What are your dream fishing trips?

Started by biggiesmalls, April 13, 2017, 12:18:47 AM

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Steve-O

Sorry to disappoint, but my kiddos are turning  out better than me. 3 more not pictured.

Back to the topic!

Kamchatka Penninsula...what Alaska was like over 60 years ago. Big and wild, unspoiled. Crazy good fishing.

biggiesmalls

#16
Loving the dream trips I've been hearing. I posted three of my saltwater trips a bit up, here's the rest:

NOT REALLY SURE WHERE
No clue on a location for this trip - I've got it down to about 12 different places though, pretty sure across 7 different states. Candidates are:

  • North Carolina: Outer Banks
  • Maryland: Chesapeake Bay
  • New Jersey: Barnegat Bay, random spots along the coast
  • Massachusetts: Martha's Vineyard, random spots along the coast of Cape Cod
  • New York: Fisher's Island Sound, Gardiner's Island
  • Connecticut: Thames River, random spots along the coast
  • Rhode Island: Narragansett Bay, random spots along the coast
Once the spot is decided upon for this trip, the other fish species can be decided upon. However, two species determined these locations to be added to the list - bluefish and stripers. The goal with this trip would be to catch gorilla bluefish and some lunker striped bass. In general, those locations have some species in common - like black drum, flounder, croaker, mackerel, seatrout, false albacore, black sea bass, and tautog. While those fish would definitely be fun to add in to the mix, the main goal here is gorilla blues and lunker stripers, though.

RIO INDIO, NICARAGUA
I guess I shouldn't put this one in with the saltwater, since it's a good bit of estuary/river fishing. Oh well, it's in with the saltwater stuff now. This trip would involve fishing for tarpon that average 60-80 pounds outside of the river mouth - and when it's nice out, it doesn't seem uncommon to land several fish per day, and to jump at least a dozen more. Aside from these bruisers, big jacks and snook can be caught going futher into the river - and another species of snook known as the fat snook is also caught (these are smaller than the common snook, though). Once you get into full freshwater, you still have snook to catch - but you've got other fish that would be far more fun to try and catch. Mostly cichlids, the main target would be the rainbow bass, or the wolf cichlid/dovii as it is known to aquarium keepers. These aggressive cichlids can reach about 8 pounds, and they're tough customers, often straightening hooks and breaking people off by running to structure. Best caught on light or medium light tackle. For the ultralight rod there are smaller fish, like the blackbelt cichlid and jaguar cichlid. There is one other fish, known locally as the machacha (I don't know of a name for it outside of it's latin name). These are relatives of pacu and piranhas, but are a bit more elongated and carp-looking. They seem to be fun fish to catch on lighter tackle.

KEY WEST, FLORIDA
Not sure how, but I have never been to the Keys. I have this one planned out pretty well. It would be a 5-7 day long trip, and lodging would be at the Sunset Key Cottages. Why? They have a private beach, which has a private pier - and I don't see anybody saying not to fish off of it. I have a day-by-day fishing plan made up. This trip would be with friends (more than likely), and would involve a gentlemen's bet over who can catch the most species over the duration of the trip. The plan of where/when to fish is:

  • Self-guided kayak fishing in the mangroves, with lighter setups for snapper and heavier ones for sharks
  • Chartered reef fishing trips to target things like grouper, yellowtail snapper, mutton snapper, jacks, triggerfish, hogfish, barracudas, cero mackerel, bonito, and whatever other reef fish are out there - two days of this could take place if the fishing is good, since fishing around reefs can offer up tons of species
  • Chartered backcountry fishing trip to target species such as redfish, snook, trout, jacks, ladyfish, and anything else that will bite
  • Chartered offshore fishing trip to target kingfish, sailfish, dolphin, and blackfin tuna
  • Chartered flats fishing trips to go for a flats grand slam (bonefish, permit, and tarpon); if there's multiple people, it would be split up with one person and one guide to a boat; and if it's necessary, this could be done over two days to give two shots at a grand slam
Since the resort has a pier, fishing on it could be done every night - probably ultralight fishing for porgies, snappers, and grunts. While those fish are getting hauled up (and hopefully bringing up the species count), a few could be cut up and thrown out to see if any sharks are swimming around outside of the pier. This might be my favorite trip on the whole thing, along with the Amazon one and the Cook Islands one.

GORDO BANKS, BAJA CALIFORNIA
This is probably the best big-game fishing experience I have come across, at least for variety and for the species that I am interested in. The main reasons I want to go are the striped marlin, roosterfish, and mako sharks - but there's more to be caught. MUCH more. You've got sailfish. You've got wahoo, sierra mackerel, dorado, and yellowfin tuna. You've got jack crevalles, african pompano, amberjack, yellowtail, bonito, plus scalloped hammerheads. And you've got bottom fish as well - pacific red snapper, pacific dog snapper, yellow snapper, colorado snapper, barred snapper, and leopard grouper all come to mind as common catches from this region. Not much left to say about this one - only thing left to do is to go and fish it.

