myTobago – your questions, review and comment about Tobago

Hi all,

We fly out to Tobago on August 10th (Roll on!). While the wife worships the sun, my daughter and I will be putting a few lines out, at every opportunity!

I do a lot of sea fishing here in the UK, mostly from the shore, but I guess the fish will be a lot bigger in Tobago and will require different tackle.

At the moment, I have a 13ft (2 piece) Beachcaster, 9ft (2 piece) Pier Rod, 7ft (2 piece) Spinning Rod and a 6ft (Single piece) Boat Rod, along with an assortment of fixed spool reels, mono & terminal tackle.

I would appreciate all your comments, suggestions / advice on what I should be taking with me for fishing on Turtle Beach, everyhting from rod through to plugs & lures.

Hopefully I should have some of the tackle required but am willing to shell out for new tackle, rather than miss out on a fantastic fishing opportunity.

Regards

Neil & Lesley

Hi Neil

Fishing from the beach at the Rex is sadly not the best on the island.

The beach seign nets turn up lots of small fish (almost every day), but larger fish like kingfish and bonito can be caught a couple of hundred metres off the beach whilst trolling from a pirogue, so maybe ask at the fishing co-op next to the RTB hotel or walking the quarter mile down the beach to Plymouth pier and cutting a deal with one of the local fishermen to take you out is your best bet.

There are big tarpon hanging around the pier too, but they are impossible to land if you should hook one. I have seen jacks caught from the beach where the river discourges across the sand, so keep an eye out for gulls and other diving birds as this would mean that jacks or tarpon are feeding along the beach on baitfish.

There are now dozens of threads on this part of the forum which discuss all sorts of fishing methods, venues, time of year etc. etc. and there is also a section in the Activities pages here -
http://www.mytobago.info/fishing.php

With a few months to go, you will find plenty of info. if you scroll back through previous pages and many of your questions will be answered.

Cheers
Steve

Steve,

Thanks for the info. I'm still busy trolling the site for info and making pages of notes. Thought maybe someone may have fished from RTB and had 'the knowledge!'

If the fishing isn't that good from RTB, is there somewhere, within reasonable walking distance, that we could fish on a daily basis.


Regards
Neil

Neil & Lesley wrote: If the fishing isn't that good from RTB, is there somewhere, within reasonable walking distance, that we could fish on a daily basis.

Hi Neil

That rather depends on how far you are prapared to walk

If you have a look at this map - http://www.mytobago.info/beaches02.php you'll see that Plymouth and Black Rock lie at each end of what is known as Turtle Beach.

As the name suggests, there are rocks at Black Rock and you can catch wrasse, snapper, hogfish, parrotfish etc. on bait. It's a fair walk along the beach, but you could do it in 15 - 20 mins.

Towards Plymouth, the jetty and the section of beach where the Courland river reaches the sea is the limit of 'within walking distance' and as I mentioned, monster tarpon hang around between the rocky promontary and the river, but the area is where the local fishermen keep their pirogues and landing a big tarpon from here is virtually unheard of.

Species that I have seen or caught from the jetty include small tarpon, small jacks, pompano, mullet, snook and scabard fish at night. There are also some huge stingray that hang around the jetty, but fishing for them would be futile - you'll get takes no problem, but they will just spool you without thinking about it.

Cheers
Steve

Just had a thought -
Have a look at the aerial photos here - http://www.mytobago.info/aerial.php
Click on the thumbnails for pictures 7, 11, 12 and 13 for a better idea of the coast from Stonehaven to Plymouth.

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the info. When it comes to fishing, distance is no object. Sounds like the jetty is where we'll be heading for as soon as we have checked in. We'renot fussy about hooking 'monster' fish, just as long as we catch something that looks good in a photo

Species that I have seen or caught from the jetty include small tarpon, small jacks, pompano, mullet, snook and scabard fish at night.

What sort of tackle should I be looking at for these? AT the moment, I have a couple of decent fixed spool reels for sea fishing and an assortment of rods and terminal tackle.

From what I have read so far on the site, maybe I should belooking at something like 30lb braid, some wire traces, an assortment of plugs & lures and a decent rod that I can fit into my suitcase.


Regards
Neil

Neil & Lesley wrote: From what I have read so far on the site, maybe I should belooking at something like 30lb braid, some wire traces, an assortment of plugs & lures and a decent rod that I can fit into my suitcase.

You're on the money there Neil.

Don't ignore fishing with bait from the rocks. Almost anything 'fishy' will do for bait.
We've even used some of the winkles that grow on the rocks, which stink of garlic and stain your fingers purple and caught all manner of colourful species on float gear fished just like you would for wrasse back home. ust like wrasse, they head straight for the snags when they take the bait


Fishing at Black Rock


A Stoplight Parrotfish (3 yellow spots on the tail wrist)


Hogfish - watch your fingers


The charmingly named 'Puddingwife Wrasse'

I wouldn't say that wire is essential for fishing the Plymouth area. I would swap wire for a 30 - 50lb mono trace as jacks, tarpon and snook are more likely than barracuda on lures form the jetty, although I seem to remember a post a few weeks back mentioning that the jetty was out of bounds for some reason.

