Headed down in 3 weeks. Just trying to get an idea of what is being used for light trolling, Mostly looking for catch and release fun fishing. What about shallower water, anyone doing any? Would not be eating any shallow water fish but a tuna or such might make it to the plate.

Rita, it's been decades since I trolled along the shoreline but this seems to be popular for improving the chances for a"catch and release" I doubt it will result in a "keeper"

Trolling Lure

But seriously, we bought a pack of misc trolling lures for catching fish, the one that worked the best had a green skirt and tapered green lead head. They were off-brand baits came in a pack already rigged. Last trip we tried an umbrella rig with plastic squid, no luck. I'll try to find a pic and add it later.

Cheers,

Tony

Thanks Tony, my hubby is into fishing for the challenge and relaxation, not to keep fish..Just trying to keep him entertained while I snorkel and swim.

We caught a lot of grouper wading off the beaches away from mooring fields. Soft plastic baits with 1/8 ounce gig-heads with medium action spin rod worked best. Tons of fun.

Harley

He's taking his spinning reel. Sounds like his kinda fishing.

we fashioned lures out of duct-tape and gum wrapper the make them look like the small minnows swimming around us. caught a few big Tarpons.

By far the most interesting was a fellow and his daughter with a cast net in brewers bay last month. They would then use the fresh caught spat to catch grouper and snapper. he was using a medium spin cast rod, while sitting in the shallow water.

We used these our last trip about 3 weeks ago. We caught two yellow fin tuna, two mackerel and several barracudas. All of them worked and there didn't seem to be a preference.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/12-NEW-Rigged-Sq...=item58b8df0d1b

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Williamson-Wahoo...=item5420834f28

If you get a mooring at Diamond Cay throw a few scraps of bacon, chicken, anything in the water behind the boat. There are a bunch small 2-3' sharks (sand sharks or similar harmless) that hide out under you boat. Get them in a nice feeding frenzy.

Are you sure they're sharks and not Remoras?
Remoras love to hang out under the boats and wait for scraps of food or someone flushing the head.

You might be right. We didn't try to catch any and didn't get that good of a look at them.

Yes, lots of big Remora's around Diamond Cay.

What I do is fish off the ball or at a dock if you get a slip. I use squid and catch small fish one after the other. I just fish for the fun of it and just release everything. We had a fishing contest between my two grandchildren Dad and PopPop.after about 45 minutes the score was 10 to 6. The kids had a ball. What I do is pick up some frozen squid when we stock up on provisions.

Rita: i used a lure from a guy who makes them in Texas. You can visit and buy them on-line at www.chickenboylures.com He's a great guy and makes really good soft plastics. That's all i used and caught tons of fish.

Harley

Chickenboy lives down the road from me...He's sort of a interesting character...does make some decent and unusual stuff.