EagleEye Fred: Fishing and Life in Bimini, Bahamas

Full transcript of the Tom Rowland Podcast, Episode 104 with EagleEye Fred.

Introduction

EagleEye Fred: Many times I have people who never ever caught a bonefish before, and I would get bonefish for them many times. And that would make me so happy to do that. To make somebody happy, it really makes me happy. To me, that's what it's all about, making somebody happy. This is EagleEye Fred from the Bahamas, and this is the Tom Rowland Podcast.

Tom Rowland: Welcome to the podcast today. We got a really special one for you. I'm going to go on record as saying it's the first time in history there's ever been a podcast done on the water, on a bonefish boat in Bimini. And this one was really special because it was with EagleEye Fred. I put out there on Instagram that I was headed to Bimini and I wanted to go bonefishing while I was there, and who was the legend? Quite a few of you responded very nicely and gave me some suggestions, and several said EagleEye Fred.

Tom Rowland: EagleEye Fred has been guiding for forty-seven years. He's a kindhearted, just sweetheart of a guy who actually does have eyes like an eagle. He can see. He pulls the boat like a man half his age. He gets around like a man half his age. He's in great shape. And we talked about that a little bit. We talked about the things that he's learned over his forty-seven-year career, the things that we can learn from that. And I just had a wonderful time. I learned some history about Bimini that I didn't know. It was just a wonderful day, and I hope you enjoy this podcast as much as I enjoyed recording it, because it may have been my favorite one ever to record. Before this was recorded, I caught a bunch of bonefish. And then right after this, we went and I caught a bunch more bonefish. That's one of my favorite things to do, catch bonefish on fly. EagleEye Fred is one of the best, and he is really one of the best people to spend a day with. Like I said, super kindhearted, gentle, just a really, really great guy. And I hope you enjoy this podcast. EagleEye Fred, Bimini, the Bahamas, coming up.

Setting the Scene in Bimini

Tom Rowland: Let me set the scene for the people listening right now. We are in this back canal, back mangrove creek, and we're up against a dock that you showed me before, and I'm in Bimini. And I'm with one of the legends, EagleEye Fred. How old are you, Fred?

EagleEye Fred: I'm 68.

Tom Rowland: How long have you been a bonefish guide?

EagleEye Fred: From 1978. And from a kid, I loved catching bonefish. As a kid, every day after school, I would walk in the water trying to get bonefish.

Tom Rowland: With a handline, or with what?

EagleEye Fred: Sometimes a handline. I had a spinning rod. My father was a guide. So me and my brother, we had a spinning rod.

Tom Rowland: And did you grow up on Bimini? Were you born here?

EagleEye Fred: Born and raised. Three out of thirteen children.

Tom Rowland: What was it like to grow up on Bimini?

EagleEye Fred: Well, in those days, it was fun. You know, when we're not fishing, we're playing baseball or something like that.

Tom Rowland: Was there a good baseball team?

EagleEye Fred: Well, they had the Bimini Marlins that won a couple of championships before, beat Nassau, beat Freeport, teams out of Bimini.

Tom Rowland: And did you play baseball?

EagleEye Fred: Yep, as a kid, but not with the big boys. Just my age bracket growing up, like 12, 13.

Tom Rowland: And so the things to do on Bimini when you were a kid were playing baseball and fishing.

EagleEye Fred: Fishing, I love. I mean, I was like somebody who's on drugs to catch fish. I just loved doing it, every day.

Tom Rowland: Did you ever think that maybe you would go out into the deeper water and offshore fish, or was it always bonefish?

EagleEye Fred: Always bonefish.

Tom Rowland: And your dad was a guide here on Bimini? And so did he take you when you were a kid?

EagleEye Fred: He took me in the boat, not bonefishing, but he took me deep sea fishing. But as a kid, me and my brother, there was always something about catching a bonefish, and we were just crazy doing that.

Tom Rowland: So how did it turn into a profession for you?

EagleEye Fred: Well, like I say, I liked it. Before I went to Grand Bahama, I used to fish with Cordell, who was one of the older guides. I used to fish for him sometimes. Like I say, I always liked it. I just couldn't help doing it because I always liked it.

Tom Rowland: Were there any rules about when you could start, or whenever you were strong enough to push the boat, you could get started?

