Cyclone Evan

We dodged a bullet where I live. This one was a Cat 4, but hit the other side of the Island. What you see is what we got for 36 hours. 

All is well now. The sun is out and the sky is blue

Tight Lines

Pop and Drop

This time we decided to do a bit of popping for GT's and then a bit of jigging after.

Just Rosie, Wayne and myself on the boat today. 

The morning started out a bit gloomy, but the fish don't care, so why should we.

My shoulder has been hurting me so I was sticking with a stick bait instead of a popper. As the photo below says it all, it was working. A nice Grouper.

Wayne gets on the board with the first GT on popper. A nice clean fellow and easy release.

He follows it up with a little one that is feisty as all get out.

Not to be out done, I cast my stick bait to a fishy looking spot and proceed to hook up a nice Spanish Mackerel.

Wayne with a little Barracuda that Rosie has claimed for bait.

Wayne started jigging in 100 meters of water and proceeded to hook up more than 10 Dog Tooth Tuna. Unfortunately the head he is holding represents the only proof of his sweat. The sharks were thick and relentless to the point of us moving on to another spot.

Rosie on the other hand was having a very successful bait fishing trip. She filled the ice box single handedly.

This is a Long Nose Emperor. Caught at over 100 meters and fought all the way to the surface. A very tough customer, but not as tough as Rosie.

We had another great day out, with plenty of fish caught and lost by a variety of methods.
Until next time.
Tight Lines

One very rough Sunday

The weather Gods have not been kind to us this year. There has been two kinds of weather, rain with wind or sun with more wind. This day was sun with more wind. 

OK enough whining, we still went fishing.

As I said it was windy so jigging was on tap for the day.

Now typically when the weather acts up the fish like to bite, after all, the surging water just brings more food to them. Today was that way, the fishing was good, but a lot of work for the skipper, me.

When bottom fishing it is important that you have a good fish finder and transducer. Reading the bottom is everything with this type of fishing.

I use a Garmin 4010 GPSMAPS with a 2kw transducer, I'll post a photo later. 

We fished as long as we could until the wind and wave became unbearable. At one point we were taking waves over the transom and engine while trying to hold a position long enough to drop to the bottom.

We caught lots of fish and lots of species of fish so no complaining. No one is listening anyway. 

OK enough chatter on with the photos.

Brendan with a nice Lyre tail Grouper.

Wayne with a Sand Grouper. This is a first for us.

Billy and Renee braving the weather, not for long.

Brendan with a High fin Grouper

Wayne and a Green Job fish

Nice weather.

Tight Lines

Happy B'day Johno

Some good friend of ours came to visit on their way to Christmas Island, John and Karen. Now these two are probably more mad about fishing than Rosie and I. And that says alot. 

While they were staying with us it was John's birthday, so we had to go fishing on that day come hell or high water. 

Now being mad fishers, these two don't really need any lessons. Except the proper technique for casting a heavy popping outfit, which took all of about 1 minute.

Now if only the fish would cooperate. 

The weather was strange, no wind and very muggy. 

Hat off to these two, they put in some serious casting time and for John it finally paid off.

Heading out in the morning.

Karen, ready for action.

John showing us how it is done.

Calm and muggy.

Finally a GT, small but feisty.

The release.

Rosie had to get in on the action with a little bluefin trevally.

And the birthday boy lands a second one.

The fishing was less than stellar and a lot of hard work for these two, but we had a good time and with them. Lots of catching up and fish tails.

Until we meet again
Tight Lines

Lip Service

It is a matter of the lips!

Tight Lines

The mystery fish has been identified

Thanks to Mike Neumann of Beqa Adventure Divers and here . The fish ID mystery has been solved. It turns out it is a Yellow Spotted Trevally, Carangoides fulvoguttatus (also known as the goldspotted trevally and tarrum) also here. 

It is a first for us, but not an uncommon fish.

Thank you Mike, much appreciated.

Tight Lines

Help me identify this fish

This fish was caught in about 130 meters of water. At first I thought it was a bluefin trevally, but once I got it home I realized it was something different. It has blue on the anal fin and tail but not on the top of the body near the dorsal fin. It has a strange hump on its head and big blubbery lips. The scales were almost to small to see and the lateral line does not really match up with the bluefin trevally.

I was thinking maybe a hybrid, but not sure.

If you have any ideas let me know.

