myTobago – your questions, review and comment about Tobago

hi guys love the forum its a mine of info for us first time visitors,,,
i will be staying in the courlan bay area in mid july and plan to bring my spining gear and some float and bottom gear too ,,my question is not knowing distances in the area would it be possible to reach fish holding areas on foot especialy for jacks and tarpon + any nice fish that would attack a popper,,,i hope i wont be too far away from the action,,cheers

Hi Philip

There are tarpon and jacks to be found along the stretch of coast between Plymouth and Mt Irvin bay, although Plymouth is perhaps the most consistant place for tarpon.

I'm not sure exactly where you are staying, but the distance from The Rex Turtle Beach Hotel to Plymouth is only a 10 minute walk along the beach, with another 10 minute walk to Black Rock the other way (see recent posting for info on Black Rock).

If you are staying at Le Grand Courland or Grafton Beach Resorts, then Black Rock is 5 minute walk (North) and Back Bay is 15 - 20 mins (South). The maps of the island on this site will help orientate you in relarion to your accomodation. Mount Irvin is 5 mins beyond Back Bay and Grange Bay (tarpon and jacks have been caught and lost here) is another 10 mins further south.

In addition to tarpon and jacks, you may expect barracuda and houndfish on lures from the beaches and rocks- but as always - no guarantees.

Cheers
Steve

hi steve yes la grand curlan it is,,and would i be right in saying i could do well in this area given even an hour walk in either direction?? would this be the area you would tend to head for or is there better marks else where...and finally would you recomend night fishing from below the hotel with fish baits,,,,,,cheers

Hi Philip,

Well you've met one of the resident experts already but i thought i'd say hi. I'm going to be staying at the turtle beach from 27th july if you're still around then. Some of your questions have been answered in the topic livebaiting/deadbaiting, by both steve pitts and steve hull. They've both been a real help to me. A lot of information is also in other posts, with subjects of fishing nr black rock and also courland bay. All are within walking distance...my intended target is the jetty at plymouth. Just make sure you leave some for me!

I hope this is some help,

Matt

hi mat i will be there till the 31th all going well so we could fit a few trips in together if you like,,if i manage to track down some nice fish maby ill charge you for a guide service ha ha ,,i better get cracking with my plug order from veals i have seen the damage jacks and barras can do to them......

Hi Philip,

Yep they're mean fish...put a hole in most things...or just tear them apart I found that veals are great but if you have the time and patience it is cheaper to pick up some lures on ebay, expecially yo-zuri and shads. Don't know if this is any help. As for meeting up it sounds great. I'll be down on plymouth jetty. Good luck...and keep your eyes peeled for steve pitts report on his trip. I think hes putting it under the livebaiting/deadbaitng title. May be wrong though!

Matt

Hi Matt

Just a test to see if I can post a photo of Steve's jack



Hope it works

It did - so here are a few more...










Cheers
Steve

Great pics. I really am not sure on the 3rd photo down which of the 3 has the biggest grin. A close call i'd say.
Can't wait for the narrative to go with them!

Steve P Steve H and Phil Matt

Steve P, Steve H and Phil & Matt

As promised Steve P I thought that I would reply to this subject and clear one of my debts of posting a reply about fishing in Tobago.
I fished from Back Bay to Turtle beach over the 2 weeks that I stayed on the Island; I must admit that I am a very poor lure fisherman and only tried this discipline for 30 minutes at Back Bay.
Back Bay is an absolute beautiful beach, but all the locals that I happened to share fishing time with on different out crops of rock were horrified that I went fishing there on my own. This was from different Tobago Fisherman and the Tourist rep alike said it was a place to avoid because of issues of theft. I went early in the morning and saw only two other people who were more interested in there own lives than bothering with me. On one morning about 5am I spent more time bird watching than fishing. Even if you do not catch any thing you can still see plenty of fish, in the shallows and around the rocks.
I caught only small stuff up to about two pounds some I did not have a clue what they were however they made the rod tip rattle and that was the main thing. I tried all manner of baits the ones the locals all spoke about was a Mole crab/ Sand flea / Sand cockroach. These can be found at the top of the surf if you know what to look for and my literary talents are not up to that. Many came to ask what the crazy Englishman was doing and try as I may to teach other fisherman mostly English how to catch these small and elusive crabs, some went away very disappointed. You will catch on this bait the largest I saw caught was a grouper of some description about 2 1/2 pounds in weight by a local on a hand line.

