On This Water

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.

February. The last honest month of winter singles. Book the wade. West-side permit are still early.

Type

Jetty / rocks

Granite, pilings, passes. Midday is legal — sheep face the tide and pick. Fall jetty bulls are a Texas event, not a rumor. Flounder sit the sand drains on the outgoing. This is spinning-rod country with a short, ugly leader if you insist on a fly. Do not invent a wreck as a honey hole. Named structure only, and the fish still have to be in season.

February · 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.

Nothing lines up.

That filter combination is empty — wrong coast for the fish, or the fish is not present in February. Clear the filters.

Want this week’s weather on top of the doctrine? Read the Saturday Letter.