Guiding Trinidad- 7/11/15

It's not too often I get the chance to guide a saltwater trip, so when I got the call last week with a free weekend and a stellar forecast I was quick to commit.  After digging all my salt gear back out and loading equipment I was able to find my bed at 1am, with the alarm going off at 3am to start the day.  Made the 3 hour drive to the beach, rigged the boats, and gave my client an overview of the yaks, the Lowrance units, and the equipment we'd be using.  We dropped a crab pot behind Prisoner Rock then headed north to the reef to bounce the standard shrimp fly/Big Hammer dropper setup.

Didn't take long to get into a mix of blacks and blues, then a dandy 22" vermillion made an appearance.  Derek was doing great on the yak and felt totally comfortable so we pushed in tight to the wash rocks to explore a bit, then headed out to some deeper pinnacles to fill our limits of blacks with fish up to 21.5".  The lings were tight-lipped, with just a single 22"er that was sent back.  After lunch on the water we headed back to the bay to pull the pot which had about a dozen dungies (mostly shorts and females), keeping 2 for dinner.  We headed back to where he was staying at the Emerald Forest to use their fish cleaning station (man I wish the harbor would put one in!), and was on the road and home by 6.  Love those coast trips, but man they sure wipe me out!

Tight lines,
beenfishin

It was a good day that's for sure!  Good to meet you.  I fish Trinidad all the time a never caught a vermillion there!  That's a beauty.

Nice catching on Saturday.  Those lings were very tight lipped on Saturday like you said. I managed  to pull up a Ling for company I was having over the weekend. Do you ever stay for the night and go out again the next day not guiding?

Looks like a good trip thanks for sharing.

It was a good day that's for sure!  Good to meet you.  I fish Trinidad all the time a never caught a vermillion there!  That's a beauty.

The verms seem to be on the bite there.  Here is a 25" verm caught yesterday by a friend on his yak.

It's been 5 or 6 years since I've landed a verm at Trinidad, so when he hollered out 'it's a red one' I got pretty excited, he could sense the stoke coming from that fish!  That 25" is a flat out piggy!

Good seeing L2F and Cam out there too, you guys sure have an awesome playground in your backyard!  Depending on work/family I'll sometimes make an overnighter out of it and take a play day, but those are in pretty short supply this year!  All good though!

Fish and conditions look sweet . Thanks for sharing

That's a great trip, Ben.  Way to make the marathon run.   

Cool report Ben!  The quality of Trinidad blacks is amazing.  And you got your client on a verm!  Right on.

We headed back to where he was staying at the Emerald Forest to use their fish cleaning station (man I wish the harbor would put one in!), and was on the road and home by 6. 

There used to be a cleaning station on the old Trinidad Pier.  From what I've heard, it was removed due to fears of anoxic conditions occurring within the harbor area due to an overload of fish carcasses.  Which is a valid concern, but I see all the charter boats clean their fish and dump the carcasses right in the same spot where the fish cleaning station used to be.  Kinda negates the point of removing the cleaning station because the problem is still there.

Wish I had made the trip with you...next time for sure!