EagleEye Fred: Yeah, I guess when you were old enough to guide, to pull the boat and know what you're doing, maybe you could start from 18.

Tom Rowland: And how did you get your first boat?

EagleEye Fred: This is my first boat. This Mitsy. This is my first boat. I worked for other people for many years. I even worked, I don't know if you ever heard of a bonefish lodge called Deep Water Cay?

Tom Rowland: Oh, yeah. Sure.

EagleEye Fred: East End, Grand Bahama. So I worked for them for a while.

Tom Rowland: I even had a friend that kind of ran that place a little bit. John Dickinson. Did you work for John?

EagleEye Fred: Yeah. And John and Miss Anne. And Paul, and John.

Tom Rowland: And so Paul now, he's on Grand Bahama at the other lodge. What's that called?

EagleEye Fred: North Riding Point.

Tom Rowland: North Riding Point. Right. We went there, and I fished there and had a lot of friends in common with Paul. He grew up in Key West, and I knew John and a bunch of people together, Fitz Coker and all of the people from Key West. We had common friends. And then you and I have fished for two days now. We had a wonderful morning this morning, but we also had some mutual friends. I guess in the fishing world, when people love it, they get around to all the different places, and they find the people like you that are the legends there. Like you told me, you fish with Pat Ford a lot.

EagleEye Fred: A lot. And I like fishing with people because everybody's nice to you. So I like that too. And then, like I told you, I don't want to really call names, but I've fished some big people since I started.

Fishing With Legends and Celebrities

Tom Rowland: Like who? A lot of people come to Bimini.

EagleEye Fred: Jack Nicklaus. Jimmy Buffett. John Havlicek, who used to play for the Boston Celtics. Coach Bobby Knight, Roland Martin, Jimmy Houston.

Tom Rowland: Roland's been on this podcast.

EagleEye Fred: Other people, you know. Stu Apte.

Tom Rowland: Stu Apte. Right. So when you're looking at what are the similarities between all the people that you just mentioned? All of those guys are exceptionally good at something. And then they also love bonefishing. So I'd like to know from your perspective, what's similar about those people?

EagleEye Fred: Well, like you say, Jack is good with golfing, and he's also good with the fly rod. And the same thing goes for Jimmy Buffett. He's good with the fly rod, and he's a musician. So I guess people like that, they just take pride in whatever they do, and they'd be good about it. Whatever they get into, they'd be good about it. And that's like me too. I like to take pride in what I do and try to be the best at it.

Tom Rowland: Who called you EagleEye the first time?

EagleEye Fred: Well, people that I fish. Because I always see the fish a long time before anybody else. So they started saying, man, you got eyes like an eagle. So I put it together as EagleEye.

How Bimini Has Changed

Tom Rowland: So how has Bimini changed? Because I was looking, we were over at the Big Game Club eating dinner, and of course, growing up and looking at the record books, I always looked at the records coming from Bimini. And this was always a place that I wanted to come and bonefish. And this is my first trip to actually come bonefishing here. We were here doing some offshore fishing with End of the Line, but we didn't get to do any bonefishing really. But I always looked at those records. James Orthwein all had an amazing record. It was, like, a 16-pounder on four-pound or two-pound or something. It was incredible. So I would imagine that when that was happening, was that the heyday for Bimini fishing?

EagleEye Fred: I think so. In the early years, yeah. Because a lot of people used to come here to bonefish or deep sea fish, marlin fish, tuna fish. You don't have so many people coming here to marlin fish or fish for tuna anymore, but still bonefish. Bonefish and wahoo. People come for wahoo.

Tom Rowland: And are you staying busy all year long?

EagleEye Fred: Well, not all year long, but starting from this, this is March. From this month, people start to book me. All through the summer and then into the fall.

Tom Rowland: And is there an off season? I would imagine it's a lot like Miami. You have about the same weather here. You're almost on the same latitude.

EagleEye Fred: Yeah. Like August, we sort of stop for a few months.

The Martin Luther King Statue and Bimini History

Tom Rowland: So you were also telling me that growing up here, there's a lot of people that like to come over to Bimini and have a good time. There's a lot of people that like to come over to Bimini and kind of disappear for a while. What other people have you come into contact with over the years, from the States?

EagleEye Fred: I came into contact with Willie Nelson before I knew who he really was. Long time ago.