CAIRNS, AUSTRALIA
This should take pretty much no explaining. Cairns = big marlin = big fun. November, December, or January is the time to go, as the blues and the blacks are there at this time. 2/3 of the grander black marlin that have been caught were from here. I remember hearing one time that 1 in 10 blacks caught out of Cairns is a grander. One charter website talks about how you go out in the morning to catch narrowbarred mackerel, mahi, wahoo, giant trevally, and various tuna - to use as bait.
To top this off, you can fish the Great Barrier Reef if you get tired of marlin. You've got various snappers, emperors, groupers, mackerels, trevallies, queenfish, and wrasses to catch on artificials out there.

HAWAII
This trip would be three different islands - the Big Island, Maui, and Oahu. I'd stay in the Mauna Lani hotel on the Big Island for a few days, and fishing would be done out of two locations. One, out of Kona for giant blue marlin (and surely the dorado, yellowfin tuna, bigeye tuna, and wahoo would show up as well). And when i'm not targeting big game offshore (although it's not really offshore, their giant blues are normally caught within sight of land), I'll be species-hunting around the beach. There are over 1,200 species of marine fish in Hawaii, catching 100 of them is do-able. Think about adding 100 species of fish to your list in just a few days - to me, that sounds pretty fun.
After that, I'd stay in Maui for a day or two, to see the Maui Ocean Center. Again, I am a HUGE aquarium nut and this is probably my favorite aquarium in the world (even though I've never been) - the only one that can compete is the Georgia Aquarium. I'd probably try and add a few species to the list on this island as well, but I wouldn't be charter fishing here.
Finally, I'd stay on Oahu at the Marriott, where they have massive saltwater ponds for sharks. No charter fishing here either - just species hunting.
These trips might not have to be at the same time - this could be two, or even three, separate trips. Although spending three days on the Big Island, and then a combined four days on the other two (probably three on Oahu and one on Maui) would be a whole lotta fun.

That's my list. I think it's got a total of 13 destinations on it - 5 of which are in the United States, only three in the continental. A few in Central/South America, few in Africa, few in Australia/Oceania, and one in Asia for good measure.

biggiesmalls

Swami, I'd love to catch that fish too :)
I'm in my hometown of Maryland now - I might go back to my great grandmother's farm ponds to see if I can get a few bass from there. This is where I caught my first fish ever - so back to my roots for me.

Beautiful gar, Steve. I have been thinking about buying a baby and growing it out for one of my ponds. If I can find a solid food source, I'll do it. We've got a new seafood market opening, maybe I'll see if I can get the scraps.

bill19803

Dream  trips ??
1. Point Lake   Northwest territories--  Huge  lake   trout   to more then   55  lbs       check

2. un named( but  known)    lake in  adirondacks of  NY  for lake trout   so big  it broke the salmon net  (est  40 lbs)   check  nope  not gonna  tell  where

3.  Tuna   fishing in  Hudson  canyon    during  a wide open  bite  and  no limit on  fish       check

4,  (10)     15  day  trips  on  American  angler   from  San diego  to  Clarion  Island or hurricane  bank    for  finest  yellowfin  fishing in the   world. check

5.  Oswego  River,  Ny   for   steelheads  from   drift  boat when    15 lb  fish refused   to  stay off  the line  check

6. Tasmania   for    swordfish   on a    4/0  tank   by  sal/lou/ted   maybe next year  if im on the green  side       not  checked  yet

At  my  age  not much  sense  of  having a  big bucket list,  so  i   dont    but  i have a big list  of  ex bucket list items accomplished

   


Rancanfish

I swore I was going to go to Alaska for my 50th birthday.  I'm 62.
I woke today and suddenly nothing happened.

ez2cdave


Cor

For some reason I dont have ambitions to go to exotic fishing locations to catch special fish.   I think our fishing here is good enough to keep me satisfied.

What may attract me though is to be able to go where I can get away from all the hords of people that have taken over all my  favorite fishing places.
Cornelis

Bill B

I would like to spend a day fishing anywhere with both of grandfathers, who have both passed away many years ago.....Bill
It may not be very productive,
but it's sure going to be interesting!

0119

Quote from: biggiesmalls on April 13, 2017, 02:42:41 AM
BOCA GRANDE, FLORIDA
Of course, I've got to start it out with the tarpon. They run through the pass during something like April to August, and of course hooking a 200+ pound tarpon is a lot of fun - catching one is even more fun. I've heard that they're usually 100+ pounds when they run through the pass, so even if you only get one or two fish a day, you'll be getting quality fish. But the shark fishermen in me likes what's following these tarpon a bit better - the giant hammerhead and bull sharks. Hammerheads to 1,000 pounds and bulls up to 500 don't sound appealing to some anglers, and to that I respond "You are crazy". Hooking into a beast like that has got to be fun, and just seeing an animal that size (a grander hammerhead would be at the very least a 12' fish, probably closer to 13-14'). And then you've got the goliath grouper in Charlotte Harbor, those have got to be fun to catch. I've always wanted to try a handline for them, maybe I'll try for one the next time I go to Sarasota. Aside from the fish in the 100-1,000+ pound class, you've got another gamester that's one of my favorites to catch when we make trips down to Florida - snook. The best part about Boca Grande is that EVERYONE is targeting the tarpon - and overlooking the snook. These are no tiny fish, either - 20 pounds and up is very possible, even multiple of those fish per day. And while you're at it, big jacks are usually out as well, which everyone loves to catch. I've only caught one BIG jack before - and it's so much different than the 1-5 pound fish (mine was 16). If you're fishing for bait, ladyfish and bonito are always fun fish to catch on light tackle, and make great shark, grouper, tarpon, and snook baits.

