Grand Bahama is the northernmost island in the Bahamas and it is a 50 minute flight from Miami to Freeport. So... it was close, easy and fairly cheap (although could be cheaper and I'll get to that).
Grand Bahama also, importantly, has bonefish. It has flats that can be accessed without a boat and is a possible DIY location. This was the purpose of the trip, after all... to catch a (and hopefully several) bonefish.
The Guided Trip with Bernard Bevans
The first day my dad and I were there we went out with a guide. I found the guide via 
Google/Yahoo and didn't know much about him. His name is Bernard Bevans (http://www.bonefishingbahamas.com/). He's a real Bahamian which has some good points and some downside. The downside mainly being that he was a little tough to pin down on the actual logistics. Luckily, he has an American guy who handles emails and helped me get in touch with Bernard when we were getting to crunch time. The plus was that Bernard knew the area very, very well. He picked us up at our motel in Freeport and drove us out to McLean's Town at the very Eastern edge of the island. From there we got in his skiff and went straight to the mangrove cuts on the Eastern edge of the island, beyond the roads.
As we drifted quietly suspended over a mixture of turtle grass and sand in the current of the outgoing tide with Bernard up on the poling platform he quickly called out "There, 9 o'clock. Do you see the school?" I didn't. "There, do you see it?" No, I still didn't. "Ray Charles could see that school, mon." Ah... there, I saw a school of about 15-20 fish in about 2 feet of water. "Cast" Bernard implored and cast I did. "Strip. Stop. Strip, strip, stop. Long strip!" Just like that, about 5 minutes into the trip and I was fast to my first bonefish. He took off... the run was blistering and the strength of the fish was just amazing. He wasn't too big, a couple pounds, but he was my first and it will always be a special fish.
Twenty minutes later and I was fast to another, slightly larger fish. The runs were just as amazing but this fish, in the last throws of desperation headed for the mangroves and I couldn't stop him. He wove a path 30 or so feet into the mangroves where he tired. While pulling the fish out he broke off. I count that fish as landed, you can decide otherwise. After that it was my dad's turn on the casting deck.
Bernard put us in a good position on a broad mangrove lined cut where he knew to expect fish. Soon we could all see a ray working towards us along the bottom. Rays are pretty common sights, I must have seen 30 of them in my three Bahamian days. This ray, however, had company... a largish fish was hanging with the ray and Bernard got excited. "Snapper!" he said. He told my dad to cast right on the ray. On the second attempt the fly landed right over the ray and when my dad stripped the fly the snapper followed. He followed and then he ate the fly! My dad's rod bent double and the fish exploded with a tremendous run. The fight must have lasted 12-14 minutes or so (maybe it was five, but it felt like 20) and when the fish was in we were all pretty amazed at the Mutton Snapper that was in the boat... what a beauty. Bernard had been trying to catch one on a fly for ages (he's been guiding for the past 12 years). He kept the fish and doubtless ate it that evening.
After the Snapper, my dad stayed on the casting deck and Bernard soon has a school of bones in sight. He told my dad to strip and when my dad felt the fish he struck, raising the rod tip in a classic trout strike as opposed to the "strip strike" method that is pretty much the only way bonefish (and most streamer caught fish) get hooked. My dad, a bit disgusted with his botching of the job flailed his rod and semi-cast the fly forward. This pseudo cast was greeted by the guide with "strip... strip... LONG STRIP" and my dad's first bonefish. His frustration semi-cast got him his first bone, and a nice one at that.
His second fish meant it my my turn on the casting deck and soon Bernard found us more fish. I ended up landing 5 (including my mangrove lost fish) and my dad landed two bones and one, big, bad Mutton Snapper. My largest fish went 7.5 pounds and was a real beat. I caught that one on my dad's 7 wt. and I could feel the rod bend to the cork and was a bit surprised that it didn't snap in half. The fish had me 50 or 60 feet into my backing on it's first run and it was just an impressive fish. The big fish was one of several that we found in singles and doubles in a big mangrove cut out past the Deep Water Cay Club.
