Doctrine · not a honey-hole list

Seasonal fundamentals

When a coast, a type of water, and a fish actually line up. If you elected Texas on the list, this page opens on Texas — Seychelles stays off the board until you ask for it. Filter by region, method or habitat, and species. The year bar is peak versus present. Limits cite TPWD and FWC — verify before you keep one.

Bahamas

Bahamas — bonefish country

Winter singles. Summer schools. Permit on the west sides when it lays down.

Andros is the capital — west-side white sand, schools by the acre, double-digit singles in the creeks, tarpon in the bights, permit May through October on the west side and outer cays. Abaco is Marls and ocean cays; verify what is actually running after Dorian. Grand Bahama is the thinking wade, a town to sleep in, big singles on foot. Eleuthera and the Exuma edge take more weather and give you more permit. Tides here are a modeled lunar clock, labeled as such — there is no NOAA gauge on these islands. Flats licensing has been tightening; verify before you wade. Jacks will find you. They are not why you booked the week.

October. Permit taper on the west sides. Bones start to look like winter again. A lovely shoulder week.

Type

Skinny water

Inches. Baffin, Lower Laguna, Keys oceanside banks, Andros west-side sand, Ascension Bay, St François, Vieques banks. Tide character is sight-skinny: a huge range can empty the flat; a dead-small range can leave fish in a bathtub with no refresh. Push too far and you are walking the boat home. Trophy trout on serpulid rock is not the same as a school of 3-pound bones — same depth, different fish, different mistake.

Andros Abaco G. Bahama

October · peak

What is actually on

Hogfish

Greater amberjack

Peak Present Off

Closures

No coast-wide harvest closure on the board. Still verify before you keep a fish.

Bonefish

Albula vulpes

Present OctoberBahamas

Thermal window

—

68–88°F · best 72–84°F

Absent in Texas. Keys: big, few, educated. Bahamas: the capital — winter singles, summer schools of 3–5 lb fish. Puerto Rico: east islands more than San Juan. Seychelles: Alphonse and Farquhar sand, not Mahé town water.

Fly. 8 wt. Gotcha, Crazy Charlie, shrimp. Long fluoro, soft landing. Bahamas will forgive more than Biscayne.

Spin. Possible with a tiny jig. The honest tool here is the fly.

Leads the brief on Andros, Abaco, G. Bahama, Eleuthera.

Bahamas. Bahamas: treat as C&R. Flats licensing has been tightening — verify before you wade.

Official source

Permit

Trachinotus falcatus

Present OctoberBahamas

Thermal window

—

70–88°F · best 74–84°F

None in Texas. Keys mecca — flats, banks, wrecks. Bahamas west sides May–Oct. Puerto Rico: east-island banks, not Condado. Seychelles 'permit' is often the Indo-Pacific fish (Trachinotus blochii) — same job, different ocean.

Fly. 9 wt, 10 in wind. Merkin / Del Brown / Raghead. Lead the tailer, let the crab sink, one slow twitch.

Spin. Often deadlier. Live crab, DOA crab, 20–30 fluoro. No apology.

Leads the brief on Andros, Abaco, Eleuthera.

Bahamas. Bahamas: catch-and-release.

Official source

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