Wading for Bonefish

I hiked down to my favorite beach this morning to check on the resident school of bonefish living there. These aren't nearly the size of the bones we find in Ensenada Honda but you don't need a boat to get to them. I caught the fish pictured below, about a two pounder, with a #4 shrimp pattern and an 8 weight Sage rod. When the wind isn't blowing as much it's possible to use an even lighter freshwater rod. This flat is one of the easiest to access on the island and is basically located at the east end of Route 200 on the
north side of Vieques. A few minutes on Google Earth will give you a great view of this spot. Lat: 18° 9'36.80"N Long: 65°24'56.45"W

June Tarpon

They've been a little scarce this past season, but the tarpon have returned to the north side of Vieques. These aren't huge fish but they're quick to eat almost any fly tossed in front of them. We've hooked several this past week, all between ten to twenty pounds. There have been a few larger ones hanging around but they've avioded getting hooked. One thing is for sure, these fish don't get big by being stupid. The photo above is New York angler Glen Erikson with his first tarpon, caught right at sunset on an 8 weight fly rod and a #4 Clouser Minnow east of Green Beach.

Recent Catches

As you can see from the photos posted above, the Grand Slam is possible down here on Vieques. Granted, these fish were caught by three different anglers on three different days, but it all happened in the same week. Summer is possibly the best season of all to fish down here. Our winds are at their calmest which makes fly casting far easier. And in addition to our constant bonefish action, the tarpon and permit are coming on just as strong. If you've planned a trip to Vieques in the next few weeks, good choice.

Permit

Now that summer is here I can finally catch my breath a bit while enjoying some of the year‘s best fishing on the island. This is the time when the winter tourists start thinning out and life gets back to a more sedate pace down here. Looking back on the season so far, despite the outrageous winds and tricky fishing, business was far better than expected.

I was booked solid from the beginning of last December. My new Beavertail skiff has been a fantastic investment and has put my anglers on more fish than I ever realized were out there. We’ve also had more than our share of kicks on the days when I wasn‘t out running a charter. Amanda and I have done everything from sailing the Drake Passage around Tortola on her parent‘s Beneteau 38, to chasing huge bonefish off Culebra with Capt Chris Goldmark, to riding shotgun with Jimmy Buffett in his seaplane while scouting out surfing spots here on Vieques. So far, it’s been an unforgettable season.

When I look back at all the notable personalities who graced the bow of my boat this year, I never would have imagined that my favorite day on the water would be spent with two beer-chugging truck drivers from Long Island.

John booked me online over a month ago and when I met him and his friend Eddie at the gas station near my house, and neither of them was what I was expecting. Almost half of my customers seem to be New Yorkers nowadays, but these guys were the real deal. They were big blue collar types and I could instantly tell that they were all about working hard and playing even harder. Within ten seconds of meeting them they were busting my chops, as only true New Yorkers can, about my beat up, twenty year old Jeep they’d be riding in with me that morning. I felt like I was in a scene from “Goodfellas,” with De Niro in the right seat and Pesci in the back. I liked them immediately.

After several months of dealing with twenty knot winds and anglers struggling to cast fly rods, John and Eddie were a welcome relief. The hell with being a hero, they just wanted to catch fish, and chucking spinning rods was more than fine for both of them. Before I set up the gear I was amazed to learn that not only was this their first flats fishing trip, but that Eddie had never even been fishing before in his life. That threw a lot of pressure my way to get these guys hooked up and addicted to a new sport.

Of course it would be Eddie, the rank amateur, who hooked up first. After needing only a few minutes to master the spin fishing technique, I had him jigging a small bucktail lure along the edge of the Ensenada Honda mangroves. Twenty minutes later his rod doubled over and the eight pound line started peeling off the spool. The fish dove into the deeper water and kept pulling straight toward the bottom. This seemed like the classic fighting style of nice snapper and that’s exactly what it was. Eddie’s first fish was a five pound mutton snapper, one of the most beautiful and best tasting fish that swims. I wrote about this species last month, and how rare they were to catch on the flats up in the Florida Keys. Down here in Vieques they’re almost and everyday sight. Eddie was now officially a veteran angler.

John was now in the batter’s box and he was about to knock one out of the park. I really wanted the guys to hook a bonefish since that’s the one species that really makes an impact on first time flats anglers. What we saw swimming right towards us was an even better target. The three black finned fish were a small school of permit, the most elusive species down here. John fired a perfect shot and one of the permit raced forward as soon as his lure, a brown DOA Shrimp, hit the water. Permit are notoriously indifferent to artificial baits, but this fish was possessed. It attacked the rubber shrimp three different times before finally snagging the hook less than a rod’s length from the bow. Then it was off to the races.

Over the past three years I’ve had dark cloud hanging over my head with these fish. I have never landed a permit down here in Vieques. I’ve had dozens hooked up and they all manage to break off or the hook simply pulls loose. I’ve boated several hundred of them up in the Keys, where they’re far more common, but none down here. I call it my Permit Curse and try not to talk about it too much. This day felt like the day the curse would be lifted, and it was.
Even though it was a small fish, eight pound line is no match for a six pound permit if it’s not handled just right, and fortunately, John handled everything just right. After quite a few tense minutes, the fish was up on the surface next to the boat and its tail was in my hand. It was John’s first permit and the first one that Vieques finally decided to let me have. Curse lifted.

