Got back from St Thomas last night, only got one day to fish though, Wed.9/2. TS Erika was one day out from the islands and the winds were blowing 20-25 already but we managed to charter “Double Header” a 35’ Sea Vee CC with an inboard diesel for a 1/2 day. Nice boat but a wet ride in 7-9 footers [:0] still a good time ended up with
4 rainbow runners
1 cuda
8 1/2 tunas ( little tunny, black fin and 1 albacore)
the 1/2’s happened often SHARKS
4 other cut offs
didn’t get many pictures due to the wet ride
the captain was a younger guy named Chris and yes some of the tuna that was caught could of been used for bait… kinda small, the capt said that was average size caught there ?? had a good time anyway…the wife got to catch her first tuna… too bad a shark was hanging on the end of it
trolled for the tuna, after bring in the tunas he would throw out a couple of net fulls of live bait to bring in the rainbows then free lined live bait with a small treble hook, All the tuna though were caught trolling green/white and blue/white lures about 7 kts in 250’-500’ along a ledge about 6 miles offshore. Chris did have a 50+ gallon live well full of bait… Most of the rainbows caught were taken by sharks before we could get them in
You did better than us Ed, last time we were there, late May early June, we trolled all day and all we had were cudas. Still fun, but not the kind your looking for.
I hear ya capt…I was hoping for some what larger fish but considering the weather that day …I was happy with what we got. The Marlin bite is good there now but seas wouldn’t allow us to go after them. We will try it again next trip
I fished the same charter in December. Lots of smaller yf tuna, dolphin, rainbow runners, and even a wahoo. trolled until we found the fish and then live baited until dark. We had a great time in 5 ft seas. guess the 9-10’s wouldn’t be as fun. We’re planning a return trip and charter.
It was a good time considering the weather. I’m just glad we were able to get out there even for just a half day. Good luck on your return trip …it’s a beautiful place.
