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.

December. Peak winter bonefishing. Schools give way to singles. Permit are a maybe. You came for the grey ghost.

Type

Offshore

Trolling, the edge, and deep jigging. This is not the grass brief. Weedlines, humps, and named banks — Islamorada Hump, Flower Garden, Gordo, El Bajo, the Cancún sailfish current. Fly-and-teaser when the wind allows it. A heavy jig when it does not. Switch the method filter to Offshore or the engine will hide these marks on purpose. Roosterfish is Baja. Do not invent him on a Galveston morning.

Andros Eleuthera

December · peak

What is actually on

Bonefish

Peak Present Off

Closures

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

Mahi-mahi

Coryphaena hippurus

Present DecemberBahamas

Thermal window

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70–88°F · best 74–84°F

Dolphin. Keys and Bahamas summer bluewater — weedlines, FADs, the edge. Texas: offshore, not the bay. Absent from a Galveston grass headline.

Fly. 10–12 wt. Baitfish or a chugger on a weedline. This is a boat-in-blue-water game, not a skiff on the flat.

Spin. Ballyhoo or a heavy spoon on color changes, sargassum, and the humps. If you can see the bank, you are inshore of them.

Bahamas. Florida: typically 10/person, 60/vessel, 20 in fork. Texas: 3/day in federal waters under HMS/coastal rules — verify NOAA HMS and TPWD. Mexico: verify CONAPESCA. Bahamas: check current bag.

Official source

Sailfish

Istiophorus platypterus

Peak DecemberBahamas

Thermal window

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70–86°F · best 74–82°F

SE Florida and the Keys are the winter sail coast. Bahamas bluewater. Texas: possible way offshore, not Matagorda. Do not headline a flat with a billfish.

Fly. 12 wt. A shot on a teaser, then the fly. Not a wade. Not a poling skiff.

Spin. Kite, live bait, or a dredge off the reef edge. Islamorada and Stuart in winter. Texas sail are a rare offshore event, not the jetty.

Bahamas. Florida: catch-and-release for Atlantic sail except a rare harvest tag. Federal HMS permit in federal waters. Texas/Bahamas: treat as C&R.

Official source

Tuna (blackfin / yellowfin)

Thunnus atlanticus / Thunnus albacares

Present DecemberBahamas

Thermal window

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70–88°F · best 74–84°F

Blackfin on Keys/Bahamas humps and wrecks. Yellowfin farther out. Texas: Flower Garden / canyon water. Not a Baffin or Biscayne headline.

Fly. 12 wt on a blackfin blitz if they come up. Yellowfin is a stand-up outfit, not an 8-weight.

Spin. Humps, wrecks, and the edge. Live bait or a heavy jig. Texas tuna live in 50–100 fathoms, not West Bay.

Bahamas. Federal HMS rules. Yellowfin typically 27 in curved fork. Blackfin often more liberal — verify NOAA HMS and FWC/TPWD the morning you leave the inlet.

Official source

Wahoo

Acanthocybium solandri

Peak DecemberBahamas

Thermal window

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70–84°F · best 74–80°F

Blue water. Keys and Bahamas winter. Texas is way offshore. Baja and the Seychelles have him too. Absent from a grass headline.

Fly. A teaser and a 12 wt if they come up. Usually a troll.

Spin. High-speed troll on the edge and the humps. Not a king mackerel. Not a bay.

Bahamas. Bahamas: verify current bag.

Official source

Blue marlin

Makaira nigricans

Present DecemberBahamas

Thermal window

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72–86°F · best 76–84°F

Blue water only. San Juan’s north drop, the Bahamas, the Yucatan current, Seychelles offshore. Never a flat. Never a Galveston grass sentence.

Fly. A teaser, then the fly, on a boat that already found him. Not a skiff. Not a wade.

Spin. Troll the edge. Puerto Rico and the Bahamas tell this story honestly. Texas is a canyon day. Do not invent one on Condado.

Bahamas. Treat as catch-and-release. Lodge and Bahamas rules. Not a flat.

Official source

White marlin

Kajikia albida

Present December

Thermal window

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70–84°F · best 74–82°F

Atlantic and Gulf blue water. Not a sailfish. Not a Keys permit. Do not print him on a mangrove.

Fly. Teaser and fly on the same ocean as the blue. Smaller fish, same rule: not a flat.

Spin. Troll. Mid-Atlantic and the Gulf canyons. Texas is possible. Jupiter is a maybe. Condado is not.

Official source

Striped marlin

Kajikia audax

Present December

Thermal window

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70–84°F · best 74–80°F

Eastern Pacific. East Cape and the mouth of the Cortez. Absent from Texas, Louisiana, the Keys, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and the Seychelles. Same rule as the rooster: this ocean only.

Fly. Teaser and fly. East Cape and Magdalena when the water is right. Pacific only.

Spin. Troll. Baja. Not the Gulf of Mexico. Not Texas.

Official source

Swordfish

Xiphias gladius

Present DecemberBahamas

Thermal window

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64–80°F · best 68–76°F

Night and deep. Islamorada and the Miami canyons tell this story. Puerto Rico’s north drop. Never a flat. Never a Galveston trout sentence.

Fly. This is not a fly fish. Night deep-drop or a daytime deep drop.

Spin. Deep drop. South Florida invented the modern recreational swordfish day. Texas is a canyon. Not a jetty.

Bahamas. Treat as HMS / lodge rules. Verify before you keep one.

Official source

Roosterfish

Nematistius pectoralis

Present December

Thermal window

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72–88°F · best 76–84°F

Eastern Pacific — Baja East Cape and La Paz, Costa Rica, Panama. Absent from Texas, Louisiana, the Keys, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and the Seychelles. Lives on this atlas only on the Mexico Pacific desks.

Fly. 10–12 wt. A big baitfish in the surf. Baja and Central America Pacific, not the Gulf.

Spin. Live mullet in the wash. Same ocean as the rooster comb — the Pacific.

Official source

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