Thanks

Never mind the sharks

Grouper 1, Spear Fisher 0



Never mind the sharks, beware the mighty Grouper.

It's a Blow-Up

The weather was not looking so good on this particular Sunday, so we decided to stay inside the reefs and do a bit of light tackle fishing.

Out comes the 6lb to 30lb gear. Now anytime you pull out this light of tackle in the ocean, your gear is bound to get smashed and busted. We were not let down. Lots of tackle was lost, but a lot of fish were landed too. 

The weather did not disappoint us either. It blew harder and harder as the day progressed. Good thing we stayed inside.

A rather ominous looking morning sky.

Wayne with the first of many on his little 6lb soft plastic grub set-up.

Rosie catching the toothy critters without a steel trace. (Barracuda)

Brendan with a little bluefin trevally.

Another toothy critter. (Gar fish or Long Tom)

This is a little better bluefin.

A baby grouper or coral trout.

Now we're talking dinner. Rosie with a green job fish caught on bait.

Two at a time. A long nose emperor and a grouper

Another good day on the water despite the weather. Come to think of it, as long as we get home safely, it is always a good day on the water.

Tight Lines

Finally getting my shop online

After many failed attempts at getting our tackle shop online, we have come up with an idea that might work.

A blog and a bit of Facebook and voila, e commerce at it simplest. We can take payment via PayPal, TT, or credit card over the phone.

I am hoping this will generate a bit of income for us as the shop has been rather slow these days.

Stop by and have a look, we will be adding new stuff on a regular basis. 

Tight Lines

Another Monday at Sea

Another beautiful Monday for fishing as Rosie and I head out. Today will be a little jigging and bait fishing.

Fishing started off really slow. Nothing was biting. I could see fish on the sounder, but they had a case of lockjaw. 

Finally, after many drops with the jig, I hook up to a small Barracuda that Rosie immediately claims for her bait.

We try a few more spots and get zeroed. 

As we are moving from one spot to another I am taking in the scenery, enjoying the day, when all of a sudden Rosie screams. I look out the front, where I should have been looking all along, and what do I see, a Humpback whale right in front of the boat. A quick turn of the wheel and we avoid a collision with the giant. Of course by the time we get the camera out and ready the big guy disappears.

Truly amazing how 40 tons of mammal can vanish instantly.

As we carry on to our merry way we spot the big guy a ways out and Rosie gets the video rolling.

So we have not been catching much and Rosie says I can do a bit of jigging for Doggies. 

That means deeper water than she really likes to fish. 

So I'm jigging away and I notice it is taking a long time to hit the bottom. How deep are we? I ask.

Um it says 165 meters. 

Yikes, no wonder it was taking so long to get to the bottom. I decide to let it fall and give it a try anyways. 

My jig hits bottom and as I get my first crank of the reel  I'm on. Not big mind you, but I'm on. It is a long ways up from 165 mts and when I finally get the fish to the surface it is a Pakapaka, deep water A grade snapper. 

Rosie says wow should I drop and away she goes. 

She proceeded to fish until all of our bait was gone and tat accounted for 17 fish of about 5 species. All of them really good eating.

Leave the rod in the holder and you can switch hands reeling. 

A small Pakapaka.

A Long nose Emperor from 165mts, just about killed me.

Two at a time, not bad.

Another beauty of a Monday and we caught fish to boot.

Tight Lines

How all Mondays should be.

Since I stopped working on Mondays, Rosie and I try to go fishing then. It does not always work out, sometimes life gets in the way of fishing.

But this Monday all the stars aligned and fishing we went. 

The weather was stellar. Flat seas and sunshine. 

To top that off the Spanish Mackerel are running and so are the Wahoo.

We set out with four trolling lines in the water. A mix of divers and pushers behind the boat. 

We caught nothing. Did I tell you I hate trolling, well I do.

We did manage to come across a pod of dolphins. 

Damn they can move. It was very cool to see them, but it also meant no fish.

We trolled for a while longer and then we had enough, time to go popping.

The current was ripping through some really nice bommies. Everything was literally perfect for GT's.

Unfortunately not a single bite, not even a look, not even a passing glance.

Once we casted ourselves silly to no avail it was time to switch gears. 

Lets try jigging!

It was only mildly more successful than trolling and popping. At least we landed a few and preserved our catch record.

It was a great day for us to be on the water and to top it off we caught dinner.

Sure beats working.

Tight Lines