Bite Me Takes Fiji Sailfish Record

The Eyre rods and Avet SXs - Our ultra-light tackle Record hunting gear

Australian anglers Steve, Peter and Paul came to Matava Eco-Adventure Resort recently to fish light and ultra-light tackle on the winter wahoo and sailfish. We fished 3kg line class for wahoo and tunas and targeted Pacific Sailfish on 6kg line class.
Steve brought with him a new Cam now available from Avet. Called the South Florida Cam it modifies the Avet SX drag curve to perfectly suit our ultra light tackle record hunting.
The wahoo fishing was slow thanks to La Nina weather patterns but the guys did pick up some National Records including the M-03 Kawakawa and Yellowfin tuna. Deckie Glen was clearing rods after a multiple yellowfin hook-up when a chuky skipjack tuna jumped on. Turned out his skippie smashed the current M-03 Fiji National Record when it weighed in at 8.6kg

Deckie Glen chuffed with his M-03 Skipjack Record of 8.6kg

The boys hooked and fought several sails on 6kg but the sails continued to elude us with spectaculor leaps and jumps across the ocean (We have some great video to post when I get to a faster connection !)
On the last day we went all out for the M-06 Sailfish Record. Fishing Soso bay Paul hooked up a nice sail and we went into action....Winning back the belly of line, charging backwards after the hard fighting fish. With both Joe and Glen aboard to handle the leader and gaffs we finally had the sail aboard after about a 45 minute fight.

What a cracking Sail for Paul on 6kg line class

The sail weighed in at 34.20kg and subject to FIGFA approval and line testing is the new M-06 Fiji National Record

The new M-06 Fiji National Record

Sails Move In

Rob grabs a quick photo of his Pacific Sailfish

Continuing La Nina weather patterns have lead to the warmest winter water temperatures recorded in the past 15 years. The wahoo started moving in late May but the cooler currents failed and the wahoo fishing has been very quiet by our normal crazy winter standards. The winter run of yellowfin tuna is also pretty mediocre. The sails though are providing some fun on lighter tackle.

Deckie Glen releases and the tagged sail swims away

Spinner Dolphin Pod

A wonderful pod of spinner dolphin seen from the bridge of Bite Me

Kadavu GT Popping Update

We had an unusual summer of popper casting for GTs with the La Nina weather paterns making for unfavourable conditions and sometimes a very poor bite by our standards.
On a normal summer season day with a couple of anglers popping we expect around a 10 GT average and 15-20 on a hot bite day. This season we averaged about 5....

One after another, summer tropical depressions came by to the West of the Fiji Islands on their way South. Normally they sink by us to the East. These tropical lows sent some sizable South Westerly swells that churned up the inner lagoon water...which emptied out of the passageways. They also stalled the current that normally sweeps along the outer barrier reef bring clear oceanic waters. So coloured water emptied out of the lagoons...and just stayed there with little or no current to clear it away.
The solution aboard Bite Me - Stickbaits !
In a normal year we generally catch 75% of our GTs on poppers...This year we landed at least half the GTs on stickbaits.

The Nomad Wahho & Dogtooth stickbaits were very effective

Also the Orion Bigfoot in Fusilear colour

The best poppers this season were still the Cuberas, Craftbaits, Buffalo, Orions and of course if you have the cash..FCL and Hammerheads...

Cubera / El Toro still produced

Even so, some late summer season anglers did get some reasonably good GT fishing with most fish averaging 15-20kg and a few bigger ones around the 25-30kg.

Now that's a seriously long pencil for a Bluefin Trevally !

More Recent Gamefishing Pictures

How do you like your Yellowfin ? BIG PLEASE !

We had a great late summer Yellowfin Tuna season. Everything from big cow 75kg fish down to tiny juveniles no more than a month or two old....

Mandy on her Honeymoon

Smallest yellowfin ever caught aboard Bite Me !

Jigging produced some interesting species

Albacore Tuna

Tuskfish

The usual species as well...

Dolphinfish around floating FADs

Wahoo starting to arrive for the winter season

The ever present GTs and Bluefin Trevally on poppers

Gamefishing Report June 2011 - Kadavu Island - Fiji Islands

 Gamefishing Report June 2011 -  Kadavu Island - Fiji Islands

The summer blue marlin season was reasonable with fish averaging around 250lbs but we didn't see the usual monsters this season. 

Perhaps it was the slightly unusual La Nina weather patterns and currents. Fortunately the yellowfing tuna fishing was excellent. A good run of summer yellowfin continued right up to early May. 

 

Most fish averaged about 50lbs but some very nice cows spiced up the mix weighing in at well over 150lbs.

Bite Me was fortunate enough to tag and release two extremely rare baby striped marlin. Fish of this size are believed to be only a few months old. 

