Fresh Bonaire Fishing Reports

An unforgettable day on the water! Today, my client and I landed an incredible marlin on the Rosario. Rosario is the Papiamentu name for this traditional trolling handline. Papiamentu is the language we speak here on the island of Bonaire, and “Rosario” means “rosary” in English because the line is loaded with heavy lead balls that resemble a string of rosary beads. The weight of the lead keeps the line below the surface while trolling, allowing the bait to swim naturally at the right depth. The Rosario is normally used to target wahoo and other pelagic species such as yellowfin tuna, but today a Marlin smashed the bait instead. After an intense fight, we successfully brought the fish to the boat. Moments like these are what make fishing so special you never know what will hit next.We caught also some blackfin tuna early in the morning. Join me for an unforgettable adventure with a local. Fish with a Local, as a Local. ?

The sea was rough and windy , but that didn’t stop us. We started the day trolling and picked up some small blackfin tuna. Dropped them straight into the tuna tubes and switched things up live bait in the water. That’s when it got interesting. We hooked into two solid wahoo this one being the biggest of the day,it weighed 38 pounds. Clean hits, fast runs… exactly what you want. Slowed it down after with some bottom fishing and added a nice snapper to the box. And to top it off the sunrise trip already delivered six blackfin tuna before all of this. Strong wind, rough conditions… but still a successful day on the water.

We had the pleasure of taking a group of friends on a standard morning fishing trip. They had such a great time they wanted to extend the fun. "How about fishing the FAD?" They asked. “Sure thing but there are big swells and you need to be prepared." We answered. As you can see, the guests’ adventurous nature was rewarded with a lovely catch of Blackfin Tuna. One 13 minute drift landed 9 tuna that were placed on ice in the insulated fish locker to keep the quality nice and fresh. Big smiles all around.

Conditions at the moment are pretty good. Waning moon, light wind, calm seas. Catching live bait is always first on our agenda, because a full live well gives us lots of fishing options later on. After a quick stop to fill up the live well, we started trolling close to shore. Caught a decent blackfin tuna and a big barracuda. We then headed out further to open water to see what was going on. A floating tree trunk gave us the action we were looking for. Live bait on the hooks and no sooner were they in the water, the Mahi came to investigate. With one hooked up we then grabbed a few more from the pack. October might be a quiet month on land in Bonaire, but it was busy on the water. A great morning.

This morning we had a lovely couple from Europe on the boat. It was their first charter fishing trip ever, and a bit of a last-minute decision. We were glad to help out. We did an early departure with the October Super Moon low on the horizon, very little cloud and even less wind. Heading north to our favorite spot to catch live bait was an awesome start. Our lights light up the reef and bait fish was in abundance. Hooking up was fun and our guests really enjoyed this part of the morning. With the live well full, it was time to head further along the coast and hunt down wahoo, tuna or mahi. Trolling brought us two nice size barracuda and a beautiful mahi mahi. We then decided to try for some other fish using the live bait caught earlier. A beefy rainbow runners was happy to oblige. It put up a great fight, then broke our gaff, luckily just as we landed it on the deck. Guests had a great time and really enjoyed their introduction to ocean charter fishing. Glad to have them on board.

The last few days we've had light to no wind conditions, perfect for fishing. Early morning fishing is, in my opinion, the best time to go. There's something about watching the sky transition from night to dawn -- and the spectacular sunrises that go with it -- that makes every fishing trip memorable. I took advantage of a quiet morning and headed north for a spot of solo fishing. Water conditions were ideal. Flat calm, with no current running in certain places. My hull lights lit up the reef, displaying 60 feet of clarity and the bait fish. No sounder required on this occasion. I ran lures with bait and was soon landing some nice size barracuda. It was a productive and enjoyable morning. And while solo fishing is nice, it's a lot more fun to share these moments with First Mate Flo and guests.