St Lucia in July

[Cascars]

I am going to Marigot Bay, St Lucia on 28th June 2008 for 2 weeks. Can anyone give me an idea of what will be around at that time from the beach and boat:)

[excel]

You`ll be missing cod, bass and possibly early bream from the south coast . . .

[PanamaJack]

You`ll be missing cod, bass and possibly early bream from the south coast . . .

And of course the start of the hurricane season! It starts in early June and runs through to November. But seriously the worst storms normally happen in late August through to mid-October.

Enough of this frivolity though.

Offshore-wise you’ll be a bit between the two runs of Marlin, Sailfish and YFT – the Spring one, in that part of the Caribbean, tends to end in May with the Autumn one starting in September. In part that’s borne out by them holding their major tournament in early October. There should though be smaller game fish species around.

Several forum members, including MarktheShark, have shore fished (and one inshore fished) in St Lucia, albeit at different times of the year. Certainly the juvenile Tarpon sound interesting – they should be there during the Summer months. Anyway details are on this thread – http://www.worldseafishing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14569&highlight=St+Lucia.

Perhaps also have a look at:

- the relevant forum on www.tripadvisor.com. Do a search on fishing and there’re currently 17 pages of threads.
- The South American and Caribbean forum on www.reel-time.com. Although it’s nominally dedicated to fly fishing you’ll see a range of posts talking about light tackle and offshore fishing.
- another worth trying is http://www.floridasportsman.com/ although you will require to register to use its search facility.

Dave

[excel]

Huricane season ?? :) Do they get them really bad over there ??? :) :)



Where`s the best place for long range forecasts ? :kissing:

[Cascars]

Forgot about the hurricanes when I booked it yesterday:uhoh:. Will be just my luck to get hit by one:blink:. Had one 5 years ago while in Grand Cayman, another in Jamaica 2 years ago and yet another in the Canaries, of all places, also 2 years ago:ohmy:

[excel]

Let us know where and when you`re off to next year please, so we can avoid !

[PanamaJack]

Huricane season ?? :) Do they get them really bad over there ??? :) :)

Where`s the best place for long range forecasts ? :kissing:

That was from the tourist board's web site.

I have to say the ones I've encountered have been further up in Belize and the Bahamas (twice) in mid-October. Hundreds of miles away they create a lot of wind, white water and rain but up close they really are terrifying.

We were on Andros once with 'Lily' devastating Cuba. Once the US weather stations were confident it wouldn't strike the 'States the regular updates ceased and there was just a red line pointing through Andros - highest point above sea level 29' and with the 'Tongue of the Ocean' and the possibility of tidal surges just offshore. Luckily as it transited from land to ocean on Cuba's north coast it did a 90 degree shift - quite common - and tracked south of us. We missed its 'eye' by 80 miles but 24 inches of rain fell that night!

Then this August we were on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica when 'Dean' struck the Yucatan. Its effects were felt way over there!

As to weather predictions I suspect the best site would be the US equivalent of our 'MET'. Most of the Caribbean nations, apart from being very poor, seem to adopt a fairly fatalistic approach to hurricanes.

[excel]

`Fatalistic approach` and Terry`s booked a holiday there,
This just gets better and better :) :) :)

[Why Worry Angling Charters]

Brilliant Terry...You just couldnt make it up!....Cab out of here anyone?

[marktheshark]

Hullo matey
I stayed a little farther up the coast near Pigeon Point. Shore fishing was a mixed bag: my shore pb came from there, a 40lb-plus stingray, rather too easily as it came to the lights at the end of a jetty. I also took 15lb and 7lb tarpon on my first night, on live sardines, and the fish were so stuffed they fought like plastic bags, throwing up half-dead baitfish as they came in. Too easy, I thought - and didn't get another one all week.
Those were the highlights. The rest of the time I flogged inside and outside the reef hoping for big snapper, jacks and barracuda, and got none. The boat charter I took was a wipeout, and the crew disinterested and unfriendly. (It was a shared party boat). My impression is that there were a few fish, but they're fished hard and very wary. A lot of the shore stuff is going to be small, so if you want sport, take a light outfit.
Artificials didn't work for me, but live sardines, which congregate at night under pier lights, did, so take small hooks (14-16) and use bread for these. They won't survive without an aerator. I did some fly-fishing, which got me some jacks to about a pound, and was good fun on a 7-weight. If you take a boat charter I'd recommend trying to get some sort of referral to a skipper who knows what he's doing. Maybe TripAdvisor can help.
Good luck. On the hurricane front, July is a little early, although the season officially opens in June. They seem to happen a bit later these days, and remember the old line of doggerel from the islands:

June ... too soon
July ... stand by
August ... is a must
September ... remember
October ... all over

Of course, that wasn't much use to the people of New Orleans (Nov) or Tobago/Grenada (Dec), in recent years.

[excel]

still plenty of hope for a Hurricane in the first couple of weeks of july then . . .



:)

[Darren161]

I stayed in marigot bay last year, you staying on a boat?

Not sure about fishing I dabled with feathers a bit and didnt catch anything. Realy nice place though and theres a brilliant restaurant across the bay which you have to get a water taxi to cant remember what its called but its green outside. :)

Sitting in the restaurant at night the water is lit up and you can see all the fish swimming past your table.

