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#20 Issue of Bonafide Bonefishing Newsletter | November 2005 |
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REPORT FROM DOCKY: First Fishing Guests of the Season …. Honeymoon couples, Stephanie and Perry from the Florida Keys, and Ginger and Jeff Morman from Panama City, our first fishing clients of the season, shown with their Long Island Bones! Congratulations and best wishes for you, from all of us Long Islanders! After a fabulous vacation in Las Vegas (WOW!) and Florida it was good to get back on the flats ... and hopefully I was not too rusty! The flats after two months of rest had an abundance of Bones ….in larger schools, and tailing in the incoming tide. So despite the frequent tropical weather systems that moved thru in September and October the fish are still here and in large numbers ...so no worries! Long Island is in great shape and I am ready to fish!
Long time repeat client and friend Scott Fisher of Alaska never failing to catch some beautiful fish while on Long Island. Scott shown here with his 7pound bonefish caught just yesterday on the flats!
Long
Island after a month of downpours is absolutely lush and
green! Vegetation is flourishing everywhere. Our hills
now more strikingly similar to the rain forests of the
Blue Mountains in Jamaica, rather than our usual country
side of sparsely populated shrubs. Ponds along the side
of the main road over flowing with rain water and on many
days recently, it was not unusual to see a Tarpon swimming
along side of the car. Brought us back to the 70’s
where our parents claim, this was ‘normal’
weather for October and November and often small boats
had to be used where vehicles could not pass. The mail
boat from Nassau would bring food items to Salt Pond in
the south, from there it came by truck to the first impassable
section of the road where it was then loaded onto small
boats and waded to the next truck waiting on the other
side. It took sometimes more than a day to get food to
the waiting hotels – unimaginable today. Mrs. Ophelia Smith of Seymour’s, (for respect, we call her Auntie Ophie), 83 years old, still impressively fishing today, …in a small wooden boat that she skulls to the nearest reef, not even an engine on the boat!
Auntie Ophie still going strong and always vital – just as she was way back when, fishing sometimes with her daughter Betty, a lot of times alone. She walks from her house in Seymour’s, nestled in the hills with sweeping east and west coast views, as far as the eye can see, to Newton’s Cays bridge where she keeps her boat tied up. She skulls the boat out the harbour to the ocean side, some two miles away. She still uses hand lines and baits up with crabs and conch and other fish pieces. The small fish that she catches are cleaned and brought home, a few to eat herself, most though to ship to Nassau to her children who eagerly await their mothers catch every week. This so impressed me that I wanted to share just one of her recent fishing adventures with you…. One day, right before Christmas of last year, Auntie Ophie and Betty went out to the reef to catch some fish. They left early in the morning as in a few days they would both travel to Freeport to visit family and they wanted to take a cooler full of fresh, juicy fish for them to enjoy over the holidays. The weather was great and while anchored they caught numerous species; Snappers, Grunts, Jacks, Hog Fish, Margates – small fish, the ones that we Bahamians like to fry dry and then crunch on, bones and all ! The boat was soon full of fish, lots of blood too and ground swells started to pick up and Auntie Ophie thought best to head back home. Trying to get the anchor up, the rope got stuck and very quickly the boat filled with water. Two, three waves rolled in and the small boat capsized – Auntie Ophei, Betty and fish – all overboard. Opheila said she had not swam since 1995 and she called to God to help her and Betty swim to land. She called for Betty but could not see nor hear her because of the high surf. Swimming in the direction that God lead her, twice she thought she would surely drown and would not make it. By some miracle her legs kicked and kept her head above water until she found firm ground under her feet. Exhausted but desperate to find Betty, she got up and screamed for her daughter. She saw Betty swimming in the distance and shouted for her to turn around…she was swimming in the wrong direction, away from land!
By some other miracle, Betty turned and started to swim to shore. After 2 hours of struggling in the Atlantic waves, they were both reunited on the shores of the east coast of Newton’s Cay. Exhausted they hugged and cried. Their boat had sunk, their fish for Christmas dinner was gone, they were tired and scared and had no food and water and were about a 4 mile walk through dense bush away from home. Miss Opheila said, “I almost was dead, I can surely now find strength to walk home!”. Hand in hand, singing, they trekked through the bush. By nightfall they walked up the hill to their home where, before she collapsed, Miss Opheila managed to call the Island nurse. Help came and both Betty and Miss Opheila survived. They still traveled to Freeport soon after, alas no fresh fish for the family instead with a fishing tale that astounded friends and family during that Christmas supper. After their return to Long Island they bought a new boat, small and wooden with no motor. Now, a year later, she still skulls her boat out with Betty to catch their fish. Nothing has changed – Auntie Ophie still strong and regal, her daily routine the same as it has been for the last 50 years. She is a grand lady and everything about her is queen-like. What an amazing woman …I watch her as she looks out to sea with her face in the sun smiling and it is clear that she is remembering very special moments of her life. We wish Auntie Ophie many more happy fishing days to come!
Looking forward to seeing you again hopefully this season or having you visit for the first time! Remember if you need to get away for a relaxing break, there is no place as Long Island with it’s “down-home” hospitality … no rush or stress – just smiles like Auntie Ophie’s!
The Islands of
the Bahamas - IT DOES …."just
keep on getting better!" |
