This year, I was fortunate enough to have a rewards trip for work get scheduled in the Bahamas. Although I would’ve loved nothing more than to spend this entire week with my girlfriend searching for bonefish on one of the lesser populated islands of the Bahamas, this trip required some work, making me get creative when it came to finding some productive time to throw a fly rod. One thing that really held true to me in 2024 was “when in doubt, bring a fly rod if you’re going to the beach”, and this trip was no exception.

Although the water in the Bahamas was beautiful upon arrival, the area we were in was in no way secluded. Several resorts around, lots of boats in the water…that kind of deal. With that said, I had some hopes that if I just started putting in some miles on the sand that MAYBE I would be able to see something swimming around. Fortunately for me, I lucked out, found some fish, and made the most out of these rare opportunities.

During our first afternoon “off”, my girlfriend and I walked to a considerably less busy flat about a mile away from the hotel. Upon arriving to the flat, life was obvious. Stingrays swimming around, schools of extremely small baitfish getting bothered by baby barracudas…all extremely positive signs. I had a small shrimp pattern tied on (very optimistically thinking that maybe a bonefish would be around), and this would turn out to be a good call but for a different reason. After catching a few very small snappers throwing into a single deep hole off the flat, I noticed a big, dark tail appear on the flat itself. After staring at the tail for a good 20 seconds wondering what it was, I finally realized that it was a large Ocean Triggerfish and got to casting. Follow after follow…I got this fish excited on the fly. It would swipe at it, miss, swipe again, eat it but not get the hook in the face…until finally my line went fully tight after a surge towards the fly from the fish. Trigger on and the fight was unreal! This fish took me deep into backing on the first run, and easily took 10-minutes to get in. This was my first Ocean Triggerfish and I was ecstatic to get this guy off the beach.

Later in the week, I took an early morning walk on the beach the following day, I noticed a pod of four to six juvenile tarpon patrolling around (!!!). These fish were swimming parallel on a specific stretch of the beach that seemed to have a slightly deeper trough about 30-feet off the beach. Having been on the search for more triggerfish again, I had a small shrimp fly tied on, and made the decision to switch flies as quick (and calmly) as I could. I had a few of my go to black craft fur and bucktail flies in my box, and got one rigged relatively quick (considering how much blood I had pumping). Fortunately for me, the fish had maybe only moved down 200 feet on the beach and I was able to track them down, get a leading cast out, and boom…tarpon on. After several jumps, unlimited head shakes, and a few too close to call moments right by the waves breaking, I was able to land this fish. What an awesome moment from foot right off the beach.

The moral of the story from these fish is when in doubt, bring a rod with you to the beach. Even though there will be many times where nothing is seen, the times where fish decide to show up makes it all worth it.

Tight lines!

Joe