I am always delighted to hear about people catching fish thanks to our site. We take pride in creating reports that help people determine the best locations and tackle to use for catching fish. I was recently browsing flickr and came across a photo of a big tarpon. After taking a closer look, I was sure that I knew the location - my favorite fishing spot in the British Virgin Islands. The fisherman in the photo later sent me a message to let me know that Fishing Fury helped him catch the tarpon!
Hey Clive…believe it or not it was your fishing fury website that alerted me to their presence! Cheers, Wayne
If you have any stories or photos about how Fishing Fury helped you catch fish, let us know!
Welcome back fishing fans. We disappeared for a while, but now we are back and ready for action. A lot has happened in the last few weeks, the most exciting news of course, is that Gillian and I got engaged!
To the north temperatures are rising steadily and the taste of spring seems to be sending fishermen into a buying frenzy preparing for the upcoming season. Down here in the British Virgin Islands there are no seasons, nor do the fish migrate as they do in Florida. I haven’t taken a break from fishing in more then seven months and life is good.
After an incredible month of tarpon fishing in February the action has died off dramatically in March. Numbers of tarpon are sparse and the ones that are around are not feeding. I try and fish for tarpon at least a couple times a week, my favorite day to fish is Tuesday. About a month ago I sent out invitations too several of my friends here inviting them to Tarpon Tuesday, and each week more and more people show up. While catching the tarpon has proven difficult lately, a variety of beer people and food makes Tarpon Tuesday a successful event each and every week.
This week we will be attempting to catch sharks and we already have a large bucket full of blood and meat ready to be used as chum. With sharks exceeding eight feet in length and dangerous species such as tiger sharks and bull sharks lurking nearby, things promise to be very exciting.
Finally, for all you guys out there who hate being nagged by your significant other about how much time you spend away from her fishing, here is a how-to guide that should solve that problem!
Written by Gillian Hyde
The fishing here in February has been top notch thus far. Large tarpon have been moving in at night on the east end of Tortola and have been feeding aggressively. While temperatures drop to the north, the weather here has remained wonderful as usual. If you need a getaway for the winter and want to catch big fish, this is the place to be right now. Enjoy the report!
Sunday February 19th, 2006 @ 11:50 AM | Clive Mathias | Comments
The last week of fishing has been very good here in Tortola. I have been able to put a little more time into my efforts and I have been getting results. The weather is pleasantly cool these days, about par for this time of year. The month of January ended with two tarpon, and so far February promises to be much more productive. I spent several hours fishing last night and hooked into a lot of fish but only managed to land one. It was a beauty… (more)
Saturday February 4th, 2006 @ 2:09 PM | Clive Mathias | Comments
Recently fishing conditions in the British Virgin Island have been tough. High winds have been causing an increase in wave size. We have been hit with a series of small craft advisories but the weather seems to be getting better. Despite the conditions I have made a few trips down to the east end of Tortola to try my luck with the tarpon. As each day passes my confidence grows and as a result I have been hooking into more fish.
I recently fished with a fellow named Mike who was visiting briefly from the United States with his son Max. He introduced me to a few lures that he claimed worked well for tarpon but I was skeptical. We both fished live bait majority of the two nights we fished together and hooked in to several fish but I was the only one who managed to bring in a tarpon. It was nice having the company of someone who has experience catching tarpon and I was able to develop some tactics that have been producing ever since. I certainly became a believer in using artificial baits for tarpon.
I’m currently waiting on Mike to email over the photos of the tarpon from the other day but here are a few pictures from last night. I caught this good sized jack about twenty minutes after loosing a good sized tarpon. Both fish hit artificial baits, and unfortunately the jack completely engulfed my lure before I had the chance to take pictures of it.
Thursday February 2nd, 2006 @ 3:16 PM | Clive Mathias | Comments
I have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to go fishing quite a bit lately. I even spent Christmas fishing with my girlfriend in Anegada, which you can expect to read about tomorrow night. Yesterday afternoon I decided to head out in search of tarpon on my own. No species of fish has ever been so elusive for me to catch as the tarpon. After spending around fifteen nights chasing the silver kings I knew it was just a matter of time before I landed one.
My rod bent over sharply as I set the hook. Line screamed off my reel as it made a run, and for a moment I thought it was a big jack, but then I heard a huge splash under the bridge and I knew it had to be a tarpon. I fought the fish as it pulled more line out under the bridge and made another jump. Every time I seemed to gain some ground reeling in my line, the mighty fish made another run. It made a third jump as I leaned over the rail of the bridge trying to get a look at the fish. My medium action rod was bent almost entirely in half and I had to reach my arms down as far as I could to prevent my line from rubbing against the concrete of the bridge below me.
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Living here in the Caribbean, I am often asked how much I enjoy eating the fish here. The truth is, I have not eaten any fish since we arrived. Many fish found here, particularly reef fish such as barracuda, grouper, and snapper (which are readily caught from shore) carry what is known as ciguatera poisoning. It is said that at least 50 000 people who live in or visit tropical and subtropical areas suffer from ciguatera worldwide.
The biggest problem with ciguatera is identifying which fish that contain the toxin. There is no visible display of the toxin whether the fish is alive or dead, and the only way to know for sure is to consume the fish which can lead to any number of side effects ranging from mild upset stomach to death by respiratory failure.
Gambierdiscus toxicus is the dinoflagellate most notably responsible for production of ciguatoxin, although other species have been identified more recently. Over 400 species of fish have been implicated in ciguatera poisoning, starting with herbivores and then climbing up the food chain to the larger carnivorous fish.
Ciguatera presents primarily as an acute neurologic disease manifested by a constellation of gastrointestinal (diarrhea, abdominal cramps and vomiting), neurologic (paresthesias, pain in the teeth, pain on urination, blurred vision, temperature reversal) and cardiovascular (arrhythmias, heart block) signs and symptoms within a few hours of contaminated fish ingestion. The pathneumonic symptom of Ciguatera intoxication is hot/cold temperature reversal, although not all patients report this.
The attack rate has been reported to be 73%-100% with ingestion of contaminated fish, without any apparent age-related susceptibility. Acute fatality, usually due to respiratory failure, circulatory collapse or arrhythmias, ranges from 0.1% to 12% of reported cases; presently in the Pacific, the mortality is less than 1%. Lethality is usually seen with ingestion of the most toxic parts of fish (ie. the liver, viscera, roe and other organs).
All things considered, I wont be eating any of the fish I catch, although temperature reversal sounds pretty cool.
More information at emedicine.com
