.
I was only able to fish a few hours each day as my partner does not fish at all and I was eager to keep some brownie points as we were only in Tobago for a few days. Having had reconstructive surgery on my knee in June this year , I stayed away from the rocks and jetties as I knew that one slip would mean the end of my fishing exploits. I spent the first half day after landing checking out the various marks where other anglers has reported some sort of success. I must stress that this is my first time fishing in Saltwater and I was going as a complete novice. After a few hours I decided that since I was based in the bon accord area I would be having a go at the flats at pigeon point, early morning & sunset at Storebay.
I set about tying my knots and preparing wire traces. Despite having a guide book with me I was worried about them not holding if I was lucky enough to catch something.
Early morning I was at storebay approx 5am ( the sun rise was breath taking). There were already a couple of guys waiting with their hand lines ready to give it a go. They were quite friendly and I assured them that I would attempt to keep out of their way (angling etiquette) as they most probably knew what they were doing as opposed to me. I decided to go with an Abu Spoon as this was the only thing similar to what the locals had. As the sun rose there were pelicans diving in the water less that a 100 mtrs away. All of a sudden there was a lot of activity and before I knew it the baitfish were swarming the waters edge with the birds diving in and the locals jostling for position (what a sight). It looked like total chaos to a novice first timer like me. I quickly followed the local guys and chucked out my spoon. No takes. One local managed a decentl Jack and that was that. As the sun was up the locals decided that the action was over and they started packing up. I stayed on and decided to get some casting practice . I put on a storm chug bug and on the first retrieve I felt a knock followed by a good pull. I was into a tarpon that got airborne once I tried to set the hooks. As the rod bent over I was hoping that the fish would not shake the hook. The fish made several jumps which kept my pulse racing. Then horror of all horrors, the Mitchell telescopic rod gave up on me. It broke about halfway up and although the fish was still on I was a bag of nerves.
One of the locals who was still packing his gear away dashed over to help me land the fish and although it was only approx 6/7lbs (it felt bigger to me) I was glad to have broken my duck on the very first attempt. Sadly I had left the camera at home. Still shaking with shock and excitement I attempted to release the fish. The local who had helped me out assured me that it was good eating and asked if he could have it for the pot. I have never eaten Tarpon before nor have I seen it for sale I Tobago so I was quite surprised at his request. Seeing as he had leapt in to help me out after my rod broke I condemned the poor thing and a swift blow from a small rock dispatched it. The tarpon were rolling and although I tried with poppers and yo-zuri minnows they were not interested. I think some live bait would have worked as they were quite close to the waters edge. No more takes and I headed home for breakfast after approx 45mins. This was to be my only tarpon on this trip as despite fishing this spot again at dusk and dawn with the same local guys I did not get a sniff. The locals who were there over the next few days also did not get anything. I went down to the local tackle shop and got myself a new rod. Penn pursuit two peace spinning rod ( 20-50lbs class) which I used with the emcast evo 5000 reel.
I fished the pigeon point flats as well as lagueria flat for couple of days with nothing but a small barracuda to show for my efforts (just being out there was a great feeling). I only fished the flats for an hour or so each day as the girl friend kept coming up with other activities for us to do besides fishing.
I was only on the island for 4days and decided to try and track down some local fishermen as the steep prices of the charter boats would have resulted in me being single on my way back to London . I drove up to Plymouth and Castara but could not find anaconda, stumpy, or any of the other fishermen mentioned on this site. After chilling out at Storebay I got chatting to one of the life guards (Richard Ash) who informed me that he had a boat (pirogue) that he often used to go fishing. He had started taking tourists out for some fishing and offered me a trip if I was interested. He seemed to know what he was talking about and asked me exactly which species I was after and explained the various methods needed to catch them from lure fishing to Iive baiting. I arranged to go out for a couple of hours with him the next morning. We agreed that he could keep the catch and his rates were very competitive (A bargain in my books). I met him at 6am at Storebay and we set off for a couple of hours of trolling. He had all the gear required although I suggested using my own gear which was lighter than what he had on board. He took one look at the braid and insisted that I have a go with his mono outfit and heavy boat rod. I stubbornly stuck to my guns and used my Daiwa emcast eve 5000 reel with 80lbs braid and 80lbs wire trace (I had attached this to a Penn pursuit spinning reel which I had purchased in the local tackle shop. I opted for a Muppet (pink) on a size 8 hook. There was no bird activity at all during the time we were trolling. After an hour there were no takes as we trolled up towards Castara. It began to rain heavily and although I had suggested heading back Richard assured me that this was passing and we continued trolling. After about about 15 mins the Shimano rod bent over and the little Daiwa reel went mad. I was into a nice little bonito (I think it’s a type of Tuna). Having broken my duck the flood gates opened up and I got about 12 tuna in an hour as we trolled back towards Storebay. All in all I was pleased as this was only about two hours of fishing. Richard was adamant that we try and get a King mackerel and we tried a couple of deep diving rapala magnums which did not get a single hit.
Richard stated that we would have had more luck trolling on the Atlantic rather than Caribbean Side. As there is a spot where there is a shallow area where he has had some success a few weeks ago. I booked another session with him for the next day to give it a go. This time I managed to get a four hour slot with him.
