Curacao - Shore fishing ?

[V8_rob]

I've been before but never fished off the shore. This time i'm taking a spinning rod to pass the time. You can only sunbathe and drink cocktails for so long....

Anyone fished the shore there??... all advice appreciated

[V8_rob]

Well after much research I've found out a few snippets of information - no where as near as much as I would have liked though :unsure:

Anyway, I'm off on Friday.. full report (and hopefully) photos when I return in 2 weeks.

[PanamaJack]

Rob
I don't know whether this was one of the links you picked up on the TripAdvisor forum - http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g147278-i584-k979702-l6557815-Light_tackle_fishing-Willemstad_Curacao.html#6557815 - or not? If not there's reference in one of the posts to an organisation on the island that may be of some use.

I recall one of our Club members fishing Bonaire. Even though he was fishing offshore he mentioned about Tarpon and Bonefish being taken inshore. Snook are another possibility but you're more likely to find those (and the mosquitos) near mangroves.

Looking forward to your report.
Dave

[V8_rob]

Thanks for the reply... well i've been here 4 days now. Fished maybe 4-5 hours (lure fishing) and had one fish hit a lure (which i missed :doh: )

I've seen a lot of small Tarpon jumping, going to try deadbaiting for them as i'm not managing to tempt them on a lure despite the odd fish rolling as it goes by.

God, it's frustrating!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please, no blank for a 2 week fishing trip..........................

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

[V8_rob]

Well for the first 11 days I had NOTHING!!!!! :giveup:

Bar a few hits to a lure I failed to hook anything.

I found a saltwater lagoon complex with tarpon clearly visible and decided to deadbait once the sun had gone down. Interesting start, when I inadvertantly put my tackle bag onto an ants nest and it turned black within 90 seconds :uhuh:

I free-lined dead baits which results in 3 runs one of which i hooked into. ! big jump five seconds later and it was off... there ended that session.. still no fish, but things were looking up!


The following day I fished a beach for about an hour before being asked not to fish :unsure:. Most of the beaches here tend to be private and fishing is somewhat frowned upon. However hooked into 3 barracuda all of which managed to throw the hook :cc_surren ..... still no fish

Last night I returned to the lagoon with tarpon, and on arrival a few smallish jacks were visible in the tide flow. A rapid tackle up with small feathers (didn't take the lure box as I hadn't intended envisaged the need at midnight!) and a couple of casts resulted in several hits, but no hook-ups... then they were gone.


These lagoons are joined by pipes under the roads which results in a strong tidal flow between the adjoining lagoons. The technique was to free-line a small fillet into the flow, though this was only resulting in small knocks now and then.

I ended up putting a largish float with a chemical light on and fishing a smallish fillet strip about 5' below the float. This was allowed to run with the tide into the lagoon. Nothing until the bait was 50-60m into the lagoon and then the hits started. First couple of hits were missed before the first hookup which resulted in a small tarpon of around 5lb. A few minutes later was a slightly better fish of around 8lb.

Shortly after was a fierce take in which 100m of line was stripped off in a few seconds, followed by a jump somewhere in the dark.. another lost fish. A short while later another big run which I successfully hooked into. Multiple runs and jumps.. and 10 minutes later saw the first glimpes of the fish, he saw me a made another long run. Ultimately 20 minutes later a better tarpon of around 20lbs was bought to the shore. All fish were released safely. I fished with a local friend who had many hits but failed to bring anything to the shore.

That evening I fished with with a Greys Missionary 100g spinning rod which handled everthing with ease. That was couple to a Shimano 5000GTEB and 20lb fireline. The baitrunner facilty was just great (first time I've used it) and it proved its worth for this type of fishing. Tonight when I return I'm going to use my Mike Ladle Surespin and see how that fairs, a 20lb tarpon on there would be interesting :bleh:

Tonight is my last evening here so I'm planning one more session. Only photos to date are on a camera phone though I'll hopefully have some luck again tonight and produce something worth posting when I get home :)


So what was looking to be a very disappointing vacation has come good at the end.

[PanamaJack]

Crack it! Well done Rob.

Just a couple of observations for the future.

For a while now I've used circle hooks exclusively for Tarpon. They're great and always seem to stick, providing of course you can resist the tempation to strike.

This was something I picked up from a guide on the 'Keys who's, over the years, guided his clients to well over a hundred World records. So I respect Bob (RT) Trossett's opinion.

Bob prefered conventional 'J' hooks but would NEVER, when fishing for Tarpon, sharpen them. His rationale was that if the hook had been sharpened, as most guides suggest, it was likely to take a initial hold in those tiny areas of flesh between the boney plates in a Tarpon's mouth. The hook would then often be thrown after a couple of jumps. Less sharp hooks were more likely to 'skate around', onse the Tarpon had clamped its jaws shut, and finally secure a firm hook hold.
Dave

[V8_rob]

Well I'm back in sunny England after far too many hours of travelling :dry:

My last night fishing the tarpon lagoons was an interesting one to say the least. First cast produced a fish of a few pounds within minutes of letting the bait float out into the tidal stream. I'd swapped over to the Mike Ladle Surespin (early model) instead of the Greys Missionary 100g I'd used the previous evening (still used the Shimano 5000 with 20lb fireline though). The first couple of hours produced 4 fish to around 15 pounds which provided quite a bit of fun, as many fish were lost.

A couple of photos below of the average taron size (8" pliers for scale)

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/roberth.appleby/cura1.jpg

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/roberth.appleby/cura2.jpg

Some Jacks appeared very close in and a small lure picked one up, though after a few minutes of fun it threw the hook... something i'm getting used to here!!

I had one last cast at midnight and hooked into what felt like my best tarpon to date. A couple of big runs and a few jumps somewhere in the dark though after 15 minutes it started to come within view... and it was HUGE :blink:

It saw me i guess as it took about 150+ yards of line in a blink of an eye. That was the last time i saw it in 90 minutes!. Gradually it started to tire and I kept it within 60-100 yards, though whenever it slipped into the tidal flow it steadily pulled another 100 yards off the reel, for 25 minutes I didn't even gain an inch. Anyway 3 hours later :1a: I manged to get it to shore. A few frantic photos and then 15 minutes reviving it before it slowly swam away. I didn't think it was going to survive which felt rather sickening, but it came good in the end.

It snapped an 80lb trace trying to pull it onto the bank for a photo. Doing it all by yourself in the pitch dark was rather tricky!!

A quick measure with the spinning rod put it 5 feet long give or take an inch... guesses at to its weight?.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/roberth.appleby/cura3.jpg

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/roberth.appleby/cura4.jpg

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/roberth.appleby/cura5.jpg

[Bass-ic Instinct]

Well done on a truley remarkable fish, looks to be over 100lb. I thought i had done well getting a 7lb Pollack out from the rocks with my Mike Ladle 4Surespin and a Shiman Stradic 4000GTM-RA aswell! What a testiment to anglers skill Rob. I now no i can use my 4Surespin for topr comfortable now! Perhpas i should try for blues and porgies on it???:)

[Lucky Dave]

Awesome!

Well done rob, one hell of a fish and on spin gear must have been quite an experience.

Thanks for posting.

[V8_rob]

Cheers!

But they weren't all so big :) , this was the first fish of the holidays, day 12. A tarpon of about 4lbs... well you've got to start somewhere. :fishing:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/roberth.appleby/first%20fish.jpg