InTheBite -

Fishing Reports

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	Posted By:	Jim Estraca	Date Posted:	06-06-2009
Fishing Area: St. Thomas USVI
Yes season has officially opened for Blue Marlin 2009, the big boy's are here and excitement is in the air with the in St. Thomas, USVI. The North Drop BVI is getting hot and Black Pearl is right there raising them to the top. We are off to a good season have caught and released a few so far and the fun is just beginning. Fishing St. Thomas, St. John, USVI North Drop BVI is some of the best Blue Marlin fishing in the world home to world records. We have the July Open Billfish Tournament (July) and the ABMT BoyScouts Tournament (August) coming up. We will keep you updated as the seaon continues. TIGHT LINES!! Capt. Jim & Diane SPV: Black Pearl www.youtube.com/fishingstthomasusvi
	Posted By:	Joe Figiel	Date Posted:	10-30-2007
Well the St Thomas season is finally over. This last moon cycle really put us over the top. In the 11 days we fished we only got skunked twice. We had quite a few days with exceptional multiple bites. One day we caught 7 out of 11 bites. Our final moon tally was 28 out of 52. This gave us a total of 119 blue marlin for the season in St Thomas. As of our last fishing day we sit with top boat honors for the season. This also gives us a yearly total of 154 blues. This is our largest overall total and third in line for St Thomas. Now it's time to go home and Tropical Storm Noel is sitting in our way. Once we get home we got a few months in the yard and then off to the DR again for another season. Tight Lines Joe Figiel SFV REEL TIGHT
	Posted By:	Joe Figiel	Date Posted:	09-15-2007
Well as another moon cycle finishes up in St Thomas the fishing is still as good as ever and many of us believe it is better. The moon started off pretty slow Prior to the BoyScout tournament. However, the day before the tourney a few boats got way off to the east by Anegada, and found a few fish. The bext day, almost half of the tourney fleet went out there and found the fish. By the end of the tournament records hade been made. First, the record for most fish releases in a day, was set at 58 blues for the fleet. Then, the final tally of the tourney, with 209 fish released by 37 boats in four days of fishing. We ended up in the middle of the pack with 6 releases out of 11 bites. Top boat had 11. For quite some time after the moon the fish stayed out in Anegada, but diligence on the North Drop provided us with some decent fishing as well. At the end of 15 days of fishing we ended up with 25 blue release out of 46 bites. This has by far been the most fish we've seen in an August. Hopefully, this, combined with how Sept. and Oct have provided large numbers of fish in the past, just might add up to one hell of a end season here in St Thomas. Tight Lines Joe Figiel SFV REEL TIGHT
	Posted By:	Joe Figiel	Date Posted:	08-01-2007
All the complaining I had about poor hookup ratios has subsided for now. Finally we're catching most of what we see. Though we are enjoying the success, there still is the possibility of going right back the other way because nothing was changed to create the better ratios. With that said, the last time I checked in we had gone 6 for 6 in 2 1/2 days. We took a day off to receive our guest and then went 8 for 10 in 3 days. Then we waited for Jim to get in on Friday. Fished 1/2 a day plus Sat and Sun going 5 for 7 and 1 for 2 on whites. Final summarry is more or less 9 days 19 for 23 on blue marlin. We start back up on the 17th and fish through the 2nd of Sept. Tight Lines Joe Figiel SFV REEL TIGHT
	Posted By:	Joe Figiel	Date Posted:	07-23-2007
So far the July moon is shaping up to be just as good as last month. Most of the boats on the rip are seeing good numbers of fish. We fished the last 2 1/2 days. We caught 6 out of 6 blue marlin with 2 just over 400 lb. The boss had to go back, but we are expecting a guest tonight and will be back out there tomorrow. Joe Figiel SFV REEL TIGHT
	Posted By:	Joe Figiel	Date Posted:	07-13-2007
Well our luck was up and down once again but in the end we still came out just about 50% on our hook up ratios. However it felt much lower than that due to the number of fish we saw in the few days we caught the least. Overall the bite was exceptional for all the boats fishing, unfortunately I was not able to keep tabs on the others to give exact numbers. Just for example though, with only 9 to 12 boats actually fishing the edge, there were a number of days where over 50 fish were seen in a day. Our final results: We fished 10 days. We raised 56 Blues, had 41 bites, and released 19. Also we were 4 for 9 on white marlin and caught one sailfish. tight lines Joe Figiel SFV REEL TIGHT
