The action was consistent and Tony experienced some sensational fishing, pulling GT's up to 45kg out of the shallow lagoon (in most places no more than 2.5 meters deep). Expecting that no-one else would believe just how good the fishing at these locations really are, a lot of the action was recorded on video, available to see here.
Truly incredible GT popping action and footage, not bad for a Sydney bream angler!
Nice one and congratulations, Tony 'The Tonch"...
DAY 1 Our captain Olivier aboard his 28foot luhrs rolled up seeing four happy energetic faces standing on the wharf and once all the introductions were out of the way it was a quick load up of the gear and away we went.
On the way out a quick check of terminal tackle and a double check over everything, then sit back and relax while Olivier did a short run to the reefs where we were going to fish. Olivier was quick to break the silence shouting “Jig gloves on Aussies it’s time to pop!”. We all ran to our rods and couldn’t wait to get that first popper in the water.
Second cast in…pop..pop..pop smash!, I am on a Spanish mackerel which immediately starts sizzling the Stella for the first hook up of the trip. Few minutes later a 10kg mackerel hits the deck, following the start of many.
All was quiet until our first GTs appeared, two 35kg models shadowed a popper from the front and back of the boat. One of the fish followed like a silver torpedo then struck a line which crackled through the rod guides, a truly awesome moment to see the fish take a popper so close to the back of the boat.
Fifteen minutes later after a good fight, 35 kgs of GT hit the deck and the party started with hi 5s all round. That was definitely the fish of the day, along with plenty of Coral Trout and Spanish Mackerels were everywhere, along with Blue Groper and Golden Trevally and last but not least Red Bass.
DAY 2 We were on the boat early and headed off to some new reefs. Everyone was still pumped from the day before. Two casts at the bommie and a good size Spaniard leaps two metres in the air straight over the top of the lure just to get everyone started for the day.
A GT of approximately 15kg takes off on a popper over the top of the bommie so some good driving from the captain sees the fish stay connected and landed. Meanwhile, the Spanish Mackerel continued to keep us interested with an aerial display but to our dismay did not hook up.
The afternoon bites were very slow and only one Barracuda was landed for the rest of the day. With our egos bruised and confidence down, we headed for our resort for a few beers but the thoughts of tomorrows potential soon got us back in the mood.
DAY 3
We had thought it would be good to jig for the day but our captain had other plans. The wind had ceased overnight and the water was a lot calmer then the previous two days. Olivier was confident telling us that the GTs will be on for sure and he was a man of his word.
The first popper in the water got nailed within seconds of hitting the top of the water by a little GT. Our first five bommies then produced quality GTS within the first hour! Today was going to be a day that we never forget...
The next reef we pulled up to all four poppers went flying at the aqua blue underwater reef. All four poppers were getting hits with two successful hook ups. We had our first double hook up, one GT coming in at around 20kg and the other slightly larger about 25kg.
As the sun got higher in the sky the GTs seemed to shy off a little but that still didn’t stop the Red Bass from smashing our poppers and a stunning 10 kg Coral Trout was caught right on the reef edge which was an awesome sight, especially when it tried to get the lure back to it's lair.
For the afternoon session a Blackjack stick bait proved to be the secret weapon with no more bites on the poppers. I launched the stick bait out and as soon as it hit the water a solid GT was all over it, with a very savage hit the Stella was in full swing. The fish tried to make a getaway down the reef edge but then made the mistake of running out into deep water and was shortly boated, a GT of around 20kgs. With a numerous amount of hook ups and hook pull outs for the rest of the afternoon our third day had concluded, a few beers and story telling was had on the way in to shore and everyone was pumped for the final day.
DAY 4
Our last day started the same as the previous, lots of GT action on the first few poppers in the water. GT after GT harassed our lures, hook ups and losses were common but kept everyone keen to keep launching poppers into the reef. Several fish were landed including a 35kg GT that crunched the lure so hard that it engulfed the whole Kronik popper inside its mouth and with a good solid fight for 20 minutes, plenty of rod bending and line crackling runs the fish was boated.
