Alibaba Fishing and Catching!
Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2007 6:48 pm
Many thanks to Alibaba (Brian Taylor) who donated and hosted our myTobago prize trip fishing out of Mt. Irvine this morning. Because his boat is being painted he arranged for the boat Dive Hard to take us on what turned out to be a beautiful and productive morning. He organized the trip for the date we requested on very short notice (as we were already here in Tobago when I found out I had won!)
We arrived at the Mt. Irvine rock wall just at 6 am to find Ali with Alvin and Ian, the captain and deckhand of the Dive Hard, ready and waiting. Plenty of snacks, sandwiches, ice cold waters, sodas and Caribs were loaded and we set off almost straight out to some FADs in about 150’ of water. After an hour or so, catching only a couple of bonita, which were kept for bait, Alvin announced that were about to catch a kingfish . . . and then we did. My thirteen-year-old neighbor reeled in his biggest fish ever and we now have one quarter of it marinating in our fridge. I also caught a barracuda and a small trevally before returning to the beach. After a couple of pictures Ali gave us a ride up the hill to Bethel.
I was very impressed with the punctuality, the cleanliness of the boat and the friendliness of all these people. Everything went exactly as planned and we caught some nice fish for dinner. It was all over too fast and we hope to do it again before long.
One small negative was the size of the fishing gear. The Penn Internationals and other large reels and roller rods were overkill for the species available this time of year, in the waters we could fish on a four-hour trip. I would recommend dropping down to 25 or 30 pound test gear instead of tackle that could have tamed marlin and tuna. The reason for the oversized gear was probably because of the late substitution of boats and skippers. That being said, Dive Hard was a perfect fishing and diving machine with a skilled and helpful crew. I would not hesitate to go out with any of these gentlemen again.
Thanks too to Steve and this great website that helped me to experience another wonderful part of Tobago.
Kingfish on the coalpot and Bethel Heritage Festival tonight! It’s a rough life but . . . you know the rest. Cheers, Hugh
We arrived at the Mt. Irvine rock wall just at 6 am to find Ali with Alvin and Ian, the captain and deckhand of the Dive Hard, ready and waiting. Plenty of snacks, sandwiches, ice cold waters, sodas and Caribs were loaded and we set off almost straight out to some FADs in about 150’ of water. After an hour or so, catching only a couple of bonita, which were kept for bait, Alvin announced that were about to catch a kingfish . . . and then we did. My thirteen-year-old neighbor reeled in his biggest fish ever and we now have one quarter of it marinating in our fridge. I also caught a barracuda and a small trevally before returning to the beach. After a couple of pictures Ali gave us a ride up the hill to Bethel.
I was very impressed with the punctuality, the cleanliness of the boat and the friendliness of all these people. Everything went exactly as planned and we caught some nice fish for dinner. It was all over too fast and we hope to do it again before long.
One small negative was the size of the fishing gear. The Penn Internationals and other large reels and roller rods were overkill for the species available this time of year, in the waters we could fish on a four-hour trip. I would recommend dropping down to 25 or 30 pound test gear instead of tackle that could have tamed marlin and tuna. The reason for the oversized gear was probably because of the late substitution of boats and skippers. That being said, Dive Hard was a perfect fishing and diving machine with a skilled and helpful crew. I would not hesitate to go out with any of these gentlemen again.
Thanks too to Steve and this great website that helped me to experience another wonderful part of Tobago.
Kingfish on the coalpot and Bethel Heritage Festival tonight! It’s a rough life but . . . you know the rest. Cheers, Hugh
