My wife and I just got back from a vacation on Cayo Levantado, a small island in Samana Bay in the DR. I have never fished tropical waters so I was keen to give it a go during our trip. I didn't do any guided fishing trips; I may have caught more or bigger fish on a charter, but (a) I'm a cheap bugger and (b) I derived a great deal of satisfaction of going out and figuring it out on my own.
90% of the time I was jigging/twitching Berkley power grubs, although I did toss some gear and flyfished too.
Most of my fishing was on a freight wharf on the back side of the island. I got up at dawn to avoid the heat of the day and my wife was more than happy to sleep in while I trundled off.
This is some of what I caught. (And keep in mind I had no idea what I was catching at the time! I'd take a picture of my catch and then go back to the room to Google the interweb to figure out what it was
Sanddiver:
This is the most common species that I caught amost every outing on jigs, spoons and fly. Very aggressive predatory fish. Not unlike the lingcod from our local temperate waters
Snapper: A lane snapper, I believe.
Grunt: And yes, they do making grunting noises.
Needlefish:
Smaller needlefish (around 12") were quite common in the waters and they would show interest in the lure but seldom commit. This big one (around 18") hammered the fly and went apesh!t on the surface, jumping and dancing. It was a a sight to see and a fun tussle on my 5 wt.
Squid:
Several squid would follow the fly in but they wouldn't hit at it on the retrieve. I had to hang the fly just below the surface and the bigger squid would approach it and engulf it with their front tentalcles. If the squid had a good grasp on it, I could lift the rod tip and "floss" the squid
On the dock, they squirted out a puddle of ink, and when released in the water they would disappear in a second cloud of ink.
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Topic: Dominican Republic, Oct 2016 (Read 6055 times)