While Jason and Barbara are visiting, we decided to do some St Croix offshore fishing with Hook and Sun Fishing Charters.
Note to family and friends – fishermen will enjoy the writeup, everyone else just look at the photos because if you don’t know that feeling of being that jerk who gets a huge jerk on the other end of the line, you won’t enjoy it.
There are plenty of charters here, but Captain Jens at Hook and Sun Fishing Charters was highly recommended by our snorkeling captain, plus he gets a perfect 5 stars on Google Reviews and a perfect 5 stars on Tripadvisor reviews.
We had originally booked yesterday, but it was going to be a rough day offshore. When their customer for today was delayed due to the weather stateside we were happy to bump to today.
With the calm seas, even if we got skunked today it would be a perfect day in the sun just floating and boating.
Scheduled arrival at 0645 but in typical Jimbo fashion we’re on deck at 0630 and ready to catch the big’uns. Belinda is already on the boat working to get us setup for the day while Jens is in town getting ice for the fish boxes.
Early Start
Belinda from Hook and Sun gets things ready for a day of ummm… Hook and Sun
A beautiful ride out to a seamount around 10 miles offshore, it was only a few minutes after Jens and his first mate Belinda rigged us up that we had our first hit. The seamount is a lot like the Islamorada Hump near our condo in Key Largo – the steep walls push up smaller creatures which get eaten by medium creatures which then get eaten by the larger creatures that we’re looking for. Game on.
Ice Fishing
64 degrees is brutal in the Caribbean!
Caribbean Sunrise
Watching the sun rise over Udall Point
Getting To Work
Captain Jens starts rigging lines so we can get to work
Boom, Barbara pulls in a nice-sized barracuda. She would be the Cuda Queen today, with two out of the five fish hitting the deck being her barracudas. Good for photos, not so good for keepers. Let’s turn woohoo into wahoo!
First Hookup
Barbara takes the rod for our first hookup and pulls in a nice sized barracuda
Smiles and Smiles
Who’s smiling bigger?
Bada-bing – JP up next with a very nice wahoo, our first keeper of the day that left him with a huge smile and finally some fish in the box. Even if the rest of the day goes to crap, now we’re going home happy.
Crankin’ Away
Extra Hands
Sometimes the extra hands help when you get that big hit
Extra Face
This is why those extra hands are helpful sometimes!
My turn up at bat and I get a huge hit that ran and ran and ran, to the point it was close to spooling all of the line off of the huge Penn 30 reel. I believe that Captain Jens was running 60lb line on these reels and the Penn 30 holds around 600 yards of 60lb, so you can do the math.
Tools Of The Trade
Big fish, big reels. Captain Jens has a great selection of Penn and Shimano gear for hooking the big’uns
After fighting, the fish finally broke free and took all the line with it, rendering this rod and reel inoperable for the rest of the day.
Happy Hooker
Bringing in the big ones!
Lotsa Work
It’s not easy bringing dinner home
Barbara’s up next with the second barracuda, then we land an even bigger wahoo that we all worked on cranking to get in the box. Team effort out here!
Gimme A Kiss
Barbara’s second barracuda of the day, she’s the Cuda Queen
Wahoo are the third fastest fish in the sea at 48mph, only slower than blue marlin and sailfish. When you’re trolling at eight knots and they hit your bait hard, they peel off a huge amount of line that you have to fight hard to get back. Figure anywhere from ten minutes to an hour from initial strike to fishbox.
Next I land a very nice wahoo, our biggest of the day. It’s a serious fight, but sooooo much fun.
Comin’ In
At one point we have THREE wahoo on at ONCE – and things turn to chaos. Fighting one fish like this is a chore, fighting three is a three-ring circus.
One of them turns out to be an absolute monster, and we bail on the other two lines to focus on the big’un.
As the big guy in this crowd, I end up on the crank with the monster on the other end.
At one point we see the tail break surface, and by the size of the tail Captain Jens thinks that it’s either a massive 130lb wahoo or a blue marlin.
Reel in when there’s a spot of slack, only to watch him peel that line right back out. With 60lb test, you can’t afford to tighten the drag up too much or risk snapping the line.
Fish in, fish out.
Fish in, fish out.
Barbara is kind enough to pour bottled water in my mouth since I want to fight this one start-to-finish.
Fish in, fish out.
Fish in, fish out.
After almost 30 minutes of fighting and cranking in and out hundreds of yards of line, the fish finally spots the boat and says oh hellzno.
He turned around and put on one final burst of speed with his fight-or-flight response, almost spooling all of the line off of the reel.
Pulling Line
Suddenly.
Slack.
Thirty minutes of my life, gone in a flash.
No fish.
Captain Jens loses even more line and tackle today.
No fish.
All of our years living in the Keys, I consider myself a meat fisherman over a sport fisherman.
Catch and release? Hmmph. It’s going in the fishbox and then it’s going in my belly.
But I enjoyed every single minute of fighting this monster today, and I wish him the best.
He bested me, he bested our gear, and I hope that he lives to become even bigger and to breed bigger offspring.
Maybe someday if we do more St Croix offshore fishing – we shall meet again.
Heading Back
The Virgin Islands make a magnificent backdrop for a day on the water
Great Day For A Ride
Smilin’ and Sunnin’
Bad Day
… To be a fish!
Standing Proud
JP is happy about today’s catch
Miss B Havin’
These fish look heeeyooooge compared to this little lady
Tripleheader
Three fisherpeople, three fish
Tail Hook
The mandatory tail hook photo
Full Service Shop
So awesome to have Captain Jens fillet and package the fish after years of coming home in the Keys smelling like a canning factory.
Just Waiting
The tarpon all know where the fish guts end up
Prime Fillets
Big fish means big fillets
