FISHING ADVENTURES

North Fork Light Tackle Charters is passionate about traveling in the US and abroad to fly and light tackle fish. Below are some of our favorite destinations and highlights of recent trips, be sure to check out the photo gallery at the bottom of the page:

In August 2018, we made our third visit in four years to Turneffe Flats Lodge, a premier fly-fishing operation owned by Craig & Karen Hayes from Montana with world-class guides. The Turneffe Atoll is a 250 sq. mile atoll 30 miles off the coast of Belize with pristine flats and consistent opportunities for a flats Super Slam (Tarpon, Permit, Bonefish, Snook). 

Over the course of the 6 days we spent there, we landed the Super Slam on the fly for the week. We landed 3 tarpon and jumped several more, 2 permit, countless bonefish, and a half a dozen beautiful snook. 

We highly recommend Turneffe Flats and booking through our friends at Yellow Dog Fly Fishing (https://www.yellowdogflyfishing.com/).

In July 2016, we visited Ninamu Resort (https://motuninamu.com/) on the French Polynesian atoll of Tikehau. The Atoll is 200 miles from Tahiti and is 16 miles long and 14 miles wide. Jacques Cousteau visited Tikehau in 1987 and found a greater variety of fish species than any other place in French Polynesia. 

The private island of Ninamu is owned by Chris O'Callaghan and his wife and features only seven hand-built bungalows. There was a wide variety of activities to do on the absolutely pristine atoll that we enjoyed daily, including snorkeling with a group of eight manta rays. We only brought one 8wt fly rod, but waded the endless coral flats to land over 15 species of fish on the fly, including bluefin trevally, yellow margin triggerfish, queenfish, goat fish, snapper, several varieties of coral trout, trumpetfish, and more. We also fished the one pass out of the atoll to the ocean, which if it had not been for a strong wind we could have targeted tuna, marlin, wahoo and mahi mahi.

In June 2018, we spend a long weekend in Charleston, South Carolina. We had a great day of fishing with Captain Chris Wilson of Finaddict Charters (http://www.charlestonflyfishingguide.com/) aboard his 16 foot Hell's Bay Professional. We casted soft plastics and flies to redfish and trout, and managed to sight cast to a few nice redfish. We also landed speckled sea trout and ladyfish. Capt. Chris is a patient and knowledgeable guide and we highly recommend a day with him in Charleston! 

In 2019, we had our 2nd annual tuna trip with John McMurray from One More Cast Charters ( http://nycflyfishing.com/) out of Oceanside, Long Island. Aboard his new 36' Contender Center Console with Triple Yamaha 300's, we had a phenomenal day catching bluefin tuna on spinning rods! 

In 2021, we fished with Jesse Wynn of team One More Cast who put us on yellow fin tuna on the popper. Nothing like seeing a tuna smash a topwater amongst surfacing porpoise!

In November 2019, we took our 11 month old son to Small Hope Bay Lodge (https://www.smallhope.com/) on Andros Island. The lodge is a small, family-owned operation on an absolutely beautiful and secluded stretch of beach. The staff is warm and welcoming and you are made to feel like family during your stay, enjoying delicious food family style with other guests. We enjoyed family time around the lodge and took excursions to one of the amazing Blue Holes and other beaches on the island. There is lots to explore!

We fished for two days with local guide Glister Wallace in Fresh Creek. He is a highly experienced and well-known guide in the area and put us on fish the whole trip. We had plenty of action with bonefish of all sizes, several large barracuda and jacks, but the highlight was an encounter with a school of large permit. We took shots at a fish that Glister said was >40 pounds, and eventually came tight to a ~30 pound permit that snapped us off after a long run. Reason to return for sure! 

The other highlight was the great home-flat and creek fishing around the lodge. We had run-ins with large barracuda, snapper and needlefish. We did not see any bonefish but know that they do show around the lodge at certain tides.

We fished with Captain Joe "Maz" Mustari of http://www.mazmancharters.com/ out of Staten Island in early April 2021. We had a fantastic day chasing big striped bass eating bunker on the surface! We went 3 for 4 on big fish, including an awesome topwater eat on fly right next to the boat, before we played with schoolies back in the harbor. Maz is another TFO guy, and all of his gear performed very well on these powerful fish.

We spent a few days fishing Key West in late February 2023.

We spent two days of flats fishing the Marquesas with Jared Cyr (https://www.flyfishingkw.com/). Jared is a very talented guide and a pleasure to fish with. We casted to big tarpon and bonefish on the flats.

We also spent a day offshore with Captain Beau Woods (https://fishdoubleocharters.com/). Beau is an experienced fisherman and boat operator, having spent 20 years in the Coast Guard. He took us offshore fishing behind the shrimp boats, which was an incredible experience catching big cobia, blackfin tuna and albies (a lot bigger than we are used to in the Northeast). 

We also kept busy in the evenings casting from under a bridge into Key West and landed a tarpon on fly, jumping several more.