Fresh Vanuatu Fishing Reports

It doesn’t get much better than todays trip. As the fishing had been so good recently we got an early start and headed out at 5:00am. It turned out to be well worth the early start. Before 6:00am just as the first time angler was being taught the technique in the chair a good size Blue Marlin took the long corner lure. It screamed line off the reel and then treated us to very acrobatic display right up the side of the boat. The angler did well and soon lost her nerves and found her rhythm. After about 40 minutes the fish was alongside the boat for a photo and then released. Next up was an angler who really wanted their first decent Yellowfin Tuna. It wasn’t long before the Tuna were busting all around us and we were hooked into a nice fish. After a short fight the angler was rewarded with a beautiful 60KG Tuna and her first fish caught on 130lb from the chair. We didn’t think it could get much better than this but then we had another Tuna hooked up. After a good fight and some great gaff work by the crew we had another big Tuna on board. More Tuna sashimi on the way home!!!

Today we had a 6 hour charter with the wonderful Schell family who were visiting Vanuatu on a cruise from Australia. Helen had arranged the trip as a surprise for her sons Cameron and Jay. It was a late start due to the arrival time of the cruise ship, but despite missing the first tide we had fantastic fishing. With no experience of Game Fishing before the family were very excited about what was to come. It wasn’t long before Jay was connected to a Yellowfin Tuna which screamed line of the reel at a blistering pace. Jay did an excellent job in the chair and soon realised how much easier it looks on TV! In no time at all we had a nice 50KG yellowfin on the deck and a very happy Angler. Next it was Dad, Kieran’s turn and in no time he was onto a small Mahi Mahi, which he quickly over powered and caught. Next up it was older brother Jay, out of nowhere came the bite and again we were connected to another decent Yellowfin. Jay, not to be outdone by his brother worked hard in the chair and got the job done. Unfortunately the fish had other ideas and came off at the side of the boat. Still it was a caught fish and a very happy family. Especially when they had the fresh Tuna Sashimi on the way in.

We were treated to fantastic weather today with flat seas, clear skies and a nice breeze. Which was perfect for our long standing clients Nicki and Pete. The day just kept getting better when we quickly hooked up to a lively Blue Marlin around 300lbs. Pete did a cracking Job in the chair and quickly subdued the fish which then swam away happy and healthy. No Sooner had we got the lures back in the water and another Blue Marlin piled on the lure and Pete was back in action, having barely caught his breath. In fact both fish were caught in under 59 minutes total. This was a smaller fish, and although we rarely take one, we decided to boat this one and give it to the neighbouring villages as a Christmas gift to them and their families. In Vanuatu nothing goes to waste. It was great to see Nicki and Pete again and look forward to their next visit.

We headed off at 9 am, we were travelling north for the next 8 days with Santo being our final destination. The first day was calm and quiet, we jumped off two marlin and caught a 15 kg Yellowfin Tuna. The next day was a travel day, we had a marlin on first thing then it was quiet for a few hours, the ocean was slick calm which made for a comfortable ride. We soon got a bite on the long corner and soon a big Mahi Mahi was jumping around, the fish was boated, and at around 18 kgs it was a solid fish. The rest of the day was spent steaming north, we stopped on a seamount and dropped some jigs but it was very quiet with only a few bites, and a couple of bust offs and no fish landed. When we arrived in the anchorage a friend of mine was there to meet us with a sack full of live Cray fish, we all ate well that night with American customers being blown away by the standard of food on our livabord trips. Unfortunatly due to an old injury we had to head straight to Santo to make sure our clients could recive treatment. We had more customers coming to santo in a weeks time so we, deciced to pick up a mooring at Bokissa Island Resort, and do some fishing ourselves over the next few days. We used live baits and dead baits on the surface and on downriggers or we jigged the depths, the main focus was to catch some dogtooth, and that we did. We caught Dogtooth up to 30 kg, Sharks 150 kg on live and dead bait, as well as more Dogtooth to 15 kgs, GT’s, Coral Trout, Red Bass, Bluefin Trevally, and all manner other reef critters on the jigs!! We focused on some of the nearby seamounts, fishing the shallows with bait and jigging the edges and drop offs. Early in the morning the tops of the mounts fished better but in the heat of the day the deeper you fished the better the bite. We had some very expensive jigging sessions where we lost that many jigs it was ridiculous, unstoppable monsters on every drop…. All in all it was a great weeks fishing and staying at Bokkisa made it all the more enjoyable, great place, great food, great friends and even better fishing !!!!!!!! IT’S A MUST DO EXPERINCE

It has been a great weekend on Nambas Fishing Charters. We had a multi day trip with a great group of guys from Australia. For most of the group it was their first time big game fishing so the days started out with a quick briefing and instruction from the Captain. You can see the anticipation on the anglers faces as they sit in the game chair and get their hands on the big Shimano 130 rods for the first time. The conditions were a little windy and rough but the boat handles the conditions beautifully and everyone was comfortable and enjoying themselves....despite a few hangovers from the night before! On the first day we headed to one of the local FADs to see what we could find.... We trolled around and decided head a bit further off the FAD, after all we were after a Marlin. The first angler up was John and not long after a nice lunch he got his chance at his first Marlin. The fish took a Superplunger on the long corner and promptly took off, although this fish decided it didn't want to take to the air much. John did an awesome job fighting the fish and we soon had a 350lb fish to the side of the boat for a clean release, and he was clearly over the moon with his catch. A good day was had by all and the group were sharing in the excitement of their first Marlin release. The next day it was the turn of angler Mike who clearly told me he was not really bothered about fishing and was really only there to get tips for improving his own boating skills. Well that soon changed.... We headed out and caught some live baits, they were quickly rigged and in the water. Within minutes we were hooked up and plenty of line was coming off the reel. Unfortunately we soon saw this was a shark and we promptly got relieved of our bait as the shark bit us off, although Mike was pleased to have a trial run with the gear. We soon spotted birds working and took off in pursuit with the big marlin lures back out. As we reached the birds we were treated to an awesome Skipjack show. Every wave was full of bright purple skipjacks cruising alongside us at an effortless 8 knots. We made the call to stick with the Skipjacks as you can't ignore a teaser that good....there had to be a Marlin after them at some point!! It was worth the wait and after a couple of miles trolling a nice Blue Marlin erupted on the short corner, line started screaming off the reel and we were quickly into the fight. The fish gave an impressive aerial display and was jumping all over the place. Mike did a fantastic job quickly getting the hang of the technique and staying calm despite having legs like jelly from the excitement. After 20 minutes we had a beautiful 400lb Blue Marlin at the side of the boat for plenty of photos. It turns out this was a lucky Marlin as she had a longline hook in the corner of her mouth. We quickly released her and got rid of the extra hook and leader in the process. It was a great day and the whole group were sharing in the excitement and a well earned cold beer, no-one more so than Mike who is already planning his next fishing trip to Vanuatu....it really is an addictive sport!

We fished a full day with the Gallagher family, caught one Blue Marlin on a Koya 861 for Dad and 3 Mahi Mahi for the kids. It was calm, lots of bait and birds around. We got right next to a pod of Sperm Whales which was an awesome sight for the kids. All in all a great day on the water.