[dropcap]I[/dropcap] infrequently fish New Providence during daylight hours because our beaches are fortunately inundated with tourist and the waterways are too busy for fishing. This activity may be good for the economy but not for coastal anglers like me.
Rashayne and I took the day off to do some father-daughter things and we chose Clifton Pier for the above stated reasons.
Clifton Pier is a deep water access point but it is not the best fishing spot because it is the loading point for the island’s fuel supply and other industrial products. Therefore, the water suffers frequent oil spills and the fish there are mostly runners.
Nevertheless, as G.I. Joe says “Knowing is half the battle.” I have fished almost every mile of New Providence’s coastline and I know what to expect, when and why. I knew that at the change of tides schools of running jacks pass the pier and are almost always followed by monster barracudas.
Rashayne and I decided to rig a dead jack about six-inches long to a floating line. The wire lead was sent from the tail out the mouth with a four-foot extension. This allowed the treble hook to sit at the tail end of the fish. We also rigged the depth from the balloons at about 12-feet and set it out about 100 yards into deep water with the help of the wind.
In the event of a hook-up, we expected that a barracuda would follow the hooked fish toward us, so we rigged a seven-foot rod with a red tube lure.
As expected, just after the magic hour the balloon got hit and “LaTow” Rashayne landed a nice ‘cuda but it wasn’t alone. We quickly landed the first, casted the tube lure and “LaTow” number two was landed. The score was Rahming’s 2, the other fishermen 0.
Barracuda are fast striking fish but a well-placed slow motion tube lure is a candy they hardly ever resist.
