2008 Pacific Harbour Gamefishing Tournament

There are two slots available aboard Bite Me for the 2008 Pacific Harbour International Gamefishing Tournament. The tournament will be held over three fishing days - 26th, 27th and 28th June this year with Registration and briefing on the afternoon of the 25th June and prize-giving on Sunday the 29th June.

Bite Me has earned her anglers thousands of dollars in prizes over the previous three tournaments and taken several new Fiji National Records in the process.
Any anglers wishing to compete aboard Bite Me should contact me at Matava Resort for more information.

Adrian Watt
IGFA Certified Captain
www.matava.com

Narrow Barred (Spanish) Mackerel

Recent picture of a nice mackerel caught by Jeff from Hawaii aboard Bite Me.
The Fijian name for this species is 'Walu' and it is considered by the locals to be an excellent food fish.
There is a special Fijian dish called Kokoda (pronounced kokonda) which is absolutely delicious. If you ever get the chance to try it, I heartily recommend that you do.
The walu is chopped into small pieces and marinated for several hours in fresh lemon juice, fresh coconut milk, chopped onions and chopped chilli from the resorts organic garden. The lemon juice 'cooks' the fish and I consider it even better than the yellowfin sashimi that we often serve to guests as a started dish at dinner.

Bite Me High & Dry

Yes, its that time of year again when a game fishing charter boat captain turns into a grease monkey and spends a week splattered in anti-fouling, grease, engine oil and wax polish.
Its not all glamour you know.
Bite Me hauled out on Friday at the Royal Suva Yacht Club and began her annual service as well as her three inspections by FIMSA,the Fiji Islands Maritine Safety Authority. (out of water pre-inspection, out of water post inspection and in water inspection)
Whilst out of water she has been scraped down and new coats of anti-foul applied. Her rudders have been dropped and steering system inspected, props and running gear cleaned and polished, all inlets and outlets cleaned and lower hull waxed and polished.
She goes back in the water tomorrow and then the real work begins.
Her engines will get a thorough going over including turbo's servicing, oil change, raw water impellor change, fuel lines inspection, fresh water cooling system flush, engine valve clearance check and oil,air and fuel filter changes.
The superstructure will be wax polished, the teak cockpit will be cleaned and oiled, the anchor chain cleaned and last but not least, the final in water FIMSA survey by marine inspectors to ensure that all mechanical and electronic equipment works, all necessary safety equipment is carried and if applicable 'in date' such as flares / life raft etc and that the vessel if fit to carry passengers safely for another 6 months befor the next FIMSA survey.
Six months ! Hell it will probably take me that long to get the greasy oil stains out of this Bite Me T shirt. Like I say, its not all glamour being a game fishing boat skipper.....

Fiji Saltwater Fishing Report - April-May 2008 - Bloodydecks.com

Fiji Saltwater Fishing Report - April-May 2008 - Bloodydecks.com

"Adrian, sweet ride and sweet location. I don't know if you read my reply yesterday but I had the opportunity to work on Kadavu Island three times about 15 years ago guiding multi-day 5, 7 and (1) 10 day kayak trips for South Pacific Kayaks sponsored by the Dive Kadavu Resort. Once we had set camp each afternoon I would gather our Fijian Crew led by a really nice guy named Tom jump in the support boat and going fishing with the only gear I had, namely salmon fishing gear brought from Oregon. We had some epic days fishing mainly around the Nagagia Island area. There wasn't any charter operations or boats down there then, but I thought what a great place to bring a boat and set up shop. You are truly a very fortunate person in a great place. I will definitely try to come visit you sometime. What a treat it would be to fish those waters in a boat that can get you further from shore in a comfortable boat. Boys you better go visit this area while it remains pristine."

Fiji Islands Saltwater Fishing Report : May 2008

Charter Operator : Matava Resort Gamefishing
Boat Names : Bite Me (Offshore) and Offensive Tackle (Inshore)
Average Water Temp : 28.5
Average Sea State : 50% light breeze / 50% wind chop 2ft ground swell to 4ft
Average Winds : 50% 10 - 15kts
Water Clarity : Variable inshore after tropical rain, good offshore

The Fiji water temp is now starting to ease back from its summer peak of 30 degrees and the relatively quiet month of April actually turned out to be quite good, especially for the popper casting fanatics hunting the big GTs and Bluefin trevally when the bite just went berserk a week either side of the full moon.
Game boats reported a generally mixed bag in April and early May with mahi mahi, yellowfin and recently, wahoo being the main species caught. Boats should start to pick up black marlin from mid May and the blue marlin will really fire up again by the start of June when the water temp hits 27.
Sails are being tagged on most day trips but the big packs should form from June onwards.

The hot news however is that an unusual event occured recently. There was a huge run of whale sharks accompanied by good sized yellowfin tuna through the Kadavu passage, the stretch of water that seperates Fiji's main island of Viti Levu and Kadavu island, 50nm to the South.

The last time this occured was prior to the start of the 2005 winter wahoo and sailfish season. That season was one of the best on record with large wahoo packs everywhere. The wahoo averaged 50lbs with fish to 80lbs being common and many fish over 100lb landed. The sailfish packs were also in plague numbers along Kadavu Island's Great Astrolabe barrier reef with the pack average being about 6 fish ranging from 60lbs to 120lbs.
The wahoo are here already, unusually early in the season but with packs found recently on the Kadavu seamount and off Beqa's 'Golden Mile'and every boat in the recent Suva Game Fishing Club 2 day Tournament coming home each day with wahoo , it is clear that the oceanic currents this year are bringing in the start of what should be a spectaculor 2008 season.

Aboard 'Bite Me' we will be focusing on fishing the light tackle from 12lb to 20lb line class for the wahoo and sailfish as well as some specialised ultra-light tackle fishing on the 8lb (4kg) custom gear. Looks like my bait catching guy is going to be busy.


Summary:
Blue marlin : Quiet but will fire up again end of May
Black marlin - First few tagged recently
Yellowfin - The first few fish of the winter run starting to show, mostly aroud 30-60lbs
Sailfish : First few of the season starting to turn up but not in packs yet
Wahoo : Here early and the big backs will form soon
Mahi Mahi : Bit thin on the ground with just the occasional pair here and there
Mackerel : Good sized fish around hitting skip-baits
GTs : Crazy bite around the full moons

Cpt Adrian Watt
Director, Matava Resort Gamefishing,
Tel: + (679) 3337 222 or 3336 098
www.matava.com

Pacific Sailfish, Game Fishing in Kadavu , Fiji

Pacific Sailfish, Game Fishing in Kadavu , Fiji with Matava on YouTube