Tom Rowland: So you hung out with Willie?

EagleEye Fred: Yeah, for a day. Me and a friend of mine.

Tom Rowland: So what is it like hanging out with Willie Nelson for a day?

EagleEye Fred: It was good.

Tom Rowland: Willie likes to have a good time?

EagleEye Fred: Right. Nice person. Nice person.

Tom Rowland: And then you were telling me about somebody else, a star that was here.

EagleEye Fred: Dan Haggerty. He used to be here. Everybody in Bimini knows him.

Tom Rowland: Dan Haggerty. That was Grizzly Adams. And so whenever he was finished with his filming, he would come for months?

EagleEye Fred: He'd be here for the longest. But he was really nice. Really nice person. He got along with everybody on the island. Nobody could say anything bad about him.

Tom Rowland: And did he just want to kind of disappear for a little bit?

EagleEye Fred: Yeah, I guess so. And he just hung out with the natives. He just loved hanging out with the people of Bimini. So he was just a good person all around.

Tom Rowland: And this thing that we're right up against, a dock here that's built way back into the mangroves, this is definitely not a tourist destination because pretty much you've got to have a bonefish boat to get here. Very few people are probably going to get back here, but tell me what this is that we're looking at.

EagleEye Fred: We're looking at a Martin Luther King statue. One of the local guides by the name of Ansel Saunders, he brought Doctor King here when Doctor King wanted some place peaceful for him to write the sanitation workers' speech. So this is where Ansel brought him to write the sanitation workers' speech in the boat, and this wasn't here. The mangrove was here. So he tied up right beside the mangrove when he brought Doctor King here to write the sanitation workers' speech. And he told people that maybe three days after Doctor King left from here, he was assassinated in Memphis, three days after.

Tom Rowland: Wow. That's incredible. And so the island of Bimini erected this statue and put this up here?

EagleEye Fred: Well, I think the Bahamas government. Ansel, I guess, spoke to them, and then they just put it there.

Tom Rowland: That's cool. And what's cool is that it's not in a place that anybody would really know where it is. You've got to have a boat.

EagleEye Fred: But even though he doesn't have a boat, he would get my boat sometimes, or my nephew's boat, and bring people over here, and he'd tell them about Doctor King.

Tom Rowland: Did you ever see Doctor King?

EagleEye Fred: Yeah, I've seen him. I've seen him and Jesse Jackson walking the street. I've seen Richard Nixon too walking the street before, but that's when he was not president then.

Tom Rowland: After?

EagleEye Fred: Yeah, after.

Tom Rowland: He was looking for a place to hide.

EagleEye Fred: Well, I don't know. He used to be in Cat Cay. That's south of here.

Tom Rowland: Yeah, we went over there. That's a fancy place. Is that where, when we went over there to feed the stingrays on this trip, we were told that they have their own power plant there and their own cell tower?

EagleEye Fred: Rich people, big people with millions of dollars. I think you have to have so much money to be a part of that. That's like a club. And you have to have so much money to be. Jimmy Buffett is there too. He has a house there.

Tom Rowland: Wow. That's a beautiful area. This whole area is so awesome because you just have the clearest, cleanest water, and it's so close. Like the drop-off, when you go out towards the ocean, you only have to go out about a half mile, maybe a mile, before you're going to be in very deep water.

EagleEye Fred: On the west side. Yes. Not on this side. Flats go way out on this side.

Tom Rowland: That's what we're going to do after this. Right? We go check that out?

EagleEye Fred: Yeah, we're going out on the flats.

Learning the Bonefish and Reading the Tide

Tom Rowland: So you've been guiding for forty-seven years. So imagine you're a bonefish. What does your day look like? From your perspective, of all the things you've learned in forty-seven years, how does a bonefish go through his day?

EagleEye Fred: Well, like I said, different times of day, you find the bonefish in different places. So sometimes you would go to a certain area and you won't find bonefish. Like today, we had just a little bit of a problem finding some fish.

Tom Rowland: This morning, what was happening is they were kind of hanging out in the deeper water. We have perfectly crystal clear skies. We can see really well. We're not having any problems with clouds, but they're getting out in about three and a half feet of water and making kind of a little mud.

EagleEye Fred: Mud, yeah.

Tom Rowland: And we were going along the outside of that mud and finding single fish and twos and threes, but they like to hang out there for whatever reason.

