Good morning from French West Indies Guadeloupe.
December was a good permits month with an extaordinary morning with 45 permits spotted in one morning. For bonefish, it was under the normal because november month normally cold and he was but he was supposed to be rainy and wasn’t so December take all the rain and bad weather of November so water was warmer than november but colder than the normal. Bonefish did’nt like it and just started flooding again the flats in this new year.
Here’s what happen in December 2006 count start the 14. 12 days and one half day out on the flats for foot fishing bones and permits.
Numbers of bonefish spotted : 202
Numbers of school (between 3 and 8 fishs) : 21
Numbers of permits spotted : 117
Numbers in school (between 3 and 6 fishs) : 12
Let me introduce you Guadeloupe and his flats :
The flats we got here aren’t those of bahamas, they are smaller. The shallow water areas aren’t vast but split in lots of tiny areas.
Most of ours flats are sea grass, corals and reefs cut by sands, we have some mud or murck flats and few sand flats that could be only reach by boat.
When fishing on foot, we target bonefishs and permits. average size for bones as it is the first year they are weighted and even really fish is a bit more than 4 pounds. I’ve already landed a 10 pound but never again. It is quite often that 5+ pounder are landed.
For now the big permit still escape me and customers in corals and the bigger I have seen were around 35 pounds. Most of them are between 10 to 20 pounds.
By boat, the primary targets are tarpons and snooks. For the snooks, we got here 5 species. One of them is the one you found in Chockoloskee, everglades, the one growing massive and big. Tarpons are baby one, from 10 to 60 pounds.
Grand Marine Cove is an area of coastal and islets mangroves, channels, flats, sea grass, muds, rocks and corals. It’s also a great place to fish for bones and permits.
You’ll enjoy bonefishing on spookyless fishs as for permits. Tarpons and snooks as the others almost never seen a fly.
Bonefishs, snooks and Permits aren’t known here as game fish (lots of people didn’t knew fly fishing was possible in saltwater). It’s something I try to change by, promoting fly fishing and spinning as a sport, a complete Catch and Release on all species and hardless hooks. I’ve also take contact with research department of biology marine institute here, we are set up a tagging program on bonefishs and tarpons. We will constitute a Guadeloupe data base. Then link with B.T.U.
See you next time for report from Guadeloupe flats and his incredible game fish on our virgin territory
We are now in Middle February and the fishing is greater than December. More bones and permits sight each day. Tarpon fishing run great and snook too. Things will be stable this way until June where water temp will reach the 82 to 85¿ and will found an awsome all species fishing as last year.
