I am going on a cruise in two weeks. We will be going to St. Thomas USVI, Tortola BVI, and Sumona D.R. (sp). I plan on fishing wherever I can find a spot close to the ship. Instead of paying $200 for a saltwater rig that I may never use again here in Indiana, I was thinking of using my cheap 5/6 bass rig $19.95 Walmart special that I haven’t used for a couple of years. If something happens to it I won’t feel bad. ie: stolen, broken, saltwater damage.
Any experience on this?
Before anyone suggests hiring a guide, I am not paying $400-$500 for a half day of flats fishing. The only guide I can find, that isn’t booked, charges $480 per four hours.
There should be plenty of fishy things lurking in the surf at each location. No reason you can’t toss some flashy little minnow patterns on your “cheapie” rod. As long as you can cast with it, the fish will not know the difference.
Casting about in the surf however can result on catching things you may not be familiar with.
They love eating small flies in the surf and have venomous spines that inflict one heck of a painful sting (I speak from experience). Watch your step wet wading as well because some of the islands have decent populations of Diadema sea urchins. They have super long and sharp spines that can get the foot or ankel of an unsuspecting wader. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Urchin003.jpg
(I speak from experience).
Bring the old rod and a few flies, keep your eyes open and have fun!
Oh and while in the DR, don’t stand there looking up and some lovely birds in the trees while fire ants pour out of their mound, cover your foot and ankle and sting you till the cows come home (I speak from experience) : )
The fish don’t care. Figure on 12lb tippet, some clousers and deceivers in a tin, a pair of needlenose pliers for taking hooks out of fish and people on the upper deck, sunglasses to see fish and look cool(polarized if ya got em), some sunscreen, a pair of old tennis shoes for wading and you’re good to go.
$20 or not, I’d still show my stuff some love by spritzing everything down with freshwater after each outing with a hose or douse it in the shower.
Throw at anything that moves, have a ball, and don’t forget your lucky hat. It’s all about the hat.
Thanks for your advice. What spines are we talking about? I found another picture at: http://zipcodezoo.com/Animals/O/Oligopl … p#Physical
It shows some seperate spines in front of the fins. Are they what you are referring to? Can one of those Rapala metal filet gloves protect against the spines? I was wanting to take my picture with what I catch but now I am rethinking that…
I also just read that I should use sinking tip line and all I have is WF floating line. I do have a couple of lead core leaders that I can but in between the line and tippet.
Any suggestions?
I wouldn’t worry about a sinker, use the floater when wading you’ll be up to your knees or so, and the clousers will get down fine.
It would be handy to have a sinker if you’re casting into real deep water from a boat, but if fish are around they’ll probably come up for it if you’re casting from shore or into deeper water while wading. Try a deceiver in deep water and if nothing happens switch to a clouser to get down a little, lengthening your leader a little if you want to let it get down deep, and wait a bit to let it sink before you retrieve. Bring the lead core leaders too, it couldn’t hurt.
As far as landing fish, if you’re wading you may want to back onto the beach and slide it up on shore instead of trying to unhook a fish you’re not sure of (teeth, spines etc) while in the water. I also wouldn’t want to keep fish on a stringer while wading.
Just keep your fingers away from anything pointy. Don’t know if you’ll run into snook, but be aware they have sharp gill plates that can cut if you try and grab them there.
Yes, those are the spines. The are at the high spot on the back and belly. They are fine enough to do through the mesh on a fillet glove. Best to simply hold the leader and shake them off the fly with pliers. As for other species, watch for sharp gill plates, fin spines and teeth. A Boga Grip would be the safest way to handle fish that you are not familiar with.
Unless you have an extra spool for the sinking line don’t worry about it. As mentioned above you can always lengthen the leader to get deeper but most of the fishing should be shallow.
Keep your flies sparse and aerodynamic you will have no problems throwing them on that setup. In other words don’t use a whole chicken or buck tail. Less is more in the surf.
If you do get into a large fish just keep your rod low and let the butt and reel fight the fish, not the tip of your rod.
A quick rinse at a hose or in the shower in your cabin at the end of the day and your gear will come back home that same way you brought it.
If you can get out at night just find a dock with a light and work the shadow lines.
Then there is always the high speed troll off the back of the cruise liner :roll:
At the risk of being booted out of the “club”, I’d like to add that the Clouser deep minnow is not the “end all, do all” fly that it’s often made out to be.
I fish to have fun, and casting Clousers boarders on being “work”
More so on a light rod.
I don’t think I’ve tied on a Clouser minnow more then a couple of times in the last three or four years.
I’ve probably got one of the same rigs from wal-mart… shakespeare??! i’ve used it down at the gulf and had a blast… so take it and some clousers (can’t ever go wrong with clousers)… a 10 or 12 tippet (or do like i did and use 10 lb stren ultra line!!)… it all worked just fine…
oh yeah… that “lipping” thing we do with freshwater fish don’t do so good with saltwater fish… or at least that’s what Two-fingered Jack from Lake O’ the Pines told me!! hahahaha…
other flies that i used were red deceivers, shrimp imitations (ummmmm ain’t they all imitations!!!) and crab imitations…
I would not even think of fishing in the salt with a 5/6 reel with probally a max of 50yds of backing. A disaster waiting to happen.
Ah, but if your lucky enough to hook into something that big, It’ll be a disaster that would be fondly and firmly burned into they film of his mind forever! MAn
IMHO, I’d say go for it. Keep your tippits light enough to break off any fish that’s more than the tackle is up to but my guess is that there are plenty of small surf fish that your tackle will handle just fine.
I use my 8wt bass rod for a week of saltwater fishing each summer with no harm done. One definite that no brought up is, be prepared to hose down your rod and reel after each outing. Really rinse it completely. You want to flush out all the salt as soon as possible to keep the gear from being wrecked. Don’t wait till you get home from the trip. Have a blast!
I took a fly rod to the beach after shoulder surgery made it temporarily impossible to cast my surf rod, and now, even though my shoulder is healed, I have never switched back! Flyfishing the salt is just too much fun. You may find yourself planning trips to the ocean in the future…