[Cascars]

We are staying at the Oasis Marigot Vacation Club Villas (See below).
I am hoping to do some plugging and spinning. Any ideas on places to try near the resort? That way I can get up and go fishing before the missus wakes in the morning:secret:
http://www.oasismarigot.com/gallery/images/vacation-club/vacation-club-sunset-1b.jpg (http://javascript<b></b>:newWindow('http://www.oasismarigot.com/gallery/gallery-vacation-club-11.html'))

http://www.oasismarigot.com/gallery/images/vacation-club/vclub-circle-1b.jpg (http://javascript<b></b>:newWindow('http://www.oasismarigot.com/gallery/gallery-vacation-club-3.html'))

Any other local info on where to eat, visit, shop etc would be handy if you can PM me.
Thanks
Terry

[Cascars]

Any more updates? Only a week away now and I have packed two travel rods. One is a spinning rod for which I will be using a fixed spool and 10lb line with plugs etc. The other is a lightweight 10ft beach rod for which I will take my penn 525 and some zip sliders and booms with a selection of hook sizes. Any other advice on essentials I should take?

[marktheshark]

Ullo matey
I didn't fish Marigot but we dived near the entrance to the bay. There's a lot of coral and rock structure around there and I'd take something a bit heavier than 10lb if it were me. I go on about fishing heavy a lot but most of the fish you meet, snapper, grouper and jacks, go straight for cover and if you can't turn them you're stuffed.
The rough bottom (!!!) also might make bottom fishing difficult as you'll just snag up all the time, unless you can find a clear patch, so I'd bring some bubble floats (the sort you can fill with water for casting weight) so you can drift a livebait in midwater. That way you might get jacks, needlefish or barracuda to play. We saw very few sizeable fish diving, but night time usually brings the bigger stuff out. I'd take some small (6-14 size) hooks for livebait and see if there are any snapper feeding around the rocks at night. If they're double-figure fish, 30-50lb line would be better. Also, there were some biggish mullet nosing around the harbour - small hooks and bread might give you a shot at those, and they fight like hell.
If you can find a jetty or building with light shining on the water, there's a good chance there'll be sardines or small baitfish balling under it, and where you see that, you'll find jacks and tarpon around the edges. The sardines will take bread on tiny hooks if you chew some up and chuck it into the shoal first. They're excellent bait and will keep overnight if you use an aerator and bucket.
Lures: I'd take some poppers in various sizes, 20-28g Tobies in blue/silver and silver, maybe some tube lures for barracuda - though I must stress that the fish around Pigeon Point were as wary as any I've seen and shied clear of lures. Only livebait (and flies, on a few occasions), worked. If you do find a local with a boat, Rapala Xraps in spotted minnow and goldfish work well for barracuda inshore.
Let us know how it goes.
All the best
Mark

[Cascars]

Thanks once again Mark for a comprehensive reply. I will take your advice and up the line strength a bit as well as take a wider selection of plugs etc. I have some tiny sabiki feathers for the livebait but dont have room for a livebait aerator so will have to catch them as I need them.
Is there any kind of licence needed for fishing there and do you know of any restrictions on fishing near the resorts? Obviously I would only be fishing early morning or late evening when nobody is about.

[marktheshark]

Ullo matey ... to best of my knowledge no licence needed. They only restrictions I found was no fishing within the Pigeon Point reserve (bit farther north of you), but even that was ignored by locals who swam in around the fence and speargunned anything that moved. I think a bit of common sense is needed (eg don't fish from piers etc when there's a wedding taking place on them - as I found out!) but everyone I met there was either a fisherman or a piscivore and interested in what was catching.

[Cascars]

Thanks Mark, I will let you know how I get on

[j0hnb0y]

how did you get on?!

[Cascars]

Sorry I forgot all about this thread.
From the shore I had little success. The area where I was staying had only very shallow water except for a deeper channel in the middle that was always buy with boat traffic and out of casting range with a spinning rod. All I managed to get here was a small red snapper of about 1/2lb.
I also tried a couple of inshore boat trips where we trolled lures for 2-3 hours without success. I eventually spoke to a charter skipper on my last night there who told me that although there are some good fish inshore, these are rare and you need to go a few miles ofshore to stand a realistic chance of getting sailfish, dorado etc.
Ironically while I was talking to him a fish of about 10lb that looked very similar to a Bonefish actually came within feet of where we were standing (in about 18" of water) and then shot off chasing small fry before he had a chance to ID it.

[j0hnb0y]

cheers for the reply! i am reading through all threads re: shore fishing as in 2 weeks i shall be in sunny mexico with a brand new reel and a million lures. can't wait! anymore trips planned? i hear Belize i supposed to be rather good!

[Cascars]

Where in Mexico will you be? Last year I was in Puerta Vallarta on the pacific coast and had some really good fishing. From the shore although I did not catch anything big there was a good variety of species from Stingrays to Puffer Fish. I saw some much bigger fish caught on livebaits and also had 8 Yellowfin Tuna from a boat which I hired for the day on my own with a skipper and crew for about $400. If going to that side I can recommend Master Baiters if you fancy a charter.

[j0hnb0y]

i shall most likely be sea of cortez side, around the La Paz area. i am getting urges to fish the Caribbean again for some reason...perhaps belize. have had some 20lb + fish from the shore in colombia but then the idea of roosterfish is v appealing!