Sounds like a description from the 60's or the false tourist bureau claims!  The Jewfish are that big, a huge tourist draw and new money for the transplant guides.  Big tarpon and ones in any number are rare anymore.  Those huge shark are not as numerous now either.  Snook is so so at best anymore, we suffer from massive amounts of poaching.  I miss the huge schools of Jacks and forget everything else when they were once around.  Commercial fishermen dessimated them a long time ago for dog food and fish meal destined for Africa.

Nasty Wendy

Nice thread guys.  I don't really have any dream "Fishing Trips" I want to take but I do want to fish some of the place I dream of visiting.  1. Fiji, 2. Hawaii, 3. Alaska, 4. Great Barrier Reef yada yada yada.
Hi I'm Clay.
Lets raise our children to be Super Fishermen not Superficial men and women.

The more I interact with people the more I like my dog.

philaroman

Quote from: Steve-O on April 14, 2017, 03:22:04 AM
Kamchatka Penninsula...what Alaska was like over 60 years ago. Big and wild, unspoiled. Crazy good fishing.

X2  ...or, Sakhalin Island

but, to be honest, I like to wet-wade, so my dreams don't include any locations where my cojones could freeze, boil in sweat, or get pumped full of potent venom/neurotoxin from some undetectable aquatic SOB...  so, bye-bye Arctic Circle, S. Asian lowlands, Amazonia, Great Barrier Reef, etc.

for sheer obscurity, I'd love to chase this barely known F/W beastie, before it's extinct:
http://roughfish.com/content/anyone-ever-heard-luciocyprinus-strigatus
all of the rivers in its Lao range are preceded by "Upper", so it should be cool enough for my delicate constitution  :D

biggiesmalls

Philaroman, that's a pretty sweet looking fish - some kind of mahseer?

Keta

#27
One of my current fishing "goals" is to fish with Steelfish in the northern Sea of Cortez and to catch a sierra.

Quote from: biggiesmalls on April 13, 2017, 02:42:41 AM
Alright, here's my saltwater list thrown together. Enjoy the read, it's a longer one.
SEWARD, ALASKA
I've always wanted to go to Alaska - but during the summer, since I hate the cold. 50-60 degrees is doable for me, if it means good fish. And that's what Seward looks like - great fishing. Nothing I can write too much about here, although barndoor-sized Pacific Halibut, King Salmon bigger than myself, a dozen or more species of rockfish, and the occasional pink and/or coho salmon show up during the summer. These would be fun to catch and all, but eating them - sounds almost better than fighting them. Although doing battle with a 50-pound salmon or a 200-pound halibut does sound pretty fun....

Crag/Klawalk or Sitka has better fishing with fewer people.  Lower your king salmon goal to 40# and you might do it, I had 2 over 50# on my boat in the 15 years I lived in SE Alaska, none on my rod though....42 pounds is my largest king salmon.  If you do land a big hen butt, most Pacific halibut over 60# are hens and the big girls lay far more eggs than smaller ones and , it is a good idea to let them go to make more halibuts.

My dad had a small water bottling plant and fruit orchard in N. Thailand and his large "pond" was full of snakeheads and some barimundi.
Hi, my name is Lee and I have a fishing gear problem.

I have all of the answers, yup, no, maybe.

A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.
Mark Twain

biggiesmalls

Quote from: Keta on May 17, 2017, 01:35:11 PM
One of my current fishing "goals" is to fish with Steelfish in the northern Sea of Cortez and to catch a sierra.

.....................................................

Crag/Klawalk or Sitka has better fishing with fewer people.  Lower your king salmon goal to 40# and you might do it, I had 2 over 50# on my boat in the 15 years I lived in SE Alaska, none on my rod though....42 pounds is my largest king salmon.  If you do land a big hen butt, most Pacific halibut over 60# are hens and the big girls lay far more eggs than smaller ones and , it is a good idea to let them go to make more halibuts.

My dad had a small water bottling plant and fruit orchard in N. Thailand and his large "pond" was full of snakeheads and some barimundi.

Thanks for the info. Perhaps I should change the destination to one of those, they all look like great spots. A summer trip there seems promising!

conchydong

In no particular order:
Ascension Island
Mauritius
Alaska (Halibut and Rockfish)
Australia (all coasts)
15 day San Diego long range
Bermuda
PEI

Now if I can only hit a winning lotto ticket.