myTobago – your questions, review and comment about Tobago

Hi, We're coming to stay at the Beach House in Castara at the end of April, and my husband is very keen to go fishing for a marlin. Does anybody run trips for this type of fishing from Castara? This is our first trip to the Caribbean so we are very excited!
Gill

Hi Gill

Welcome aboard!

Well you could almost cast your rod from the Beach House without getting out of bed!!!!

Joking aside, I can't answer your question - but I'm sure somebody will in no time at all. Just wanted to welcome you aboard - particularly as I see you are also from Silly Suffolk. What a coincidence, particularly as we shall be staying at the Beach House in a few weeks time.

Hello Gill.there are two tour guides in Castara,Ali Baba and King David both of whom do fishing trips but usually in groups.However,Castara is a working fishing village and I know that many of the boats will take you along for a fee(sometimes just your catch or part of it if it was a good day).
Steve is right you could cast from bed quite easily!!!!
Enjoy David.

Hi Gill,

There are not many charter boat options in Castara, the only one I can really think of is Ali Baba. Most of the fishing is for wahoo or tuna, although they do run into marlin from time to time. You may consider making a trip to Charlottville to fish with Capt. Curtis of Workshop Tours, he has a larger boat and better equipment than any of the boats in Castara. Capt. Curtis was great and I'm sure he has the best prices on the island. The other options would all be in and around Crown Point and would cost much more $$$.

Also while in Castara watch out for a guy nicknamed "Hily" he will try to sell you anything, including fishing trips. We had the unfortunate experience of dealing with him during our stay there. He is not a fisherman and is very proficient at spinning lies and mistruths. Everyone else we met while in Castara were great though.

Have a great trip

Hi Gill

I second Pete's suggestions.

When you are in Castara, ask around for Owen 'Anaconda' Cox. He works for Alibaba and is a freelance fisherman with a good grasp of angling.
Owen and a few friends landed a Blue Marlin of over 1,000lb several years ago.....on a handline !!!

April can be a good time for Marlin, as that's when the main tournament is scheduled for. I was over during April of last year and several marlin were hooked and released. Mind you, there were over 20 boats fishing from 07:00 - 16:00 and most were steaming 30 odd miles past the north of the island. A big boat like Workshop Tours' would come in handy.
Toine would be able to give you a far more comprehensive run-down of the offshore scene, as it's his domain.

If you fancy working your way up to a Marlin, then try out at the sisters rocks, directly out from Castara, for yellow-fin tuna. They should pull your husbands string.

Cheers
Steve

Thankyou all for your info. I can see that I'm going to be a fishing widow on this trip!

Hello and good luck to You. I would just like to wave the flag for local fisherman Brian Ferguson, who I´m sure will take You out in his pirogue for a very decent price. Ask him to cook lunch for You as well and You will be VERY pleasantly surprised. I went out with him a month ago and he was just as good and friendly as ever. Say hello from me...
Stefan R

Hi Gil, Steve and the rest..

Steve, too much honour to my big game fishing expertise…. Yes, I like to thrill of fishing for the big ones. But, after spending several days aboard game boats every holiday for the past four years, sometimes off season, sometimes at the height of the fishing season, I hate to say that I’m still waiting for my first Marlin.
In Tobago, the best change to get hooked up with a Marlin is by booking a trip aboard one of the big charter boats as mentioned in the fishing article you’ll probably already found on this website. Don’t get too exited about catching a Marlin. It will all come down to, in the first place, being at the right time in the right place, secondly, ‘how lucky are you?’ and not at least how skilled is your charter boat?

During last years tournament which I fished aboard Blue Magic, 26 boats entered the competition and after three long days only seven Marlin were caught, tagged and released.
Last year I have spent about six long days trolling for Marlin with one of the best Marlin fisherman and charter boat operator in the West Indies. We went up to fifty miles out of Charlotteville, at the height of the season. To be short… I was hooked up with a Marlin for only two minutes before it decided to spit out the ballyhoo. In a total of 80 hours at sea, about eight Marlins showed interest in our lures without biting it. Disappointed? Yes, a bit. But the kick of being hooked up with a fish weighing over 200 pounds will drive me back aboard, again and again (Our tickets are already in mail, this time we’ll be there at the end of the season, end of May).

Charter boat skippers love to get their guest into some fishing action. That is why most of them will troll a spread of five, maybe six, rods fixed with lures or baitfish that are mend for Wahoo, Dolphin, sometimes Sailfish or Tuna. These lures are a lot smaller than the lures used on Marlin. That doesn’t mean a Marlin won’t that the smaller lure. But catching one is more a question of luck than of skill. Trolling for a Marlin only means not catching anything else. And that can be a bit boring.
Most caught Marlin in Tobago vary between 200 and 600 pound. 50 and 80 pound or even heavier gear is used to handle these fish. A boat rigged to catch Marlin has heavy outfits mounted. Those outfits are way to heavy to get some good sport out of a average ‘Tobago’, Wahoo or Dolphin.
A mixture of 30 and 50 pound outfit will give sport to all other big game fish.
Another thing to the big game fishing in Tobago is that most Marlin are caught way out. The other fish like Wahoo, Dolphin, etcetera can be caught relatively close to the island. There a bunch of FAD’s lined up from the South up to St. Giles that will attract game fish like Dolphin, Wahoo and Tuna. Most charter boats will all follow this line to get their guest into the fighting chair. They will also do so before or after trolling the deep water drop off for Marlin.

Out of Charlotteville the fishing can be very good. It will only take a little time to get to the currents in the waters near St. Giles. One of best spots too get hooked up with Wahoo and Tuna. April being one of the best months for both tuna and wahoo. I heard some good talk about Curtis and Workshop tours; good boat, good equipment, skilled skipper.
Owen Cox, ‘Rusty’ Lewis, these are names to remember. These guys have saltwater running in there vains. They know were the fish are. They will be mostly skippering boats for the tour operators, but sometimes they are willing to take you aboard their own boat. Just ask around, everybody know them.

Hope you’ll catch some…
Toine

By the way Toine

I managed to get hold of some marlin video footage for our film.

I just have to edit it into the existing footage of Tobago, Belize, Florida and TCI and we will be ready to release it - the release is always the best part eh?

Good luck for May - we could be heading out late May / early June this year..... work permitting.

Cheers (with an ice-cold Carib)

Steve

Alibaba, King David, Marvin, Brian ferguson, Anaconda all good guys with whom you can have a great day out. We have caught fish together, sold it, bbq'd it and cooked it everyway possible and I have to say I have never so much fun as in the company of such good guys!

And then of course I defy anyone to miss out on helping to pull the nets in on the beach, a skill unchanged in a 1000 years.
Don't film it get involved!

Hi Steve,


Good to hear you’re about ready to release your movie. I’m very anxious to see what you made of it. Tell me, how can we get hold of copy?
Would be great if you’ll be in Tobago end of May.

Cheers,
Toine