EagleEye Fred: I guess they find a lot of food there. We're able to kick the mud.

Tom Rowland: And then what happens to move them somewhere? The tide changes?

EagleEye Fred: Yeah. When the tide changes, like if you notice the tide, it's coming in from the south. And it goes north, and the fish, like how he was up in the bay, the fish would feed, go north, and then when the tide changes, the fish go back south feeding again. That's the way they feed. And you just have to know the pattern, the fish, and the areas where the fish hang out, and then your day wouldn't be so hard because you'll find fish once you know the pattern where the fish can be. You have to have all that figured out. You know, you have to take some time to learn a fish.

Tom Rowland: How long do you think it took you to start figuring it out?

EagleEye Fred: From a boy, I could figure it out easy.

Tom Rowland: Even when you were on foot compared to when you're in a boat?

EagleEye Fred: Yeah. I know the sight and time, wind, where fish can be sighted in areas. It wasn't hard, not for me. Because like I say, I liked doing it, so I guess I caught on to it easy.

Tom Rowland: And then as far as getting business, how did that go? Were there some kind of rough years in the beginning, or did you start working right away?

EagleEye Fred: Not too rough. Getting business, I would give people my card, and they would tell friends. And I would try my best to get fish for everybody, even though you can't get fish every time. But if I fish twenty days, I'll get fish at least eighteen or twenty of them.

Tom Rowland: Not bad. That's very good, especially when you're factoring the whole year, and there's so many days where the weather is not perfect.

EagleEye Fred: Right. And I see, on some bad days when people think you would never get a fish, I get fish.

The Art of Guiding and Making People Happy

Tom Rowland: So what's your favorite way to catch the bonefish if you had one situation?

EagleEye Fred: Fly fishing, like you. A good fly fisher like you. I love it if someone can use the fly rod like you. But it doesn't happen like that. You don't ever have people as good as you.

Tom Rowland: Well, that comes from a lot of practice. So let's talk about that for a second. When people, dudes from the States or England or wherever, they're getting on your boat, you've seen this for forty-seven years. There's got to be a lot of mistakes that you see, or things that people could do if they would just practice just a little bit. What would you say?

EagleEye Fred: What happens is a lot of people come with a lot of good rods and stuff, and they don't have the slightest idea how to use the rod. So a lot of times, I try to teach them, but it's hard to get it right the first day. You've got to practice. A lot of times, they be looking back. I don't like that. All you have to do is, once you know how to do it, you can feel when the line goes straight to the back, and then you come forward. Because if you come forward too fast, you won't get a catch.

Tom Rowland: So right away, in the first few minutes of the trip.

EagleEye Fred: When somebody picks up a fly rod, I know if they can use it. Right away. Once they pick that up and they try to cast, I can tell right away if this thing will work.

Tom Rowland: Have you had some extremely frustrating days, as we do as well in this?

EagleEye Fred: Many.

Tom Rowland: But there's times that you just...

EagleEye Fred: I try to be good with everybody, though, even though it'd be tough. But the key to this business is, if you can be nice to people, then people appreciate you, and they'll send people to fish with you. So even though you go through the tough times, you still got to hold it and be good and try again.

Tom Rowland: Right. Well, that's what I've said for a long time about being a fishing guide, is that there are many goals. And if the only goal that you have is catching fish, oftentimes you can get that person that can barely cast the fly rod fish. But you might not be nice to them all day, and they might catch one fish. And you're thinking, okay, I did a good job, but they didn't have a good time because they got yelled at, or because they were upset for whatever reason. And the key is, if you just realize, you know what, this person is on vacation. They just want to have a good time. They're not very good, but we're going to do the best we can. And then that results in a good trip.

EagleEye Fred: Right. Because without the people, I don't have a job. So you have to think like that. You have to be good to the people, in order for people to keep coming back or telling people to come fish with you. So I try every day to be as good as possible with the people.

Tom Rowland: Did you learn that from a young age?

