Heading to USVI and SVI in a couple weeks. Usually we've brought 2 trolling rods on our trips. This time we have 4 trolling rods, 2 spinning reel setups, and 2 handlines. Won't have that all that out at once, but excited to try a bigger spread this time. Hopefully the sargassum isn't bad right now, otherwise we are going to be quite busy clearing lines.

Weather permitting, we will make the crossing to St Croix, and then back up to Culebra.

Bringing a variety of surface skirts, diving lures, and bird teasers. Also plan to rig some of the skirts with ballyhoo. Neptune had a fire at their store in Red Hook, but are operating out of their warehouse in Bovoni. We'll rig it ourselves, but they also sell pre-rigged.

I spent a bunch of time trying to understand the various regulations with territorial waters, federal waters, National Park, etc. Here's what I learned:

Fishing license:
- No fishing license needed for SVI
- USVI requires a recreational fishing license for territorial waters (up to 3nm offshore). It's free and takes about 5 minutes. Link here.
- If you want to keep any Highly Migratory Species (HMS) in Federal Waters (>3nm offshore) such as a yellowfin tuna caught on the South Drop, the vessel requires an HMS Permit. Only the vessel owner can submit for the permit ($26). We've asked Waypoints if our cat has it, but not optimistic.
- I don't believe a permit is required in the VI National Park, but we will not plan to fish there. You aren't allowed to fish from a mooring. Most of the rest of the cruising area around St. John is off limits as part of the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument. The remaining area you could fish is probably just target rich with barracuda.

The USVI DPNR Handbook has all the information you need on catch limits, closures, etc. Also helpful since it covers federal waters. There are various restricted areas to be aware of.

Here's the latest HMS regulations for bag limits and sizes.

For SVI/Puerto Rico, the best info I could find is on the Caribbean Fishery Management Council's website. Most of it seems in line with USVI regulations.