He wanted me to do some lobster fishing and big game fishing and do some bone fishing as well. So after being in touch with Mark, with whom I’ve been fishing in Tanzania, Bolivia and Cuba, he highly recommended Peter, from the Delphi Club. He told me this man was a gentleman and that he has been in the fly fishing business for many years.

Erci, our sales manager from the Fly Fishing Department at Pointer Outfitters, made all the contacts and got the information and a couple of weeks later I knew they would be waiting for me to visit their lodge. I had been invited to stay at The Delphi Club and they offered to take me fishing. If you know me, you know that it’s very difficult to refuse that kind of invitation. So I took a flight from Cordoba to Buenos Aires, had an overnight flight to the US woke up in the morning at Miami airport. What I realized as soon as I landed there was how close Miami from Abaco is. Just a 45 minute flight once you are in Miami. So any person can take a flight to Miami, and the next thing you know, you’re fly fishing in Bahamas. So this is a very important destination for sight fishing where you go bonefish tailing in the flats. You normally go with rods, number 7 or number 8, floating lines, long leaders, thin tippets, and flies for bonefish.

I had all my gear, I put it in my luggage. I took some warm clothes and also my buff for sun and wind protection, Simms Clubs, Columbia Shirts, our Pointer Fly hats, I was ready to go! I think that I managed all my packing in less than half an hour. I was so excited! I got my passport in my pocket, some cash, and last but not least, the sun glasses. The next thing I knew, I was landing at Marsh Harbour. The first thing that surprised me was that the airport had changed. My last time here was like ten years ago, in a different lodge, and it was my first experience in salt water fly fishing. When I got here I found out that the small house that used to be the airport is no longer the airport. Now they have a beautiful place with air conditioning and comfortable waiting areas. So it’s good to see the improvements! I was picked up at the airport by Max, the general manager at the Delphi Club. It was so nice of him to drive 30 minutes to go and get me! I arrived like at 4pm.

At the lodge I was completely surprised. I had seen some photos but you cannot really understand until you see it with your very own eyes. I always tell everybody: You can see the lodge, you can see many pictures about it, but you can never know the atmosphere, the feeling, the energy there. So the first thing I felt, when I was going up the stairs, in this huge main room with nice, luxurious decorations, and Peter said hello to me, was this feeling of great energy, a great atmosphere.

Mark was right, Peter is a gentleman and has loads of experience fishing, he knows exactly what he’s talking about. He invited me a drink and talked like for an hour. He told me the story of the place, and this was probably what surprised me the most. The Delphi Bahamas is the continuation of the Delphi Club in Ireland, the first fishing lodge that Peter had. Also, Peter wrote a book full of stories. I have it in my bag now and I’m ready to read it when I get home. Also, I want to keep that book in our lodges so that people can read about Peter’s experience. It’s very nice to meet a gentleman with more than 30 years in the fly fishing business, a fly fisherman himself and a great host as well. He and his wife impressed me very, very much and I have to say that I highly, highly recommend this place because people are very important and in this place, people are top notch.

The staff, that is the ladies in the kitchen preparing our sandwiches in the mornings, were very very nice. Jason, the cook, he’s british and he does an amazing job in the kitchen, incredible lamb ribs in Abaco, something I would have never expected coming from Argentina, the land of meat. I was tempted to eat fish here, but when I saw the lamb ribs, I couldn’t resist them. I thought this cannot be true. Here, in Abaco!

If I have to say something that was not amazing, I could talk about my sandwich in the water. It was not that great, it was good but not amazing. So you see, there’s always room for improvement and space to take one step further. When you are in the boat, all day fishing, and specially if you had a bad morning in the water, windy, or cold, and you are starving, it’s always good to have a nice lunch. The snacks we had in the boat were great and very helpful. Chocolate, chips and drinks! So if I get to rate the experience in terms of food, I’d say we’re talking about 8-9 points.

The bar, oh boy. The bar is really well stocked. You can get any drink, anyting you want, and they do a great job helping guests have a good drink.

I got to make a special comment about the view: The view of Rolling Harbour from the lodge is just amazing. The lodge was built from scratch by Peter in front of Rolling Harbour, like a 120 yards from the ocean. The amazing, turquoise water of the ocean, the color you see from the windows is just amazing. White sandy beach. Also, the place has a veranda all around the house where you can walk, sit and relax. The breeze from the ocean is just amazing. When I was there, I thought how great it would be to go back there with Silvia, my wife, and enjoy the place, not only for the fishing, but just for the place which invites you to have a great time. The lodge also has a great swimming pool and the ladies that were at the lodge at that time enjoyed it while we were fishing. At the same time, there was a couple from New York and another one from England. And, as far as I know, by talking to Max, The Delphi Bahamas gets very, very busy.

So if you’re planning to come here, you need to plan it with some time in advance, the peak season is in between March, April, May and June and it seems to be the best weather and the best fishing. November and December are not bad but you can have cloudy days, what happened to me on my first day here, when he had some sunny minutes, here and there. I had to stop every time the clouds covered the sun because it was just impossible to see the fish. The wind was also not helping that day so it really makes a big difference when you have more than an hour of fully sunny, shinny day.

Want to know how the fishing went? Read our next report! Fly Fishing in Abaco Bahamas Part II

Pablo Aguilo

Pointer Outfitters