All in the Game
By Vic Dunaway, December 1995, Page 78
For the "little three" or big stuff, this area is definitely the Berrys.

Marlin in the Side Pocket
By Doug Kelly, July 1996, Page 70
This Bahamas hotspot is a big draw for blues and whites.

A Place to come and Stay
By Robin Smilie, May 2000, Page 228
Bahamas hideaway Chub Cay opens it doors to anglers, divers and beachcombers.

Pocket Punchers
By Frank Bolin, May 2005, Page 180
A savory list of bluewater characters awaits you in the Pocket's promising depths.

Shifting Gears on Chub Cay

After 13 months and several million dollars, a venerable fishing destination has re-opened bigger and better than ever.

By Blair Wickstrom, Publisher

The last bag we took off the boat, upon arriving at the docks of Chub Cay, was the one that drew the attention of our new slip mate. “What’s in the bag?” asked Durward Knowles. Having just loaded our last dock cart of luggage, we were ready to talk about the “bag.”

Kent Hughes, his wife Stephanie and their two boys joined our family for a fishing vacation to Chub Cay in the Berry Islands, Bahamas. The run from Stuart, Florida, to Chub is approximately 170 miles, a manageable distance in one day, but we had other plans.

After looking over charts while planning our trip, it was clear we had two options. A one-day trip meant starting early to make the 8- to 10-hour boat ride; it would’ve been doable in our 30-foot center consoles, but miserable quick if the weather turned less than friendly. The better option, it seemed, would be to cut the trip in half with a stop-over on Grand Bahama Island. We could clear Customs and Immigration there, and purchase our cruising and fishing permits, jump-starting the trip.

Having previously heard about good tuna fishing on the south of Port Lucaya, Grand Bahama, from FS radio host George LaBonte, I knew which way I was leaning.

“The key is being where the fish are when the sun is either coming up or going down. You’ll probably need to be at least 12 miles out before the sun breaks the horizon, 18 to 20 miles is ideal,” LaBonte said.

When I looked at our chart, Waterproof Chart 120 F, the decision became easy. I saw waypoints for “Tuna Canyon” (west number 26-12.00'N, 78-35.20'W; east number 26-10.60'N, 78-25.70'W), due south of Lucaya, almost directly en route to the Northwest Channel Light. Two short trips instead of one long one.

Over the last 15 years our magazine has done five stories on the fishing in and around Chub Cay (go to www.floridasportsman.com/xtra to access them) and there’s no secret why we’ve done so many stories, or why the latest team of developers spent so much money renovating the fishing destination. It’s an angler’s paradise.

“I’ve twice hooked into doubles on blue marlin,” explained Howard Haines, captain of the sportfisher Show Piece. “I’m not aware of anywhere in The Bahamas where you see so many doubles. And if you’re into chaos, picture four marlin on at one time. A guy did that here a couple of years ago. They caught two of the four, had they had more than just four guys on board they may have been able to catch ‘em all.”

You needn’t look any further than a chart to see why so many marlin bites head for Chub.

“When we get a southeast wind, everything concentrates in the Pocket,” Haines added. “We fish for marlin here like others fish for sailfish. Since we don’t have to cover so much water we use dredges and ballyhoo far more than lures.”

As for Chub Cay Resort and Marina, after five decades of hard living it was time for a makeover. At more than $250 million, this was the blue marlin “grander” of makeovers.

Opening our bag, I said, “Yellowfin tuna, some grouper and a few snapper.”

“Nice, you just make the crossing?” asked Durward.

“Yeah, from Lucaya.”

“Nice,” he replied.

LaBonte’s advice was dead on about the tuna.

We’d left the Lucayan Marina and Hotel docks at 6 a.m, but by the amount of light out it seemed that we had left too late. As luck would have it, we spotted a show of birds on our radar just seven miles out. They were four miles ahead, only 5 degrees off our heading to Northwest Light.

Big Red broke the horizon as we got our first hit, on a cedar plug; we missed it, but hooked up solidly a few minutes later. Small school-size yellowfin, in the 20- to 30-pound range, were skying on bait all around us. Kent was busy with a double a hundred yards away, while Sarah brought in our first yellowtin tuna.

The final tally for Kent’s and our boat was five yellowfin, with the largest cut in half by a shark. We found birds two more times but weren’t able to draw a strike. Despite really good signs of fish, a current rip, temperature change and lots of birds, the fish weren’t hitting.

I later asked LaBonte about this and he said that’s when you slow down, get in the birds and tune your bottom machine so you can pick up fish between 200 and 400 feet down. “If it’s the afternoon you can wait for them to come up,” he explained. “If it’s the morning I’d fire a metal jig down to them. I used to try chunking, but you bring in so many sharks that it’s counterproductive.”

As it turned out, tuna was just the appetizer for our late July-early August trip. We had prepared for, and hoped for, marlin, but after speaking to a few boats that had fished most of July, it seemed our time would be better spent bottom fishing or lobstering, which was the preferred quarry among our crew anyway.

The ideal time for marlin around Chub is November through May. The island is conveniently located between marlin hotspots: the Pocket, Tongue of the Ocean and Hole in the Wall.

There is also great flats fishing here pretty much year-round. A captain on a visiting sportfisher, tied up behind us, excitedly talked about the best day of flats fishing he’d ever had. As he pointed to his rubber tender, he explained, “Just around the corner, right here: bonefish, sharks and barracuda.”

