THE FLATS:

 The Flats of Long Island Bahamas has been tested and tried by many anglers, whether they are novices, professionals our bonefishing guides of Long Island Bahamas. Once your feet touchest the sandy flats you will see why the Bonefish or so powerful and considered the prime masters of the flats. The flats here on Long Island are miles of hard sandy bottoms and are surrounded by deep channel lines  and because of this you will feel the pure power and the brute strength of the Bonefish.  Once your line enters the water you will start to do some real down home Bahamas Bonefishing, Eagle Eyes Permit and Bonefishing Guides Service and a team of his Bahamas Bonefishing guides will amaze you at their ability to spot a tailing our feeding fish on the clear waters of the flats. They know every creek where the big bonefish lives.

Fishing in the Bahamas especially Long Island is exceptionally different because of the way the flats are design. Each flat has its own uniqueness about it, form white sandy bottoms, dark turtle grass, grey to cloudy bottoms, and some going from shallow to deep. If you feel that your legs might give way as you wade the miles of sandy flats? thats ok your guide will poll you around mangrove roots and along channel lines to deeper waters.So have you had your rod seriously bent lately? If not come join Eagle Eyes and his team of Bahamas Bonefishing guides on the flats of Long Island and see what fishing on the flats of Long Island Bahamas is like.

                                                  Welcome To the Flats or my office where you get to meet my staff (The Bonefish)

                                                                                  Eagle Eyes will give you a heaven on the flats experience.
Your Trip will start at 8.am from the Glintons Dock, and that's 3 minutes from Williams Guest house, 4 minutes from The two Turtles, 6 minutes from The Cape Santa Maria And 6 minutes from Stella Maris Resort. You would see school's of  Bonefish on the flats of Long Island Bahamas.
                                                               Bonefishing Is Strictly Catch And Release

Bones and more bones feeding

Permits, Tarpons, Barracuda and Lemon Sharks, Horse eye Jacks are always sited on the flats at full moon and young moon tides, so you will want to bring a 9 weight rod also for that.

This section is for all Anglers who is considering entering the Bonefishing world for the first time and Need a few tips:  Here's a few tips from Ken "eagleeyes"

                                                                                     Tips:   

Recommendation: I recommend that you bring along all of your own tackle's and flies, including a minimum of two rods per angler.

Rods: for Bonefishing 8-9 weight rods or prefer under normal and windy conditions. You can bring a 9-10 Weight for small tarpon and permits. Buying a Rod? things to consider is you are traveling over seas by plane, so when You purchase a  rod it is best to buy a 3-5 piece rod ("Travelers Rod") so that it could be stored in your Carry on luggage to avoid breakage.

Carry on Bags: In addition to rods that you carry aboard an airplane, I strongly recommend that you pack A carry on bag for your reels, fishing accessories, lines etc. Don't pack any sharp objects in your carry on bags Such as files, plierrs hook sharpeners and most of all no razors and knives.

Reels:  I recommend direct drives reels for salt water use, preferably with an adjustable brake, cork disc drag, And a  capacity of at least 150yrds of 20 pound test backing plus line.

Lines:  The most popular line for bonefishing is a weight forward floating line. Make sure you clean your lines regulary, because this enhances it's ability to shoot throughthe rod guides. Remember if your line is crack and old! Purchase a new one you don't want to hook your 6-7 pound bonefish and see it going of with your old line In it's mouth right? (I didn't think so)

Leaders:  fluro-Carbon tippets added to conventional mono filament leaders. For traditional Mono-filament We recommend clear leaders material, such as Mason and Maxima clear. Bring spools of 30-lbs and 15-lbs, Of mono and 20-lbs and12-lbs of Fluro-carbon.

Check Leader's: check your leader's regulary for wind knots or enhance abrasions and replace if worn and weak. Rember!! Weak leader big strong fish gone.

Vision:  Polarized sun Glasses for the flats. Bring along (2) pairs. Yellow is good and accepted on the flats for low contrast days such as cloudy and rainy
and light is low. Grey lenses are for those highly bright days when the sun is out and smiling. How ever my favorite is the brown and the amber lenses.
Also you would want to get a strap for your glasses for it helps when you have to take them off. you would all so want to get a soft lens cleaning cloth and
a cleaning solution to clean your lenses with, you know for the average drinker they love to blow on the lenses and smudge it all up and be 30 minutes
trying to get the alcohol off.

Clothing: dull or muted colors like olive or khaki are less visible to the fish and light colors absorbs less heat. Here a supplex or other drying materials for short or long pants, When wading you might want to have a pair of sun gloves.

