Last weekend's inaugural Mai TV Tuna Classic Tournament out of the Royal Suva Yacht Club produced an extraordinary catch for anglers Geoff Eden and Matt Davey fishing aboard Kania.
In some rather ropey weather, the anglers boated, tagged and released two juvenile marlin and lost a third fish of similar size.
Marlin this size are rarely caught and two tagged fish an extreme rarity. Lets hope they are one day recaptured and the tags returned for some valuable data.
The two day Tournament saw 15 competing boats raise 9 marlin, one sailfish and several mahi mahi and yellowfin tuna. Kania won the tropy with her two baby marlin and a tagged sail whilst Blo won the 'Hard Luck' wooden spoon after fighting an estimated 300kg black marlin for 5 hours before the line parted.
Next week is the Denarau Tuna Classic and hopes are high for some more big yellowfin Tuna.
30 Mar 2010
Rare Baby Marlin tagged & Released
29 Mar 2010
Fiji Big Yellowfin Run Continues
For several months now Fiji Island waters have enjoyed an excellent run of big yellowfin tuna in the 50-70kg range (100-150lb). The numbers of small schooling yellowfin seem a little down on average but that is being more than made up for by numerous fish like these....
Melissa from Coffs Harbour GFC fought this yellowfin for two and a half hours aboard Bite Me on stand-up 50lb gear. This 56kg fish was hooked in the upper mouth with a trolled skirted lure and put up quite a stubborn fight.
A little help needed for a photo shot...The next day Brandan landed this 65kg fish using 15kg stand-up tackle. This fish swallowed a bibbed minnow hampering its ability to fight so Brandan was able to fight the fish to the boat in about half an hour.
23 Mar 2010
Dogtooth Tuna and GT Tagging Programme
With the kind assistance of the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI) we have started a programme here around Kadavu Island to Tag and Release primarily Dogtooth Tuna but also some Giant Trevally caught and released aboard our gamefishing boats Bite Me and Tease Me.
Our first Tagged GT measured 37" Short Length and weighed 16kg
Our second GT Tagged measured 46" Short Length and was estimated to weigh 35kg
Tag placementWe also tagged our first Dogtooth Tuna of 15kg but no photos - a quick release...
Although it is believed that GTs and to a certain extent Dogtooth Tuna are terratorial and spend much of their adult lives staking out their particular patch of reef, relatively little is known about them. We hope to shed light on the following grey areas :
1. Release mortality rates - GTs seem to be very hardy fish but how well do they really release ?
Dogtooth tuna are monsterous brutes but do they survive a fight ? Does invisible barotrauma affect release mortality rates ? Do release weights improve the chances of a healthy release ?
2. Movements - Do these species move significant distances ?
3. Growth rates.
It will take a while to get recapture information but we are optimistic...
Last month we caught the same GT two days running, in the same place, on the same lure....
Obviously its first days encounter with anglers didn't seem to cause the fish any great disruption.
Latest GT Popping News
The gangSome highlights of a 6 day GT Popping trip to Matava Eco-Adventure Resort by Dan, Andy, JT and James, fishing aboard Bite Me.
Dan knocked over a few nice GTs like this one
Weather for the first few days was decidedly unfriendly...Even when we did get access to the best GT spots we had to put up with some annoying chop but it was usually worth it. Best GT of the week measured 46" SL with several around the 40-45" mark. We tagged and released two GTs, the best of which measured 46" SL as well as a Dogtooth Tuna around 15kg.
We could have tagged many more but the second a fish comes out of the water we start an invisible clock running. If it takes more than 20 seconds to get the hooks out (hooks have barbs crushed) we usually don't risk all the measuring and weighing involved and extra time out of the water when we tag a fish. If in any doubt, release quickly.
JT with his biggest fish that measured 45" Short Length (close to 40kg) taken on a Stickbait
Lunch time and JT demonstrates his preferred water entry method
Double hook-ups
Dan with a nice GT caught off the bow on a Buffalo Popper
Some real chunky Red Bass around....21 Mar 2010
The Life of a Gamefishing Charterboat Skipper on a Remote Fijian Island
I am sitting on my house front deck just tapping away at the keyboard and uploading a new blog item and happen to glance out at the spectaculor view in front of Matava Eco-Adventure Resort and look what's right out in front of me...
Is this a cool place to live or what !!!Brazil takes on the Kadavu GTs
Team BrazilA first for Bite Me as 4 anglers from Brazil travel a very very long way to visit the Fiji Islands and take on the Kadavu Island GTs with popper casting gear.
Jin's best fish of the trip
We had a few Double-Headers
Jr's first GT
18 Mar 2010
Mr Craft Bait Fishes Aboard Bite Me
We recently had the honour and privilige to have Mr Tomohide Kashiwagi fish aboard Bite Me with some of his angling friends from Japan. Tomo is one of the two owners of Craft Bait and together with Mr Takeshi Taniguchi are the men behind their superb range of Poppers and stickbaits.
The unseasonal ropey weather made for some tough GT popping conditions but we still managed some reasonable fish. Tomo took the opportunity to test out some new prototype rod designs as well as a couple of new design Craft Bait Stickbaits. One will go home for more developement but the other proved to be dynamite on the GTs and the mackerel too !
