January 29th 2024
Any long trip that involves considerable travel warrants extensive preparation. When you spend 10 hours each way by jet and several days on a saliboat the investment in time and money is huge. If you were to arrive unprepared and it adversely affected your fishing, it might spoil your trip, at least the fishing part. This post focuses on the preparation, the gear and the game plan, this time to the British Virgin Islands(BVI’s).
My brother is a sailboat captain which I have talked about in previous posts, where we have sailed both the BVI’s and also the Bahamas. Om previous trips, fishing was something we just fit-in. This trip is a fishing focused trip, both conventional and fly fishing. There are four male fishermen on board, both with conventional and fly fishing. As on previous trips, the majority of the fishing will be casting form the boat. In this case the boat is a 50′ sailing catamaran. The will also be opportunities to fish from the dingy and possibly also from a kayak. Trips ashore will afford us the opportunity to wade a beach or a flat.
The prep can be broken down into what to pack and game planning out your itinerary. Where you decide to go will determine which species you are targeting, or conversely figure out the species and that drives what gear you will be needing and also where you go. Therefore, in this exercise, we will start by idetifying the type of fishing and the species we will be targeting first. This approach will also greatly determine our route. On the conventional gear side, we will have a few boat rods for trolling and a few spinning rods for casting from the boat when it is stationary. When trolling, there are several species that we can target, but species found will vary by water depth. The bigger species like mahi-mahi (AKA, dorado or dolphin), amberjacks, king mackerel and various species of tuna will be found in deeper water. As a group, we decided we wanted to target these species and planned our route accordingly. Fortunately, it is possible to access the deeper “blue water” on a couple of different occasions by sailing only 10 miles out. Based upon our first foray into blue water, if successful, we will make plans for an additional diversion later. Notice from the image below, the south drop is close to Virgin Gorda, an island we will be exploring. In this case, the drop indicates a where the drop off to deeper water is. From research we have done, sailing water that is 200-400 feet deep is ideal for these larger fish, who will drive balls of bait to the surface.
Beyond the deep water fishing, another highlight will be flats fishing a prime bonefish flat in Anegada. Anegada can be located in the image above in the upper right corner. For this day of the trip we have hired a guide to help us locate the fish. In addition to bonefish, it is possible to find permit and tarpon feeding in the flats as well. Our fly fishing gear in this case will include 7-8wt rods for bonefish and 9wt and larger for permit and tarpon. Of course fly type varies by species as well, so we need to carry crazy charlies for bonefish, crab patters for permit and toads and cockroaches for tarpon.
In addition to deepwater and flats fishing, we will also be fishing from the sailboat, after we have moored the sailboat for the evening. On past trips, I have been succesful catching small jacks casting a Clouser minnow from the boat. In some mooring locations like Norman Island, there are tarpon that will circulate under the boat at night when the underwater light is turned on . Also, at night we can lower bait down and fish for snapper and other random species off the bottom. The itinerary hence has now been set to optimize fishing opportunities but also include good snorkeling spots and a few fun local beach bars in Yost Van Dyke for instance.
Now that have the species identified and the type of fishing, fly fishing, trolling and casting with convential tackle and bait fishing at night, we need to pack all the gear needed to support our activities. Starting with my 7wt and 9wt Scott Meridian fly rods. The 7wt will be well suited for bonefish and smaller jacks, etc. The 9wt will be used for tarpon and larger jacks, etc. Bonefishing requires a fluorocarbon tapered leader, with fluoro tippet. For all other species, I will be using hand built leaders built to handle larger fish. Also, with tarpon or snook, if we happen to find them, a bite tippet of 40lb fluoro is required. For flies, we will use standard bonefish flies like gotchas and crazy charlies on the flats, with some crab patterns thrown in in case we find permit. Besides the standard tarpon flies like toads and cockroaches, I also tied smaller glass minnow imitations for the tarpon that gather under the sailboat at night. As glass minnows are what they are supposedly chasing. Also, on a previous trip, see the BVI 2021 blog post, I had tarpon in a feeding frenzy one night chasing a school of needle fish. So I’m also better prepared to imitate needlefish with both top water and subsurface varieties. For miscellaneous fish like jacks, I’m packing a variety of Clousers and EP patterns.
With the conventional tackle rigs, my go to trolling rig is an Okuma boat road and matching open faced reel. The reel is spooled with about 300yds 25lb braid. The rig is good for tuna or mahi up to 25-35lbs. My second rig is a spinning combo with about the same amount of backbone. 250yds of 20lb braid and a very stiff 2 piece 7′ rod that unfortunately when broken down doesn’t fit any of my luggage. This was the set-up my wife used in Costa Rica. It is capable of throwing large spoons an incredible distance. But, I also know that the boat rod can cast the same spoons, but just not as far, which may be fine on this trip.
When it comes to packing, I has decided to take my new Orvis – Carry-it-All. The Okuma boat rod because it is a 3 piece fits right along side my two flly rods in the Orvis case. There is also room for all of the reels and tackle, minus the hooks and lanyard, which are being checked along with my clothes in a regular sized suitcase. Additional tackle includes 2 100% Fluoro Bonefish leaders, several general purpose leaders, a spool of 0X fluorocarbon tippet, and spools of fluoro leader material, in case we need to build or repair leaders. A spool of 40lb fluoro for bite tippet is a necessity for tarpon. On the conventional side, I’m packing multiple trolling lures, swivels, bare hooks for bait fishing, along with some twist on weights.
Here is a list of other essential items: Sunscreen, multiple hats, buffs, multiple hoodies, wading pants (I prefer the Columbia zip off variety), 2 pairs of Costa Del Mar sunglasses, 2 pairs of swim trunks, 2 pairs of shorts, wading booties and a mask and snorkle set.
After the trip I will follow-up with how we did fishing-wise, with as many photos and videos as possible.
