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

Spin

Spin is not a consolation prize. It is what you do when the wind, the depth, or the fish does not allow the fly. Gold spoon in grass. Soft plastic when they will not come up. Live crab for a Keys permit that has refused every merkin. A 30-pound black drum in a Galveston channel is a day that does not owe you a strip-set. Carry both. Decide on the water.

Andros Abaco Eleuthera

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.

Tarpon

Megalops atlanticus

Present OctoberBahamas

Thermal window

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72–90°F · best 76–86°F

Keys migratory peak Apr–May. Boca Grande Pass is the spring stack. Jupiter inlet and beach. Texas beach/passes mid-summer. Venice south passes in the heat. Bahamas: resident fish in bights Apr–Oct.

Fly. 10–12 wt. Cockroach, toad, or baitfish. Bow to the king on the jump. 40–60 lb shock.

Spin. Live crab or large swimbaits at passes. Texas beachfront July–early fall is a bay-boat game, not the skinny skiff.

Leads the brief on Andros.

Bahamas. Bahamas: treat as catch-and-release.

Official source

Permit

Trachinotus falcatus

Present OctoberBahamas

Thermal window

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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

Hogfish

Lachnolaimus maximus

Peak OctoberBahamas

Thermal window

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70–86°F · best 74–82°F

Keys and Caribbean patch reefs. Not a Texas bay fish. Not a bonefish headline. He lives on the hard bottom, not the grass.

Fly. 8–9 wt. A small crab or shrimp on the patch. He is a picker. Do not trout-set a hog.

Spin. The honest tool. Shrimp or a small jig on the reef. Spear is a different license.

Bahamas. Bahamas: verify current bag. Treat as reef fish, not a bonefish.

Official source

Yellowtail snapper

Ocyurus chrysurus

Present OctoberBahamas

Thermal window

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70–86°F · best 74–82°F

Islamorada to Key West, then the Bahamas and the Spanish Virgins. Patch reefs and the first drop. Absent from Texas bays.

Fly. 7–8 wt. A small baitfish or shrimp on the edge of the chum. This is a boat on the reef, not a poling skiff.

Spin. Chum and a light fluorocarbon. The Keys live on this fish. Not a Galveston trout.

Bahamas. Bahamas: check current snapper bag before you fill a well.

Official source

Mangrove / gray snapper

Lutjanus griseus

Present OctoberBahamas

Thermal window

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68–88°F · best 74–84°F

The snapper that will live in a Texas jetty and a Keys creek. Schoolies on structure. Bigger fish on the wrecks. Not a yellowtail.

Fly. 7–8 wt. Small baitfish along the shade line. 16–20 lb near the roots.

Spin. Live shrimp or a small jig under the mangroves and on the rocks. Night on the lights is legal.

Bahamas. Bahamas: treat as reef snapper. Verify current bag.

Official source

Mutton snapper

Lutjanus analis

Present OctoberBahamas

Thermal window

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70–86°F · best 74–82°F

Keys wrecks and Caribbean hard bottom. Not a Texas red. Not a yellowtail in a chum slick.

Fly. 9–10 wt. A crab or baitfish on the wreck. He will eat a merkin that was meant for a permit.

Spin. Live bait or a jig on the wrecks and patches. Spawn aggregations are not a freelance mark.

Bahamas. Bahamas: verify current bag.

Official source

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