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/forum...light=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 ?

[Cascars]

Forgot about the hurricanes when I booked it yesterday. Will be just my luck to get hit by one. 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

[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 ?

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.