St Maarten, Simpson Bay

[Cascars]

I am going out there in June for a couple of weeks and have a 13ft telescopic rod I am intending to take. Can anyone help with what I should catch, whether to use lures (what type?) and anything else that would be of help?

[PanamaJack]

Hi Cascars
Several of my friends have fished St Maarten, but only offshore in Marlin tournaments. And speaking to them none, unfortunately, have any background on the shore or inshore fishing other than one of the skippers had mentioned obtaining a skiff to fish for Tarpon. It's as vague as that I'm afraid!

As well the local Tourist Board's web site's - http://www.st-maarten.com/fishing.htm - is similarly limited in its observations.

Fishing - Marlin, Dolphin, Wahoo are the most common fish in these waters. If you have your own rod and tackle however you can try salt water fly fishing from the beaches. Deep-sea fishing is a popular St Maarten activity, with full-day and half-day charters available year-round. The day's catch can include yellowtail, snapper, grouper, and marlin. Tarpon, barracuda, snook, bonefish and jacks can also be caught year round.

So the type of species you should be able to target from the shore are the Tarpon, barracuda, snook, bonefish and jacks. And realistically the only species you might be able to target with your 13' telescopic rod - and here I'm assuming it's a freshwater rod - are Bonefish. I recall seeing an article in a angling magazine last year that focused on a couple of blokes catching Bonefish with conventional float fishing tackle in shallow water - the 'Flats'.

However, more realistically, short 7 or 8' spin rods would be more practical for what would mainly be close range sight fishing. And if you want to look back at a couple of threads I responded to regarding the Turks & Cacois Islands that should give you some basic, general advice.

http://www.worldseafishing.com/forum...ad.php?t=10506

http://www.worldseafishing.com/forum...ad.php?t=17148

Another potential source of advice I'd suggest it's worth posting to is the Caribbean forum on http://www.reel-time.com. It's essentially a fly fishing forum but those that post are extremely knowledgeable and, I've found, helpful especially when they realise you're a Brit. Spots and species they might suggest you'd be able to equally target with fly or spin gear.

I had a quick look through the postings and found just this one - http://www.reel-time.com/forum/showthread.php?t=47949 from what appears to be a 'local'. Might be a useful contact? Here's the content of his post -

After patiently waiting for the last three months for the first showing of snook along St. Maarten's shoreline from there winter hiding I was amazed to hook, land, and release a 41" linesider. She was a big girl with a girth of 22".

Within 10 minutes of her release I ran into her mother or maybe her grandmother, atleast 48-50". This snook was in two feet of water five feet in front of me when she hit me on a slow retrieve. Needless to say that after she felt the hook she took off like the space shuttle. Unfortunately the tippet caught one of her gill plates and we ended up going our seperate ways.

Look out. I'm predicting the new IGFA World Record Snook will come from St. Maarten in 2006.

I know it's all fairly general, but I hope that gives you a starting point.
Dave