As I walked across the pale-yellow sand towards the water’s edge, a ghost crab stopped what he was doing, looked at me and quickly scuttled a safe distance away. The sand was warm underfoot, the palm trees were swaying gently in the breeze and although the sun hadn’t fully risen, it was clear that another hot day beckoned.
I put my rod together, added a 5cm Gunki Whiz lure to my size 10 jighead, walked out a few feet into the warm water and cast out several yards into the calm sea. I tightened my line and started retrieving; my rod pulled round as something had grabbed my lure almost instantly. The fish wasn’t very big and as to what it was remained a mystery. After a few seconds, I swung in a strange looking silver fish with an extendable mouth, something around the size of a roach. I’d caught a mojarra, a small fish that is common throughout the eastern Pacific, western Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. The mojarra is used as a live bait for anglers who target species such as snapper, snook and barracuda, as well as being a popular food for the table. To me, they are
