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