polo-dog
Well-known member
Just got back from the Virgin Islands and wanted to let ya'll know that fishing there is doable and potentially productive even if you are just there for a vacation not focused around the fishing. My wife and I and 3 other couples rented a 4 berth sailboat and sailed for 8 days in the beautiful waters there. Last year I took the heaviest tackle that I had with one catfish rod with a reel that could hold 400 yards of line and 200 yards of 60lb power pro and 200 yards of 30lb mono backing, the second rod was a med/heavy rod that I usually use for worm fishing for bass and had it strung with 30lb mono. I took Williamson's Wahoo Catchers in a few colors that had been suggested to me. I did hook up and land a few fish but found out that I was terribly under powered as something that I hooked up had gone through my power pro and was going to spool me soon after I got the rod out of the rod holder. It broke me off on the 30lb backing as I had to increase the drag to keep from getting spooled.
This year went there with 4 rod holders and 4 rods in the 8-11 ft range with trolling reels that could each hold around 400 yards of 60lb power pro. Still under powered if I go hold of a big marlin but was hoping to be able to get most of the fish that I might hook up with, wahoo, mahi, tuna, and baracuda. I had a great time trying to figure out a protocol that would work for whatever species that I would hook up with, watching youtube videos on brain spiking mahi and tuna and learning how to quickly bleed tuna as it is recommended to do so if you plan to eat them. I fished every time we sailed and that was daily. Fished mostly over the 50-100ft range water that is not conducive to finding the mahi, wahoo, and big tuna but did catch 6-7 false albacore (a fish in the tuna family) that fed all 8 of us for 3 meals. We sailed over the 100-500 ft Southern drop for a few hours but the sea was rough and some of our group were getting a little green around the gills and so we ended up not continuing to fish the most productive waters for bigger fish. I would have loved to stay out there longer. The boat sailed well and the lures worked best when trolled in the 6-10 knot range. I also pulled a magnum rapala a couple of times connected to paracord but didn't get a bite on it. I never did run one of the rapalas on a rod as I felt like it would be too much drag all by it's self let alone with a big fish on the end of it. I have never trolled before but I learned while down there that one can run flat lines with the rods in the holders while using a flat line release clip like this one: http://www.academy.com/webapp/wcs/s...c-plaid^250388803038-sku^015883648-adType^PLA
Next time I go down I will take a couple of them. The false albacore were all in the 3-5lb range and some sources say that they didn't like the taste but I can tell you that they are great if you fillet them and remover the skin and dark line from the meat. I did get a 20lb baracuda into the boat but did put it right back in as we didn't need a toothy critter in the boat not set up for serious fishing. I did get really good at bringing the fish in, gaffing it, lassoing the tail with a paracord line, cutting the major arteries and getting it behind the boat on the paracord without messing up our pleasure/sailboat with huge amounts of blood, all in very rough seas. Once the fish were bled out filleting them was not very messy at all. With 7 others on the boat that were not used to being around the carnage associated with filleting fish this was a good thing.
When we go again I will hopefully be ready to handle a much larger fish and now I have a protocol to do it and not ruin the pleasure boating crowd on the boat.
There are a lot of logistics involved with trolling, landing, controlling, bleeding, and filleting fish on a boat that is not really set up for fishing but it is doable and is really a lot of fun!!!! The carcasses of the fish can also be used to attract other species to the boat as shown by this 6 footer that came to eat one of my filleted fish- see pic. It also attracted 3 rays, all within just a few minutes after I let the carcass to go bottom in about 15 feet of water. Snorkeling down there near that shark I was thankful that it was interested in the albacore and not me.
This year went there with 4 rod holders and 4 rods in the 8-11 ft range with trolling reels that could each hold around 400 yards of 60lb power pro. Still under powered if I go hold of a big marlin but was hoping to be able to get most of the fish that I might hook up with, wahoo, mahi, tuna, and baracuda. I had a great time trying to figure out a protocol that would work for whatever species that I would hook up with, watching youtube videos on brain spiking mahi and tuna and learning how to quickly bleed tuna as it is recommended to do so if you plan to eat them. I fished every time we sailed and that was daily. Fished mostly over the 50-100ft range water that is not conducive to finding the mahi, wahoo, and big tuna but did catch 6-7 false albacore (a fish in the tuna family) that fed all 8 of us for 3 meals. We sailed over the 100-500 ft Southern drop for a few hours but the sea was rough and some of our group were getting a little green around the gills and so we ended up not continuing to fish the most productive waters for bigger fish. I would have loved to stay out there longer. The boat sailed well and the lures worked best when trolled in the 6-10 knot range. I also pulled a magnum rapala a couple of times connected to paracord but didn't get a bite on it. I never did run one of the rapalas on a rod as I felt like it would be too much drag all by it's self let alone with a big fish on the end of it. I have never trolled before but I learned while down there that one can run flat lines with the rods in the holders while using a flat line release clip like this one: http://www.academy.com/webapp/wcs/s...c-plaid^250388803038-sku^015883648-adType^PLA
Next time I go down I will take a couple of them. The false albacore were all in the 3-5lb range and some sources say that they didn't like the taste but I can tell you that they are great if you fillet them and remover the skin and dark line from the meat. I did get a 20lb baracuda into the boat but did put it right back in as we didn't need a toothy critter in the boat not set up for serious fishing. I did get really good at bringing the fish in, gaffing it, lassoing the tail with a paracord line, cutting the major arteries and getting it behind the boat on the paracord without messing up our pleasure/sailboat with huge amounts of blood, all in very rough seas. Once the fish were bled out filleting them was not very messy at all. With 7 others on the boat that were not used to being around the carnage associated with filleting fish this was a good thing.
When we go again I will hopefully be ready to handle a much larger fish and now I have a protocol to do it and not ruin the pleasure boating crowd on the boat.
There are a lot of logistics involved with trolling, landing, controlling, bleeding, and filleting fish on a boat that is not really set up for fishing but it is doable and is really a lot of fun!!!! The carcasses of the fish can also be used to attract other species to the boat as shown by this 6 footer that came to eat one of my filleted fish- see pic. It also attracted 3 rays, all within just a few minutes after I let the carcass to go bottom in about 15 feet of water. Snorkeling down there near that shark I was thankful that it was interested in the albacore and not me.
