Fishing in the Dominican

[Giuga10]

I went to Samana, Dominican Republic for March break and did some fishing while I was down there. I fished 5 separate spots but wasn't too successful with catching anything.

The first spot was fishing into the ocean in front of my hotel, it was too shallow and I didn't have access to a boat so no fish were caught.

The second spot was off of a cliff (which was very scary by the way ). The water was about 15-20 feet deep but again no fish were caught.

A pic of my brother with our ATV guide that took us to the spot. They are right at the edge of the cliff.




The third spot was in the ocean off of Rincon Beach I waded about 20 feet out then casted into the water... again no luck.



The fourth spot was a freshwater river on Rincon Beach that lead into the ocean. I noticed 4 different species, including one species of Goby (yup they're there too, but little in numbers). And I had a few bites from the Gobies but lost them. And a few chases from a fish that looked like a Discus but wasn't 100% identifiable. The water was so clean, and crystal clear.





And the final spot was a small Lake located on the hotel premises and it contained only one species of fish, that was used to being fed bread daily by the restaurant workers so I knew exactly what to use. I got a reasonably small hook and a ball of bread and tossed it in, after about 5 seconds I got my first fish but it was only about 9 inches long and I had seen some lunkers in there so I wasn't giving up until I got one. I wasn't able to cast out far because I had forgotten my weights in the hotel so I had to think of a way to get the jumbos closer to shore. A restaurant worker came out a started feeding the fish and left about 5 slices of bread for me to use. I used the first slice to chum up the water close to shore to get the lunkers in the area and baited up, they did not stay long though and returned to deeper waters so I needed to be faster, I quickly ripped up another slice of bread and tossed my line in short after and it worked, I was rewarded with a 15" Chichlid. This fish fought harder than any other fish I have ever caught, and it was pretty heavy too. I had caught a few others but didn't take pictures.

9 incher, his dorsal fin was pretty messed up.


9 incher number two, his dorsal fin was pretty messed up too.


15 incher, his fins were perfect.


I haven't identified this species yet but it's a new species for my lifelist.

I didn't catch much in the DR but it was a great experience.

[OldTimer]

Good stuff....thanks for posting it........... perhaps this should be posted in the expeditions section since it's an off shore adventure.

Yes - slow sloping beaches with little depth or trough are very very tough.

Hey - in my mind and perhaps to many more - fishing is the experience - not the dead meat.

OT

[TOFishingNoob]

Great report! You got some nice fish! Well done. I went to Mexico and got mackerel, jacks, runners and barracuda.

The key to surf fishing is to fish in the incoming tide and to wade out as little as possible and to walk as softly as possible on the beach. Surf fish are very wary of any thing. The more you wade the greater the chance of scaring them, the heavier you walk the more they feel vibrations. Surf fish come up quite close to the beach as they are feeding on sand crabs, clams buried in the sand and other critters. That are not 100% aquatic so they live on the beach but go under with the incoming tide. As well the incoming tide pushes baitfish towards the shore and then their done cause they have the shore and the chance of getting beached or getting eaten by larger fish. The incoming tide also stirs up the water making the fish feel more secure from the sight of predators, and it also stirs up all the little critters that these fish munch on. It is also important to use bait that these fish would be feeding on, use crabs and shellfish or other baits that you catch on the beach cause that is what the fish will be eating, not squid that lives in deeper water. Surf fish are soo wary because they are often very visible to birds seeing them in the shallows, rays that live in the shallows and other predators.

[jkman]

Nice report! The fish looks like Mozambique tilapia.

[MuskieBait]

(03-21-2013 08:57 PM)jkman Wrote:  Nice report! The fish looks like Mozambique tilapia.

Exactly.

Rincon Beach actually looks very fishy. I'm assuming this is Playa Rincon? Looking on GoogleMap, there is a set of reefs on the east end of the beach. That's major fish treasure chest!

I'm also surprised you didn't catch anything in Samana. There are a lot of good looking areas on GoogleMaps, especially this one bridge connecting to a small island...deep water, bridge support structure, reef underneath and within casting distance...it has to be crawling with fish.

This is where GoogleMaps helps

---

(03-21-2013 06:13 PM)Giuga10 Wrote:  The fourth spot was a freshwater river on Rincon Beach that lead into the ocean. I noticed 4 different species, including one species of Goby (yup they're there too, but little in numbers). And I had a few bites from the Gobies but lost them. And a few chases from a fish that looked like a Discus but wasn't 100% identifiable. The water was so clean, and crystal clear.

You were right here...blue huts in the picture and the bridge in the background can be seen on GoogleMaps. (19.295395, -69.255635)

And this is why you don't post background...there are dangerous and scary people like me. Now I know where to find a new species of goby and possible 3 other species of fish...even if I've never been there and I'm just doing computer recon

Yeah, you really should have fished the east side of Rincon Beach...so much reef there has to be something around...plus the reef is so close to the sand it is easily reachable by a simple cast.