We’re out of fish so it must be time to go sailing.
We’re out of fish so you know what that means? It’s time to go sailing again. In less than two hours, after clearing out at the customs office, we hope to be underway towards Martinique. Hopefully we’ll be able to re-stock our freezer while on route. Rebecca says that she’s tired of Tuna though and that we have to catch something different. Here Dorado, Dorado, Dorado…
Pay attention to the sign people… Dominica is a beautiful place. Let’s keep it that way!
We hear Martinique is expensive….looking forward to your recon. Happy fishing and safe journey!
The French islands in general are expensive which is why it’s unlikely that we’ll stay very long. We’ll definitely post the recon though.
Next time you catch a barracuda, if it’s smaller than 18 inches, eat it. The Bahamians love ’em.
Don’t worry, we will.
I thought you would do a nice quiet 40 miles in 8 hours and anchor near St Pierre. What I could not guess though was whether your fishing skills had improved enough to catch fish at 5 knots.
Rumour has it that you won’t do Martinique on the cheap! 🙂
Cheers
Mike
St. Pierre was one of our potential stopping points. As for not doing it on the cheap, we shall see.
I told you. Get some decent gear and do some bottom fishing. Trolling limits what you can catch. Even the meat around the throat of a snapper is good.
I have had snapper and it is good. It is however one of the variety of fish around in the Bahamas/Caribbean known to carry ciguatera.
What do you mean by bottom fishing specifically? And what kind of gear does one need?
Mike and Rebecca,
Get a heavier rod and reeel, check with a few locals about ‘bait’. There’s a TON (no pun inentended) of fishes on the bottom.
All you need is ONE grouper and you’re set for a week or more.
Jim
Thanks Jim.
The fish we get now are caught on either a 3 dollar yo-yo hand line or an older penn trolling reel that our buddy Jim gave us (Thanks Top O’ The World Jim). Spending a bunch of money on new fishing kit isn’t likely given the dozens of other things we have to spend cash on.
And not to discount the value of catching a grouper because we like them too, but like snapper, they too can be ciguatoxic. Mahi and Tuna are not.
“Ciguatera results from the eating of reef fish affected with ciguatoxin. Ciguatoxin originates from a dinoflagellate name Gambierdiscus toxicus which colonizes coral beds. The toxin first affects the coral-grazing fish and is then passed up and through the food chain to the piscivorous fish (i.e., snapper, grouper, amberjack, barracuda) and finally to man.”
“…avoidance of potentially toxic fish makes sense. This includes large predatory reef fish (greater than 5 pound snapper to 5 pound grouper or amberjack or greater than 2 pound hogfish seems a realistic guideline). Yellowtail snapper and dolphin (mahi-mahi) are safe fish to eat at any size in the South Florida and Caribbean areas.”
Source: http://www.bigbendsportsman.com/medicine/ciguatera.htm