Bahia Honda Sporting Club – Overview

A big school of early tarpon

Bahia Honda Sporting Club is the only fly fishing lodge in the Florida Keys. Hard to believe but true. Until now it has been up to each individual angler to fend for themselves. Finally there is an easy way for groups to fish together in the Florida Keys without having to: juggle different guides schedules; find a hotel; hunt for a decent restaurant; figure out where to meet your guide; renting a car at the airport, all these separate tasks just to put together a decent fishing trip. Fly fishing the florida keys for tarpon, permit and bonefish just got a lot easier: Bahia Honda Sporting Club.

Combine a fly fishing lodge ( or should I say mansion) on 16 acres in the heart of Florida’s lower keys, with some of the best fly fishing guides in the Florida keys, a private world class chef, and fly fishing for tarpon and permit within view of your room and you have described Bahia Honda Sporting Club. The lodge specializes in the tarpon and permit fishing of the lower keys. Open from March through July full time and by request year round, the lodge overlooks the water from a private 16 acre estate setting. Come first and foremost to fish with our hard working Florida Keys guides from dawn to dusk, but then come to relax and soak in the lodge’s perfect setting and attentive staff.

Read More about Bahia Honda

A typical lower Keys tarpon

Bahia Honda Sporting Club is a new concept in tarpon fishing for the Florida Keys. It takes what everyone is familiar with in other countries (a fly fishing lodge) and makes it better by moving it here to the Florida Keys.

Not only is the concept of a fly fishing lodge unique here in the Florida Keys, but so is the concept of fly fishing for tarpon when the fishing is best, early in the day and late in the day. Our guides will fish hard all day concentrating on the early morning and late afternoon hours when tarpon are more likely to eat a fly. Try to find that arrangement on your own with an independent guide! The lodge location affords easy shots on the gulf side and the Atlantic side with sheltered areas on windy days. The lower keys have much less boat traffic than the upper keys around Islamorada. Look at the satellite view of our area ( in the scenery photo gallery) and you will see so much structure in this area. Little and large keys everywhere, channels and basins everywhere, points and banks everywhere. When combined with lower numbers of fishermen and higher numbers of fish (undisturbed by the way) you see why Bahia Honda Club chose this area for the first fly fishing lodge in the Florida Keys.

Bahia Honda Sporting Club – The Lodging

The great room at Bahia Honda

Bahia Sporting club is a large and beautiful Mediterranean style villa amid a 16 acre estate, bordered by a wildlife refuge. It is a relaxing, tranquil setting without cars, neighbors or distractions.

The lodge is simply spectacular, on an open water bay, and has a great deal of privacy.

We can handle up to 8 rods at the lodge with private and shared accommodations. The interior is exquisite, a luxurious design and decor including Italian marble floors throughout the house. A vaulted ceiling towers over our large living room which opens onto the pool and courtyard over looking the views of the Atlantic. After you close this window take a moment to look at the lodge photo gallery found on the upper right of the main page. The pictures speak for themselves. See more pictures of the lodge on the photo gallery on the main page.

The second and main level of the house has two bedrooms each with a queen size bed, and a third large suite with three double beds, and private porch area.

A fourth bedroom is up an oak staircase from the living room to a loft with one double bed, and landing over the living room.

A fifth bedroom is only accessed by elevator, privately located on top of the house with two twin beds, a spectacular view, and a private porch overlooking the property.

It also contains a flat panel television, a computer area with high-speed internet access, and an open, well stocked bar for your pleasure.

The Food (OMG)

The dining table at Bahia Honda

Dining at the Bahia Honda Sporting Club is a key part of the whole experience. Our philosophy is that the dining experience revolves around the guest, and with just eight guests at a time, we are small enough to completely tailor the experience to what our guests want. The cuisine celebrates the best of sensational Florida foods, with an emphasis on our fresh local seafood. We often serve unique game such as venison, frog legs, and alligator from North Florida, as well as conch, wild scallops, and hog snapper from the Keys, complimented by South Florida produce. Incidentally, all game is collected in sport by our guides.

Just as the guides obsess with the details of pursuing fish, Chef Mike obsesses with the pursuit of pleasure at the table. He is an experienced executive chef, trained in New York, with a wide ranging ability to create cuisine that’s unique and sensational. He prepares all our meals on a flexible schedule, and takes great pride in his work.

Breakfast is a casual affair, taken on the sunny outdoor porch landing over the pool. We understand some like to take their time in the morning, relax with coffee, and ease into breakfast, while others wake up with fork in hand. We offer anything from a buffet style arrangement to an extravagant full English meal.

Lunch plans are determined according to our fishing agenda, usually during a mid-day break back at the lodge for a few hours out of the sun. On occasion the tides require us to have lunches on the skiffs, prepared by our chef.

We write a new dinner menu daily, based on our guest preferences. At dinner guests dine communally at a large table with the guides and hosts. It is at dinner we discuss a plan for the following day. After dessert we offer drinks and cigars around the outdoor fire in the courtyard under the stars.

Lodge Photos

Bahia Honda Sporting Club – Tarpon Fishing

Tarpon everywhere!

BHSC exclusively sight fishes in clear and shallow water, over dark turtle grass, light rocky bottoms and white sand. In other words we fish everywhere there are fish in clear water.

The Club is known for its tarpon fishing but bonefishing at sunset is pretty hard to beat, no other boats are out, the tails or wakes flashing in the setting sun. Or perhaps a combination of early tarpon and permit or late tarpon and permit. We are always up for tarpon fishing but if conditions and tides are right a little bonefish or permit mixed in is hard to beat.