The next morning we were headed just around the corner. Upon leaving the marina entrance we headed our center consoles into Crab Creek, which separates Chub Cay from Crab Cay. The east side of the creek is accessible via a short golf cart ride from the marina, but the west side is where we anchored and fanned out to wade the flats and mangrove shorelines. We never hooked or even spotted a bonefish, but the area sure looked fishy.

In fact, two days later we chartered two bonefish skiffs and guess where the last stop of the day was; yep, Crab Creek, where we had shots on three fish, catching one.

After stowing the light spinning tackle and fly rods it was time to explore the deeper reefs. Our first stop was a 30- to 60-foot dropoff just north of Chub’s famous white beaches. We trolled big lipped plugs while looking for suitable bottom to try a little jigging. We didn’t hit paydirt, but in the two hours of potluck bottom fishing with squid we caught several strawberry grouper to complement a nice mutton and a decent Nassau grouper.

The little reef fish wouldn’t win a beauty contest pitted against a blue marlin, but the kids stayed busy and happy—and we had dinner.

We had yet to travel more than a mile from the marina but were changing gears for the third time that day. It was time to put away the rods and scout for lobster. On our way into Chub the day before we’d noticed a few divers about five miles west of the resort. The area looked about the right depth for our crew (15 to 25 feet), but looked more like scattered coral than grassy flats, where you typically find the majority of bugs in The Bahamas.

The bottom was rocky, scattered with sea fans and small to medium coral heads, not the best terrain for lobster. But we were able to find a few, and the bugs we did find were much larger than the ones you find on the bank. As a bonus, several heads had grouper sharing space with the lobster.

The variety and closeness of the fishing was satisfying, considering the cost of fuel. Gas was $5.69 per gallon and diesel $3.08 per gallon, while we were there. On an earlier trip, Juan Comendeiro, a friend from Miami, got a chance to see firsthand how good the grouper fishing was right off the beach. The boat Juan came over on developed engine trouble, so making the best of a bad situation, Juan snorkeled off the beach, headed toward the coral heads surrounding Mamma Rhoda rock. In less than an hour of diving he speared an 18-pound grouper, using the traditional Hawaiian sling, the only type spear permitted in Bahamas waters.

Brad Thornbrough, who’s done a lot of fishing in and around Chub, says the marlin fishing isn’t much farther. Less than five miles from the resort, toward Morgan’s Bluff, his boat caught a 500-pound blue. “Right off the edge, right out front you can begin fishing,” Brad said.

And it’s not just the grouper, snapper and marlin that are within swimming distance. Easy wading opportunities surround Chub Cay. We caught one bonefish and saw three others within shouting distance of the marina. But the big bones, and large schools of bones, were a mile or two away, behind Longfish Cay as well as Cockroach and Comorant Cay.

Captain David Lightburn poled Drew Hughes and me across the clearest grassflat we’d ever seen. Probing my spinning rod proved that we were indeed still floating, but the lack of a ripple coupled with the clear water gave the impression that we were suspended on the flat rather than floating on it.

“Two o’clock, about 100 yards,” David said, taking my attention away from the stingrays gliding underneath our boat. “There, moving to the right, slightly towards us.” I looked at Drew and said, “I get the first shot.” Most 10-year-olds, when they’re outweighed by more than 100 pounds, intelligently let the bigger kid go first.

Three big fish were pushing wakes down the transition line of sand and grass. It was an easy 30-foot cast with a shrimp-tipped hook. Everyone waited for the strike and blistering run, but it appeared the fish passed over the bait, so I picked up the shrimp and moved it a foot or so. It was like I pulled a trigger on a land mine. Three huge explosions, but my line still lay limp, pointing at the mass exodus of bonefish.

“I guess I should have waited a little longer before moving my bait,” I said to the nodding, but smiling, fishing guide.

Our missed opportunity didn’t weigh on our minds long, thankfully. We were soon casting to—and hooking—single fish as well as fish from small to medium to huge schools of bonefish. Between the two boats we caught 20 bonefish in less than five hours. Our biggest, in the 8- to 10-pound class, came unglued at the boat, but Kent and Adam caught two nearing the double-digit range.

Lightburn has been bonefishing around Chub Cay for close to 40 years, the last five from the Club. He says the fishing is strong year-round, but probably best in the winter. Cooler months offer better shots at bigger single fish. He mentioned that the majority of his clients are fly fishermen, and it’s trophy bones they’re after.

After a morning of screaming drags and football field-long runs it was time to shift gears yet again, and that’s the way our trip went. For the shopaholic there’s the mall, for the fishing afflicted, there’s Chub Cay.

Chub Cay Re-opens

Operations essentially closed the summer of 2005 and are opening in stages, said Deron Webb, Chub Cay general manager. “A state-of-the-art utilities plant had to be built,” he said. “Everything is computer-driven as well as backed up, so the days of power outages and low water pressure are over.” The new 110 slip marina is open, and can handle boats up to 200 feet. An additional flushing channel has been built to keep the water quality of the marina as clean as possible. A second flushing channel will be added in the next year or so. The villas, several of which are under construction now, should be done by mid to late 2007. Of these, 30 to 40 percent will be part of a rental program. The next phase, to begin fall 2007, will include enlarging the marina another 100 slips and construction on 50 townhomes. “We’re growing the property, but we still want to be known as a family, fishing and diving destination,” said Webb. “In addition, we’ll soon open our 20,000-square-foot clubhouse and pool. We’re still going to be a club where members have benefits, but non-members will have access to the clubhouse, pool, villas and other amenities. Non-members won’t feel second class.”