I had a very entertaining morning with a Gentleman called Mountbatten Jeffries. We fished the river at the back of Turtle beach there was I with all the tackle and this Gentleman had a hand line, the score was 8 fish all. Snook, Grouper and other unidentified fish. Blue Crab will steal your bait if you are not aware. The largest maybe went 1 pound but yet again I met someone else from around the world that was a pleasure to talk to.

It might be worth a note hear that a good currency here is small strong hooks I came back with none as different fishermen asked if they could have size 1, 2, 4 or 1/0. This was obviously to catch live bait. In fact one local came all the way of the pier at Plymouth to scrounge some hooks and tell me that there were some decent fish around the pier. So the point about sharing knowledge for hooks was as far as I was concerned well worth a few pence.

One night I was fishing on the rocks to the left of the beach in front of the Le Grand Courland Hotel. I was catching nothing big but I was enjoying the scenery and the view. Three locals came along and if they could have come any closer they would have been in my tackle bag. Not to worry they were friendly enough over went the small hooks and different advice was passed backwards and forwards. I caught nothing there way and nor did they. So I went back to my whelks / small shellfish and started catching again. Nothing big as was pointed out by the locals but it made me smile.

There are some very large fish within the area of Back Bay to Turtle Beach all easily walk able from Le Grand Courland, maybe I should have improved my Lure fishing. The security gates to the beach are locked at 1800 to 0600 hours at the Le Grand Courland so if you want fish you will have to either walk around a waste of 20 minutes or try and chat up the security people. Good Luck.

Did I enjoy my fishing, I have to say yes, I caught nothing big, but I caught. I met some very nice fishermen who could tell a tale as well as I. One local said that were Permit to the right of Le Grand Courland very early in the morning on low tide around the rock areas. As the gates were shut I did not bother but it may be worth a go. The local said Mole Crab worked best.

To Steve ‘P’ and ‘H’ thanks for all the advise and guidance. I owe you both a breakfast.

Tight Lines

Nick T

Nick

Sounds like you did pretty well. 8 fish in one session is about 7 more than I have ever managed! I'm not sure that lure fishing is more than a partial answer. To be able to catch big fish here consistently requires up to date information on where the baitfish are and what's feeding on them - the fish just move around so much. I don't think the locals have a much better handle on this, other than knowing generally what to expect where and when.



Steve P

Thanks for the photos. Your narrative will hopefully set the record straight - those were the only two fish I caught in the whole fortnight!



Steve H

At risk of sounding crazy...mullet. I'm assuming the mullet people are refering to closely resemble the grey mullet we catch in the UK. I also caught what the locals called mullet out in antigua. In fact...that was mostly what i caught. They put up a great fight on light tackle. And the bait that did it for me.....BREAD. I've said it now. I'll face ridicule and no, i have no idea why they would eat bread but it seemed to work. And once they were onto that they would even take small blocks of white foam fished on a fly rod. Apart from that just a simple float set up on 8lb line and small size 8/10 hooks really seemed to do the trick.
Has anyone had experiences like this or am i alone in my madness? So steve next time you're off out...take a slice of bread with you if you get bored and see if the mullet will take any of it!

Matt

Hello Steve,Steve and Matt
Firstly thanks to Steve P for his excellent diary (separate posting)of his fishing exploits and other info which surely will help others in the future.

Matt
If you go onto Tesco.com you can buy and excellent DVD about mullet fishing and you will see its by someone whos name you will recognise.

Fishing - The Mythical Mullet W. Mike Ladle And Steve Pitts

The forum is really building up a terrific database of fishing on the island.