 We are still waiting confirmation from the fish ID experts however we are pretty sure they were stripies. Catching marlin of this size in the South Pacific is a very unusual event and to catch two doubly so.

 

Evidence is increasingly indicating that the Fiji waters are a striped marlin spawning ground.

The La Nina weather conditions affected the summer GT Popper casting with frequent South Westerly swells and North West to South West prevailing breezes. Water colour was generally poor as the usual ocean currents that scour the outer slopes of the Great Astrolabe Barrier Reef failed to show. Some very good fish were still landed but the average number of GTs landed in a day fell from the usual 12-15 down to 5-8.

At time of writing the first winter wahoo and sailfish have started to show. The sails are still one here, one there and the wahoo have not yet formed up into the expected packs of 40-50 marauding fish but we expect that to start happening within the next few weeks.

By July we will br re-rigging every single lure in use with wire and fending wahoo off with sticks. We have a number of anglers booked in to fish ultra-light tackle this season so we are hopeful of adding a few more IGFA World Records to Bite Me's growing list of accomplishments.

Capt Adrian Watt - Bite Me Gamefishing Charters
www.GameFishingFiji.com

Bite Me Hauls Out

Its that time of year again when Bite Me hauls out for her annual maintenance and full out of water Marine Safety Survey. Actually its not due till August but we are so busy in July and August we are having to haul out two months early !

She gets a full high pressure blast, sand down and two new coats of anti-foul. All inlets inspected, rudders dropped and greased, props polished, running gear cleaned, anchor and chain pulled and cleaned, winch greased and tested, sacrificial anode checked, Raw water intake strainers pulled and cleaned, life raft serviced, shaft bearings checked and a full wax polish from the Fiberglass Shop....

Before

After !

Before...

After !

Unfortunately the list doesn't end there.....
Back in the water.....
Engine fuel pumps pulled and serviced, Turbos pulled and serviced, Intercoolers and raw water / fresh water coolers removed and cleaned, Rocker arm valve clearances checked, shaft alignments checked, engine control cables replaced, Fiji Islands Marine Safety Authority In-Water Survey.......
......and that squeak from the helm chair fixed...... Its been driving me nuts.

Denarau Gamefishing Classic Tournament

The Denarau Game and Sports Fishing Club's announces The 2011 Adrenalin Fiji's Game Fishing Classic. The 3 Day event is on from July 15th - July 17th from Port Denarau Marina, Fiji.

With a number of successful competitions already underway each year, this year's event is building to be the best yet!
A new Website is dedicated to the competition - www.fijigamefishingclassic.com
Integrated booking system in association with Fiji Finest Tours for International Competitors and direct Boat Seat/Charter bookings.

New Eyre Custom Rods for Bite Me

Owen loads up an Eyre Rod on 4kg with a stubbourn Southern Bluefin Tuna

Owen Spalding and his mate Graeme were here last winter for a few days fishing aboard Bite Me. We had some fun with the wahoo on 15kg, then we switched to 10kg and 8kg line classes for some light tackle challenges.
With some good successes under our belts (Owen smashed the 8kg Barracuda Fiji National Record) we had a play with the 4kg ultra-light gear and a chance of a World Record.
We had one potential record sharked and landed several fish that were just shy of setting records but Owen and Graeme definately caught the Ultra Light Tackle bug.
Owen has now started his own rod building company - Eyre Rods and hand crafts custom ultra-light rods for World Record hunters (and nutters wanting to fish for trophy gamefish on 1-4kg)
Bite Me will be carrying a full spread of these rods this coming winter wahoo season and we fully expect to take yet another wahoo IGFA World Record.
With a little help from Halco we have all the ingredients to challenge ALL the IGFA ultra-light wahoo records.
The latest rods are currently being tested on the Southern Bluefin Tuna and proving more than capable.

Graeme with an SBT on 4kg Eyre Custom Rod

We look forward to giving them a good workout on the Kadavu wahoo aboard Bite Me

Rare White Marlin Caught in Fiji Islands

A very rare White Marlin alongside Bite Me. Joe prepares to swim the little marlin after removing the hook. It was caught trolling one of the new 8" skirted lures from Australia's Gotcha Going lures.

Tom was very happy with his rare White Marlin catch

Some more pics from Baja

Rancho Leonero

Some of the Resort's fleet of 'Super Pangas' that the guests use to go fishing

A 'Super Panga' on the beach ready to go

Splash some cash for one of their larger boats

Not as big as Bite Me but great for day trips out into the Sea of Cortez

Believe it or not the Pangas are launched and recovered using a great big green tractor !

Now that's gotta be fun !

Did I go fishing ? NO ! I'm on HOLIDAY !