EagleEye Fred: My mom always instilled in us to be good. And I was never in any problems as a kid growing up. And I have one son, and he's quiet. My daughter's more rough, and he's quiet like me. If I'm not fishing, I would be either home or at my cousin's, where I keep my boat. Me and him would be out by his place. His place is right on the water, and we would be talking. But other than that, a bunch of friends, no. I like to live a quiet life. A lot of times in Grand Bahama, that's where my wife is at, she would want to go certain places, and she would ask me. And I say, well, I just don't feel like hanging out with a bunch of people. So I say, if you want to go, you go. Sometimes I'll go places just to please her, but I don't like being around a bunch of people.

Tom Rowland: Well, that's a very common thing with fishing guides, is that you entertain someone for eight to ten hours a day all day long. You're the comedian. You're the actor. You're the entertainment. And then you get home, and you really don't have much left sometimes for the wife, and that makes for a tough relationship.

EagleEye Fred: Yeah.

Tom Rowland: Do you see that many guys stay married in Bimini?

EagleEye Fred: Yeah. Ansel was married until his wife died. Abby is married. Cordell was married, but him and his first wife got divorced, and he remarried another woman. And like, Billy Duncombe was a guide. He was a preacher too. So he was married before I was born because he had kids older than me. So him and his wife never got divorced. I think if you grow up being a bad person, then you'll continue to be a bad person. But if you grow up being good, I think that'll stay in you.

Tom Rowland: Yeah. That comes from your upbringing.

EagleEye Fred: Your mom, really. Never being bad. And my mom always put that fear in you. Don't steal, don't kill. So I take that from a child. I take that. I never would hurt anybody. Like how people go around killing? Never wanted to.

Life and Safety in Bimini

Tom Rowland: So Bimini seems like a very safe place. Do you...

EagleEye Fred: Five bedroom, two bathroom, and we only lock our front door at night. The back door, it stays closed but never locked. Never. You could come there anytime in the morning and open the back door. Nobody bothers you. So you don't have to. It ain't like a place like Nassau. You can't do that. People breaking down your house in Nassau and shooting you. If you're trying to get home from work, before you could open the door in Nassau, people would shoot you down like a dog.

Tom Rowland: Why is that? Nassau, at some point, must have been safe like Bimini.

EagleEye Fred: Yeah, it was. In the seventies, it was safe, but not now. Too many guns. I don't know where all the guns are coming from, who's smuggling all the guns in to the country. I don't know.

Tom Rowland: What's the legality of a gun in the Bahamas? Can a Bahamian own a gun?

EagleEye Fred: You have to have, like, a permit or a license, like for a shotgun. Not for a pistol. A shotgun, you get your gun license every year. I don't need to have a gun.

Tom Rowland: So Nassau kind of turned over somehow and is not as safe as it once was.

EagleEye Fred: It's not as safe. They're doing all they could to get the crime down. But it's just that it's people with bad minds, man. People with bad minds go do bad things. But as far as the government, the government is trying. They're trying to do good.

Fishing Licenses and Guides in the Bahamas

Tom Rowland: That happens everywhere. One of the things that was going on a while back was there was a lot of talk about the Bahamian government not allowing anyone, Americans, English, people from the UK, anywhere, people that travel to the Bahamas, not allowing people to fish without a Bahamian guide. Now that seems to have changed a little bit since I was here a few years ago. I noticed that when we first started, you got a fishing license. And so the guides are in charge of licensing the anglers?

EagleEye Fred: Well, the guides aren't exactly in charge. It's like we just talk to them. The government who works in the office, we talk to them and we tell them, there's no way people could come here to fish and the office be closed. Don't be closed on a Sunday or Saturday. So if people spend their money to come all the way here to fish, what do you want them to do if you close? They spend money to come to fish. So we just talked to them and asked if they could give us the form to bring, let the people fill the form out, and they give us the money, and we return the money to the government.

Tom Rowland: And so that allows people to fish with guides, but you could also fish on your own now, or not?

EagleEye Fred: I think they would give it to you, but I think they would encourage you to get a guide to fish with. But I think you could go and get a license and fish for a week or whatever, on your own.

