A few vacation pics

[I'llbeoutside]

We were down in the Virgin Islands for five days and although my original fishing trip got cancelled after the other half of the party backed out due to rough seas, I was able to get out for some light tackle near/inshore fishing. This was our first time there and this place is really incredible. My wife is pregnant so we were a little limited to what we could do but we still had a blast. We did some kayaking and spent a lot of time on the beach and in the water. We also did a two hour submarine ride which was pretty cool. We went down to a depth of about 100' and got to see some incredible fish. I met up w/ a father and son from Wisconsin and went out aboard a 32' center console and managed to boat some fish. The ride was extremely rough until we got to where we were sheltered a little and then things settled down. We boated six or seven different species. Snapper, barricuda, needlefish and trigger fish were the usual catches. I was lucky enough to hook up w/ a small shark and after about 20 minutes brought him to the boat. This thing was only about 4' and maybe 45-50 lbs, but what a blast to catch. Can't imagine hooking into a bigger one:yikes: . The last fish of the day would have been released unharmed if it would have made it to the boat intact. Most likely a large barricuda was the captains guess. I didn't get out to do the offshore trip I had hoped for and hook into some tuna or marlin but still a great time.

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[mallardtone-man]

looks like a blast man, thanks for sharing!

[MiketheElder]

Were you in the U.S. Virgin Islands or the British Virgins? It looks like you were in St. Croix if I had to guess. Or St. Thomas. I've been to the Virgins several times but never had the chance to fish there. Did some snorkelling and sightseeing. BVI is still one of my favorite places in the world.

[I'llbeoutside]

We were in the U.S, mostly St Thomas. It would have been nice to have another day to explore a little more but it was a good trip. This is the sub we went down in. Next best thing to diving I would guess. We went to about 100' and got to see things on the reefs and ocean floor that were incredible. Makes me want to get certified to dive.

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/500/100_9198.jpg

[CubanFisherman]

I don't like you very much.:evil:

[MiketheElder]

St. Croix, St. Thomas, St. John are pretty Americanized. The British Virgins are still Virgin. Somewhat. You can find great restaurants and such on Tortola and Virgin Gorda but you still have to be careful driving because of the occasional chicken or cow in the road.

And Jost Van Dyke Island is like Gilligan's Island with a few buildings. Foxy's restaurant is an open-air joint, pretty famous in the Caribbean.

[I'llbeoutside]

They are pretty Americanized for sure. It is absolutley a beautiful place but I could not live on St. Thomas. St. John maybe but sounds like we need to try and make it to the BVI sometime. The mountain roads in an open air taxi is a thrill ride by itself. I was much more comfortable being tossed around in a 32' boat in some fairly mean seas than I was riding in the taxi's:dizzy: . I love to visit warm places this time of year to break up the winter but I would miss my cold weather loves too much to live in a place like that. I love the seasons and would miss cold weather hunting, icefishing, tracking bunnies in the snow etc. I probably could have tolerated another couple weeks though:lol: . Now I'm ready for some spring walleye and a little turkey hunting.

[MrBluegill]

very nice fish you sould of seen the cuda i got last year in the bahamas he was 5.5ft about 60-70lbs ....caught him on a medium action ugly stick too all my line off the reel 4 times !!!!! the funny thing is that he was only in about 1ft of water!!!:yikes:

[superfishingfreak]

that sounds like a lot of fun!! i hear bigger sharks can take a couple of hours to real in.... i think any shark would be awesome to catch

[Ed Stringer]

Nice pics Travis, Glad to see you's had fun.

[I'llbeoutside]

Thanks Ed. Give me a week or two and I should have the boat out and ready to go. Give me a shout if you ever want to try a afternoon/evening trip for some gills/crappie. I am solo on some trips during the week.

[Neal]

Good stuff Travis...Thanks for sharing.