Mocked By BVI Tarpon

If you’ve ever fished for tarpon, you know just how challenging it can be. I spent several months in the BVI chasing these prehistoric beasts and I know as little today as I did the first day I fished them. I managed to catch my fair share of fish, but there were days when there were 50+ tarpon feeding within casting range, and no mater what I tried, I could not get one to bite. Even live bait failed to produce fish!

Matt from This River Is Wild managed to get some awesome footage the other day, showing just how tough it is to convince a tarpon to bite.

Read his report at This River is Wild.

I Love the BVI

If you followed this site for any amount of time you’ve probably seen me write about the British Virgin Islands. I was born on the main island of the BVI, called Tortola, and it one of my favorite places to fish. Its been a few years since I’ve been back and every winter it kills me that I’m shoveling snow while other people are capitalizing on the great fishing to be had. Luckily there are a couple of people documenting their BVI fishing experiences as I did. So if you are looking for some awesome tropical fishing photos to keep you warm this winter, check out This River Is Wild. An make sure you read back a few pages, there is a ton of great reading! One of the authors, Matt, has managed to do what most visitors fail to do, consistently catch tarpon on the fly!

Here are a few of his catches from the BVI!

Check out more at thisriveriswildflyfishing.blogspot.com/
Keep it up bro!

BVI Dreaming

As some of you know, I was born in the British Virgin Islands. I haven’t lived there since I was a little boy, but I did enjoy a prolonged stay there in 2006. I still feel homesick whenever I think of the islands and maybe one day, my family and I can move back. For now, I resort to watching old videos we made while we were there a few years back. Lots of warm weather and lots of excellent fishing, it doesn’t get much better then that.

PS. If anyone needs an island fishing guide and has the cash to cover my expenses to get there, I’m all yours!

Tarpon Fishing Report – Tortola, BVI

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)

Tortola, BVI Fishing Report – February 1st 2006

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.

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.