Fiji National and World Records Currently Held by Bite Me

Species	Line Class	Record	Angler
Pacific Sailfish	M-10	60.30 kg	Remco Hanibal
Pacific Sailfish	M-08	46.60 kg	Shane Cole
Pacific Sailfish	M-04	31.40 kg	Bill Boyce
Pacific Sailfish	W-10	47.80 kg	Lyn Salvidge
Wahoo	M-15	44.00 kg	Edmund Sturdy
Wahoo	M-06	26.00 kg	Adrian Watt
Wahoo	M-04	31.60 kg	Tim Simpson (World Record)
Wahoo	M-03	19.40 kg	Tim Simpson
Wahoo	W-03	21.00 kg	Fiona Stallard (World Record)
Wahoo	W-06	4.80 kg	Diane Woods
Dolphinfish	M-04	7.20 kg	Tim Simpson
Dolphinfish	W-08	7.00 kg	Renae Perryman
Dolphinfish	W-06	7.80 kg	Toni Carlsson
Giant Trevally	M-04	10.20kg	Adrian Watt
Giant Trevally	W-04	7.00 kg	Diane Woods
Giant Trevally	W-08	9.40kg	Magdeline Ko
Bluefin Trevally	M-15	5.80 kg	Richard Akhtar
Bluefin Trevally	M-06	7.20 kg	Glen Gardener (All Tackle)
Bluefin Trevally	W-15	4.80 kg
Bluefin Trevally	W-10	3.00 kg	Teresa Clemmer
Yellowfin Tuna	M-04	14.60kg	Tim Simpson
Yellowfin Tuna	W-15	25.50 kg	Anne Oberg
Yellowfin Tuna	W-10	20.50 kg	Teresa Clemmer
Yellowfin Tuna	W-08	6.20 kg	Cherie Gardner
Yellowfin Tuna	W-06	5.80 kg	Cherie Gardner
Yellowfin Tuna	W-04	9.40 kg	Diane Woods
Mackerel	M-04	5.00 kg	Shane Warmington
Mackerel	W-06	3.20 kg	Susan Raebitt
Marlin, Black	M-60	103.40 kg	Peter Mumford
Great Barracuda	M-10	19.20 kg	Owen Spalding (Pending)
Great Barracuda	M-04	6.20 kg	Tim Simpson
Rainbow Runner	M-15	9.00 kg	Michael LeHanie (All Tackle)
Rainbow Runner	M-04	3.00 kg	Tim Simpson
Kawakawa	M-06	5.00 kg	Remco Hanibal
Kawakawa	M-04	3.40 kg	Adrian Watt
Kawakawa	W-04	4.60 kg	Diane Woods
Skipjack Tuna	M-04	4.00 kg	Tim Simpson
Skipjack Tuna	W-06	7.60 kg	Toni Carlsson
Dogtooth Tuna	M-36	90.60 kg	Bill Busch (All Tackle)
Dogtooth Tuna	M-06	1.80 kg	Shane Warmington
Dogtooth Tuna	W-15	5.60 kg	Mary Alice Migge

 

 ** Latest Record Taken – Sept 2010

October / November Blues

Jarrod with one of the last winter wahoo

With the water temperature now rocketing up the winter wahoo have moved on to pastures new. For the next month or two, Bite Me will be fishing for a mixed bag of species as we wait for the start of the summer run of yellowfin tuna. Popping and jigging when the weather allows but mostly trolling for stray wahoo, early yellowfin, dolphinfish and blue marlin.
Anglers Jarrod, Julian & Damian from Angling Adventures copped some mediocre weather but still managed some nice fish.

some small GTs on the poppers

Deckie Masau takes the leader on his first blue marlin

Caught on stand-up 50lb class

Angler Jarrod from Australia is delighted with his first blue marlin

A short fat fish of around 250-300lbs

Tagged with a Billfish Foundation tag

...and released in great shape....

Gt Popping & Jigging Late September Update

Pretty dodgey weather for popping & jigging

Even though we are well out of the normal summer season for GT Popping and deepwater jigging, some hardy folks still brave the winter weather and get stuck in....
The weather gods were not very kind to Wayne, Kerry, Steve, Peter and their expert guide Paul Lennon from Australian tackle store - Got One
Never-the-less the guys (and gal) worked hard and found some nice GTs as well as several species on jigs.

