17. April 2025 3 min read
Shore fishing in Saint Martin
As I spent my vacation on Sint Maarten, I was fishing all around the island just to try a few new spots. On the French side of Sint Maarten, there are some national reserves where you should not fish, but quite a few beaches have decent-sized fish close to the shore. I use my Penn Squadron III Travel rod to cast various Rapala baits. The shores around the island quickly become deep - we are talking about a few meters deep, just a couple of meters from the shore, so make sure you pack some deeper running baits as well. From my previous trips around the Caribbean islands, I always fished in fairly shallow lagoons, which required topwater baits, but here you can easily cast 1.5m deep-running baits without hooking the floor or rock even close to the shore. Besides some barracudas, I have managed to get some needlefish following and taking a bite at my lures. Those fish prefer thinner lures, but I mostly had 8 to 10 inch thicker lures like ploppers, twitching mullet, and magnum cast, so I had trouble hooking them due to their smaller mouth. I usually went snorkeling before fishing to scout for fish, which always tend to stay near rocks, or grassy patches, and not in the middle of sandy desert beaches. So adjust your casting locations on the beach accordingly.
Fishing licenses and restrictions on SXM
On the Dutch side of Sint Maarten, a fishing license is required to fish from shore. These can be obtained at the Department of Environment and Nature on the island. The cost is $10 per person per day. There are no permits required for the French side of the island.
Additionally, there are several national parks and reserves on both the Dutch and French sides of Sint Maarten where fishing is strictly prohibited. On the French side you should avoid War Shoal Marine Protected Area and the Pic Paradis Nature Reserve, and on the Dutch side, do not fish in Mullet Pond Nature Reserve. But those are mostly inland ponds/lakes, so for shore sea fishing on SXM as long as you are looking at sea/ocean, you are in a permitted area.