Over the past three years I’ve hosted rock stars, best selling authors, corporate CEO’s, and some really talented anglers. I’ve had my share of great fishing and pure frustration, but I can’t remember being any more satisfied than on this recent morning with two truck driving rookie flats fishermen. John and Eddie from Long Island, with their big snapper and small permit, are easily my Anglers of the Year. I can’t wait to see them again next year.

5 Weight Bonefish

Capt. Franco Gonzalez and I shot out to Ensenada Honda today to chase down some tailing bones. We had one of our rare dead calm morings and the fish were everywhere. Our normal 20 knot winds went away for once and we were casting at some really big bonefish within minutes of shutting down my engine.

One thing Franco and I have both noticed this past year has been how unbelievably spooky our Vieques bonefish have become. We have no explanation for this since it's still just the two of us fishing for them down here. They've become almost as wary as the Key West bones I started chasing over a decade ago.

For this morning's slick conditions I decided to try using my Sage 5 weight, basically a trout rod rigged to throw bonefish flies. This was the ticket and the light line didn't frighten the hell out everything we were casting to this morning. I hooked into a nice five pound bone in the first half hour we were out there. It was a classic fight and the fish stayed on the shallowest part of the flat the entire time.

This was the first bonefish I've hooked for myself in Ensenada Honda this year. The problem with being a guide is forgetting how damn tough this sport can be for an angler. Today was a great reminder of how demanding it can be standing on the front of the boat instead of the back.

Gregg McKee

Offshore Fishing, June 2008

There’s some great news for anglers coming down to Vieques this summer. My good friend Capt. J Ferguson finally has his new boat delivered and is running deep-sea fishing charters. With Capt. Franco and myself concentrating on the flats and inshore fishing, this is the one service that has been sorely missing on the island over the past few years.

Capt. J, like myself, is a former Key West fishing guide. He and his wife Lisa got fed up with the crowds and high cost of living in the Keys and saw Vieques an island full of opportunity. J has been a licensed captain for nearly fifteen years and has run everything from flats skiffs to large sailing yachts. His offshore knowledge is extensive and he’s worked on some of the best charter boats in the Keys, perhaps the most competitive place in the world to make a living as a fisherman.

The boat he’s currently running was custom built for Vieques by J himself. It’s a 26 foot Panga hull powered by twin 60 HP Yamaha Four Stroke outboards. These engines are so quiet that you can barely hear them when running. Their incredible fuel efficiency helps keep the cost of his charters low even though our gas prices are going through the roof, like everywhere else. The hull itself is one of the most seaworthy designs on the water. With a high bow and narrow beam, Pangas are one of the most popular boats throughout the Caribbean for their pure utility. They have a remarkably shallow draft but handle trolling through four foot waves with ease.

I rode along on the first shakedown trip with J and Capt. Franco two weeks ago. It turned out to be a great day on the water. The seas were running about three feet that morning and it was a bouncy but never unpleasant ride.

A quick two mile run from the dock in Esperanza put us in more than 1500 feet of water, which is where the big stuff lives. Finding that kind of drop anywhere in the States usually means an hour long ride. The great thing about offshore fishing in Vieques is the fact that these depths are only a few minutes away from our entire southern shoreline.

We started trolling a spread of artificial lures with bait strips up and down the trench with the electronics marking fish under us the entire time. After a couple of small barracuda, we finally hooked our first keeper, a nice blackfin tuna. These hard fighters also make excellent sushi and this fish put at least five pounds of it on the table.

Blackfin can be prolific down here in the summertime. Two years ago, in same area on another friend’s boat, we found the ocean swarming with these fish. By the time our baits were totally worn out we put fourteen football size blackfin in the cooler, which would barely close over the protruding tails.

A real thrill came a short time later when the downrigger line started screaming off its reel. This was something big that hit well below the surface. Franco grabbed the rod as J pulled the boat out of gear and I started clearing the other lines. A few minutes later a long silver shape was darting back and forth in the wake. It turned out to be a huge kingfish, at least thirty pounds. Had we caught this fish up in Key West during one of the big kingfish tournaments, we would have been well into the money with it.

The final payoff came just before lunch when we spotted a handful of birds diving at the surface, a sure sign of feeding fish. When J ran up to them we watched a couple streaks of neon blues and greens slash towards our surface baits, the unmistakable sign of big mahi mahi’s. Two of them hit at the same time and it was pure chaos, with jumping fish and tangled lines everywhere. We got both fish to the boat and gaffed one of the two twenty pounders to take home. A perfect ending to the inaugural trip of Amity Charters, Vieques.

In addition to offshore fishing, J can offer custom snorkeling, sightseeing, and even trips to Culebra when the weather is cooperating. For more information contact Capt. J Ferguson at (787)502-3839 or check out his website at http://www.viequessportfishing.com/.