The island chain of the Bahamas covers 100,000 square miles of Atlantic ocean and holds in excess of 700 small islands and cays. These offer a huge array of pursuits and activities for the holidaymaker and have long been a favourite paradise destination for sun-seeking Americans.

As with most island groups and chains, there are some that bustle with life, while others remain idyllic - untouched and, so far, unaffected by mass tourism and commercialisation. Added to the obvious beauty and appeal of these islands, the main attraction for most fly-fishermen is the incredible bonefishing available throughout. Bonefishing in the Bahamas can be experienced in different ways: through established, purpose-built lodges, by staying at a luxury hotel or simple "walk and wade" holidays in basic, self-catering accommodation. Each has its advantages and disadvantages, but all offer a Bahamian bonefish experience to remember.

By the end of the 1950s there were growing numbers of adventurous American saltwater fly-anglers taking the short Atlantic hop by boat or small plane to enjoy the phenomenal fishing, and in particular the world famous bonefishing, which started the craze for shallow water flats fishing that has spread to many now well-known destinations elsewhere in the Caribbean. Along with the Florida Keys, the Bahamas are where most of the commonly tied fly patterns came from, flies that have since been varied and adapted widely by many anglers to suite personal tastes and different destinations. When today's angler ties on a Crazy Charlie and casts it from the bow of a modern-day flats boat to a large tailing torpedo of a bonefish feeding in shallow water, he's following in the path made over half a century ago by early pioneers of this wonderful kind of fly-fishing.

Equipment, tackle, clothing, boats and even sunglasses have all improved to make our lives easier and much more comfortable, but the practise of flats fishing remains unchanged. It is how fly-fishing should be: hunting and stalking the quarry, estimating its speed, its position, its reaction and gently placing your fly as close as possible to get it noticed in the path of feeding fish. Then watching carefully the body language of the fish as it either spooks, rejects, or as planned, inhales your fly before strip striking and setting the hook. Watch your line and then your backing disappear at such an alarming rate that, once that first 100-yard run is over, you are amazed it happened so quickly and yet still you have tension and the chance of regaining line, all the time waiting for the next blistering run that could snag you, or pull free or rub against coral in an attempt to evade capture.