Most of the fish we landed were larger than I expected and I really have to think that from what I saw, Grand Bahama is under rated from a bonefishing perspective. The right guide can put you onto large fish and can find them throughout the day, regardless of tide. There are places the fish are going to be in high tides and places that they'll be in low tides and if you fish/guide there enough, you are going to get to know those places. A recent study conducted in Florida with tagged fish saw one particular fish come onto the same flat to eat for forty straight days. Bones are creatures of habit, it seems. Know the habits and you will consistently know where and when to find the bones.
A note on lunch. Bernard, though the morning, found a few conch and even took us to a couple of spots he knew held spiny lobsters. He caught three of them and dropped this bounty off at a cook in McLean's Town (we did all our fishing withing a 10 minute boat ride of McLean's town) and an hour or so later he got a call on his cell phone that lunch was ready. This was one of the top 5 meals I've ever had... fresh lobster tail, fried conch and some stone crab claws (they were HUGE) that Bernard had caught a few days earlier. Does not get much better than that.
The day was really wonderful. 7 bones in the boat, a wonderful lunch and a Mutton Snapper. I even got out and waded a bit to some tailing bones at the end of the day. I managed to hook a very nice sized bone and on it's first pounding run the line wrapped around my reel handle and the fish broke off. It was nice that I had managed to stalk and hook the fish on my own and was a perfect way to end the day.
Bernard, as I mentioned, is a real Bahamian and his ideas (freely and frequently shared) on how to achieve domestic bliss would certainly offend many/most Americans and certainly all but a handful of American women. If you can put up with that, and my dad and I, two good West Coast Liberals managed to, you can have some really exceptional fishing.
The Two Do It Yourself (DIY) Days
If I had the resources to go out with a guide every day, I would have probably done that. However, that's not where I'm at and so my two remaining days, one with my dad and one solo, would be sans guide and on foot. Day one we went to a large sand flat out past High Rock and the Oil tanks to a place with a big concrete launch ramp. The flat was almost all a hard, white sand, as opposed to the turtle grass and mangroves of the previous day. It seems a much less fertile environment and proved much, much more difficult for us in our novice/beginner bonefishing stage. Within 50 feet of walking out on the flat I spotted my first bone. He was bout 10 feet away... not far enough away for a cast and he certainly knew I was there. I actually caught a bonefish, but it is hard to claim. I saw a slight depression in the flat where the water was a little darker color. I cast in and was walking perpendicular to the fly. I gave a couple of short twitches to the fly and then felt pressure. I set and was fast to a small bonefish. No photographic proof of this fish exists, as I left the memory card for the camera in my computer that day. It was not a big fish, probably around a pound if I were being kind. I did manage to spot other fish and managed to make some casts, mostly resulting in the fish fleeing in utter panic. My dad, at the end of the day, managed to find a small pod of large fish and even had a fish charge down his fly, but he didn't eat it and we left the flat having caught some small jacks and my one small bone. Didn't put a damper on the trip though as we felt good that we were starting to see the fish and it felt like progress was being made.
The second day I went out to the flat after dropping my dad off at the airport. It rained for about 20 minutes when I got there. I quickly saw my first bone, put in a cast, and the unimpressed bone simply drifted off. I then saw a school of 20-30 bones, tightly packed, moving in a convoy in front of me. They were thinking about their final destination and paid me no heed. After a couple hours of some smaller fish and no more bonefish opportunities, I decided to check out spots further East.
I found a road heading south and I took it. It turned quickly to dirt and forked. I took one fork as far as it would go and then got out and walked the path to the water. What I found was more along the lines of the habitat I had seen the day we went out with the guide... turtle grass, mangroves and lots of other fish around. I soon spotted a school of small bones. I made a cast, saw a bone break off and charge the fly, give it a twitch, felt the fish, gave a slip strike and was fast to what I consider my first solo bonefish. Not a monster... but an honest fish.
