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!

Small BVI tarponBig BVI tarponColin’s big BVI tarponBig BVI 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!

Cuda!eelbluesunsetCuda!

MackerelTurtleBVI tarpon
images via Sail Dive BVI

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Categories: Barracuda, British Virgin Islands, Fishing, Tarpon

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

Fishing Fury Helps You Catch Big Fish

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

BVI TarponUnderwater BVI tarpon

If you have any stories or photos about how Fishing Fury helped you catch fish, let us know!

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Categories: British Virgin Islands, Fishing, Tarpon, Tortola

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Thursday January 10th, 2008 @ 10:10 AM | Clive Mathias | 1 Comment

Grabbing A Shark With Your Bare Hands

I originally wanted to post this video along side with the drunken shark wrestler, but youtube took its sweet time in getting the video processed. Anyway, here is a quick video of Clive catching a small shark while shore fishing in the British Virgin Islands, no word on how much Tang and Bacardi 151 he was drinking though.

Digg this video!

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Categories: British Virgin Islands, Fishing, Sharks

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Monday February 19th, 2007 @ 12:42 PM | Jonathon Marshall | 1 Comment

Sunday Reading

  • Dolphin Man - Forget about swimming WITH the dolphins, how about swimming LIKE a dolphin!
  • The arf of fishing – Is your favorite fishing partner the four legged kind?
  • Pirates! - Pirates hijack South Korean fishing boat.
  • Antique Reels – An incredible collection of fishing photos featuring reels and tackle from the 1930’s.
  • Fish Videos – Some short videos of big fish!
  • Fake line - Make sure you are not spending your hard earned cash on counterfeit fishing line.
  • Worlds smallest fish - Scientists have discovered a fish living in forest swamps on the Indonesian island of Sumatra that is only 7.9mm long.

And lastly, if anyone out there is going to be participating in the Virgin Gorda Easter Fishing Tournament and you need and extra set of hands on board, don’t hesitate to contact me!

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Categories: British Virgin Islands, Fishing, Gear, News, United States

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Sunday April 9th, 2006 @ 1:28 PM | Clive Mathias | Comments

Get Girls Fishing!

Colin's first tarpon!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!

Get Girls Fishing!
Written by Gillian Hyde

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Categories: British Virgin Islands, Features, Fishing, Tarpon, Tortola

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Sunday March 26th, 2006 @ 11:50 AM | Clive Mathias | Comments

Fishing Report - Tortola, BVI

Mutton snapperThe 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!

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Categories: British Virgin Islands, Fishing, Saltwater Species, Tarpon, Tortola

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Sunday February 19th, 2006 @ 11:50 AM | Clive Mathias | Comments

Tarpon Fishing Report - Tortola, BVI

BVI Tarpon 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)

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Categories: British Virgin Islands, Fishing, News, Tarpon, Tortola

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Saturday February 4th, 2006 @ 2:09 PM | Clive Mathias | Comments

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Recent Comments

Re: Contributors

Holy Cheese n crackers! This website has to be my new favourite, I check in on a daily basis now just to see the crazy n cool stuff you guys have goin on! A true top notch site! keep up all the hard work(if you could call it that)! When i get my hard drive fixed i'll start to upload some of my pics! Finally some passion for fishing!

Tyler Makeeff (21 hours, 37 minutes ago)

Re: Simple And Effective Shore Fishing Tactics

Thanks a lot for the article.I've been living King/Strachan for 10 years and never heard about fishing on TO Islands.Can't wait untill May.To Andrew: e-mail me for the good spot to catch carp in Toronto,please.Thanks again to Jonathon and Clive.

Rommy (1 day, 20 hours ago)

Re: Happy New Year!

Happy new year all! I wish you big and strong fish!

Pierre (2 days, 20 hours ago)

Re: Japanese Tackle Shops

That's the trouble right there, the finish on these Lures!...I started buying Rapala jointed and when i had a couple i just had to buy them in all the different finishes (Hot Perch, Perch, Walleye etc etc), i had so many in the end it was like i was collecting them to put in a glass case or something, i didn't dare use them, a Pike won't care if your Lure cost 5 quid or 30 quid, it's still gonna scratch all that fancy artwork/paintwork either way!...I sold all mine as a set on ebay in the end as i [...]

Woody (2 days, 20 hours ago)

Re: Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from sunny Kobe and frosty Ontario!

chris (3 days, 1 hour ago)

Most Commented

Re: Lakemaid Beer Shirt Contest

I have a friend whose cottage is on Lake Chemong, never fished in it although I've heard all the stories. I was walking in it this weekend past, paddled it too, with Alexander directing.....check out the Curve Lake Powwow sometime!!!! I worked so hard this weekend, the shirt fell right offen me, so I need that shirt more than ANYONE else! Love your site!

Pete (3 months, 2 weeks ago)

Re: Bioline Contest!

[...] to Gary Switlick, the Bioline Contest [...]

Fishing Fury - A fishing blog about two guys with a serious passion for fishing, the great outdoors, crazy adventures, and heart-pounding entertainment. (3 months ago)

Re: Stormy Kromer Hat Contest!

I'm not much for a pithy comment, but I thought I'd leave a note about how honored I be to wear Kromer on my upcoming annual pheasant hunting trip to South Dakota. I'm sure that my hunting buddies will joke about how silly I look while they wear their stylized broad brim hunting caps, but I'll be laughing on the inside as my head stays nice and warm. I'll be laughing al the more when the stiff South Dakota wind picks up and Kromer is staying put. Finally, with the fall bite on, I know my new Kromer will call the [...]

Jason Wilson (2 months, 2 weeks ago)

Re: Get Girls Fishing! A How-To Guide for Men

You might enjoy the game Fishing Girl :) For all the girls out there that fish. http://www.lunadrift.com/p lay/fishing-girl.html

LunaDrift (2 weeks, 2 days ago)

Re: Potential World Record Pike

Hi all, I am Dick van Hattem. The men who caught this wonderfull pike in the Netherlands. The pike was actualy 120 cm long, weight exactly 16.5 kilo's and was caught on a death perch on 10 meter deep water on 27 december 2000. But now.... the photo was shopped for fun. I had a reading for a fishingclub and this was the last picture of the reading I had for 100 quest. Name of the picture.... I have a dream..... Everybode was laughing. Really funny, never claimed the world record. Because it is not by far. http://www.metersnoeken.nl/inde x.php?option=com_content&task=s ection&id=13&Itemid=48 here you can find [...]

Dick (3 months ago)