Tom Rowland: Obviously, some people want to come and try to do it themselves. Some people are trying to save money. Some people, it's a lifetime trip. They don't have enough money to hire a guide. Their one goal in life is to catch a bonefish. Okay, they try to do it. Mostly, they're probably not going to be successful. But I mean, that was kind of a big thing that was going around on the internet, is that people were kind of wondering what that was going to mean to Bahamian tourism, if that was the rule that they were really going to crack down on, people fishing without a Bahamian fishing guide. And I'm not in favor of someone fishing without a guide necessarily. I mean, I want money to be going directly into the economy. But also, I have to say that there are, like, I did this one trip. We went over to Elbow Cay and rented a boat, and I'd spent three days fishing with a guide. And then I rented a boat. And all I wanted to do is take my wife and daughter out to some flats. They wanted to look for shells and starfish and stuff like that, and I just wanted to walk along there and see if there were any bonefish there. So I gave money to the economy by a boat rental, three days of guiding, restaurants, rented a house, did all of that. But part of the reason that we wanted to go there was that we would have the opportunity to just kick around and look. And I always kind of thought that maybe, I don't know, if you take that away from people...

EagleEye Fred: Yeah, I know what you're saying. But I think you can get a fishing lesson, a bonefish lesson, to fish on your own. I think, if you go into the administrative office, I think they'd give it to people. They have before.

Tom Rowland: Yeah. Well, nobody wants to do anything wrong. And what I was telling you earlier is that in the United States anyway, we are used to a much more expensive fishing license than the twenty dollars that it cost me. So I would say, raise the license fee higher would be my suggestion, but I don't know. Nobody's asking my suggestion.

EagleEye Fred: Well, I go along with the government. If they do it like that, I wouldn't even say anything. I just go along with them.

A Quiet Life and Family

Tom Rowland: So when you and your cousin are sitting out on the back porch talking, what do you guys talk about?

EagleEye Fred: Well, sometimes just fishing, or little things. Not much. Sometimes we tell jokes.

Tom Rowland: You got a good joke?

EagleEye Fred: Well, I got one that I could say. He told me a joke, that his father was a little dishonest. And his father's brother had a heap of sand, and his father stole the sand from his brother. And when his brother came and asked him, said, doc, you see the sand I had here? So doc told him, said, no, the dog must have eaten it. So how could a dog eat a whole heap of sand? But he stole it. So that's what he told me about his father.

Tom Rowland: The dog ate the sand. Do you ponder any of life's great questions sitting on the back deck looking at the ocean?

EagleEye Fred: Not really. Not really. No. I just thank God to know that I'm alive and well, and I had a lot of friends my age die a long time ago. A lot of friends. I think about things like that, that God spared my life, because there's a lot of friends I know. We grew up together, and they're no longer with us. I think of things like that.

Staying Fit at 68

Tom Rowland: So you seem to take pretty good care of yourself. You're 68, and you told me you were 68 on the first day. I would have thought you were right about my age, a fit 50.

EagleEye Fred: Yeah. No. I'm 68. I was born 11/16/1950.

Tom Rowland: So what's the secret? How do you stay so trim and fit? Your teeth are perfectly healthy. You've got the whitest, most perfect teeth I've ever seen in my life.

EagleEye Fred: I don't drink liquor. I don't do drugs, and I try to be good to my wife and kids. And my kids could tell anybody, they could talk about me being good, because I try to be the best father in the world. Things like that. And I don't stay out late nights. Nightfall don't beat me out. So I try to live, and I try to eat good. When I say eat good, I don't eat a lot. I stay fit. My father was fit. My father died simply because he was a hard cigarette smoker. And he died from hardening of the arteries. He just got taken with a chest pain at night. In no time, he was dead. When they did the autopsy, they found out that's what killed him. The tar, the blood couldn't flow to the arteries because the tar had it blocked. So that's how, but my father was, like, 76 when he died, and he was fit. He could pull or jump, move around like nobody's business.

Tom Rowland: And did you ever smoke cigarettes? Because you saw that happen?

EagleEye Fred: I never got into smoking cigarettes. I never tried to get into bad things like that. If I told you I didn't smoke something else before, but that was when I was real young.

Tom Rowland: That was when...

EagleEye Fred: Willie Nelson. Everybody, I guess, Bill Clinton tried, so I tried it too.

Tom Rowland: Well, I mean, Willie Nelson comes to visit for the day. What else are you supposed to do?

EagleEye Fred: Right. I tried something like that before, but never got hooked on it. Like how people get hooked on drugs? No. Never.

Tom Rowland: Well, you got hooked on fishing.

EagleEye Fred: Yeah. That's my drug right there. That's my guiding.

