BARBADOS IS GAINING a reputation among the region’s most popular sports fishing destinations.
Recently,
FishingBooker
website ranked the island tenth in the Americas for popular fishing destinations.
“The country is well known for its warm welcome and delicious food and drinks. It’s also one of the safest countries in the Caribbean, letting you really relax and drink it all in – and we’re not just talking about the cocktails,” it added.
“Don’t get too relaxed, because you’ve got the fight of your life ahead of you. Head offshore and you’ll find blue and white marlin, sailfish, and maybe even spearfish. Barbados’ signature species is wahoo, which you can reliably catch even on a half-day trip.”
Mexico boasts three of the ten spots in Cabo San Lucas, Cancun and Puerto Vallarta at one, two and four, respectively.
Jaco in Costa Rica is third, while Punta Cana (Dominican Republic), Nassau (The Bahamas), George Town (Cayman Islands), Oranjestad (Aruba) and San Juan in Puerto Rico take spots five to nine.
President of the Barbados Game Fishing Association, Ralph White, said they had no affiliation with FishingBooker, which was a website for fishing enthusiasts to book holidays.
However, the ranking would still benefit the island as the leisure activity was growing in the region.
“There are quite a lot of people looking to experience sports fishing and may have a bucket list of fish to catch, one of many of the species found in the salt water like marlin, blue marlin, white marlin, wahoo, dorado and yellowfin tuna. And we do have those in the winter period which coincides with the traditional winter tourist season also,” White explained.
There was also something for the more serious fisherman.
From April 2 to 6, the association will host the Barbados International Billfish Tournament off Port St Charles, St Peter.
White said about 180 anglers from Barbados, the Caribbean and further afield competed in the annual tournament, with the winning team qualifying for the 2020 Offshore World Championships in Costa Rica.
“It is going to bring some foreign currency in because you have people who are coming in, staying at hotels, apartments at Port St Charles, renting houses, people coming into fish. So they spend money before fishing and after fishing,” he said.
(SAT)
