Jamaica

[Paddy002]

Reports a bit late but at the start of July myself and herself headed to Jamacia. I had checked out certain charter companies before I left and was pretty disappointed as most of the companies had a policy of making all the people on the charter to draw a card to decide the order of who reeled in the catch which I though was Bo!!ox and had pretty much decided I was not going to bother going fishing…

Anyhoo on our first morning we took an early walk down the beach chatting to various locals on the way (mostly) trying to sell you weed! In Jamicia on the beach where we were the water quickly drops off to a meter deep of crystal clear blue water allowing boats to moor right in on the sand. So as we were walking I came across a pretty old boat loaded with rods and started talking to its owner “Danny” as it turned out he was a local working at his own fishing charter. We agreed to head out the next morning @ 6am, 180USD for 4 hours which seems pricey but I was happy as it was just going to be the Skipper and myself.

I arrived bright and early with a beer in hand, which the Skipper wasn’t too happy about but off we went!! We headed out of Bloody Bay in search of Tuna. So we put out two lures on two large Penn reels and another two lures on booms made of branches from either side of the boat to space everything out and avoid getting tangled!

After about 2 hours of trolling we had picked up 4 tuna 2 skipjack and 2 yellow fin on a mix of the hand lines and rods and missed 2 or 3 more. All weighed in @ approx 10-15 lb relatively small but even at that size they are a powerful fish!!!
Later in the morning we headed ot the edge of a reef to do some bottom fishing where we dropped anchor and changed to lighter gear. We pulled up various different fish off the reef that the skipper was more than happy to keep. The parrot fish is the only 1 I can remember the name of so fish ID’s welcome!!

At 10am we headed back to shore and the skipper gave me one of the tuna and told me bring it into the chef in the hotel at they would happily cook it up.. So after signing a waiver I came back at lunch time to a huge plate of grilled tuna with onions and peppers, it was bar far the best fish I have tasted.

Overall it was a great trip and if I ever return I would definitely go with the locals before going with a company!!

[Paddy002]

more pics

[chuckaroo]

Great stuff paddy, you caught some decent fish all-in. looked a nice fishing trip!
yeah, sounds pricey especially for a wee boat that size and for only 4 hours.. but anyway, it looked worth it.
The dark fish looks like a trigger fish of some sort, I guess!

[5turbo]

Looked like an amazing morning, lunch didnt look to bad either!! regards the price . . . Its not everyday you get the oportunity to fish in a paradise . . Small price to pay for a once in a lifetime event comes to mind.. . .

[Paddy002]

your spot on chuck and i think the other really colorful fella is a parrot fish.

[chuckaroo]

The dark fish is a Black Triggerfish: http://www.fishbase.us/summary/SpeciesS ... php?id=966
The colourful fish is actually a Yellowhead Wrasse: http://www.fishbase.us/summary/SpeciesS ... hp?id=3663
The red fish I'm not sure about, there are a few species that look very similar and are slightly trickier to distinguish. Have a look here and see if you can figure it out: http://www.fishbase.us/identification/R ... tBy=family There are 12 pages identifying Jamaican species on that link. My guess is that the red one is a grouper of some sort, possibly the Red Hind.
Some other nice species that you could have caught too!..

[Stan]

The fish with the red spots is "strawberry grouper. I think that the silver fish at the top is a bluefish.

[Paddy002]

The fish with the red spots is "strawberry grouper. I think that the silver fish at the top is a bluefish.

Silver fish is a black fin tuna

[Stan]

Grand. The bottom lip made me think Bluefish......fins though indicate tuna.