Regards

PAUL

Well thank god i'm not alone in my madness. Has anyone had any luck catching them out in Tobago? If not...i'll try to be the 1st and let you know how it goes. I notice people have said 'large mullet'...exactly how large are we talking? thanks for the reference Paul,

Matt

Matt,

The Courland river that enters the sea by the Pier at Plymouth holds some really very large Mullet. if you cannot catch fish in other locations you will there. At all times of the day which makes it a very interesting venue especially if you are tied to time that I was. The grass at the edge of the river has an abundance of creatures very small, similar to 'Can't see mee's' that you find on the American coast line so I would spray my feet and lower leg with some bug potion. I still have the scars from when I was there over two weeks ago.
Look after your bait that you may place on the floor the land crabs move very quickly.
If you do not catch any fish the bird life is astounding. So enjoy

Tight lines

Nick T

Nick,

Thanks for the advice, especially about the bugs. I trust they don't like DEET. The courland river looks to be a good spot all round...i'll have to scrounge stale rolls for the mullet. The river should be in full flow by the end of july. I'll have to see how that effects the fishing but i'm sure steve hull will have had a go between now and then!

Regards,
Matt

hi lads i dont want to ruin the fun but to be serious for a moment is there a genuine risk of being robbed while fishing alone in this area,,especialy early in the morning when we would expect to be out ..

Philip.

I was warned off from fishing Back Bay as I said in my report. By the locals and the Tourist Rep. From that time on my life would have been hell if the Wife had found out where I was intending fishing. so I did not bother. I had no other detrimental advice for all the other areas from Back Bay - Turtle Beach. It is a shame but that is the modern world

Tight Lines

Nick T

Nick

No more risk of being mugged than on Southend Pier, or anywhere else in the UK - In fact, I would say less risk.

Don't leave anything lying around for someone to think it's lost and pick it up and avoid wearing flash watches and jewelery etc. ( I have no worries there!)

Cheers
Steve

Matt

Mullet?
Now I know you're mad!

Well Paul, you've spotted my secret past as a mullet maniac - who else would make a film about them.

'The Mythical Mullet' was our first film project, the aim of which was to prove that they can be caught and are not the elusive phantoms that most people consider uncatchable.

That was almost 15 years ago and since than we've covered river piking, lure fishing, fly-fishing in the sea, cod fishing in the Bristol Channel, 2 films on bass and our latest subject is fishing in the Carribean (I wonder where that was filmed?).

Getting back to the mullet around Tobago - there are mullet (like our grey mullet) in most of the coastal areas and I've seen them almost everywhere, from Bon Accord lagoon, Plymouth, Scarborough harbour and Parlatuvier, so I suspect that they will be in the places that our own mullet prefer and will take baits like bread, small bits of fish anything else that you can wean them onto. I've seen them grazing the walls and pilings for algae and detritus, but that stuff is murder to put on a hook

The largest mullet I've seen is around 3lb, so they are not monsters, compared to our own thick lipped mullet, which can grow to double figures.

Although not impossible to catch, as with most mullet, the Carribean species are just as cautious / temperamental and I can't see the point in fishing for them, when bonefish are easier to catch and fight 5 times as hard

The streams that flow from the central ridge into Castara Bay, Englishmans Bay etc. also contain freshwater mullet (also called mountain mullet) and you can catch these on small hooks (size 12) and light float gear.



We've caught as many as 20 in an hour, but the novelty soon wears off, as they are of no great size. The one in the pic would be considered a specimen.
Their natural diet includes the small freshwater shrimps,
which can also be found in these streams (another use for your prawn cocktail starter Matt).

Last week, I spotted a big shoal (50-odd) of these fish in the little steam that runs into Mt Irvin bay, on the inland side of the main road, as it sweeps past the Mt Irvin Bay Hotel - opposite the now dissused watersports hut.

Mullet still fascinate me and I think that - when fishing back home - they are even better than bass, but when on Tobago, almost everything else fights harder, so like my cold bottle of Carib - they are put in the shade.

Cheers
Steve

Steve,

Thanks for the post and rest assured i'll only venture after the mullet when very bored and nothing else is around (and even then it won't be mountain mullet!) I too would much rather catch species that fight harder than anything we have here. It was more curiosity that people had mentioned seeing them around a lot! The dark and distant past has caught up with you Asda.com sell it too....£2 cheaper. Afraid i won't be buying it just now though

Matt