Raingear: Do not depend on your guide to bring you a rain coat or pants, pack a pair of rain gear to take alongWith you on the flats for rainy or windy days. You don't want to be out on the flats with your knees buckling and so on.

Splash Proof Bag: You may also want to carry a splash proof bag to protect your camera while wading incaseYou fall down, or your guide boat wet so much you might as well be diving, so remember quick drying cloths.

Wading: Make sure you have a wading boots, me I don't like them because they are just too loud if you know What I mean. Make sure you have the
gravel guard to rap around your feet even thou I don't see that work for Every body, the guard works for some and fall sleep on others because when they take those guards of their Boots is still loaded with sand. If you prefer you could bring along a (light weight jacket) not a jacket like Bullet proof remember you are going bonefishing not to war, your jacket is to carry you fly box,pliers, Hook sharpeners, extra leaders material and a bottle of water.

Casting and Setting the Hook: Cast very close to a tailing bone fishing, as he is focusing on a small area.with a cruising fishing try to lead them about
5-6 feet in front Now that depends on the depth or how fast yourCurrent is running so your guide would tell you how far in front to put your fly and when
to strip and so on. NowAllow the fly to sink again according to depth allow your fly to sink to their eye level. The idea is to get the flyAs close to them as possible ( Watch the wind, Tide, depth and area.) once the fish get insight of the fly say About 2-3 feet start moving the fly and let it sit, so you could
get your fish attention, once they see the fly They will make at it so the common thing then to do is retrieve and drop or (pause) and the more you retrieve
the more aggressive they would become they will think that their lunch is trying to get away. Now if you See the fish tail goes up and head goes down he's now taking your fly so by this time you should be feeling Some resistance so you would want to strip set with your line hand (And I repeat the line hand and not set with the rod)

Note:  When a bonefish take's your fly, you'll feel resistance on your line hand as you begins to strip again normally this means that he has taking your
fly so by you striping and he's pulling sometimes that is enough to hook your fish, or if that don't work you might want to give a sharp but gentle strip.
Now if the fish chases your fly and misses, he will become more aggressive so you could retreive it more swiftly now because he/she thinks that their dinner
is trying to get away. Now I cant say it enough and some folks still don't get it (OK) let's try it again Now when you hook your fish first thing to remember, Bonefish not trout, Bonefish not Bass, Bonefish not Salmon, Fly Rod Not spinner,so now if you hook a bonefish the remaining line what's in the water it
has to get back on your reel so you could fight the fish with your drag, so here goes once you have fish on gently raise your rod tip (gently) and your line should be holding the line that's in the water, as the bonefish runs he will be taking that line fast so you would want to hold that line in your hand with a slight pressure just enough to keep tension on the fly line and to keep it from tangling

The Release of The Fish:   Now that we have done all that and we have fight a big fight with a bonefish and It seems that you have won because you have your bonefish to the boator to your feet so NOW it's time to release the fish. I recommend that you let the guide release the fish seeing that he knows a bit more about it. But the best Way to release the fish is by handling it as little as possible. Ok you just was in a fight with the bonefish and some anglers in the excitement grab and squeeze the fish in the gill or the belly (OOOPS You Have Just Kill That Fish) Instead of grabbing the fish hold on to the fly with your pliers and with a gentle twist your fly should be released. That's Why we encourage all of our anglers fishing for Bonefish in the Bahamas, Florida Bermuda ,Christmas, Islands Mexico, Belize or where ever pleas use hooks with out barbs. Ok now if you are using a 10-lb Mason tippet you can
Hold a 3-5 pound bonefish in one hand by holding unto the line and with your other hand you coud with your pliersYou could just push the hook
forward and if you are using a barbless hook like I know you do it should slide right out with out putting extra stress or pressure on your fish and if done
right in a couple of days you could catch that same Fish again or if handle right the next time when you come to fish if your fish was about 6pounds the next time you come He will be 8-9 pounds so that's why it's so important to handle it carefully. Please do not rub your bonefish, because once that is done you leave that fish open to treats, like removing his protection. Once touch on the body They gives of this mucous like slime that's why they could disappear
so easily but that same slime what you takes of once the bonefish starts to swim it emits a scent that attracts Sharks, Barracuda's and so on. I can't say it enough let your guide handle the fish, and if you need to take a photo with your fish let your guide show you the Proper way how to hold your fish
by the head and tail.

OK UNTIL WE MEET ON THE FLATS! NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE FISHING TIGHT LINES ALWAYS and try keep Plastic Bags from the flats
                     We also encourage all our Anglers to help us protect the fishing flats:

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