Fresh Vanuatu Fishing Reports

It was a father and son trip today for anglers Lance and Tye who joined Nambas on a half day fishing. The day could not have started better, after just 30 minutes of fishing we raised a small Blue Marlin on the lures, he didn't stick but we could already see birds in the distance and knew there was a good chance of a bite going off. It wasnt long before we were in the middle of bait balls turning the water white and within minutes we were hooked up on double and triple headers of smaller Yellowfin Tuna. The guys did a great job but it wasnt long before we got some real Yellowfin on. Both Father (Lance) and Son (Tye) realy worked on the 50lb stand up both landing their PB Yellowfins one with a 26KG fish and one with a 30KG fish. Then they kept coming. When the guys were too tired to fight Tunas anymore we put the Marlin Lures out to give them a breather...No Chance! In minutes we were hooked up and Tye was fighting his first Blue Marlin. He soon got the hang of the chair and fought hard to release a nice healthy 200lbs Blue Marlin. Not long after we released Tye's fish and put the lures back out we raised a nicer Blue Marlin which ate the long corner. The fish went airborne and it was clear to see that it was a bit bigger, around 350lbs. This time Lance took his turn in the chair and fought the fish to the boat for a nice clean release. It's safe to say that both Father and Son had a day to remember and will most likely need a day of rest tomorrow with a few beers to celebrate.

It was only a quick half day trip today for anglers Craig & Cheryl from Australia. What started out as quite slow ended in our angler Cheryl catching her bucket list Blue Marlin. The fish smashed the short corner lure but missed the hook up, having got the lure back into position the fish came back for another go and this time it was on! After a 30 minute fight and a quick initiation to Marlin fishing Cheryl did a great job, getting this one to our crew Alex on the leader so it could have the hooks removed and released to fight another day. About an hour later we raised another 2 smaller fish that ran riot through the spread but didn't want to hook up.

Terry Carter has fished all over the world armed only with his Fly Rod. Travelling all the way to Vanuatu from Cincinnati in the USA was nothing for a man on a mission. Terry wanted to chase Blue Marlin on the fly and that was what he got. Terry brought all his own gear including his Sage Fly Rod and Mako reel, along with an assortment of tippets and lines. The teasers had only been in the water around 15 minutes one morning when we raised a perfect sized Blue Marlin on the long teaser pole. The short teaser was quickly cleared and the fish teased beautifully to the back of the boat. When the boat was out of gear Terry made an almost textbook cast and the Blue Marlin inhaled the fly and was hooked. Completely perfect! But hey this is fly fishing, as the fish started ripping line off suddenly we were not connected anymore!!!! It turned out Terry's connection from braid to fly line had decided to fail us. Gutted is an understatement. We made good later in the trip raising another perfect sized Blue Marlin which smashed the short teaser. Having that temptation cleared out of his way he switched onto the long and the crew teased him to the back of the boat, the wind had started to pick up but Terry got the cast and the fish nailed the fly beautifully. Line started streaming and off we went chasing in reverse, everyone getting drenched in the process. The fish gave us an incredible show on the surface with countless acrobatics before finally sounding. Terry had to fight hard to lift the fish on the fly rod but he did an amazing angling job and was not going to give in. Terry had decided at the start of the trip that he wanted to release any Marlin he caught on the fly...this is easier said than done as it's not like you have a long strong leader to hang onto. This fish helped us out and the hook pulled boat side giving a perfect end to a great day. It wasn't our last shot either, the following day we raised another two Blue Marlin, the first fish was around 500lbs and really far bigger than you want to mess with on a fly rod. It teased and despite the wind the cast was made but thankfully it wasn't that interested in the fly. It was quite happy swimming around the transom lit up neon blue which gave us a great show. It was joined by a smaller fish that again teased several times but was not loving the fly. Any day you get to see multiple Blue Marlin swimming round the back of the boat is a pretty good day though! Terry is already planning his next trip and we are looking forward to fishing with him next year!

Its always nice when you can tick off some goals for your anglers. Tom and Kimberly from the USA had a couple of requests, a Blue Marlin for Kimberly and a Yellowfin for dinner! Kimberly had done a bit of fishing in Central America catching a sailfish but had never experienced the rush of fighting a Blue Marlin. The right fish came along and at around 150KG she got a work out in the chair. She did an amazing job and fought a stubborn fish. Unfortunately during its jumps the fish had got tail wrapped and didn't survive the fight. The beauty of Vanuatu is nothing goes to waste and the fish was gratefully accepted by the local villagers. Tom provided our dinner with a beautiful 50KG Yellowfin Tuna, which Russ did his magic on and did Yellowfin Tetaki 3 ways.

Great day out on the water with nice calm conditions. We put out one of our favourite lure spreads and hooked this nice little Blue for the guys, it fought hard and jumped all over the place. It wasn't a good day for the Marlin though and he lost the fight. The local villagers were over the moon to receive such a huge gift! Seeing it tied along side a canoe is quite a sight.

It was a crazy trip with our regulars and good friends from New Zealand. The guys were blessed with the weather and we really made the most of it. These guys came super prepared with everything they needed for an Jigging and Popping trip of a lifetime, and these guys put the work in. Contrary to what you see on most TV shows Jigging is hard work with lots of lows, whether it be the sheer exhaustion or getting destroyed by sharks or getting out gunned by monster fish that are just unstoppable. You have to work hard to get the most out of a serious Jigging and Popping trip. Over the series of days we cast, jigged, trolled, live baited, you name it and the guys got what they were after and more... One of the highlights had to be a 55KG Doggie on the Jig which Daniel fought his heart out for. The guys caught far too many fish to mention but they had some of the most exciting top water Dogtooth action we have seen in a while. It really was mental with multiple Doggies pushing each other out of the way to try and smash the Poppers and Stickbaits. There were some truly huge fish cruising around, and several of these destroyed us in the process. We also caught several Sailfish, Marlin, Mahi Mahi, Yellowfin, GTs, Jobfish Wahoo. It really was an awesome trip and we enjoyed it as much as the guys did,