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Hi Reader,

After 5 years, I'm heading back to BVI! I just inked the contract for a trip in October, about 2 months from now (if you're going to BVI then, let me know!).

This will be the annual guys trip and we usually spend a fair amount of time fishing. Below is a short video I threw together from our USVI/SVI bareboat charter last November with some of the fish we caught.

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Now, I've never had great success fishing in the British Virgin Islands. The best we've done was a mahi on the south drop near Norman Island. Otherwise we land lots of bycatch such as barracuda and king mackerel.

We've improved our skills in recent years, however, so I'm excited to put them to the test.

With the abundance of sargassum in the Caribbean waters we'll plan to do less trolling and more jigging in areas known for the pelagic fish: north/south drop and the Kingfish Banks. This will cut down on the amount of time clearing weed from lures.

Even if it's just dragging a lure in between anchorages, fishing can add a lot of fun and excitement on charter trips. Barracuda are still fun to reel in!

Check out these 4 methods if you're interested in getting started.

Trolling

Most of our fishing is done when we are underway. It’s fun to always to toss a line in knowing something could hit the lure at any time.

We will usually pull one line with a weighted skirt on the top of the water and a second 10-20 ft deep using a diving lure. Vary the depths and put a line about 75 feet back outside of the prop wash and a second 125+ feet.

If we find that the fish are biting top lures more (or vice versa), we'll change the other line out.

For the skirt, I like the Iland Ilander flasher series. For diving lures, the Yozuri Bonita in flying fish color has by far been our most productive lure lately. It caught the wahoo in the picture above as well as several cero mackerels on recent trips.

Jigging

If you see some debris or sargassum floating, there is good chance that it has attracted some life. Drop a jigging lure down about a hundred feet and then reel it back in as fast as you can.

I picked up a couple Raider jigging lures to add to the tackle box for our trip coming up this October.

Again, given all of the sargassum, one thing we might experiment with is drift fishing the drop instead of trolling it. If we have some bait, we will also chum the water to try and attract more fish.

Bottom Fishing

Tie a couple dropper loop knots with some circle hooks, attach some dead bait (anything really), and let it sit on the bottom in your anchorage. You are bound to hook up on something eventually.

Common species are jacks, tarpon or shark. We don't eat them but they are fun to catch nonetheless.

You can do this method on bottom structure offshore as well, but it's harder to get this dialed in without a fish finder.

Casting

If you get lucky and see a school of tuna or mahi on the surface feeding on baitfish (I've yet to see this), cast a popper style lure out into the frenzy. There's a very good chance you'll hook up.

Keep in mind this method is best done with a casting/spinning reel - different than the heavier style trolling reels.

Casting is another fun activity when anchored. Try smaller-style diving lures for good results with jacks.

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I'll report back in a few weeks with our BVI fishing report. I promise no fish tales - only the truth! And if you've had some luck out there recently, let me know, I'd love to hear about it.

To read more about fishing, check out this post where I write in more detail about my lure and tackle recommendations.

Have a great week! - Matt Weidert

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