Fishing charters on St. John

How many hours to fish off St. John

Just Fish sells its ten-hour day as the marlin trip and runs it from June through October only; the rest of the year its longest day is eight hours. Decide the hours first, then the boat. Mixed Bag prices its two boats separately, and the 40-foot Mixed Bag III costs $100 to $125 more than the 32-foot Mixed Bag II for the same hours.

Ocean Surfari's boats come over from Red Hook on St. Thomas to the Cruz Bay Visitor Center at no charge, and its inshore bottom-fishing trip, $210 a person for four or more, works reefs in 60 to 130 feet of water off St. Thomas and is priced by the seat rather than the boat. Red Hook's whole fleet, a short hop across Pillsbury Sound, is on St. Thomas fishing charters, and for a day that is part fishing and part beach, see St. John charter boats.

What you catch off St. John, inshore and offshore

A half day usually stays inshore, on the reefs and banks, for bonito, barracuda, rainbow runner, kingfish and yellowtail snapper. The longer days run offshore to the North and South Drops, where the shelf falls away north and south of St. Thomas, for billfish, tuna, wahoo and mahi-mahi. When each fish runs, from Just Fish's season chart:

Just Fish releases every marlin and sailfish it hooks, and fishes bonefish and tarpon in the shallows as catch and release too; ask any other captain what the boat keeps before you go.

What a fishing day costs beyond the rate

The rate pays for the boat and the captain, and on Just Fish and Ocean Surfari the bait and tackle too. The tip is never in it; Mixed Bag calls 15 to 20 percent customary. Ocean Surfari includes fuel and takes a $300 deposit and an $18 booking fee. Mixed Bag charges nothing when its captain calls off a trip for weather, and the full charter for a cancellation inside 48 hours. Just Fish supplies a cooler of water and asks for no glass aboard, so bring your own drinks in cans.

Every boat leaves from Cruz Bay, not Coral Bay

None of the fishing boats here sails from Coral Bay. Every one boards in Cruz Bay, about half an hour over the hill, so a 7:30 departure means leaving the house before seven. From the East End, Just Fish's 2 pm half day out of Cruz Bay spares the early start.

Where you can fish on St. John, and where not

Inside Virgin Islands National Park a charter fishes underway, never from a mooring or, by day, from the Cruz Bay docks. The park bans fishing between 6 am and 5 pm at its Cruz Bay bulkhead and finger pier, in every designated boat exclusion area, and from any mooring in the park or the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument. The monument itself, the water around Hurricane Hole and off the south shore, is closed to fishing and take of any kind; the one exception, by permit, is fishing from its designated moorings, the yellow buoys off Cabritte Horn Point, for hardnose (blue runner), mackerel, tuna and bonito.

Territorial law applies everywhere, and the park enforces it too. Under the rules of the Department of Planning and Natural Resources' Division of Fish and Wildlife, a recreational catch may not be sold, traded or bartered, and pots, traps and seines are commercial gear. What you keep comes back filleted; a villa kitchen, or one of St. John's private chefs, takes it from there.

Featured villas on St. John