Fishing aboard Blue Magic, skippered by Sean 'Banix' Berkley

[Toine & Lia]

For us a holiday isn’t complete without some serious fishing. This year we did some inshore trips on the Caribbean side of the island and caught several barra’s, small kingfishes, a few rainbow runners and lots of bonitos. On a trip aboard Barry St. George’s Formula III we even managed to catch a couple of Dolphin, Mahi Mahi at the FAD’s (fish attracting devices) some miles offshore whilst the strong winds made the boat a real play ball for the waves.

The cream on our stay was a trip we made aboard Blue Magic, a 28ft Bertram fully fitted with the best of best fishing gear, Shimano’s, and Penn’s. Smooth engines, quality out- and downriggers, top dollar navigation/sonar equipment and a skipper who knows what he is doing.
Leaving the dock at 7 am at full throttle we reached the first trolling patch within 15 minutes. Only minutes later we had the first hook up. Lia took the first fight and landed a nice 25 pound Dolphin. Within the hour we boated two more Dolphin, both Bulls (male fishes), the biggest one weighing about 40 pounds.
Although Lia always takes part actively in our boat fishing trips, as well at home as abroad, and normally can handle rough seas, this time she became seasick. Being pregnant must have some influence on one’s stomach.
Sean ‘Banix’Berkley, owner/skipper, didn’t hesitate and told us to reel in the lures so we could head back to the harbour to set Lia on steady ground. In his opinion pregnancy and seasickness don’t match. Big thump up for that opinion!! There are a lot of skippers who won’t turn back for sick people especially not when the fish is feeding like that morning.
After we dropped of Lia we went back to the trolling patches. Although we didn’t catch any Dolphin afterwards we did catch a lot of other nice fish.

Sean took us deeper South/West of Tobago where we ran into a feeding party of birds and fish. The birds were diving into a school of small fish while groups of red snapper and rainbow runners surfaced in their attempt to catch small fish.
Trolling with small lures, Rapala’s and live baiting we managed to boat some snappers, barracudas, rainbows and as a bonus a big kingfish. Good sport on light tackle. Most of the fishes caught can be seen on Blue magic’s website; http://www.blue-magic-charters.com

Although there is no need to bring your own tackle on board Blue Magic, we brought our own gear, a 20 and 30 lbs trolling rod mounted with Shimano TLD 20 and 30 II speeds and a box loaded with lures of Rapala, Mann’s, Yozuri, Storm, Ilander and Boone. One lure, a Rapala Magnum sinking 14 green/yellow tiger, was especially successful and caught most of the fish. This Rapala didn’t make it back in my suitcase, it’s now being used by Sean.

With sour arms and a sunburned face we headed back to the Scarborough harbour. After first rinsing down the boat and all the fishing gear with fresh water we moored the boat at the dock and started to unload the fish. Then we realized that we never ever caught that much fish on a fishing trip in the Caribbean. Out at 7 am, back at 1.30 pm and about 20 fish on the deck.
Later that night Sean and Barry St. George prepared a nice piece of dolphin on the barbecue and another sensation occurred, heavenly tasting fish curried the Creole way.

Well organized, excellent equipped, lot of knowledge of game fishing, experienced tournament angler, superb boat, reliable crew, really nice guy, these are phrases that suit Sean ‘Banix’ Berkley and Blue Magic Charters.
No matter if you are a just looking for a nice day boat fishing or if you’re looking some serious action, Blue Magic will suit you fine. Although we like to fish on small boats with light tackle, Sean can definitely count on us next time that we are on the island.

Cheers,
Toine & Lia