Big Game Fishing the World
Anegada, British Virgin Islands
Every trip that we take for filming the "Big Game Fishing the World" series has its own uniqueness. The trip to Anegada Island in the British Virgin Islands was no exception. We've all heard the expression 'getting there is half the fun.' In this case it really was. It's not uncommon for me to fly my own plane to some of the locations. In this case we flew down from Jupiter, Florida, in a Cirrus G3. My plane is an old Cessna 310. It is virtually an antique, purely old school, but I like it. If you could work on a 57 Chevy you could work on my plane—nothing fancy. The Cirrus is the exact opposite. State of the art- the latest and greatest,-glass cockpit-futuristic design, in short -really cool. This is a small 4 seater with gobs of room for both people and luggage or in this case fishing equipment. The folks a Cirrus wanted me to try it out and this seemed like a good opportunity. They didn't just turn me loose with this nifty machine. They sent one of their factory pilots, Adam Hahn, to make sure this old dog didn't have to learn too many new tricks too fast. In exchange for him keeping an eye on me on the way to Anegada I kept an eye on him on the boat after we got there. I guess it was a good deal. I didn't kill us getting there and he got to catch his first wahoo. Such a nice airplane. Fast, relatively economical, comfortable and so easy to fly. They really put some thought into how to make it as easy as possible and definitely accomplished their mission.
Several years ago while I was fishing in the British Virgin Islands I got acquainted with Lawrence Wheatly. Lawrence owns and operates the Anegada Reef Resort on Anegada Island. I guess I should mention that Anegada Island is the eastern most island of the British Virgin Islands. It's about 3 miles long and a half to three quarters of a mile wide. Not a big place. Lawrence was telling me about the great fishing just minutes from his house and then he made the big mistake. He invited me to come to his island and go fishing. When he got home guess who was waiting on his doorstep. Actually I didn't get there quite that fast but it wasn't long before I did. What a neat spot! Anybody looking to 'get away' has to try out the Anegada Reef Resort.
Nice rooms, nice folks and food that is off the charts. Simplicity is the thing. Their motto is "no phones, no keys and no TV's." All this and great fishing too. Inshore for bonefish or offshore for wahoo and marlin. Take your pick
We were fishing aboard a Tiara express that Tiara Yachts had provided. I hired my good friend Capt. Red Bailey to do the driving. He has been fishing those waters for about 40 years, and there is nothing more important than local knowledge. Red has his own charter business 'Abigail III Charters' out of St. Thomas
Because of the time of year, late November, we opted for wahoo initially which is very different from my normal approach. Usually its billfish first and foremost, however we had been catching a lot of marlin during the weeks previous to going there so I decided to zero in on wahoo on this trip.
Fishing was good. We provided the resort with lots of fresh wahoo. Doubles and triples were more the norm than the exception. We were pulling medium to large lead headed, feathered jigs rigged with a few feet of wire and ballyhoo under the feathers. Every color we tried worked. I threw out a few marlin lures that quickly got destroyed. My suggestion for wahoo is go cheap. The jigs are cheap and they work just fine plus the unbelievably destructive teeth of the wahoo don't immediately destroy them like they did my expensive plastic marlin lures.
This was the first opportunity I have had to try out my new custom rods that Blackfin Rods out of Stuart, Florida, made for me. I ask them to make them a little longer than the standard stand-up rod but not quite as long as a chair rod. I also ask for a beefy spine for lifting power but with a fairly light tip. I am using the short bent butt stor-a-butts. I was looking for a good travel combination and it worked out great. They give me the versatility of stand-up or chair use and the stor-a-butts make tear down and assembly really easy because of not having to ever take the reel of the reel seat. I could blab on forever but I'd better shut it down for now.
Hope you enjoy the show.
Tight lines,
Capt Norm Isaacs
