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I will post a trip report later, but wanted to make my fishing report a separate report so that folks searching for it could find it. I hope its help

HOP

SBH Member
I will post a trip report later, but wanted to make my fishing report a separate report so that folks searching for it could find it. I hope its helpful. I would certainly like to thank everyone that replied to my newbie threads last month. We were there May 9 until may 16th...sorry it took forever to post.


Fishing Report

Well, it was a tale of two cities for me on this trip. The fly-fishing did not work for me, but the off-shore sure did.

I am an experienced fisherman, but relatively inexperienced fly-fishing in the Caribbean. Through research, however, I had a decent idea of what to do. I had a 9-wt rod, some recommended flies, and was the only fisherman I saw in SBX. I also had 30 mph wind and a lot of clouds. I basically saw one fish, most likely a tarpon, and at that moment I was rigged for bonefish, and could not have made the cast in any event.

I started in Grand Cul de Sac, right in front of my hotel, on our first night. I saw no fish, as it was dark, windy and I had not been in the water yet. After spending a week at the Hotel Gunahani, I realized that there were probably no fish where I was fishing that night. I spent about 30 min trying.

On our third day I tried fishing in Marigot Bay, which I have come to find is against the rules and regulations. Again, it was too windy and cloudy to see anything, and I was casting blind. I got no bites, although this time I think that there might have been some fish. I did see a tarpon, but had no hope of getting to it. I spent about 45 min before the wind was really kicking up, my wife got cold, and so we went home.

I did not try fly-fishing at all for the rest of my trip, as I never saw a single bonefish or snook, and I was looking (as some of you may not know, you typically fish for bones and snook by sight and casting to a specific fish). I did follow the recommendations and went to the beaches by Nikki Beach and the Sand Bar, but the wind was moving too much to see any fish. I also tried the other beaches like saline and Gouverneur.

I did see a school of about 6 permit in the middle of Grand cul de Sac when I snorkeled across it. My rod was 15 min away when I made that sighting, and the wind was blowing hard.

The only useful thing I learned to pass on is where the reef fish hang out in Grand cul de sac: There is a passageway where all of the boats leave. As you follow the boat path out of grand cul de sac and into marigot bay, there is a huge collection of fish in the passage. This is where the current is strongest, the water coldest, and presumably the most full of nutrients and food. Here I saw all of the typical grunts, snappers, bar jacks, barracuda. I think that the best way to catch these fish is with bait on a spinning rod outfit, which I did not bring.

Deep Sea Fishing

Pam and I always deep-sea fish when we travel to the sea, and this trip would be no exception, even though the waters were rough. We were leaning toward a big boat (say 45ish feet), but the concierge at the Hotel was insistent that we fish with Patrick Leplace on his 29-foot boat. For those of you unfamiliar, a 29-foot boat is definitely small on the spectrum of potential fishing boats, particularly in an area of wealth such as SBH.

Patrick is 7th generation St Barth’s, and is a delight to fish with. Patrick is a true master of his craft, much like many of the folks we met on SBH. But Patrick is also an innovator: He has created a series “fish attraction devices” (FADs), that are known to me as artificial reefs. Basically, Patrick takes a 1000-pound anchor (concrete and re-bar, like a mooring) and attaches it to a series of buoys and nets, in 8000 feet of water. Plankton and sea plants and other things attach themselves to the net, which attracts baitfish, which in turn attracts sport fish. Patrick says he read about it from a French scientist, and I have not heard of it being done before his way. Each of these FADs costs thousands of dollars, as the delivery of the base, the buoys and the miles of rope are very expensive. I have known folks to sink crummy boats in 50 foot of water, but have never seen anyone do anything like this in the open sea (these FADs are about 6 to 12 miles off shore in 2 mile deep water). Very interesting.

Our trip out was about 1.5 hours, as it was slow going, as we headed east, right into the wind and current. On a calm day, I bet the trip would be 35 min. The waves were about 10 feet high, and the entire boat came out of the water each time we went over a big wave (the prop was still in the water, but you could hear it speed up as it went from being in 2 feet of water to 10 inches). It was classic “winter” weather, but we unfortunately got it in May. Turns out we went on the best day that week, so it was not a great boating week.

Here is the good part. We put our lines out where the first FAD was supposed to be, but the current was so strong that the buoys were under water, and he could not find it. The lines had been in the water for about 1 min when we got our first strike. We were rigged with a classic marlin rig of a large squid lure over a ballyhoo. The first strike was a 205 lb blue marlin, which we fought for about 1.2 hours. It was so big that it probably took us another 15 min to get into the boat.

