Spear Fishing Is Easy

A little too easy…

via NY Times

Categories: Barracuda, Fishing, Spear Fishing, United States

Tags: Saltwater, Saltwater Species

Tuesday August 19th, 2008 @ 6:05 PM | Clive Mathias | 2 Comments

Tarpon Fishing On Foot

We’re no strangers to shore fishing. We done well on foot, catching some of our biggest fish while firmly planted on shore. These guys make fishing in the Florida Keys look easy, hooking into several barracuda and tarpon without the use of a boat.

In case you haven’t seen my tarpon caught while shore fishing, you can see them here!

Categories: Barracuda, Fishing, Fly Fishing, Saltwater Species, Tarpon

Tags: Videos

Monday April 7th, 2008 @ 5:46 PM | Clive Mathias | Comments

I Hate Winter

I’m not certain when I started to dislike Canadian winters. To be fair, it isn’t winter itself I hate, its the cold. I mean, I love Christmas and the holiday season, I love snow, and I love winter sports like hockey (which I just started playing again). I remember the first time I saw snow, I was about seven years old and we were temporarily living in British Columbia with my uncle and fisherman extraordinaire, Stephen. It was one of those heavy snowfalls that rarely occur on the west coast and we played for hours in the snow, making snowmen and snow angels. It was incredible. Until that day, I had no idea what snow was. My sister and I grew up only knowing of white sand beaches and turquoise colour oceans. From that day forward, I looked forward to every winter and the first snow fall, that is until I grew up.

On really cold days I ask myself, why would anybody want to live in a place like this? Why not live somewhere that has warm weather all year long? In 2005, in the middle of the winter I decided that I had had enough of winter, and packed my bags and headed south to La Paz, Mexico to meet up with Jon and fish the Sea of Cortez.

I’m glad I did, it changed my life. After a month in the desert I met my wife to be, Gillian, but after almost six months we both agreed that La Paz was not the place for us. We headed back to Canada, specifically Mississauga, Ontario - the town I grew up. I had friends and family there, and got my old job at the bank back right away. By the time the chill of fall was in the air we both decided that staying for a freezing winter was not an option.

September 2005 marked one of the happiest time in my life, my return to the British Virgin Islands. Since my sister, mother and I left the BVI when I was five, I had only visited a handful of times. We arrived with nothing more then the shirts on our back, a tent, a camera, a laptop and of course, my fishing rods. We spent our first several weeks camping near the beach at Brewers Bay during hurricane season while we looked for an apartment to rent. After a few months settling in, things were going great. We lived in a small apartment on a mountain top with a brilliant panoramic view of several islands. Best of all, the ocean was a five minute drive from our apartment, and the sea was full of tarpon!

British Virgin Islands tarpon

Our time in the Virgins Islands had a lot of ups and downs. In the end, financial difficulties and health problems ultimately caused us to leave. We returned to Canada, and spent a year in Ontario, and have since relocated to beautiful Nova Scotia. I currently have two jobs, (three if you count Fishing Fury, but this is a labour of love, and as you can see by the lack of advertising, this doesn’t exactly bring in any income). Things are going great since we moved to the east coast, but it’s winter, and it’s cold and I don’t like the cold.

There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about life in the BVI. Since I can’t experience it in person, the next best thing is to read about others enjoying the sunshine and fishing. There is one blog that I check regularly to get my BVI fix, The Captains Log Blog. If you plan to visit the BVI or the Carbibean, these site will give you a taste of what you will get to see. And if you are looking for a sailing charter (with fishing), look no further!

images via Sail Dive BVI

Categories: Barracuda, British Virgin Islands, Fishing, Tarpon

Tags: Adventures, Charters, Rants, Sailing

Monday March 10th, 2008 @ 7:27 PM | Clive Mathias | 1 Comment

Chasing Barracuda - Anegada, BVI

Since the first time I saw a barracuda I have spent hours chasing them. I have caught several small barracuda, but despite great efforts I have been unable to catch one that exceeds five feet in length. Big barracuda are few and far between on the island of Tortola, but in Anegada, located north east of Tortola, large cudas can often be seen while taking long walks on the beach. My girlfriend Gillian and I decided to spent four days in Anegada of Christmas this year in hopes of catching some barracuda.

Categories: Anegada, Barracuda, British Virgin Islands, Features, Fishing

Tags: Adventures, Articles, Fishing Logs

Tuesday January 3rd, 2006 @ 9:47 PM | Clive Mathias | Comments

What is Ciguatera?

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

Categories: Barracuda, British Virgin Islands, Fishing, Food, Saltwater Species, Tortola

Tags: Interesting, Saltwater

Sunday December 11th, 2005 @ 9:26 AM | Clive Mathias | Comments

Urban Fishing BVI

It had been well over a month since I the opportunity to do some fishing here in the British Virgin Islands. I spent the last three days covering a variety of spots looking for barracuda and found many other fish while doing so. In my first official fishing report from Tortola I experienced more excitement then I had expected fishing from shore. Expect plenty more reports now that I have a few fishing spots where I know I can find big fish.

Clive Vs. the Barracuda!

“I climbed onto the bridge again to watch bait fish and take some photographs. Every couple of minutes large waves of bait fish would leap in the air while needle fish, small barracuda and yellowtail feasted upon them. I watched in awe at the melee below for about thirty minutes then headed back down to make some casts. I put the Suick back on and on the first cast the ominous figure appeared once again. This time moving much faster, I reeled faster and then it hammered the bait about fifteen feet from shore… “

Categories: Barracuda, British Virgin Islands, Fishing

Tags: Adventures, Reports, Saltwater

Thursday October 20th, 2005 @ 6:25 PM | Clive Mathias | Comments