Fishing With A Local

Dave in his fishing pirogue Neva 2 Late

"Good day.  How are you?  Is everything good for you?  Would you like to buy a tuna I just caught?  And do you have any interest in going fishing tomorrow morning?  I am going out fishing and I wanted to see if you wanted to go and learn how we fish."  
 

Birds fishing is a good sign of fish for the rest of us

That is what local fisherman Dave said when he stopped by our boat in Pirates Bay.  "Sure" said Tom.  FYI - The invite was for Tom alone.  We have seen NO women fishing.  NONE!  But that is ok.  It would give me chance to chill on the boat by myself.  Dave said he would pick Tom up the next morning at our boat at 6:30AM.  He asked only that Tom pay for the gas.  Ok.  Oh yeah....he needed the money now.  Hum?  Tom said "Half now, the other half tomorrow."   "No, that won't work. De gas station only open today so I must have all the money today to get the gas."  Hum?  "Don't worry.  I won't cheat you.  I will pick you up tomorrow as I say."  Okay.  "As you can see my boat is called Neva 2 Late - big letters.  Everybody know me.  I won't cheat you.  I will show up."     

The poles make it look like the boats have whiskers

There was a jazz show that evening over on the windward side of the island.  Dave mentioned that he would be going.  I told Tom  "You better be ready at 6:30AM but with typical island time AND the jazz show, it will be interesting to see what time he really shows up."  Later I whipped up a batch of brownies for them to take fishing.  Good luck brownies.
 

Dave always has a big smile.  The Sisters in the distance on the right

6:20 AM "Hello?  Good morning.  I here to take you fishing" Dave called out.  Sure enough, there he was bright and early.  Tom grabbed sunscreen, a hat, water and the brownies and headed off in Neva 2 Late with Dave.

Success - YES!

The fishing pirogues of Charlotteville are similar to other island pirogues -approx 18 ft long with deep V bows that help them maneuver the open waters.  However the Charlotteville pirogues are fitted with long bamboo poles out to each side that look like catfish whiskers.  The fishermen run a fishing line off each of these and two out the back.

Perfect for two people.  In fact we got 2 meals out of this one

Dave immediately started rigging up right there in Man of War Bay and then they headed southwest off shore towards a group of rocks called The Sisters.  They fished from there north all the way up to another group of off shore rocks called London Bridge.  
 

Cleaning the tuna for dinner

Three hours later they were back with one tuna.  Such is fishing.  But at 2 1/2 lbs it was just perfect for the two of us for dinner.  Tom cleaned it up and that evening we tossed it on the grill.  YUM!