The Joy of Guiding and Family Life

Tom Rowland: Do you see that there's a difference between if you were to go out fishing yourself and you were to go out as the guide? Do you have a different mindset?

EagleEye Fred: Yeah. And trust me, I like taking people more than I like fishing myself. I get more enjoyment out of taking people. And my greatest enjoyment out of doing it is when I could get out there and get fish for somebody and make that person happy, then I'm happy. That's what I get. I get a lot of enjoyment out of doing that, taking somebody. That's how it is with me. Love taking people. Because many times I have people who never ever caught a bonefish before, and I would get bonefish for them many times, and that would make me so happy to do that. To make somebody happy, it really makes me happy. To me, that's what it's all about, making somebody happy.

Tom Rowland: And is that the secret to happiness for yourself?

EagleEye Fred: Yeah. And my children.

Tom Rowland: If you were to pick, or to blue-sky out the best day you could have with your kids, what do you do as they're growing up?

EagleEye Fred: Well, we'll sit down and talk and have a little fun like that. But right now, all my kids are grown, but we still, let me tell you what. Every day of my life, my two daughters and grandson, every day of my life, I call them. Every day of my life. If one day goes by and I don't call, they won't know what happened. But I call them every day. I talk to them every day. My oldest daughter, she's 34. My second daughter is 24. My son is 26. And then I have my favorite of all, my grandson, who's 13.

Tom Rowland: You were saying he likes to fish?

EagleEye Fred: Yeah. He loves to fish. So right now, I just called his mom last night, and I wonder if his uncles come in for the Easter, because if they come in for the Easter, my grandson would come. I just have to send his ticket, and he's ready to come. I take him in the boat all the time with people. I'd let him cast the spinning rod for people sometimes, but he loves it. So that's how it is. But like I said, my kids and my one grandson, they're my life. When it comes to them, you know, some fathers in life, they never ever do anything for their children. But I'm not that one. I'm the father who tries to do for them all the time. My oldest daughter, she just finished college in Georgia. I think I told you that. And her mom never came up with a dollar to help do anything. Everything was me. She got a scholarship, but I still had to come up with thousands of dollars for a place for her to stay, and books and stuff, food and everything. So it was all me.

Tom Rowland: And now that she did, she graduated? And so now what is she getting ready to do?

EagleEye Fred: She's working. She's working at a government office in Freeport. She took up communications. So she's in a government office. That's where she works now.

Tom Rowland: Do you think she'll come back to Bimini, or she wants to?

EagleEye Fred: No. Her mom is from Freeport. My oldest daughter isn't with my wife. When I got married to my wife, she was already there. Now my wife has two kids for me, a girl and a boy. Even though me and my oldest daughter's mom weren't together, I never stayed out of her life. I was always in her life. Always in her life. Her mom told her one time, they come to me to look for some money. And she told my oldest daughter, whose name is Telia, she's named Fortelia, but we just call her Telia for short. She said, Telia, I want you to know, if you ever come to your dad and ask him for some money, and he says he don't have it, I don't want you to feel bad, because every time you come and ask for something, you get it. So she made it hard to know, things like that. They always know. I always try to take care of them. My son, he was in a private school in the States, and it was only me to do it. Now my last daughter, I gotta try to put her in a college in Freeport, save some money and try to put her there. Because I can't do for one and don't do for the other. So I try to save some money and put her in a college. That's what I gotta try to do.

The Value of a Bonefish and Catch-and-Release

Tom Rowland: So that really brings up the economic value of a bonefish. Does the entire island and the entire community see that? Because oftentimes, the economic value of a bonefish is not immediately obvious to people that aren't fishing guides.

EagleEye Fred: Yeah. Because a lot of people don't see it like how I see it. People would go there, like some of the natives, and they would catch a bonefish, and they want to eat it. With me, I want to release it, because if I take them all out of the water, there won't be any use for you to come, or nobody else to come, because there won't be any fish for you to fish for. So that's the way I look at it. Just keep them in the water. But like I say, a lot of natives, they want to eat the bonefish all the time. No, I don't do that. People always asking me to bring fish. I don't do that.

Tom Rowland: How would somebody eat one if they wanted to?

EagleEye Fred: Well, they know how to scrape it. They just cut the fish open, take the backbone out, and they have, like, a fork, and they would scrape all the meat out.

