fishing st lucia

[fishermike35]

:help: hi going to st lucia in march (middle of) any good fishing to have here shore/boat
:help:

[csx355]

Hi Mike - we were out there Jan/Feb this year and stayed in a resort in the North - Papillon at Reduit beach. We took spinning gear and had some decent sport from the rocks out on the point to the left of the beach and on the jetty on the right just before the harbour.

We also hired a scooter and beat around the island a bit and found some interesting little bays and coves where we fished and took some small barracuda and other bits and pieces mainly on Rapala plugs.

We hired a small boat - shared the costs with some other guys for an inshore trip trolling plugs around the bay. VERY good sport but beware of the pricing we paid $100 for the boat for a mornings fishing they will ask for $500 !!!

The bays quite often erupt with baitfish being chased up - I think that with a little dedicated effort you could do very well from the shore (we were not that dedicated) -

I took a 10' 5pc spinning rod (a decent one) a 9' conolon spinning road and a couple of small fixed spools loaded up with 40lb braid (you need it). A handful of rapala's and some other sundry bits and bobs like some short wire spin traces - light leads - floats and hooks and you are sorted.

We also spent some time fishing in the back of REDUIT harbour a bit like a souped up version of mullet fishing.

Great fun. Hope this helps - Good Luck - Steve

[fishermike35]

are poppers any good for barracuda

[PanamaJack]

Mike
Whilst I haven't fished St Lucia I've caught Barracuda in many other parts of the Caribbean and Florida and they've all come on lures worked sub-surface. I've never had any success with poppers, but then I only tend to use surface lures for Jacks.

For 'blind' trolling as the other respondent noted Rapalas, sinking Rapalas, work well.

If you're sight casting - and that can be really exciting - on shallow Flats I use either tube lures or sinking rapalas with the lip, the diving vane, removed. There you need to cast 20' (7 metres) or so from the Barracuda and crank as quickly as possible. Let me assure you, you can't wind quickly enough to outpace a Barracuda!
Best of Luck
Dave

[marktheshark]

Hullo Mike
I was in St Lucia in March three years ago; it was a mixed bag. I stayed to the north near Pigeon Point, where there was, allegedly, a reserve, but the coral reef was speargunned to hell on a daily basis and when I snorkelled there were few fish of any size and those that were left were very wary.
I took a 15lb tarpon on livebait (sardine) off a small pier on the first night; there was a small shoal that regularly harrassed the sardines, which congregated under the pier light, at dusk, and after that first capture they wised up and I never had another take from them. I also hooked (and broke off when I finally got the thing to my landing net) a 40lb plus stingray after dark, again on sardine. I fished the shore pretty intensively with lures (Rapala, Rangers, Crippled herring, jellys and poppers) for nothing, and with flies, and got a few small needlefish (garfish) and jacks on epoxy fry flies. The Atlantic side had some pretty interesting looking blue-green water that looked just right for barracuda and snapper on the lure, but I didn't get a take.
I also hired a big-game boat and was not impressed; if there's just one or two of you they fill the boat up, so you get up at 6am and spend an hour rushing around picking up the rest of the charter from other hotels. They crammed six of us on the boat, the skipper basically couldn't be bothered and they had no ballyhoo (and when I've fished elsewhere in the Caribbean, ballyhoo with a skirt usually works pretty well for cuda, kingfish, wahoo and dorado). I would recommend seeking word-of-mouth recommendation if you're chartering a boat.
One final tip. Wherever I've fished in the Carib, the Magic Balls method has always worked from the shore. You need a clear plastic bubble float, filled two-thirds with water. Behind, two feet of 15-20lb mono, and a 6in light wire trace. Attach an epoxy fry fly, small clouser minnow or any baitfish fly, and spin with it AS FAST AS YOU CAN WIND. The splashing of the float acts like a dinner bell, bringing the fish to you. It has taken jacks, needlefish, snapper, barracuda and tarpon - and never let me down.

[fishermike35]

just got back two weeks hard fishing produced 2 fish 1 snapper about 1.5 to 2lb 1st day and somthing like a garfish on the last day my thaughts were ****!!! never go there again....................:uhuh: :schmoll:

[PanamaJack]

That's disappointing Mike. I do hope though that the primary purpose of your holiday wasn't the fishing.

That garfish-like fish you caught was, in all probability, either a Needle or immature Houndfish, or perhaps a Ballyhoo. The first two have equal lengthed upper and lower jaws, well equipped with needle-like teeth, whilst the Ballyhoo has a shorter upper jaw, hence its other name 'Halfbeak'. They're all quite difficult to catch other than on very tiny hooks. Although I've taken quite big Houndfish in the Pacific either slow trolling small livebaits or on plugs.