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St. Kitts Fishing
Trolling for a Wahoo Moment
By Larry Larsen
Sportfishing off the coast of St. Kitts can be productive, as I found out during my recent trip aboard the
"Speedy 4 - 2" charter boat captained by Glen "Speedy" Guishard. From the Port Zante marina in Basseterre
 Bay, my charter boat headed west/northwest trolling along the coast in the waters that ranged from 250 to 400
feet deep just a half mile off shore. The captain trolls a variety of soft plastic skirts (such as Islanders and Scott's Squid) with ballyhoo baits and diving plugs off two
outriggers along the drops for 8 to 10 miles past Limekiln and Camps Bays, Palmetto Point and Old Road Bay.
The sportfishing boat plowed along at 6 knots through some of the deepest near-shore waters (400 to 500 feet) just a half
mile offshore from Brimstone Hill Fortress and the backdrop of Mount Liamuiga high above the shoreline highway. This is where some of the best near-island fishing takes place. The boat finally
 reaches Sandy Point and then turns around to return along the same route. Sandy Point, where lots of sand washes up on the
beach, typically has a lot of wahoo action around it, particularly in February and March. If the wahoo are biting or if the waters are flat calm, our 50-year old captain with
30 years fishing experience (20 chartering) prefers to go a little faster - maybe 8 knots per hour.
The captain and his mate look for the tell-tell signs of baitfish schools that attract
both birds from above and sportfish like tuna or dolphin from below. When birds are diving he'll turn the 34-foot, center console boat with two 200 hp outboards and troll
out through the activity hoping for a strike. A total of 6 baits and lures are set out with four off outriggers 50 and 100 feet back and two on flat lines (from rod holders)
positioned just 35 feet off the transom. The boat rods and conventional reels are 50 pound class and the monofilament lines are mostly 80 pound test.
That day, I was able to catch 5 fish from the feeding schools that we came across,
but all were small bonito feeding on tiny 3 and 4 inch long sardine-like forage fish. From a pass by some fish trap marker buoys set in 80 feet of water with a pretty quick drop to 150 feet, I
did manage to entice a 15 pound kingfish that put up a good fight before I landed it. That's an average size
kingfish for these waters that run close and seldom do you catch more than a couple here if you are lucky.
A school of spinner dolphin ran alongside of us off the bow and stern wake and a giant sea turtle played on the surface nearby to keep our trip interesting also.
 While the dolphin were not showing up near the island during the week I was in St. Kitts, the captain's clients the day before had
landed 3 small tuna. The tuna caught off the island can get up to 25 or 30 pounds but the average size is around 15, according to the captain. Dolphin which may be near shore also in the winter
months reportedly average about 25 pounds and can grow to monsters of 60 pounds or so. Up to a dozen dolphin or mahi-mahi as they call them on the island can sometimes
be caught in a day … unless you find them under something floating or find them on a FAD (Fish Attracting Device). Then you might catch several doubles or triples and
perhaps 20 or so, according to the captain.
A bonus of having schools of tuna feeding
on smaller fish around St. Kitts are that they attract blue marlin which average around 200 pounds in the
area. The maximum size of blue taken in these waters may push the scale to about 400 pounds, and the best time of the year is often the winter months.
 While some blues are caught near the island, most successful charter boats usually travel southwest from the leeward side to waters
about 20 miles out for the big boys. It is seldom crowded out there … or anywhere around the islands of St. Kitts and Nevis. The most boats fishing off St. Kitts that you
would ever see are 6 or so, and some of them might be from Nevis. It is only "crowded" if the fish are biting in one small area. There are 5 charter fishing operations
on Nevis and only 3 on St. Kitts, according to Captain Speedy.
Nevis, a circular shaped island has a protected area on the south side so Nevis
boats fish that area or run across the four mile channel between islands to fish along the St. Kitts leeward side. Some of the charter operations put out their own fish attractors, as does Speedy
who has placed 4 out. On one day he recalls catching 5 giant dolphin on one. Today, St. Kitts has initiated a new program to set out FADs or artificial reefs for the island's fishermen.
"When the buoys are hit with a strong current, they goes under," he laughs, "but that is a blessing in
disguise because other captains cannot easily locate them!"
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