With our day coming to an end soon we had to start making our way back into port but we talked Olivier into one more reef cast and he picked a good one that had plenty of current running through coral, which looked like a fish haven and it was! Cast after cast had Golden Trevallies in a frenzy knocking each other out of the way to get to the lure first, an unreal sight! We also had a Barracuda school in on the action mixed in with some nice GTs, it was action packed and non stop until a massive feisty Grouper came out of this hole to play with a popper. He opened up his bucket mouth and engulfed the lure and then I was left helpless as it stripped 20 odd kilos of drag off the Stella. He travelled straight back into his hole where it snapped straight through 100 pound braid, what power!
With more GTs and Golden Trevally coming in we weren’t too fussed and it was a great action packed last hour or so to top off a truly remarkable trip.
From all the boys, special thanks to David Noble at Oceanblue for an awesome experience and doing what he could to make sure we had a trip to suit our fishing needs. Also a shout out to the man who never stopped trying to catch us fish all week, Olivier our captain a top bloke who made our trip everything we could have imagined and much, much more.
Olivier knows these reefs inside and our and it showed, we can’t thank him enough.
From all the Aussie boys…Luke, Trav, Brett and Mushy.
There's is only one word that describes a week in New Caledonia and that's WOW! Not unknowing to what to expect after landing in Noumea, we were directly taken to our hotel before stepping foot onto the 42ft power-cat and 28ft Luhrs the following day for our week adventure. In full, 7 of us made the journey and what a week it was. Olivier our skipper of the Power-Cat had one thing on his mind,GT'S. I actually think I heard that exact word in nearly every sentence he spoke.
Day one took us on a journey to the Southern Lagoon at the bottom of the Island where the deep blue meets the coral reefs. Our Accommodation base was at the newly built Kanua Eco Lodge. The staff were welcoming and better yet, the chef, well if you want sensational food I suggest you give the place a try!
For five days we tossed poppers left, right and sometimes skyward but still they connected with many great fish. At the end of each day, returning to Kanua for a shower, quiet ale and great food was a great way to relax and chat about the day's events. Fishing the reefs was no easy task. In that I mean, connecting to a fish and trying to get him away from the reef before being done over, but that's fishing.
Over all, GT's to 35kg, some thumping Coral Trout, red bass, grouper, barracuda, Spanish mackerel, green jobfish, yellowfin tuna, mack tuna, golden trevally and the list continues. Although we fished far and wide of the Southern Lagoon, we didn't even scratch the surface. We were very pleased with the results, many lost poppers and many monster fish, just what we'd hope for fishing this truly magnificent location. The highlight, a 60 odd pound Yellow Fin Tuna taken on a Black Jack Cubera 125 popper. Ilja had been wanting to catch a Yellow Fin for the past 14 years fishing locations such as Bermagui on New South Wales South Coast and each time was let down. Not on this trip, and in his words “I did it with a popper in New Caledonia”.
Nothing seems to amaze me but I'm now so addicted to this place, I can't wait to get back next year with Ocean Blue.
Jarrod Day, Freelance Fishing Photo Journalist
The fishing turned on quality and quantity! On poppers we caught GT’s, yellowfin tuna, red bass, maori wrasse, bluefin trevally and longnose emperor to name a few. Plenty of highlights, including coming across a school of yellowfin on our boat transfer from the Kadavu airport to the resort! I quickly rigged up and was hooked up to a feisty YFT within 30mins of stepping off the plane. What a welcome!
The next morning Kerry got a 25kg GT on one of his first casts of the trip! We also enjoyed a triple hookup on GT’s in the shallows, with all fish landed. Mark wasn’t as lucky only half an hour later when a big GT hit his popper and powered back over the shallow reef break and into the lagoon. The video footage we got of the fight is quite something!
On jigs we caught dogtooth tuna, red bass, XOS GT, pukapuka (red snapper), mangrove jack and more. The jigging we experienced was as good as the popping. Each session had it standout event!!
I’m really looking forward to reliving the experience in the upcoming magazine articles, keep an eye out for these! Till then, I have some great memories, awesome photo’s and some pretty tragic poppers and jigs to remember it by.
David Noble
We arrived home safe and sound, but very sad to have to leave Ono. We had an absolutely amazing experience and although we had very high expectations of the trip – they were exceeded on all accounts!! Piero is an absolutely first rate guy and together with Johnny so knowledgeable and great at passing on their knowledge. He has done a great job with the people he has there and no reasonable person could fail to be blown away by the location, the people and the fishing.
