Sandy’s Christmas cheer

December 19th: After several weeks of terrific bonefishing and with a lull in proceedings between the departure of the Irish group and the arrival of our Christmas houseparty, Sandy decided to organise a festive outing to the flats for several of the guides (Donnie, Dana, Joe, Ishi and Tony) along with head-chef Gareth and your blogger-in-chief. Two heavily laden skiffs set off in near-perfect weather to wade the outer edges of the Marls, which had seen a constant stream of large shoals of bonefish over the preceding weeks. Expectations were high for the half-day outing.

There was just one small hitch: someone forgot to invite the bonefish. Or the fish wisely decided to avoid such an experienced flotilla. There was not a big shoal of bonefish to be found anywhere, just a few singles and an occasional double or small school. Despite this, much fun was had – everybody hooked fish, with 17 boated and many more lost. And Sandy himself had a perfect long cast to a big cruising permit which was, sadly, not in the party mood and took off in fright.

For Dana, this was a first ever trip out to the Marls. Having guided on Cherokee Sound for more than a year, she is now determined to expand her repertoire and we expect to see much more of her out on the west side in future. It was fitting that she landed the best fish of the day, a five-to-six pounder (although, true-to-form, your blogger broke in a monster and lost four others through elementary errors). Appropriately, Sandy was top rod, closely followed by Donnie and Tony.

Sandy and all the crew extend warmest seasonal greetings to all past guests and wish you all the very best for 2012.