I left that area to try the other branch of the road and was soon fishing again. This time I found a small sand flat surrounded by either mangroves or deeper channels and on the flat I found a pod of 5-8 larger fish working over the hard white sand in about a foot of water. This was delicate fishing. I made a cast, saw the fish turn and look at my fly and while the fish was still 3 or so feet away I felt a pull on the line... no bonefish, but this odd looking guy...
I got one more serious look from a nice 5-7 pound fish, but he didn't eat the fly. I wasn't upset. I was a little bit proud even. I found big fish. I didn't spook them off the flat and I got some serious looks. The line between success and failure here was a thin one and while I didn't hook any of those fish, I know that on another day or with another fly, I very well may have. I only got to really explore for two days and I am sure there are other flats you can get to and other places where fish can be found. Kind of intrigues me, all the possibilities.
That was the end of the trip. From there I went to the airport and back to the good ole' USA. I'm pretty sure I'll be back... the real question is when!
The Gear
Rods - I had three rod options... I had a 9.5' 7 wt St. Croix, a 9' 7 wt. Sage RPL and a 10' 9 wt. TFO. The St. Croix needed to go back for repairs, the Sage was a two piece rod that I didn't want to bother with and the 9 wt. was the only other option. My dad has the same St. Croix and same TFO, so we brought his 7 wt. and the two 10' 9 wts. The 9 felt a bit heavy, especially when casting to big bones on white sand flats in a foot of water. The 7 wt., as mentioned above, felt a little light when confronted with a larger than average bonefish. All this has led me to believe that the ideal rod really would be an 8 wt. You can pick up a pretty nice 8 wt. from Albright (http://www...ghttackle.com/index.html) or, my favorite budget rodmaker, Temple Fork Outfitter (http://www...lyshop.com/tf08904p.html).
Reels - I had a Ross CLA for the 9 wt. (retails for about $250 - http://sto...26_28&products_id=68) and a cheaper Okuma Helios for the 7 wt. (retails for about $190 - http://www...ookflyshop.com/h-78.html). I have to say that both reels performed really well. The Okuma held up to mind numbing runs from a 7.5 pound bone and a 10-12 pound Mutton Snapper. No glitches, no hitches, not problems. The Ross landed a few nice bones itself, largest being about 5 pounds. I have no complaints with either. The reel is probably more important that the rod here (within reason).
Flies - I had 82 flies in my box. I used about 10. The next time I go, I'll have fewer patterns but more variation on the colors and weights of those flies. In the sandy bottomed flats, casting to big bones in 2 feet of water, having an unweighted very lightly colored fly might have been the answer I didn't have. Casting a barbell eyed crab pattern... well, that's a mistake you only make once. I mostly fished a Crazy Charlie in a lighter color.
Lines - I fished two Scientific Angler Bonefishing Lines in a light blue. I can't compare them to other lines, but I do think the color was a heck of a lot better than bright yellow or orange.
Leaders/Tippet - I fished Seaguar floro leaders, 0x with some Froghair floro 11.5 pound tippet. It was highly recommended, but I can't say I had any problems with it and can't really compare it to anything.
The dirt bag approach to the same trip
You could get to Grand Bahama much cheaper than I did. Southwest flies to Fr. Lauderdale right now for $109 each way. You can get from Ft. Lauderdale to Freeport via the Discovery Day Cruise (http://www...ine.com/home/cruise_only) for $50. You can contact Bernard about a place he has on the East end for $80 and you can have his cook make you up dinner every night. I figure you could do a 5 day trip for about $800, not including a day of guiding.
I went to Grand Bahama because it is, simply, easy to get to and not that expensive. I booked a package deal via Grand Bahama Vacations (http://www.grandbahamavacations.com/) that included three nights, with airfare for around $1K. I stayed at the Island Palm Resort. I would not stay there again and I doubt I'd book my trip through the Grand Bahama Vacation website again. I don't know what the island has to offer for families or sight seeing. That wasn't the purpose of the trip. We were there to fish, not to get our hair braided. I didn't see downtown or the popular beaches. We ate at the same place every night we were there (Geneva's Place). This was a fishing trip.
