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

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

Derek and Carly for a day.

This trip has been a year in the making.

Rosie and I had promised Derek and Carly, John's daughter and son in law, that we would take them out fishing when they came back to Fiji. 

They have returned and as our word is good as gold we took them out.

The weather had been great until they arrived from Indiana. Now it is blowing 15-20 knots and very lumpy to say the least. At least the sky is clear and the sun is out.

We met up first thing in the morning and off we go.

First stop is some casting and popping lessons. Once Derek and Carly get the hang of it then it is time for a try at a GT.

Unfortunately the wind was going to play a major role in where we fished. 

We tried spot after spot and had not a single bite. 

We tried poppers, stick baits, big and small. Rosie even had a few casts and so did I. Nothing, not even a look. 

So we move on to jigging. Speed jigging, slow jigging and soft plastics. Still nothing wants to bite. Now the captain is getting a little peeved. I drop a jig down and after a few attempts, finally hook up and immediately give the rod to Derek. One thing with jigging, you never know what you are going to catch. After a good fight Derek has the mystery fish boat side and it turns out to be a nice Bronze Whaler shark. We had a good look and the it bit the hook off. Thank goodness.

We finally jig up a small fish that is suitable for bait, paternoster rigs for everyone. 

Unfortunately the bite just never did turn on. Although a few small grouper were caught, nothing too big. 

We had a Fun day even though the fish were not cooperating. It happens sometimes. 

I have promised to take them out again when they return, fingers crossed we will have better luck.

Derek, John, and Carly

A quick lesson on twisted leaders and knot tying, even though I'll be doing all the tying.

John looking suave.........or is this dejected? 

Carly showing us how it to cast.

Derek is not to be outdone.

The water was beautiful.

Carly's first catch from the deep.

You go girl.

See Derek, this is how you do it.

Derek fighting the Bronze Whaler.

A deep water dip after the shark fight.

Tight Lines

Doggies Take 5

This is our last trip before we left for Japan.
We went searching for Dogtooth Tuna again. But before we could go for Doggies, we had to chase a few GT's.
Now in this post you will notice that the images are not as good as before. Rosie's G10 finally gave up the ghost for the third time and it is time to get a new one. Only problem, they do not sell Canon G series in Fiji, so she will have to wait until we get to Japan.
Meanwhile we shoot with my phone.
We just get into position and Rosie is out on the bow starting to cast and get warmed up when her popper gets destroyed by a giant, fat and definitely healthy GT. What a hell of a fight. After a bit of coaxing it is boat side and it takes two of us to get it out of the water. Rosie, needless to say, has had her ass kicked, but she prevailed.
Here's the proof

Well you can imagine how the rest of us felt, energized and ready to land monsters.
Ahhh, but alas it was not meant to be. In fact not another GT was landed. I heard Wayne say that Rosie set the bar to high for us mere mortals.

The following fish were caught while we looked for Doggies.

First a Rusty Jobfish

Rainbow Runner

Blue Trevally

Leather Jacket

Lyre Tail Grouper

Finally a Doggie, well a doggies head anyways. Damn sharks.

More good tasting aquarium colored fish.

When you start jigging deep you never know what you will catch. Here I am holding a true Black Trevally. Caranx lugubris (also known as the black trevally, black kingfish, coal fish and black ulua). This is the first one we have caught.

This is a Rusty Jobfish.

A finally Wayne hooks and boats a Dogtooth Tuna. I think we are getting this down now. We are catching them where we think they should be. Not big ones yet but we are still catching them.

Until next time

Tight Lines

In search of Doggies (Dogtooth Tuna)

We have decided to try something new.

A new style of fishing.

A new kind of fish in a new depth of water.

Deep water jigging with knife jigs and flutter jigs.

With short jigging rods and big reels.

And a bunch of research.

360Tuna Sportfishing and Jigging

JigNPop Forum

We head out on a gorgeous morning. Armed and excited.

From In search of doggies, take 1

From In search of doggies, take 1

We start the day out warming up on some smaller fish in about 30 meters of water.

Please note that some of the fish are sporting sunglasses and hats, that is for our fishing club photo contest.

First up is Wayne, aka, Fisher X.

From In search of doggies, take 1

Next on the board is yours truly. Note the two in the boat behind me. The guy standing up is Donno, and he don't know how to fish. They are trying to steal our spots. Not to worry, they did not catch a thing.

From In search of doggies, take 1

Wayne with another grouper.

From In search of doggies, take 1

Now it is Brendan's turn.

From In search of doggies, take 1

The day was a cracker. Blue sky and clear water. Here is a shot of Bird Island. there are great reefs around this little beauty.

From In search of doggies, take 1

Once we headed out to deeper water the fish started to change. Here is a double lined mackerel sporting some new piecing and preparing to go back to the deep.

From In search of doggies, take 1

Down she goes. Do us proud.

From In search of doggies, take 1

While our little mackerel was down in the deep, Brendan managed to get connected to something rather large. After a good fight from 100 meters deep. We catch our first glimpse of an Almaco Jack. Here is the video and image.

Sorry the image is a little foggy. That was inside the camera housing.

From In search of doggies, take 1

Needless to say Brendan was over the top with his catch.

We try and do a bit of popping but the wind has kicked up and it is a lot of work just standing up in the boat. This does not deter Wayne and he continues to pop long after everyone else stopped.

His perseverance paid off. He lands a nice GT and Brendan lands a Bluefin at the same time.

From In search of doggies, take 1

Here is another shot of that GT, I just love these fish.

From In search of doggies, take 1

We go back and do a little more jigging. Brendan is on today and hooks and Boats a Rusty Jobfish, again from about 100 meters.

From In search of doggies, take 1

Well we did not catch our target fish, Dogtooth Tuna, today, but we learned a lot about jigging in deep water. As a side benefit I am learning a lot about how to use my sounder to see fish at 100+ meters.

We are preparing to head out again and focus only on catching a Doggie.

Until then I leave you with a parting shot of happy and tired anglers.

From In search of doggies, take 1

Tight Lines