	Posted By:	Joe Figiel	Date Posted:	06-14-2007
OK so I've been slacking again. We've been through with fishing now for quite a while. Unfortunately when I wait this long to post our report, it tends to loose the exciting descriptive story I usually add. Oh well sometimes there just isn't enough time to sit and type. As a whole our moon was pretty successful. As I reported in mid stream we had a two day total that really beought our hook up ratio down. We officially ended up with 18 blues out of 37 bites. If you take our two day embarrasment of 3 for 15 out, it leaves us with 15 for 22 which is more than satisfactory. Also we added 5 white marlin and a few nice Yellowfin tuna to the mix. Although my report may be lacking any great detail there is one story I would like to share. This one in fact may never loose it's level of excitement in any of the hearts that witnessed it. Later in the afternoon of the 29th, we were wrapping up our day with a pretty fair tally of 3 out of 5 blues. Eyes are always scanning but rarely are all eyes fixed on the same location, but at this moment they were. Approximately 20yrds. behind the last lure hook in our spread, appeared something none of us will ever forget. As if in slow-motion, a great forehead began to rise just above the surface. With everyone on their toes just a second away from shouting "BLUE MARLIN!", the dorsal fin rose high out of the water atop the enormous back. Again in unison, everyone relaxed, convinced we were looking at a Pilot whale. As the head,back and dorsal descended, a vertical tail lifted out of the water, quite some distance behind where the head had been. It was in fact a blue marlin. As to how big she may have been we'll never know. I've heard it used before, and now I can officially say I saw a blue as big as a pilot whale. We pounded the immediate area untill sundown, and never saw her again. We did however, have atleast 3 small billfish bites in the area. We can only assume the large female was spawning, and the bites came from the small males that accompanied her. Tight lines Joe Figiel SFV REEL TIGHT
	Posted By:	Joe Figiel	Date Posted:	05-26-2007
Well we've officially started our season in St Thomas. Leaving bitining fish in the Dominican Republic, at first didn't seem to be the best course of action, howeven it's proving to be a move we will not regret. We've been fishing for over a week now, and though the numbers are short of what we were seeing in the DR, the quality of the fish has increased substantially. Friday May 18th: Our first day of the St Thomas season. Went out on the south side and went 2 for 2 on blues and caught a few dolphin. One blue was about 125lb and the other was 250lb. Sat. the 19th: Went way out to Virgin Gorda and caught a white. Trolled back to south St John and had a bite on a long rigger that left a hole in the water the size of a buick. Inspection of the leader showed signs of a billfish, well ahead of the lure. We fear that the fish's bill pushed the rig out of harms way and it never came back. Sun. 20th: Fished the south side again today. Catch 1 out of 1 Blue 175lb. Mon. 21st Started out on the south side today but then ran to the North drop. Pitched to a fish in the 500-600lb class. She went ballistic and jumped all over the ocean, eventually jumping back over the line just out of reach of the leader. Broke off. Tues and Wed: No Fishing. Thur. 24th: Very humbling day. Catch 0 out of 6 blues we had bites out of today. Biggest was about 200lb. Fri 25th: Killer bite but the hook is still off. Raised a nice fish right away but it didn't eat. Then miss the next 3 in a row, one over 300lb. Then finally catch a little guy at 10:30 am. Then at 20 min till noon have a triple headr and only catch one about 200lb. 12:38 jump one off about 400lb.Finally catch our last at 3:33, one about 175lb. Final tally for the day........3 for 9 raised another. Sat. 26th: Our game was on today. Catch a 100lbr first thing this morning. Then catch a white just after 10am. Then after lunch we get one about 275- 300. And finally at 3:45pm we pitch and catch one 375-400lb. This fish put on some of the most aagressive teasing any of us have seen. We're still fishing, and probably will be until the 3rd. So this is just an update. Stay tuned for more. Tight Lines Joe Figiel SFV REEL TIGHT
	Posted By:	middleton rutledge	Date Posted:	09-19-2005
