Anthony & Jenyne,
Thank you for the excellent organisation of my recent trip to Vanuatu on a week long live-aboard fishing trip.
Booking the trip as a solo traveller and not knowing any of the other anglers is always a bit daunting, however Ocean Blue took the time to find out what I expected from the trip and matched the other anglers so that we were all expecting the same type of fishing. This ensured that Lee, Gary, Dave, Bob & myself all had an absolute ball fishing in what I can only describe as some of the best fishing grounds in the world. Each of the guys were good blokes and as mad keen as myself.
Our crew for the trip, Captain Eric Puyo-Festa, Jason Mcloy and deckie Sannick made the trip memorable with the ability to find fish each day (and not just a few) and then looked after us each evening with great meals. Eric’s local knowledge was extensive and it showed in each days fishing putting us on some of the most impressive underwater sea-mounts teeming with fish. Jason and Sannick both enjoyed fishing to the extent that it was impossible for us not to be drawn into the excitement when each fish came to the boat.
Now to the fishing, I knew the 5 of us were in for a very special week’s fishing at the end of the 1st day on board with Lee catching a Blue Marlin of about 120kg and Gary a Sailfish both caught and tagged, a few Dogtooth Tuna & Red Bass and that was just the troll from Louganville to Wusi sea-mount. At anchorage the 1st night we all sat down with the crew and discussed the options for the next days fishing, had a great meal, a couple of drinks and then dropped a few baits out the back of the boat putting a 100kg Whaler shark and a 25kg Reef Shark into the capture book.
Day 2 consisted of Dogtooth Tuna to 22kg, small Yellowfin Tuna to 12kg another Sailfish (my first Yellowfin and Sailfish personally caught), another Whaler Shark of about 60kg and one of the most impressive fights I have seen with 1 of the guys, Dave, locked in a mammoth battle with a Blue Marlin of about 250-300kg for over 9 hours before the fish busted off near the boat with plenty of fight left in him.
Day 3 we spent chasing the speedsters, with all of us catching Wahoo the smallest about 15kg (again a 1st for me with a 22kg Wahoo) a couple of Mahi Mahi to 25kg (another 1st for me with a big bull Mahi Mahi) some more Yellowfin and another Whaler.
Day 4 was more of the same with all of us catching multiple fish. Dogtooth to 32kg, Wahoo to 28kg and a small Giant Trevally of 3kg (this was a hint of what was to come) and again enjoying some spectacular fishing.
Day 5 the wind blew up with 30 knot winds and seas up around 2-3 meters, in which the boat (a 40ft Blackwatch) handled the conditions superbly. Being that we were limited in what we could do in those conditions, I thought not much fishing today. Boy was I wrong with some more great fish landed, Dogtooth to 20kg and Bob fighting up a 35kg Giant Trevally, another impressive Vanuatu monster. That night dropping a couple of baits out the back resulted in a few Trevally and a couple of Jacks.
Day 6, the last day on board, in half a day we caught more Dogtooth to 15kg, Giant Trevally to 16kg, Bluefin Trevally to 5kg, Coral & Emperor Trout, numerous Green Jobfish and another Reef Shark before heading in to pack and grab some lunch in Louganville.
The variety and number of game fish and the locations that we fished were spectacular and it was great that at the end of the day most fish caught were given to the local villagers to eat (excepting a few we ate ourselves) and the billfish were tagged and released to sustain a great fishery.
To Ocean Blue, I would like to say thank you for the best and most well organised fishing trip I have ever been on, I will definitely be booking again with Ocean Blue. Thanks also to Eric, Jason & Sannick who did everything they could while we were on board to make the trip successful.
Calvin Rhodes
Calvin Rhodes
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