My guess is that some restoration work might have been going on. It was in a sorry state disrepair when I last saw it.

Cheers
Steve

Hi Steve,

Further to your reply, I have been in contact with Dave from Veals over the past week or two to discuss my tackle options for our forthcoming trip to Tobago.

At the moment, I have selected a Rod, Reel and a selection of plugs/lures, those recommended on your fishing pages and a few that Dave has tried and tested in Mexico & Cuba.

I am still undecided on whether to try braid or stick to mono. Unless there is a good reason for using braid, then I will probably stick with mono as it's what I'm used to (advice welcome).

With this in mind, will I require any other specialised tackle for spinning?

For float fishing, I plan taking my 3oz float gear that I use over here. (Advice on hook sizes appreciated)

Finally, would it be worth taking a few lure traces to try out, those used over here for mackerel,pollock & cod?


Regards
Neil

Hi Neil

There are very good reasons for using braid, but if you are used to mono, then stick with it for this holiday.

Braid is far superior in my opinion, but it does take a bit of getting used to and a few simple tricks to avoid tangles, which are second nature once you've been using braid for a while, iron out the knotty problems.

I had just two tangles during two weeks fishing in Mexico and we fished (spinning) for several hours each day. Some people just can't get on with braid and others love it. I would never go back to mono.

I don't think that you will need any other specialised gear for lure fishing.
Some things which will be essential though is a pair of long-nosed pliers and a 'grippy' builders glove for unhooking fish.

Hokkais and other strings of lures might work, but I have never used them. As they will take up no room in your tackle bag a couple of rigs wouldn't hurt.

Cheers
Steve

Hi Neil
If you can head for Courland/Stonehaven Bay, I had one of my best sessions of fishing from the rocks to the south of the beach (past the Grand Courland Hotel, past the villas, past where the road leaves the beach and up onto the rocks; carefully). Between 7 and 8pm I had nine snappers, mostly muttons, a couple of reds, of between 2 and 7lb. I don't think I went for more than two minutes without a bite, and I lost as many fish as I caught.
All were on deadbait on a very thin new moon. In the morning, the seiners pulled nets to the north of the beach and I joined in and was invited to help myself to bait. The nets bring in a lot of sardines, and a small scad they called greenback, all finger-length. The sardines were quite delicate but the greenbacks stayed on the hook better and I had most of the snapper on these, fished on the bottom about 30-50 yards out with a 1oz lead ball and simple running trace. Heavy Gamakatsu 2/0 in at the shoulder (use strong curved baithooks, not UK style worm hooks) and out through the tough row of scutes near the tail of the fish. Back off when the fish hits and let them run a while before striking or they'll rip the bait off.
It wasn't sporting; you had to turn the fish quickly, as they went for the rocks, and you had to drag them up through a weedy rock ledge amid crashing waves, so I used 20lb mainline with a long 50lb shockleader, and still got broken by some of the bigger fish in the rough stuff at the foot of the rocks. But it was thrilling stuff, and the snapper made great eating grilled over the BBQ that evening. I kept four for myself and the netsmen, put the rest back ... and instead of gratitude I got a complete roasting from the seiners, who suggested I go back in and retrieve the fish I'd let go!
Next night, same method, same time, and only three fish. In the daylight I had plenty of big needlefish on blue/silver Toby spoons, plastic shads and Rapala Xraps, also a 5lb barracuda on the latter, and a nice bonefish on fish strip. Took a 4lb bonefish from in front of the hotel on the fly too, blind casting for small jacks for livebait! Saw a couple of 60lb-plus tarpon rolling offshore but they were too far out to cast to.
One final line of advice; tackle's a personal choice but I've recently taken a strong aversion to braid when fishing around rocks, coral or any rough structure in the Tropics. Too much heartbreak over a long period of time; most recently several large fish lost in Cuba. It's great for fishing over clean ground, or high in the water column, IMHO, but if you use it around the rocks and on the bottom, you'll lose fish, line and patience.
Have a great hol, and good luck. Big fish are there; it's just a matter of finding them.

Hi, having trawled through the forum myself for my own forthcoming trip I hope I can help. I highly recommend you purchase ‘Fishing the Caribbean’ DVD by Mike Ladle, (available from Veals) also visit his blog for lots of tips & info. For shore casting you will do well with a 10’ spinning rod rated at 15-40g. As most of the recommended lures fall into this range i.e. Maria Angel Kiss, Lucky craft Sammy etc. Yo-Zuri also do a good range of minnows & surface poppers which might be a bit cheaper (online auction sites are a good place to search). For trolling, a boat rod at about 7‘-8’ would be ideal. I would use Rapala cd’s or Halco lures for trolling. For casting from the boat you can use your spinning rod but the beach caster might be better for launching larger/heavier lures, although a bit long for boat work. I would mix & match the rods you have and just purchase some good lures to suit the rods. Tight lines. Regards, Bernie.