Schools hugging the "shoulder" of the road guarantee harrowing moments after the hookup.

When you get your fill of smaller, easy-to-fool fish, you’ll find bones of a different breed on the Atlantic side of south Abaco. Cherokee Sound is a 5-minute boat ride from the Different’s doorstep at Casaurina Point, and the bones are definitely not pushovers. They are bigger on average, and warier as you would expect. They’re fished regularly by a handful of guides from nearby Cherokee, as well as those from Nettie’s place, so you’d better bring your A game. We had a number of shots at singles in the 5- to 8-pound range as well as a couple of schools of 10 to 20 fish during a short afternoon outing on Cherokee, and though enough fish inspected our flies, I only managed to fool one fish. Our guide, Joseph Bodie, said it was not surprising, largely due to the tide. No matter that we did our part—the fast-falling water had the fish on edge. We also cast to a few honest-to-goodness 8- to 10-pounders in smaller bays we accessed via winding creeks off the main Sound, but lemon sharks were milling about, and the water was about gone. Those fish were more interested in getting out of Dodge than eating our flies. Matt did get one pair of big fish to turn and light up on his fly, but a lemon shark popped into view and put them off. I would have given up a basket of Nettie’s conch fritters to see Matt battle one of those bad boys in that tight little bay. I’ve waded Cherokee Sound in the past and found the fish approachable and easy to feed, so ask your guide to let you wade when the fish are spooky and slow to eat.

During your stay, mix things up by fishing both sides of the island, and take advantage of the fact that you have a lee shore no matter which way the wind is blowing. For anglers wanting a changeup from bonefishing, Nettie Symonette reports that by March she expects to have an open fisherman up and running that can accommodate four anglers for reef-fishing trips, something to consider for anglers interested in bringing along the entire family.

FS