We caught Yellowfin, GT, bluefin trevally, red bass, coral trout, cod, emperor (and a quite large shark on a popper!) – and for total novices at this kind of fishing it was an awesome and eye opening experience. My son caught his first trevally within 15 mins of getting off the plane in Vunisea – amazing! All three of us have memories and experiences that we will carry for a lifetime.
As my first experience at this type of fishing I’m now totally addicted - I will without a shadow of a doubt be returning to Ono – just have to work out my timing. I would like to thank you for putting us onto Ono island and the excellent and personal service I have enjoyed throughout the whole experience. I’ll touch base with you re another trip, might try and make it for the Wahoo season!
Cheers, Stuart Smith
What can I say, each year I can only thank you again and again. Our latest trip to Vanuatu organised perfectly and lived up to all expectations (again). You guys make sure all we have to do is turn up at the airport on time and from then on everything else is taken care of. The fishing side of things was great, the Moorings Hotel at Port Vila afterwards was sensational to unwind for a few days and of course the people of Vanuatu were as friendly as ever.
Fishing was exceptional, as always... John & Wendy, along with Josepho and Hudson made sure we did not want for anything on the live-aboard charter up at Santo. Each day bought something new and kept the adrenalin pumping for the entire 6 days. Picking the weather early in the week we decided to head out wide the 1st day (and I mean really wide) to a rarely fished seamount some 80 nautical miles from the coast. Rising from 2000 metres to 2 metres this was where we had hoped to get to at least once this trip and ‘wow’ the effort to get there was well worth it. We trolled lures all the way to the seamount arriving around 3.30 in the afternoon and within a couple of minutes a triple hook-up of Yellowfin. With only 2 anglers on board this was a lot of fun, after landing those 3, another double hook-up with some more little yellow terrors. Following the encounter with the school of Yellowfin to about 20kg we then landed some great Dogtooth Tuna to 30kg and some Wahoo to 40kg.
By 5.00pm we had landed 21 fish between the two of us and the decision to travel out so far had become very justified. With then headed back towards shore and anchorage arriving after 1.00am in the morning, a long yet very satisfying day.
With the wind up, day 2 and 3 were spent on some of the closer seamounts with Wahoo, Dogtooth and Mahi Mahi on the agenda and landed very regularly (and not too many small fry either), the quality and size of the fish were excellent all trip!
On the 4th day the good conditions had the skipper, John, itching to get back out wide (a decision that was well received by both of us anglers) so at 3.00am the next morning we were on our way for another shot at the seamount. Filling the day with more Dogtooth 20kg to 35kg, Wahoo to 35kg, Green Jobfish and some of the biggest Barracuda I have ever seen. On the way back into the anchorage the skipper spotted birds working and headed over with the result being a double hook-up on a pair of 40 odd kg Yellowfin. Not a bad way to end the day. Day 5 was back in on some of the closer reefs with more Dogtooth and Wahoo ending up with a 25kg Mahi Mahi and a 25kg Yellowfin on the way back to the overnight anchorage.
The last day on board started a bit rough with a couple of sore heads due to our last night celebration, however the cobwebs got blown out pretty quick with Tony hooking up, catching and releasing a Blue Marlin of around 230-250kg quite early in the morning. With some more Dogtooth and Wahoo to finish off the day, what can I say, what a trip. With a captain and 1st mate in John and Wendy, enjoying fishing as much as we do and great Deckies in Josepho and Hudson (and Robert on the last day), the trip was always going to be a success. I look forward to booking next year’s trip with Ocean Blue, knowing it will be just as good.
Cheers Calvin Rhodes
Angler Mark Allen wrote - Day 3 Started off well with a big doggie estimated to be in excess of 50kgs lost after a good battle at 5:45 am only to land another of around 30kg 15 minutes later. After a quiet troll up to the Wusi seamounts, we couldn't see much bait action but we consistently picked up big Dogtooth Tuna, the best going 43kg. It turned out to be day of the doggie with only one other fish being a wahoo of around 17kg being landed.
Day 4 We were keen to do some jigging around the Wusi seamount but when we arrived there, there was bait schools bubbling everywhere. We trolled around the seamount and bait schools with not much luck until we changed tactics and dropped live baits on the downrigger. Live baits never stayed it the water more than a couple of minutes for the whole day without being smashed. At one stage a small Marlin whacked a live bait and before he could come back for it, a dog tooth swallowed it. The most frustrating thing of the day was trying to get the live bait, once we had it, it was as good as gone.
