ABACO: FISH AND FISHERMEN COME IN ALL SIZES Only 10,000 people live full-time in Abaco from Walker's Cay to Sandy Point, a land area of about 650 square miles including the outer cays. Millions of fish and other marine creatures, however, live in hundreds of additional square miles under Abaco's waters; in the open ocean, on the reefs, in the Sea of Abaco that separates the mainland from the cays and on the vast limestone and mud shallows known as "the marls" that lie to the west. Catching them from boats can be both competitive and fun, as Abaco gears up for Spring tournaments. From April through June, no fewer than seven major billfish tournaments will test the skills of sport fishermen in Abaco. Abaco's two largest marina resorts, Abaco Beach Resort at Boat Harbour in Marsh Harbour and Treasure Cay Hotel Resort and Marina will sponsor most of them, with the Green Turtle Club on Green Turtle Cay as the site of one popular annual invitational. Smaller fish and other marine life also live in the harbours and under the docks of Abaco's waterfront settlements, and it is here that local kids and many visitors drop a hand line as an introduction to the intricacies and subtleties of Abaco's number-one industry and pastime. The snapper, grunts and crabs are in abundance here. Others, willing to expend more time and money, will rent small boats and motor out to the reefs for wahoo, mackerel and barracuda. Guides are available all over Abaco for every type of fishing, including bonefish, an Abaco speciality. If viewing rather than catching fish is your thing, the diving and snorkeling here can't be beat. Spear fishing is not allowed and the fish know it. You'll make lots of new friends under the water with a bit of bread or fish food, and you'll meet up with an amazing variety of reef creatures from eels and spiny lobster to waving purple seafans and sea anemones. For a closer look at one of Abaco's most common and easy-to-catch sea denizens, see our story on conch.

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