on it a few nights ago while looking for other 
    	lost junk.
    	I'll find it and give you the data.
    	But I think it was near $2K for the both of us
    	In addition to this $ they recommended we stay at a hotel near
    	Logan since the flt departed like 4:00am ish so I chose the
        Logan Hilton so we could get to the terminal "very" early as
    	the seats are not assigned until you check in.  We were almost
    	first at 3:30am and got 2nd row seats with my wife having a
        window seat.  These were then confirmed for the trip back.
    	If you want to call you can call DTN: 460-9924 and ask for Linda
    	This is American Distress woops Express and she did a good job.
    
    	It seems like a large chunk of change but if you sat down and
    	really added up "everything" you actually spend on a vacation
    	this is peanuts.  Try adding: AirFare, Hotel, Tips, Car Rental,
    	3 Meals A day, Drinks, Entertainment, Sports Activities,
    	Sight See-ing etc etc if you went to Disney World even with
    	a package.  
    
    	By the way I was "shocked" to find out "where" the Bahamas are.
    	Here we are in the "COLD" north and I need a "Hot" honeymoon
    	to find out that the Bahamas are "ONLY" 70 miles East of Miami
    	which had "FREEZING" temp's at this time.  In fact the day
    	we landed was the first day it hit 80deg in 2 weeks.  Fortunatly
    	for us it was over 80 every day.  Whew!!!!   I was watching
        the weater channel every night till we left.  It was too late
        for me to cancel the reservations as they have a severe penalty
        for cancelling these trips when you book on a charter.
    
    	Dick (would do it again)