A Day on the water with Just fish St. John Fishing Charters

As the sun rose over the beautiful Island of St. John Virgin Islands we set out early to catch the morning bite.  Driving through Cruz Bay Town we passed the local bar Woody’s Seafood Saloon and Connections St. John then headed to the National Park Visitors Center to meet our boat Just Fish St. John for the day.  We decided to do a Full Day Trip that consists of an 8 hour trip. The 42’ Liberty Express fishing Boat is accommodated with a nice Yeti cooler with ice cold Beer, Water, and Soda so all we had to bring was a sack lunch.  Captain Josh’s boat has lots of dry and shaded seating that makes for a very comfortable ride out to the fishing grounds and also has a full head “bathroom”. Now we’re off for a 45 min ride to fish the Northdrop off of St. Thomas for a fun day of fishing.   As we approach the drop the Captain and Mate set up the 7 line spread, we’re all set its time to get the lines wet. The boat is fully equipped with top of the line fishing gear and equipment. It has a very spacious cockpit and fighting chair to make catching fish very easy.  As we troll along the Northdrop not more than 20 minutes go by and we get a screaming bite on the downrigger rod. I make my way down into the cockpit and sit in the fighting chair grab the rod and start reeling. A beautiful wahoo comes up to the surface and finds his way onto the deck. We end up hooking up on all kinds of species of fish from barracudas to rainbow runners and also blackfin tuna.  

When captain josh spotted a frigate bird way off in the distance we came across a school of Mahi-Mahi that’s when the party started, they set up the spinning rods and threw out live bait and all lines were hooked up. Now that was a lot of action to be a part of, once the bite was over we began trolling again running 7 Shimano Rod and Reels. The boat has a downrigger fishing deep looking for a wahoo bite.  They also run planers that send the line deep to try for the bigger fish. The Custom outriggers are a brilliant setup. There’s even a shotgun rigger. The boat is set up nicely to fish. When we got up to a high spot we got the spinning rods out and set up with the live bait and dropped down to the bottom. We ended up getting a wild variety of reef fish to bring home for dinner. After we pulled into Cruz bay we pulled over to the side of the creek and the mate started cleaning and bagging our catch. But that didn’t mean the fishing was over.  As tarpon circled the boat eating scraps Capt. josh grabs a spinning rod and we immediately hook up on a very acrobatic tarpon. What a way to end a great day aboard Just Fish. We walked away from the boat with memories that will last a lifetime and plenty of fresh fish that we enjoyed for the remainder of our trip on St. John. Very knowledgeable Captain and First Mate.