Crooked Island Lodge has a lot of fishable water close by and it isn’t all just bonefish! There are extensive systems of interior creek and lagoon areas that have big bonefish, an assortment of snapper, barracuda and small grouper, some permit and the occasional small to medium sized tarpon – all catchable on a fly rod or spinning gear.
Towards the outer edges of the islands, out in the Bight, it’s entirely different fishing: poling or wading crystal-clear sand flats, which hold thousands of school-size (2-4 pound) bones. Along the edges of the mangroves on a high tide you’ll again find larger single and double bonefish nosing through the roots and marl.
The beach in front of the lodge, the fishing can sometimes be quite good for jacks, small permit, grouper, snapper and such with the fly rod. If you’re willing to use a spinning rod or can cast a needlefish fly a considerable distance, you can also catch barracuda up to 5 feet long, either casting from the skiff, trolling behind the skiff or fishing from shore.
Off Shore
If you like the big fish – the offshore stuff – the lodge operates a completely equipped boat. Offshore fishing with Captain Robbie Gibson is incredible. The lodge is fishing water that no other sport fishing boats are touching. Daily catches may exceed thirty fish and are not uncommon. Fall & Winter are excellent for wahoo and mackerel and some tuna. Spring & winter are excellent for tuna, dolphin (mahi mahi), and marlin. Wahoo and mackerel are also good.
Reef Fishing
Light tackle or Inshore fishing is very popular and highly productive with all our guests. Fishing in about 100 ft. of water produces nice catches of grouper, snapper, hard fighting jacks, mackerel, sharks, and cudas. Guests are invited to bring their catch back to the hotel, where the experienced and skilled Crooked Island Lodge chef will prepare your catch for dinner at the Sunset Bar & Grill. Chumming, jigging and live bait techniques are used for inshore fishing. Excellent catches are available all year long. Because of the low population density (the total population of Acklins/Crooked Islands is less than 1,000), the reefs have barely been touched.
At the hotel, there is a picture of this fellow holding a wahoo that scaled reliably at 148 pounds. That’s a damn big wahoo. Billfish, tuna, dorado and other offshore species abound (seasonally) just a mile or less from shore or you can arrange longer excursions to productive offshore fishing spots for the day or a sleep over trip to the renowned Diana Banks.
For fly-casters looking for deep water fish, the lodge has been experimenting successfully with live baiting big jack crevale, horseyed jacks, amberjacks, mutton snapper, dorado and tuna. Live baiting involves releasing live pilchards to attract schooling fish to the boat and then casting flies. Bring your 10-12 weight rods and big deceiver patterns if you’d like to try this (subject to availability of the big boat and access to the live bait).
The setting is lovely – a very dramatic bit of coastline with beautiful beaches and shells, great reef fishing 10 yards from shore and a 30-minute run to the flats. The hotel itself is informal, not luxurious, but modern and comfy, quiet, small and nicely tree-shaded. There are 12 rooms in 3 villas, a separate dining area, a beach cabana where dinners and lunches are sometimes served, a bar and a private airfield. The nearest village is about a mile away. The Crooked Islanders are wonderful, dignified people with big smiles; quiet, polite, religious and good-humored.
The fishing can be fantastic for bonefish that haven’t seen enough pressure to become spooky yet, averaging 2 – 4 pounds, with some much larger fish on certain flats, tailing or cruising alone or in pairs. Besides bonefish, there are lots of snapper (mutton, mangrove, yellowtail), jacks, some big permit, a few tarpon, ocean triggerfish and tons of barracuda. Photographers will want to catch a bonefish within view of some of the thousands of Flamingos that inhabit this part of the Bahamas.
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Contact us for Seasonal Discounts, Special Offers or Promotional Pricing
Please call Angler Adventures for custom packages at Crooked Island Lodge, including guided flats fishing, blue water fishing, reef fishing, non-fishing activities, and non-fishing activities.
Crooked Island is located in the southern Bahamas, a 1 hour and 15 minute flight south of Nassau. Bahamas Air services the island from Nassau twice per week (Wednesdays and Saturdays), landing at Colonel Hill Airport, a 4,000′ airstrip on the southwest portion of the island, approximately a 30-minute drive to Crooked Island Lodge. For a more convenient travel option, charter flights can also be arranged. Crooked Island Lodge has a 3,500′ private airstrip which makes it ideal for private planes as well as charter flights.