Day 5 We had to head back to Luganville but as we were rounding one of the islands again the long rigger got hit. As it was retrieved a beautifully lit up Sailfish picked it up promptly headed off in the opposite direction to us putting on a good aerial display. Twenty five minutes later a magnificent 90kg Sailfish was brought on board for a photo then released. The rest of the day was spent around the FAD with a couple of Mahi Mahi and a small Yellowfin finishing the fishing for the trip. A lovely meal and a few drinks at the Coral Quays topped the trip...
The attractions for fishing the Kona coast include access to gamefishing waters holding world class fish just minutes from the harbour, a variety of year round gamefish species, and the pleasure of fishing the calm waters available on the lee side of the Big Island.
It’s quite common to locate the larger fish on night fishing trips, and is particularly effective on swordfish and big tuna. Night fishing trips can be independent charters or be combined with day charters to maximise opportunities. Ocean Blue is now offering charters from Kona for the opportunity to experience this style of gamefishing. Charters can take up to 6 anglers and bookings are very affordable, now even more attractive to Australian and New Zealand anglers with the US exchange rates.
For more details contact www.oceanblue.com.vu
Plenty of 30 and 40kg GT’s on poppers were caught, and even a few topping 50 and 60kg, making Ocean Blue’s New Caledonia operation arguably the best big GT destination in the South Pacific. Some other really impressive jigging captures from there include dogtooth tuna, big cod, red bass, mega coral trout and maori wrasse. Some great pelagic fish from along the outside of the reef aswell as plenty of lagoon action for the smaller boats and even the guys on live on board trips getting poppers smashed by unstoppable GT’s while at anchor in the lagoon at night time.
One of our Sydney based groups returned this week raving about the great action and with reports and photos of plenty of big GT’s including a couple of 50kg specimens landed, 30kg Maori Wrasse (on a popper), Yellowfin tuna on poppers including a big one lost, unstoppable jig bending doggies, some XOS coral trout. Definitely no shortage of big fish… Even the guide David got into the action on the last day, 6 casts for 2 massive bust offs on monster GT’s and a rod broken in two pieces was the result.
A great week that really pushed both anglers and tackle to the limits, and beyond! These guys really know their stuff, and are already planning a return trip.
Andrew Papdi was back for another Scheduled Charter to Santo for a 6 day liveaboard, his 9th trip with Ocean Blue. This trips hightlights included plenty of wahoo and other pelagic action, including mahi mahi, and good numbers of yellowfin busting the surface. Smaller doggies landed to around 25kg on lures, with unstoppables of approx 60kg hitting lures near the surface and hastily making it back to the deep seamount against the 80lb standup game gear. Largest Yellowfin was a 40kg example, biggest GT went 34kg. 1 hour after a larger blue marlin strike failed to hookup, Kevin Armstrong got himself a 130kg Blue marlin which put on a great aerial display just off the transom. Plenty of sailfish activity also but they proved elusive to hook up. The skipper and his team on the boat put in big days often turning the engines over at sun up, and dropping anchor around sunset.
Ocean Blue have scheduled another live on board trip to Santo Novemeber 9 -14, 2008. Full details are on the website. http://www.oceanblue.com.vu/santo.cfm
Meanwhile the south of Vanuatu have not missed out with some quality yellowfin, marlin, wahoo and mahi mahi being taken on recent trips out of Port Vila, giving all onboard plenty to do when the strikes come.
The boys returned from Port Havannah Anglers Retreat this week and they have had a ball. It is a great venue for a weeks remote fishing for a group of anglers. Paul Paramonov’s group caught a good variety including yellowfin tuna, mahi mahi, wahoo and blue marlin to 90kg.
Anthony & Jenyne,
I would again like to thank both of you for my last fishing trip to Vanuatu in August.
For the second year in a row you have organised an unforgettable and highly successful fishing charter for my party to Espiritu Santo. The 2006 trip was great, catching heaps of various species; this year’s trip surpassed the last trip by a long way.
John and Wendy were fantastic hosts, Sandy and Christian sensational Deckies. Not to mention the fishing, wow, where do I start?
