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.
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.
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.
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.
On June 2nd and 3rd, there was a GT fishing comp held at VoliVoli Resort on the other side of the island.
Our team was Rosie, Brendan, Wayne, and of course yours truly.
We are to drive our boat all the way around the island, about 120 miles, Friday. Then fish Saturday and Sunday. Then drive back on Monday.
We planned, packed, planned some more, packed some more, planned a bit more, then planned some more until finally the day arrived.
Now what could possibly go wrong with all the planning that was done?
Well, we left the jetty at 6:00 AM sharp, just as planned, but by the time we left the river we were taking waves over the bow of the boat. That was to be the prelude to the first 2+ hours of our journey. To say it was rough would be an understatement. Luckily once we got to Suva Harbour we would go inside the reef and it would be calmer.
As predicted it got much calmer and we made good time to the Rewa River for the next leg of our journey/adventure. The only problem was, it took over 1.5 hours longer than we had anticipated. That put us to far into the falling tide to cross the sand/mud bar in the river mouth. I eventually put the boat
on the muck and there we sat, waiting for the tide. Now for those who spend time in the saltwater, they will know that waiting for the tide is a fact of life. Fish prefer certain tides and wont bite on slack tides. Sometimes there is too much current caused by the tide and sometimes not enough. Not to mention "time and tide waits for no man".
So there we sat, rigging, talking, eating, and dancing. Waiting for the return of the tide. It took 2.5 hours for the boat to float free again. Good thing we are all friends.
The rest of the trip was like clock work. Once we came out of the Rewa River the wind was on our stern and we flew. Although we did not get to fish on our way up we arrived at the resort at 4:00 PM.
At that very moment all of our plans went out the door.
The problem being, we knew almost everyone there. And when 40+ friends get together at a fishing comp, well we all know what happens. Plans go overboard.
We partook in festive activities until all to late hours of the night/morning.
We did manage to get up and be on the water quite early considering the night before. Unfortunately the weather for the first day of the comp proved to rough and tumble and on top of that, we did not find fish. We caught a few, but not what we had hoped for.
The second night proved even deadlier for our team of merry makers. After all we were Team Xstreem. Xstreem grog, Xstreem tequila, Xstreem beer, Xstreem late night.
Yep, Sunday, day 2 of the comp, was a little rough for us as well as the other teams. A late start, rough weather and xstreem hangovers did not fair well for catching fish. Although I must say Rosie did manage to land a nice GT in the morning. That would be our only GT.
We were a sorry lot I must say.
Oh well, "the best laid schemes (plans) of mice and men often go awry".
Boy did they go awry. No time to sulk, there was a party to be had. After all the winning team came from our fishing club, The Twisted Leaders. They were Team Vai Lima, consisting of Russell Baumann, Erik Powell and Ben Duea. They won best Team, Russell won Best male angler and biggest GT. A side note, they did not partake in any of the festivities. They did however fish hard and deserved to win.
I think we won most partying and least sleep.
On Monday, we were to leave the resort early for the trip home. Yeah right, we left late and missed the tide and did everything in reverse going home.
We had a great time. I would do it again in a second. In fact plans are going forward for a first, catch and release only, popping comp. I don't think we will win that one either.
Here is a slide show of the trip with a few high lights.