Tom Rowland: Before they cook it or after they cook it?

EagleEye Fred: Before they cook it. And then they put it back in the whole frame of the bonefish. They sew it up and season it and bake it.

Tom Rowland: Really? They sew it back up?

EagleEye Fred: It's good. It's good. But like I say, that's my livelihood, so I can't take the fish out of the water.

Tom Rowland: Better than snapper?

EagleEye Fred: Yeah, man. That's real good. It's flaky and white meat. Real good.

Tom Rowland: And then what about the barracuda? A lot of people...

EagleEye Fred: Barracuda is good. I would eat barracuda only from shallow water. Deep water, never.

Tom Rowland: Ciguatera.

EagleEye Fred: Right.

Tom Rowland: Have you seen people get ciguatera? What does it do to you?

EagleEye Fred: Gives you throwing up and diarrhea like that. It'll make you feel bad. So I eat out of shallow water on the flats there, I'll eat a barracuda. But most of the people, they'll eat them from the flats, not deep water. Lord, you never know when they're sick.

Tom Rowland: Right. I heard that ciguatera makes you not be able to tell hot from cold. You ever heard that?

EagleEye Fred: Well, I know I was poisoned with an amberjack before, and it made me, that day in the summer, it made me feel cool, cool. You know, when it came down on me. When it comes to eating, like I say, eating the barracuda and stuff, I would only eat them out of shallow water.

Heading Out to the Flats

Tom Rowland: So what do you think for the rest of the day here, Fred?

EagleEye Fred: Well, we're going out on the big flats, and we'll go in the back of South Bimini, and we're going to look for fish. Try to find some fish. We gotta get some fish. That's what I think.

Tom Rowland: Well, if you find them, I'll try to catch them.

EagleEye Fred: Well, if I find them, I know you could get them too. I don't worry, when it comes to getting the fish.

Tom Rowland: We gotta practice. That's what we need to tell everybody, is that in order to make your bonefish guide happy, you gotta practice before you get here.

EagleEye Fred: Yeah. But like I say, a lot of people, I think they want to do it because they see their friends do it, and they have the money to do it. But a lot of times, they're really not good with it. But I would take the fly rod and show them. I would show them.

Tom Rowland: How about, if we find a couple of fish, I'll pull you around a little bit. You catch one.

EagleEye Fred: No, no.

Tom Rowland: Now you're just afraid you're going to have to show me how you cast.

EagleEye Fred: I can show you how I cast when we leave from here. But I have a bad elbow. But I can show you I could cast. I could cast.

Tom Rowland: I want you to catch a bonefish.

EagleEye Fred: No. I don't want to catch a bonefish. I want to pull you. But I can show you I could cast.

Tom Rowland: Okay. I'm sure you can. Some of the best casters I've ever seen are Bahamian guys. Andy Smith from the Bahamas is a remarkable caster.

EagleEye Fred: Really.

Tom Rowland: I'm sure you can. I'm sure you can.

How to Reach EagleEye Fred

Tom Rowland: Alright, Fred. EagleEye. This is awesome. How does somebody get in touch with you if they want to come to Bimini and go bonefishing?

EagleEye Fred: Okay. +1 (242) 473-0580. EagleEye Fred. You can call me at that number anytime and get me.

Tom Rowland: And you don't have a website or anything like that?

EagleEye Fred: No. I don't have a website. You can always get me at that number. +1 (242) 473-0580.

Tom Rowland: That's it. I got your name from somebody, Luke on Instagram. I asked who the legend was. He said EagleEye Fred.

EagleEye Fred: That's it. He was right. They're coming down on Saturday. I think it'll be Saturday. And he is a little disappointed that I can't take him because I already booked with a lot of people, but my brother would be taking him.

Tom Rowland: Well, that's the problem with being a really good fishing guide, is people only want you. But you're only one person. That's right. You can only do so much. But you get my highest recommendation. You're a very pleasurable person to spend the day with. I've been testing your eyes. You do have eagle eyes. They're almost as good as mine.

EagleEye Fred: All right. You don't have too many Americans say that, do you?

Tom Rowland: That's a good one.

EagleEye Fred: That's a good one.

Tom Rowland: Alright, Fred. Thank you for doing this. Let's go catch some fish.

EagleEye Fred: Okay, Tom. Thank you too. Thank you. See you.