Nice GT for Wayne

Peter had to work hard for this one

Another good GT about to have its photo taken before release

Expert Paul lands a nice Malabar Grouper

River 2 Sea Dumbell scores again...

Green Jobfish on the jig

Peter with a nice Red Bass

Somebody needs an extra Wheatabix for breakfast....
(Photo by Paul Lennon - www.gotone.com.au )

IGFA Take Marlin Off The Menu

Deckie Masau releases a nice blue marlin around 300lbs
this week aboard Bite Me

Now is the time to Take Marlin Off the Menu

Concerned about the health of billfish fisheries, the IGFA and the National Coalition for Marine Conservation joined forces in 2008 to create the Take Marlin off the Menu campaign. In just two short years, the campaign gained the support of such luminaries as Wolfgang Puck and the Wegmans Supermarket chain – as well as the attention of U.S. policymakers. Their support hinged largely on an Economic Analysis of International Billfish Markets which shows that the economic value of the U.S. billfish trade is almost nil in relation to the rest of the U.S. commercial fishing industry.
Support of the Billfish Conservation Act would close the U.S. to commercial billfish harvest, importation and sale. It would have a negligible impact on the commercial industry in the U.S. while helping increase the abundance of these important apex predators and also the value of the recreational fishery, which brings in billions of dollars annually but has a minimal impact on billfish populations.
Take action today to make sure that no billfish will end up in grocery store shelves or on restaurant menus again. Visit http://takemarlinoffthemenu.org/Billfish_Conservation_Act to do your part to take marlin off the menu!

Support the IGFA

September GT Popping

John and Angela from Manchester England recently stayed with us at Matava Eco- Adventure Resort. The reason for their stay ? To get married on holiday. The REAL reason for their stay - to fish !

Even though we are out of the normal GT Popping season, we managed to find some nice GTs. They were both very experienced fly fishers with many tarpon, bonefish and Pompano under their belts but this was their first proper go at GT popping.

Big bruiser head on this fella

The weather was a bit ordinary and the wahoo were thinning out so we spent most of our time popping. Big waves outside the barrier reef made the best GT spots a little tricky but the seas were beautiful inside the reef.

Tricky casting conditions

GT Heaven

Anybody fancy a swim ?

Nope.... Too busy catching these...

...and these...

25kg Narrow Barred Mackerel on a Heru Cubera popper

A smaller GT showing black colouration

Even the grouper were hitting poppers

Congratulations to John and Angela !
(oh, and the wedding thing as well.....)

August Roars, September Fizzles

We had an awsome August with numerous wahoo packs, glorious weather, Fiji Records and even a new pending womens Wahoo IGFA World Record aboard Bite Me but I suppose it couldn't continue for ever....
September has opened up with windy weather and a rapidly increasing water temp, neither of which is positive news for the wahoo.
Despite this, we still continued to catch wahoo whenever we were able to access the hotspots.

Another Hoo hits the deck

Michael's first Wahoo

Alex's first Wahoo

Nick Kennedy with a nice Mackerel

Doggies and emperors on jigs

Some big Bull Dolphinfish around

The weather and the water temperatures will now dictate the fishing for the next 2 months. The wahoo will soon start to thin out and we enter that 'grey' area between the winter and summer seasons. Normally we would expect the first run of summer yellowfin tuna around December but with this early winter season ending and the water temperatures rocketing we hope and expect expect the summer yellowfin to show early.

Some winter yellowfin - Scarce this season

And the prize for 'Most Bizzare Catch of the Month' goes to Bob for this Starry Triggerfish (abalistes stellatus )

Hmmm....."I'm not getting *that* thing off the hook Bob, you're on your own mate...."

Wahoo Candy

LOST

Australian Jarrah head
400mm Tripple skirt
Owner Owen Spalding
Answers to the name of 'Blind Freddy'
Last seen running on the Kadavu Seamount near pack of Wahoo

If found it will be a miracle..