The fight was very high quality. We were fishing with about 60 lb test, with a regular sized penn real and rod. There is no chair. I sat on a cooler and had a harness around the waist. Patrick tightened up the drag tighter than I had ever experienced, so the fish could not go on super long runs, but rather, kept me at a stalemate for periods of up to 5 min. The fish did get me down to about 75 feet of line at one point (from 600), so Patrick had to follow the fish in the boat until I could get back to about 200. It was a great move on his part, and not easy given the difficult seas.

I know what experienced fisherman are thinking: “He kept the Marlin!” In the US, we tend to throw back sport fish, particularly billfish. As Marlin have become more threatened, this practice has spread to a lot of the Caribbean and even Mexico. In the US, I would have insisted that we throw the fish back, but in SBH I was a bit out of my element, and had to go with the flow. Plus, I trusted Patrick as a steward of his island and its ecosystem. He said he takes a couple of marlin a year, and that the entire fish would be consumed. We did bring the fish back to the Hotel, where the hotel’s chef promptly purchased the fish from Patrick, and treated us to free dinner for catching the fish. The sashimi was very similar to tuna; although not red…it was pink. We also had mahi sashimi, and the marlin was superior in all respects. We had the fish for our main course as well; the marlin was very similar to swordfish (big surprise, given they are close cousins). We both preferred the mahi to the cooked marlin.

We were celebrities when we brought the Marlin ashore, as the entire beach and restaurant staff and the guests at the beach all took pictures. That was very fun and rewarding.

After we caught the marlin, we went back to fishing. We could only find one more of his FADs, and it had no fish on it. The others were under the current. We did have a second bit of luck, as we found a boat cushion floating in the water, and we fished around it. We caught 3 mahi in the 8 to 10 lb variety. We caught one on the rod and 2 by hand line. We lost one, and as many of you know, when you lose a mahi, you stop catching mahi. The mahi on the rod was a ballyhoo with a small skirt on it. The 2 on the handline were caught on half ballyhoo on a hook.

That was the full trip, and we were back on shore by 1pm. We fished from 7am until 1pm at the advertised price of 550 Euro, which we think is an excellent value. When we go back to SBH, we will certainly fish with Patrick, and we would advise you to do the same. Patrick refused to take a tip, perhaps because the Marlin was presumably sold for a decent sum. We did treat him to lunch at the beach…such a nice guy and a master of his craft.

Rules and Regulations

I made a reasonable attempt to understand the rules in SBH. I would say that I found the rules to be similar to the rules in St John’s. There were areas where you could do what you wanted to, areas completely off limits to fishing, and areas where it was regulated (which is the bulk of the island). I know that fishing is off limits in Marigot bay, and I think its off limits and Columbier beach (there mainly to protect turtles I think). As far as anchoring goes, I think that boaters are supposed to know the rules. I did not find the marking signs to be particularly helpful on the rules, so I think that innocent mistakes are possible and frequent.

Patrick lives in Marigot Bay, and guessed whom I was when I was fishing (I did not know it was forbidden at the time I was fishing). Patrick is a member of the group that wrote and enforces the rules, but he chose to allow me to continue fishing when he saw me. I think that the reason Patrick gave me basically was that the rules were really not meant to prohibit a single fly fisherman from fishing for an hour with artificial baits. He also said that he “knew my type” and he had never seen a fly fisherman actually keep what he caught, which is generally correct, particularly when you consider that few Americans eat bones, snook, permit and tarpon. Anyway, as a recovering lawyer, I found it quite interesting for Patrick to note the “legislative intent” of the rules, and have that trump the actual letter of the law.

It turns out that the enforcement policy in general is to give a warning to folks like me, and only to write a ticket for a second offense. I think that the folks in SBH are doing it exactly right. I can’t wait to go back.

My files seem to be too big to upload. I will try in a reply later.

George
 
George,
What a a great, great tale! Patrick is well know on the island for many fishing stories, none greater than this.
 
I've watched Martin & Roy fish down there, but you wouldn't know there were fish in the ocean, based on the results. LOL
 
LOLOLOL

After Martin reads this, if I were you Eddie, I wouldn't stand too close in to Martins backcast in the future.
 
what a great story, hop! i love to blue water fish, but hubby gets green around the gills, so this excursion is not for us, but i thoroughly enjoyed reading about your experience!!!

...pictures, svp?
 
thanks. yes, i was in manhattan all week. now that i am home i have to ask my technical expert (my wife) to help me this weekend. hopefully it works
 
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