Jamaica

[johnp4455]

Going to Jamaica in July, can anyone recommend anything , i,m going to Negril. Was thinking of buying a travel fly or spin rod. I,d be grateful of any info please.

[marktheshark]

Hullo matey
In contrast to the reply I've just written on Tobago, I can be brief and concise on what I found in Jamaica, fishing-wise.

It's ****. Inshore, it's fished to death - even the coral fish are speargunned mercilessly. Offshore, it's netted to death. I spent a week flogging water with fly, lure and bait at Ocho Rios and Negril three years ago, and the sum total was a handful of baby jacks, a stingray and a small needlefish. If you take a charter boat, try to get one that's been recommended by someone else - ours was a rip-off, skippered by someone who could not be arsed.

Don't get me wrong: it's a great place. Just enjoy the music, the food, the beaches, the nightlife. If the fishing's not so good ... well, buddy, that's partalife!
Good luck
Mark

[marktheshark]

PS
I've just been censored! The word I used that came out as **** is an anagram of carp. Um .....

PS: does this mean that Carp Fishing is offensive to dyslexics?

[CHR15]

PS
I've just been censored! The word I used that came out as **** is an anagram of carp. Um .....

PS: does this mean that Carp Fishing is offensive to dyslexics?

Haha! I was gunna post for the same sort of information. Im going to Jamaica end of may for my honeymoon and have already told the 'soon-to-be' missus that I want at least 1 day on a charter boat.

Im going to runaway bay. If any 1 has any info, it would be greatly appriciated.

Cheers
Chr15

[SpychoBo]

Hi everybody,

I have been in Jamaica in 2007 without much saltwater fishing experience compared to now. So fishing there wasn't very productive for us.

Since we had our own small boat with an undersized motor, we tried trolling the coastline of Runaway Bay. (Half way between Ochos Rios and Negril). We had a small sized Barracuda from shore and nothing on the sea. Although some Barracuda hit our lure we didn't catch anything big except lots of small groupers (10-15 cm) while bottom fishing.

The locals set traps in nearly every reef crack and try to catch everything with scales. So don't expect too much.

The fishing in fresh water is more interesting. There are some really nice small rivers with clear water all around the island. Although the fishes aren't that big in there, you can catch mountain mullets and perches (snook-like but much smaller when adult) with small spinner baits. Fishing with a fly rod would be great fun!

If you stay in Ochos Rios, you can drive westward to Discovery Bay. If you look at Google Earth you can see a quite large lake on the left hand side of the road between Runaway Bay and Discovery Bay. Some locals told us that there would be Black bass inside. We also tried fishing there without luck. We saw some smaller Black bass from the edge of the lake but couldn't catch one. The lake itself is an old volcanic gas bladder which is collapsed and filled with water. The water is very clear and is half fresh half saltwater. We snorkelled there and saw the different water layers. The edge of the lake is very steep and falls very quickly to "darkness"...Adventurous. We saw some bigger fish inside while snorkelling. I can't say which species. But they looked a bit like snook and they where quite large (maybe 60 to 80 cm). Since the fish were shy we couldn't stalk them to id them. The bigger fish nested on the steep edge of the lake in the freshwater layer. There were some nesting places with nest by nests and a single nest had up to 2m in diameter.

If I had another try on Jamaica, I would fish the river mouths early morning or late evening for snook and jacks with shallow running lures.

Cheers,
Boris

[lincsbassman]

hello mate, your in for a treat sadly im not talking about the fishing ,went there about 18 yrs ago to ohco rios great beach looks great but nothing went negril for the day not a bite that was a long while ago but shakespear do a great 6 pc spinning rod experdition casts 3oz fantastic bit of kit bends all the way through the rod just a tip if you go wading an swimming with it an it gets wet make sure you grease the ferrels well cause they stick like glue negrils a great place you,ll love it shame about the fishing

[codkid]

same here went there in september last year as for the holiday it was amazing would love too go back there

as for the fishing i didnt bother as i heard about the rip off skippers and it was also very expensive

whilst your there just chill,and listen too some great music (all bob marley)
and dont forget too try the BOB MARLEY drink it is lush

[madpolka]

Had a half day out of Montego Bay last May. The boat was quite old but ine good nick as was the tackle. Skipper an crew were smashing fellas. We steamed some 1 or so out to a weed bed / raft which we then trolled up and down a couple of times before having to set off for home.

I caught one smallish Barracuda at the weed bed. I suspect if you took the whole day you would get lots of time at the off shore mark and may get more return for your money. I suspect that the troll out and back, despite having the lures out, is a waste of time. Still, it was a very nice morning and I discovered Doctors Cave Beach club which was a way nicer place to sit on the beach than at the Hilton Rose Hall where we stayed.

You can find details of the boat and the trip here - http://www.madpolka.co.uk/25thMay2009.html

Good luck.

Steve