During the day we move around a lot, fishing different spots among intertwined flats ranging from the bright sandy flats of the Atlantic, to the colorful and secluded backcountry waters of the Gulf. With the two oceans in such close proximity in this area, we take advantage of two different tide cycles and the optimum opportunities of each. There is rarely a time when our guides can’t find a favorable tide close t the lodge. The lower keys are a maze of channels and basins and islands giving all sorts of variety of terrain to fish. All sorts of wind directions can be fished, all tides can be fished. The guides have spent years learning these complex waters.

A notable attribute of our fishing program is our flexibility. We fish when the fishing’s best, at whatever time of day. We commonly split up the day, breaking back at the lodge for lunch and some time out of the sun, then return to the water for late afternoon fishing. With the backdrop of a beautiful sunset, our afternoon fishing can be something of a spectacle.

Species

A back country tarpon

Tarpon – We sight fish for tarpon in shallow water, usually in less than three or four feet. Most often we pole over a light bottom, watch them approach, and present a fly. Our average size tarpon is about 80 lbs., ranging up to more than most anglers want to handle. Occasionally near the mangroves we get into smaller tarpon, less than 40 lbs. They’re great fun at any size. Last but certainly not least, in some areas of the Keys deep water channels produce lots of very large schools of rolling tarpon. Commonly fished in the afternoon, with the backdrop of a beautiful sunset these schools are something of a spectacle.

A summer permit!

Permit – Our area in the Lower Keys is one of the most popular and fruitful permit fisheries in the world. This area funneling down through Key West has a particularly rocky sea floor, and its flats are subsequently home to an abundance of small crabs and critters –the main diet for permit. We fish them both traveling on deep flats, and tailing in shallow water. We see schools of baby permit and we see monsters. We fish on both incoming and outgoing tides throughout the day. These targets are very attainable, but require skill and patience.

A wide body bonefish!

Bonefish – Though there are bonefish found in many international waters, nowhere on earth consistently breeds bigger bonefish than the Florida Keys. You’re not going to drag in a dozen a day, but you’re sure to encounter some of the biggest and smartest bonefish in the world -thrilling to even witness. They eat flies well, always prove a strong adversary, and make for the fondest of memories. Tranquil sunset flats are a favorite scene for bonefish, and our guests.

Fishing Photo Gallery

Tackle & Gear

Here is a list of the basics you will need for your trip.  Many of our destinations are pretty remote with no chance to buy things on site.

[table id=55 /]

Fly List

The guides will supply your flies – but if you want to start tying some, here you go!
[table id=79 /]

Packing List

[table id=18 /]

[table id=81 /]

Non-angling guests (spouses) are welcome at half price, 50% of the angler rates above. The angler of the family will still have to share a boat or pay the solo angler supplement of $300 per day – many times 2 couples will come with 2 spouses fishing and 2 spouses not fishing – perfect! The 2 anglers pay the 2 to a room, 2 to a boat angling price and the 2 non anglers pay 50% less)

Children are welcome at any age, but we carefully schedule these reservations on appropriate dates.

Solo boat premium: $400 per day.

Special request for single room: $300 per night. There are circumstances when a single guest is not charged this premium if there is room to spread out.

Bahia Honda Sporting Club – The Seasons

April: Throughout the month of April a transition occurs when the large numbers of permit begin moving out to deep water to spawn, and the larger numbers of tarpon move in. There is also a lot of wind in April, but the fish are active. When the wind calms down, the fishing is really good, but it’s unpredictable. Later in the month the tarpon begin to move, travel across spots instead of laying up as much. The tarpon population steadily increases throughout the month.
May: The rats are in! – the abundance of average 70-80 lb. tarpon working the flats hard and feeding in schools. There is also a good bit of wind in May, but much warmer conditions make the tarpon fishing good almost regardless. As it gets later, the fish school more, leading up to the palolo worm activity at the end of the month.
June: May and June are almost reverse images of each other. “Worming” fish behavior marks the beginning of the month, tapering off from insane fishing to traditionally great tarpon fishing. The weather is windy, calm, rainy, hot and dry, everything. Toward the end of the month we begin to target permit again on certain tides.
July: A transition occurs again as tarpon begin moving out throughout July and the numbers of permit increase on the flats. This is the only month not dominated by wind, at least in the past. July might be the most underappreciated time in our area. Tarpon fishing can be very good; the permit fishing is usually great, and it’s not as windy. -But it is hot.

Please take a look at the  photo and video galleries related to tarpon fisihng ay=t Bahia Honda Sporting Club in the Florida Keys.

Fishing Photo Gallery

Lodge Photo Gallery

Scenic Photo Gallery

Video Gallery

There are no videos at this time!

Bahia Honda Sporting Club – Activities

Reading by the pool, a day in Key West, snorkeling, Dolphin encounters, diving, maybe another day of shopping in Key West. You will be tempted to forego all travel as the compound is so perfect.

Bahia Honda Sporting Club – Travel Info

The Lodge is about 30 minutes from Key West (EYW) and 40 minutes from Marathon (MTH), Miami (MIA):129 miles or
Fort Lauderdale (FLL): 158 miles.

Many people rent a car to have the freedom to explore a little, there is also a a public and private shuttle option that will bring you door to door from any airport.

Another nice part about fishing Florida is there is no need to pass through customs, the flights are less expensive than international destinations and the tarpon fishing is the best in the world!

Fly Fishing Heaven at our doorstep!