Tarpon Week - Tortola, British Virgin Islands

Small BVI tarpon Average BVI tarpon

The month of February has provided excellent fishing. Conditions have varied from hot and dry to windy and rainy. Temperatures are pretty cool at this time of year once the sun goes down. High number of big tarpon have been moving through the channel under the bridge, many of which are feeding aggressively. I have continued to use live bait with great success.

Big jackI spent almost every night of the week fishing down on the east end of Tortola and saw high numbers of large tarpon each night. Monday conditions looked good. The current was moving north and a good breeze blew northwest. Visibility was not great but I could see several active fish on both sides of the bridge. A couple tarpon were battled and lost, and at the end of the night all I had landed was a good sized jack.

Tuesday night had similar conditions. The tarpon below were quite active once again. Bait seemed a little more difficult to catch. A friend of mine named Nick joined me Wednesday night and had his first battle with a nice sized tarpon before it spit the hook on its third jump. Very large tarpon started to move in later in the evening but a lack of bait resulted in no tarpon caught. We tried out a few lures with no success.

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Sunday February 19th, 2006 @ 10:24 AM | Clive Mathias

7 Responses to “Tarpon Week - Tortola, British Virgin Islands”

[...] 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! Posted by Clive | Permalink | Leave a comment | Trackback [...]

Fishing Fury - A furious blog about fishing, the great outdoors, crazy adventures, and entertainment. on February 19th, 2006 @ 11:50 am

My wife and I are going to be in Tortola 10/13-10/20 We are from the Alabama Gulf Coast and we would love to take an inshore charter for some reef/bottom fishing for snapper,trigger,grouper, maybe small yellowfin tuna if lucky!? any suggestions of respected captains would be greatly appreciated. Thank you sincerely for your time-Jackson Looney

Jackson Looney on August 26th, 2008 @ 12:11 pm

I am going to the BVI in late november and was wondering what fish will be biting and what kind of tackle and lures I will need?

Harrison Merrill on September 9th, 2008 @ 10:12 pm

Hey Harrison! There should be all types of fish biting. Most commonly you’ll find barracuda, hind, snappers and tarpon. You can get away with light tackle, but I prefer using braided line (at least 30lb) with a medium heavy rod and at least 150 yards of line spooled. There is a chance to catch fish that are 50-100lbs from shore.

Clive Mathias on September 11th, 2008 @ 6:51 pm

I am going to be renting a sailboat and heard there is very good trolling even behind a sailboat. What will I need to be able to catch fish like dolphin, wahoo, and kingfish and are there certain spots that are better than others? Thanks for your help Clive.

Harrison Merrill on October 8th, 2008 @ 8:20 pm

Also could you explain to me where this bridge is that holds so many tarpon on tortola and can you get there by dingy? And what type of baitfish would give me the best chance for a hookup? Thanks again for your input.

Harrison Merrill on October 8th, 2008 @ 8:26 pm

Hey Harrison, I’m afraid I can’t be of much help with the trolling, I never had the chance to fish from a boat while I was there. Tarpon are most common on the far east and far west of Tortola. The bridge is located to the east near the airport. Just about any baitfish will do, but silver ones are best and when they are really feeding, lures such as Rapalas will work.

Clive Mathias on October 8th, 2008 @ 8:48 pm

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