Just got back from a week in St.Thomas. Chartered the Prowler with Capt.Mark Lamborn for 3 days and chartered Sharky's Revenge for 1 day with Capt. Bubba Carter and Alberto Sanchez. Fishing was slow for us and the rest of the fleet. We did not see a fish the first day. Went 0-1 on blues the second.Missed a nice fish on a teaser bite. Went 1-1 on blues the third and went 0-1 on blues the fourth day. The ESPN Billfish Extreme leg was going on last week, too. 8 boats were fishing and they only released 3 or 4 fish in 3 days of fishing...Tuesday Freedom released 1 blue. Bobby Brown caught 2 on Cut Nail, but he was not in the tournament. Revenge got 1 blue... Wednesday, Revenge released 1 blue out of 20 boats fishing... Thursday, Marlin Prince, Abigail, Hurrah, Sandra T, Post 53 and Crystal Clear all released 1 blue... Friday Stalker and Revenge released 2 blues, April Michelle, Prowler and Free Enterprise each caught 1... Saturday Vintage, Marlin Price, HT Hook and Sandra T released 1 blue. Sandra T caught a 500 lb blue right next to us. We missed a blue early and my girlfriend caugt a mega mahi on the Drop. It was huge and ate a 2 lb spanish mackerel like it was a mud minnow. I will post the pics of it soon.It was at least 50lbs. Post 53 won the ESPN Billfish St. Thomas leg by releasing a blue on a circle hook. They got additional points for the circle hook which beat out Freedom's blue which was caught on the first day(this is not the official report though). They are off to Venezuela for the next leg.Did some snorkeling over at St. Johns which was fun and the weather was great. Look forward to next season in St.Thomas. Hope the bite is better.Headed to Puerto Vallarta in November to try for some big yellowfin. Mid Rutledge
	Posted By:	Dave Knapp	Date Posted:	09-11-2002
After a great ABMT(Boy Scout)Tournament on the August full moon here in St. Thomas, the Blue Marlin bite is on again(still). The boats fishing out of American Yacht Harbor today were: Marlin Prince 2 for 5, Seven 3 for 4, Reel Tight 3 for 4 and HT Hook 5 for 6. Fish sizes were a mixed bag from 100 to 500 lbs! Congrats to Peter and crew on the Utopia who fished 45 days and caught 69 Blue Marlin(I may have the numbers wrong but it was great fishing). Utopia stopped in the Mona Pass on his way back to Florida and was 4 for 5 on Blue Marlin between Mayaquez, PR and Punta Cana, DR. We are leaving tomorrow for Mayaquez, Puerto Rico where we will be fishing for the next two weeks and then on to Venezuela. Dave & Gabe fishposthaste@hotmail.com
	Posted By:	Dave Knapp	Date Posted:	07-31-2002
The July moon was good here at the North Drop. The Prime Time caught five fish one day with nine fish over three days. Boats were averaging 3-4 bites per day with fish averaging over 300#. After the moon the bite slowed(1-2) per day. We just finished fishing Marlin University with nine bites over four days catching a 300 and 450 for two first time blue marlin anglers(all on 50# standup). Dave & Gabe fishposthaste@hotmail.com
	Posted By:	Dave Knapp	Date Posted:	07-14-2002
We finally started fishing here at St. Thomas. After the June moon the bite turned off but started up about a week ago with one boat catching eleven fish in four days. We fished friday going one for two on the blues. Yesterday it heated up with seven boats catching twelve fish averageing 300 lbs(every boat fishing out of American Yacht Harbor caught blue marlin with one boat going two for eight!). Looks like an exciting next two weeks. Dave & Gabe fishposthaste@hotmail.com tel 772 486 3129
	Posted By:	peter mccann	Date Posted:	07-01-2002
Fishing during on the frontside of the moon remained good, although the day of the full moon and subsequent days were slow, we stopped fishing on the 28th of June. Our 19 day total was 29 for 54 blues. We will start fishing again on the utopia mid July.
	Posted By:	peter mccann	Date Posted:	06-18-2002
In the last 7 days we caught 12 for 25 blues, still not many boats fishing yet, most will start in the next day or two. Our 10 day total for the dark of the moon is 18 for 34 blues. The weather has been nasty and rough the last couple of days. Most fish are still averaging over 300lbs, we will be fishing right thru the end of the month.
	Posted By:	peter mccann	Date Posted:	06-10-2002
We arrived in St. Thomas on the Utopia on June 6th, after 3 days of fishing we are 6 for 9 on blues, most fish averaging 300lbs plus and had 11 white marlin bites. Not many boats fishing off the moon. Gearing up to start fishing tomorrow June 11 for the next 20 days, looks like it will be a good season.

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