Fishing Wusi Seamount for the first 3 days of the charter had all four of us very busy with screaming drags and fish everywhere. Dogtooth Tuna to 40kg, Wahoo to 30kg and Yellowfin to 15kg with so many strikes it was like a dance-floor in the cockpit. Double hook-ups, quite a few triple hook-ups and even a couple of quadruple hook-ups had us ducking and weaving all over the place, as well getting smoked on some extremely big fish that had the 24’s peeling off at an alarming rate without a chance to stop the 1st run.
For the last 3 days of the charter we decided to chase Blue Marlin with 5 hook-ups overall and some very acrobatic Wahoo crashing into the lures from below. Seeing Wahoo 2 and 3 at a time in mid air taking lures was a spectacular sight I can tell you, also many more Yellowfin to 35kg and a nice bull Mahi Mahi (which was very nice for tea I might add) of about 15kg. Add to that 1 coconut that got hooked while trolling had everyone fooled that a nice fish had been hooked and a very embarrassed angler that we made to hold up for the trophy photo’s. All four of us had a trip that will be hard to forget and not a negative aspect of the whole charter.
All I can say to both of you thanks again for the superb trip, again you guys took care of all the details and made sure that we did not have to worry about anything except landing the fish. I look forward to the next trip you will be organising for me in 2008.
Kind regards Calvin Rhodes
While working as a professional crewman and now making fishing television shows I’ve been pretty fortunate to have experienced some of the best sport fishing destinations on the planet, each being special for a particular type of fish, but to my mind nowhere has such a wide range of quality game and sport fish species as Vanuatu.
On a 6 day live aboard trip with Ocean Blue we visited reefs, seamounts, canyons and islands between Port Vila and Santo and encountered blue and black marlin up to 500lb, dozens of yellowfin tuna up to 130lb, dogtooth tuna up to 80lb, countless big wahoo, giant and bluefin trevally as well as a whole range of reef species that climbed on our flies and soft plastic baits. For variety it’s unbeatable and the team at Ocean Blue are the guys to see if you want to experience everything these remote and beautiful islands have to offer.
Matt Watson
The captain and decky were great, we really learnt a lot from them. All the fish we caught on our trip were first time captures, making it even more exciting. Mark caught his first marlin - a blue of about 60Kg. I got my first Sailfish, we also caught 6 Wahoo to 17Kg, 9 Yellowfin to 40Kg, and heaps of reef fish to keep us busy in the evening. We also caught 2 Dogtooth – both estimated to be 60Kg+.
Thanks guys, can't wait till my next trip! Mick Onley and Mark Pringle
Being pretty confident I didn't think his first hook-up would be it, but it was. Daniel and David were casting up against a cliff face only 10 minutes from our resort when a big GT woffed Daniel's popper at the boat. The trick was to give the fish as much stick as possible while we head to deeper water. This fish was a biggen and we didn't think we were going to see it when 20 minutes into the fight Daniel's arms were shaking and he was cursing our centre console didn't have a game chair! After some words of encouragement from the crew Daniel finally had the fish to boat.
At 36kg this fish was Daniel's biggest and fortunately I was true to my word.
Anthony Pisano
Anthony Pisano
Yellowfin are now prolific around the FAD’s off Efate, providing anglers on day charters with constant action. Surprisingly loads of large mahi mahi have also been encountered keeping our anglers happy and busy on light stand up gear.
Autumn should see some impressive blue marlin fishing, with sailfish and the first run of big wahoo starting to appear.
For more information on fishing Vanuatu contact Ocean Blue Fishing Adventures email: info@oceanblue.com.vu or visit www.oceanblue.com.vu.
One monster fish put up a back breaking 30 minute fight before it was brought onboard. The GT weighed in at a massive 62kg’s! Ideal weather conditions have prevailed largely, making for exciting popping and jigging charters, with double GT hook-ups quite common.
Dogtooth tuna to 50kg’s have been taking the poppers on the reef’s edge, along with coral trout, large jobfish and a rare black trevally. An attack on a popper by a estimated 30kg sailfish in 7m of water surprised a few lucky anglers while GT fishing.
For more information on fishing New Caledonia contact Ocean Blue Fishing Adventures email: info@oceanblue.com.vu or visit www.oceanblue.com.vu.
