It’s December now, and hard to believe that we are already a quarter of the way through our Peace Corps service here in the Eastern Caribbean. As anticipated, I have had to do quite a bit of exploration and experimentation to fish successfully here. One surprise was how rugged the larger islands in this region are. The coasts are steep and rocky and I haven’t found any fishable flats yet. The snorkeling, especially on the leeward sides of the islands, has been amazing. One afternnon, while exploring a small point, I discovered an underwater cave. When I peered into its dark recesses I was excited to spot a school of Atlantic threadfin (moi in Hawaii) and I became determined to catch some.

The upper portion of the cave met the beach and, at low tide, by crouching uncomfortably, I could wade/crawl inside and make my way back to within almost a rods length of the school. The first time I tried, I cast a small float in hopes that the wave action might pull my line out to the school, but I had no luck at all. The fish stayed deep in the cave and I could not seem to get my bait in front of them.

The other complicating factor was that there was no shoreline access to the spot, so the second time I brought help. Tara and I had to do a mini amphibious landing to swim the fishing gear around the point to the beach. Using a scrap of fat from a recent BBQ, we caught some sand crabs to use as live bait. I rigged up with a bit of weight close to a small hook. Next, I waded/crawled into the top of the cave, while Tara snorkeled along the ledge, looking at the fish underwater. Taking directions from her, I submerged the length of my rod above the reel back into the cave until she gave the thumbs up and then I flipped the bail and dropped the sand crab straight to the bottom. Next, I backed up carefully. When I had a bit more room and the surge no longer threatened to soak my reel I flipped the bail over and waited for a strike. It did not take long! As soon as the school swam to the end of the cave nearest me, the leaders jumped on the sand crab.

Unfortunately, Tara reported that I simply couldn’t get the rod deep enough into the cave to get the bait in front of the biggest fish, which were several pounds, but we did manage to land some eating sized fish which we took back to the family that we were staying with. I was curious what the local name was for threadfin, but no one seemed to recognize them. In fact, almost four months later, I still haven’t found anyone here who recognizes them. Of course, I don’t mind, it’s more moi for me!