I’m starting to see several reports popping up from friends back from wonderful places… Christmas Island, Los Roques and the Bahamas. One trip that really looked like a good one was an Angling Destinations trip on the Sea Hunter to Crooked and Acklins.
I mean… come on… (here’s the full report).
Damn… that’s purdy.
Flatswalker is good stuff. Recently, he went to Acklins and, luckily, he wrote about it.
I reach the hotel bar: dry, plainly furnished, with a quartet of anglers drinking in the corner. In place of a bartender there’s a ledger with a number of hash marks. Ah. The honor system. There’s a picnic cooler with an assortment of beer. A little digging surfaces a Kalik and after the first swig I feel my hopes rising. Surely the weather will clear to the east, right? Bound to. Surely.
I dig history. Heck, I have a BA in history which is almost as useful as a poetry degree. I love reading about WW II and actually just finished The Guns at Last Light.
So, it was with some interest I read Scott Heywood’s latest blog post about a WW II U Boat attack in the Bahamas and how it touched the people of Acklins.
The Way Back Machine
You can learn more about the history of U Boats in the Bahamas here.
The good folks from Rise went to do a little stick waving down in Acklins with Cattaraugus Creek Outfitters, owned by Vince Tobia, who has been interviewed here a while back.
My trips to Acklins Island was an interesting trip to say the least. Acklins is known for its “Do It Yourself” aspect. There are lodges to stay at but we decided to do it on our own and stay at Ivel’s B and B. Which I have to say is above and beyond anything you would expect. We booked through Cattaraugus Creek Outfitters owned by Vince Tobia. I highly recommend using them. He gives you maps and great instructions that even a novice fly fisher could use to catch fish.
via Rise Matters Blog.
Saw a new-to-me Acklins option, Salina Point Lodge. You’ll actually find them on VRBO and they have a very nice deal going right now.
This won’t be available forever, but they are offering $630 (double occupancy) for a week of self-guided fishing. They will feed you, house you, drive you out to a flat, leave you there and pick you up later… and they’ll do that for a week.
If there is a heaven and I go there, it will look something like that.
Basically, you don’t need anything else once you are there (well, except Kalik, which I don’t think is included, so, add another $100).
Go, bring a friend, fish hard, sleep easy and enjoy Acklins.
I wish I was here.
Cheap and Bonefish can get along… see?! I told you so.
Acklins is on my list. It is a place that lots of folks have been heading to for a DIY experience and, at heart, I’m kind of a DIY guy (my budget is CERTAINLY DIY).
I found this little vid of a DIY trip from March 2010. The sound track has been disabled, so rock your own tunes.
If you’d like to do a DIY trip with a little bit of help… you can check out the DIY package put together by Cattaraugus Creek Outfitters… if you can get 4 guys together, they have a package for $850 a person for SEVEN days (basically, it’s the lodging, a rental truck and information so you get to start beyond square one, you pay for meals, flights and anything else).
I loved this story when I first read it… thought it needed to be brought back. This particular story appeared in This is Fly (a fly fishing e-zine which, as it happens, is pretty damn fly) and was experienced and written by Drew Rush.
Drew is a Jackson, WY kind of guy… devastating with a camera and pretty frigging deadly with a fly rod, it appears. He’s written several pieces for This is Fly and his work is popping up in all sorts of places. This particular account is from a trip to Acklins with his girlfriend and some camping gear.
Here’s the story. Enjoy. (That link no longer appears to take you to the original story. Trying to see if that story exists anywhere else)