We hooked a few monster fish on the jigs, almost certainly big dogtooth tuna, but with bite-offs and bust-offs, no big doggies released this time. Pleanty of coral trout and groupers for dinner though !
Matava is fully operational after Cyclone TOMAS
Although the resort experienced high winds and heavy rain, no damage was done to the resort at all, apart from the loss of some thatch from the corner of the roof of the dive centre.
The guests and staff spent the whole day playing cards, board games and reading books safely in the Main Bure while Maggie served breakfast, lunch and dinner as normal. We even had some divers toughen up and go shore diving in the 'teeth' of the bad weather on Monday and Tuesday and get some great pics of critters on The Critter Junction dive site!By Tuesday 16th March we were once again fishing, diving and trekking as normal, in glorious sunshine with not even a slight breeze!
The cyclone passed well east of Kadavu and was over in a couple of days of strong winds and grey weather.
Due to flight safety reasons, Pacific Sun did postpone its flights for a couple of days, but have now fully resumed services to Kadavu from Nadi. All flights to and from Kadavu from Nadi International Airport are currently fully resumed and we have have had clients fly in and out of Kadavu today (Wednesday 18th March 2010).
We appreciate your patience in these matters, and rest assured that we are all fine and 100% fully operational at Matava - Fiji's Premier Eco Adventure Resort.
Here is a pic taken by Adrian this morning from the deck of Mango, one of our Honeymoon Bures:
Richard, Adrian, Jeanie, Stuart & The Team @ Matava
16 Mar 2010
TC Tomas doesn't stop Divers
As TC Tomas passes East of Kadavu Island and Matava Eco-Adventure Resort, our diving guests clearly demonstrate an adventurous streak.....by going for a shore dive....
Well.....we are an Eco-Adventure Resort !
Tropical Cyclone Tomas - Latest Update
Tourism
Worst appears over as TC Tomas moving away from Fiji
- Main commercial and tourism hubs unscathed
- International airlines resuming flights
International airlines including national carrier Air Pacific, Air New
And while schools across the destination remain closed until further notice, it is anticipated that the country’s essential services in the larger populated areas will be fully operational later today (Tuesday).
Most shops are also expected to open for business today.
In a brief issued earlier today by the Fiji Meteorological Service’s director of meteorology, Rajendra Prasad at 9am today the eye and core feature of the cyclone were now moving over the Northern Lau Group and would reach Central and
In the Central division, including the capital city
Mr Prasad said some flash flooding was possible in the Central division but not on a large scale.
TC Tomas, he said, would maintain its intensity for another 12 hours before commencing a gradual weakening trend, he said.
However the cyclone will probably maintain its category three hurricane strength until after leaving
Tourism
Mr Tuamoto did advise that reports filtering in from hotel and resort operators in the country’s north-east – Vanua Levu, Taveuni and Savusavu - indicated some damage to property but the damage thankfully had been minimal and the national tourist office had not received reports of any tourists having been injured.
However the northern region was continuing to experience strong winds and heavy sea swells.
Mr Tuamoto also confirmed that communication systems cut during the height of the cyclone had now been resumed.
In addition, much of the electrical power in the region shut down for safety reasons in these regions was expected to be resumed in a short time.
Most resorts and hotels in the region had maintained power via generators during the period.
“It would appear that the worst is over,” he said.
“We are moving towards the end of our annual cyclone season and while Tomas is one of the bigger weather fronts we have experienced in recent times, none the less we have become very experienced at preparing for these kinds of events,” he said.
“We’ve also become very experienced at cleaning up after a cyclone and I am confident that once the worst is over and the all clear has been finally sounded,
“Any inconvenience this situation has incurred for our international visitors has thus far been kept to an absolute minimum, particularly on Viti Levu and in the Mamanuca and
“Disruption to services in these areas has been limited with the exception of local cruise schedules and inter-island ferry and flight services all of which had been placed on hold until further notice.
“The same applies to all domestic inter-island air services to Savusavu, Taveuni, Kadavu, Lavuka, the Lau Group,
“Intra-island services between Nadi and
“But we are confident normal services will be resumed very quickly indeed,” he said.
-ENDS-
Released by Tourism
For further information contact:
Josefa Tuamoto
CEO - Tourism Fiji
T: + 679 6722433
Visit: www.fijime.com
15 Mar 2010
Tropical Cyclone Tomas
TC Tomas approaches Vanua Levu and TaveuniTropical Cyclone Tomas roars into Fiji Island waters but thanks to the RSMC Nadi Weather Centre and the Fiji Broadcasting Service, islanders had excellent early warning.
The storm is forecast to make landfall this evening (Monday 15th) in the vicinity of Eastern Vanua Levu and Taveuni Island as a Category 4 Cyclone.
We are advised that all local flight services are temporarily suspended, as are most international flights into and out of the Fiji Islands.
Our thought and best wishes are with all the Fiji people and visitors who are close to this storm's path.
Down here on Kadavu Island we are expecting gale force winds for the next 24 hours then the storm system will move away very quickly. Marine activities have been suspended for 48 hours however all gamefishing and other resort operations will resume as normal on Wednesday.
8 Mar 2010
