Fishing from Ocho Rios Jamaica?

[okiefarmer]

We are planning a trip in the middle of May to Jamaica,be staying in the Ocho Rios area.Looking at booking a fishing trip and wondered if anyone else has been. I looked over a lot of different forums and never found Jamaica mentioned. We have been offshore once and had a blast off Key West. I posted pictures of my wife's Dolphin fish when we got back. Wonder what kind of fish should we go for? Whats biting there in May? Any favorite charters there? Still very much a newby.

[okiefarmer]

Did I do the equivalent of farting on the forum? Or is Jamaica a forbidden subject? Maybe just not too many folks fish there???

[okiefarmer]

From info found on cruisecritic.com supposedly Marlin should be in season off Jamaica. Looks like half a day is around 500 and whole day is around 750. They said something about the boat gets half the catch and will buy your half?? I doubt if we would be able to bring any fish back into the USA? Anyone know about that?

[okiefarmer]

I booked a half day fishing trip out of Ocho Rios for $610 for May 21st. So far just my wife an I are going.If we find another couple while there we may do a whole day for $1000. Maybe we can catch some of the Marlin that are supposed to be biting off Jamaica. Anyway,I will report back,maybe the next newbie won't have to go in blind.

[JoeDodd]

Good luck on your trip. Nobody on this forum has really fished Jamaica I think. If they did they didn't speak up.
Living in Oklahoma I guess you don't get to the saltwater to often. I have a buddy from Oklahoma but he lives right here in Va Beach. I have heard all the stories from how to drill an oilwell to how they castrate a bull.

[okiefarmer]

Thanks Joe,information on fishing Jamaica is not plentiful.Some gush all over the place about the great fishing,others say just forget it.This will only be our second exposure to salt water fishing,had a great time down in Key West. Anyway,much like your friend I know a lot more about drilling and cows than I probably ever will about salt water fishing.In three weeks we will know a lot more about Jamaica,by then we will be on our way home.

[okiefarmer]

We went fishing in Jamaica on the Dancing Reels with Captain Tony for half a day. Older boat friendly folks. We had been warned before hand that some of the Charter Captains in Jamaica take rookies out and never get out of sight of the harbor. Yeah it happened to us. Diesel is about $1.10 a litre,so better than $4 a gallon. We never got out of an idle. One of his mates got so bored he went below and took a nap.

We did find a weed line and cruised up and down it,no birds tho. The weather is unsettled in Jamaica during May.It rained in Ocho Rios(we watched) while we were gone,sprinkled on us a bit. If it had been in Oklahoma I would have called them afternoon pop up showers.

The good news is that there are several boats to charter and several charter services. I let our tour group choose and that was my bad.I had a list of 4 charter services with good reviews,looks like chartering a boat is like buying stuff on ebay--if they don't have any feedback or bad feedback,don't do it.

If you can schedule your fishing on days when the Cruise ships are not in you can pick and choose. Far as I could see only 2 boats left the day we went fishing. I may be giving Captain Tony a bad rap for no reason but when it quacks like a duck? I truly am a rookie and so take my report with a healthy grain of salt.

Oh well, still got to go out for 4 hours and pretend to fish for Marlin. We would probably lost more in a casino in 4 hours so what the heck.