I met Richard at Storebay and again he was on time waiting for me to turn up. I got there at 5:45am after drawing a blank at sandy point. There were no birds or any size of rolling tarpon although there was a mass of baitfish at the water’s edge. Flogged away with my chug bug popper but with no takes. We set about trolling as soon as we had cleared the yachts that were moored. This session I opted to set up two lines again with both of them were my own tackle (80lbs braid line on my Daiwa emcast evo and 30lbs braid line on my Daiwa Excelor 350 reel). I had an 80lbs wire trace attached to a yo-zuri crystal minnow shallow diver (red head+white body). I got quite a few hits from the bonito on the lighter set up and boated 10 of them. These fish do put up a good scrap and on light gear they were a real blast. Richard however was more concerned about getting me to catch something else other than the small tuna. Again there was no bird activity of note. We trolled for approx 30-40 mins before we reached what looked like a shallow patch about a mile or two away from the airport. I could just about make out the bottom and Richard suggested that we make a couple of passes in this area. I must say the swell was high and my sea legs were truly tested. The swell only seemed high where the shallow ridge started and finished. On the first pass the lighter setup (Daiwa excelor + shimano rod) bent over sharply and when I picked up the rod I knew this was no tuna. After about 8-10mins I had a King mackerel (that’s what Richard called it) besides the boat (Is it a king fish or is that something else?). Once Richard had hoisted it on board it gave him a sharp bite as he attempted to hold it down. I handed over the pliers I had and the filleting glove but it was too late and Richard has a nasty gash on his thumb. After some DIY first aid we set about trolling this shallow bank again. Ten minutes and I was into another Spanish mackerel this time it was bigger than the last one and again it took the yo-zuri minnow on the smaller reel.
Richard with another small tuna on the yo-zuri shallow diving minnow.
After checking my other rod I noticed that the two minnows were not the same although the colour patterns were identical. The one on the smaller reel had a shiny metallic foil look on both sides. This was clearly working better than the other as once we had sent it back out again in no time there was another Spanish mackerel which was boated. My other heavier rod & reel could only manage about 4 small tuna. I switched the lure over to the heavier set up just to see what would happen. Again I got about 3 tuna and two King mackerel before we decided to head back.
As we trolled away from the shallow area the Emcast evo reel + Penn rod suddenly screamed and line started ripping out. The moment I grabbed the rod and reel there was such a heavy tug on the line that I almost went over board. The line kept racing out despite tightening the drag. I soon started seeing the base of my spool and Richard noticed this and started brining in the other line. I managed to get a few meters of line back once the fish had slowed down and as Richard was turning the boat around to chase down the fish it went on another powerful run. I was not prepared for anything this powerful and panicked all the way through all the action. As the base of the spool appeared I could only managed a shriek to Richard for him to get a move on. As the boat turned around I attempted to get some line back when disaster struck. The fish went on another run and this time it spooled me completely. The line went taught and I felt a sudden tug as the line parted. On reeling it in I saw that the wire trace had broken
. I think it was broken as it was not bitten through cleanly. Richard asked me if I had changed it and I suddenly realized that I had not changed it since I started fishing on the island 4 days ago (I know! What a school boy mistake to make). As right brought in the last of the other line to pack up we got another strike right behind the boat. Another mackerel had taken a liking to the yo-zuri minnow. After a few minutes it was off. We concluded that it had missed the lure and was most probably foul hooked. There was silence on the way back as we both contemplated what could have been. All in all not a bad tally 17 bonito/tuna, 5 king mackerel and a missed monster. At least I have my first story about the one that got away
. I left the lucky lures with Richard as well as loads of other tackle (including a pair of filleting gloves and the pliers in case he encounters other mouthy critters again). He kindly filleted some tuna and a couple of King mackerel which I grilled for supper, as agreed he kept most of the catch. I have his details if anyone wishes to give him a go when they are out there.I kept the rods in the boot on my last day as we had decided to drive to Castara and all the way round the north of the island. I only got a chance to fish a small river mouth at Kings bay (we had stopped for about an hour). This was only a small river mouth no more that 20 mtrs wide. It looked promising and after a few minutes with a rapala popper (fire tiger) there was a swirl behind the lure on my fourth or fifth cast. I managed to land a small snook about 4lbs. Again it was a bonus for me to catch anything and I released this little fellow back in the river. I think if I had more time I would target the river mouths on the island and see what happens. Anyway this was my account of four fun filled days in this beautiful place. I have tried to put in as much detail as possible as most reports assume that people are competent anglers and being a novice I struggled a little with details when I read aiother reports. So apologies to the veterans out there. I look forward to reading about other anglers accounts so please continue to post them. Thanks to all for the generous amounts of details & tips from the resident forum members, i hope by posting a report i have paid my dues. I know most anglers crave info but rarely give feedback about their exploits once they get back.
Once i figure out how to downsize some of the pics i've got i will gladly put them up if anyone wants to see them. Maybe we can start a fishing photo thread in the picture section?
Inspirational. Great detail. 
