Albacore Record Smashed !

Skipper Joe took angler Boyang Zhang out for some deep-water jigging last week aboard the new boat Bite Me Too. Great weather meant ideal jigging conditions and Boyang made the most of it hooking up and landing a 19.6kg Albacore setting a new M-36 Fiji National Record.

 That's a monster Albacore !

The very distinctive Pectoral fins on an Albacore

A very good Fiji Record catch for Boyang and of course - very good eating for all the other guests at Matava Resort !

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

World Record Hunt - Day 1

Its that time of year again when I take a few days off, join with a couple of friends and have some fun World Record hunting for trophy gamefish on ultra-light tackle. I was once again joined by Tim Simpson, Editor of BlueWater magazine and world renown biologist and photographer Bill Boyce, both of whom are experts in the field of ultra-light gamefishing.
We began the hunt on 4kg (8lb) IGFA Line class tackle trolling small Halco & Bluewater F18 minnows for wahoo and Zacatack skirted lures rigged with Pakula Katana hooks for Pacific sailfish. We also ran coke can & daisy chain teasers for the sails and a big pink Boone teaser down the middle for the wahoo.
It wasn't long before we raised the fist sail. Bill fought this feisty sail for an action packed 15 minutes as we charged around backwards after the leaping billfish. Fortunately for us, the sail stayed on the surface and we were able to pounce on the leader after just 20 minutes.

The Sail comes on board with Bill's 4kg tackle in the foreground

Bill with his new Fiji National Record on 4kg line class

Bill landed the fish using a Shimano TLD5 spooled with Platypus Pre-Test line on a Daiwa Saltiga 24kg jig rod.
The sail earned Bill a new M-04 Fiji National Record weighing in at 31.40 kg.
Not an hour later we raised the next sail. With a record fish already on board this fish was always going to be tagged and released, even if it was bigger (which it was !)
Tim did a superb job as we once again charged Bite Me around backwards at every opportunity to gain back line. When Joe finally took the leader, Bill threw on a mask and some fins, grabbed his camera and was over the side like a shot. We tagged and released the fish as Bills' camera fired of shot after shot. I have had a sneak preview of the photos (they are awsome !) and will post a couple once Bill has sorted through all his pictures from this week. If you can't wait, check out bill's website at www.boyceimage.com
We jumped off yet another sail later in the day but appart from a 70-80lb fish rocketing 20ft into the air right behind the boat, the wahoo were a little shy on day one.
Day 2 however...well, that's a whole different story...

Record Dogtooth Tuna

Now I am back ashore, some more info on the big doggie.
It was caught jigging on a Shimano 325g butterfly jig by angler Bill Busch aboard Bite Me using a Zenaq jig rod and Shimano Trinidad spooled with Power Pro 80lb spectra.
Fight time 45 minutes.
It was actually one of four dogtooth tuna we caught that afternoon, (3 others released) the morning being spent popper casting for GTs (we released 16)
The fish weighed in at 90.60 Kg on our Certified Scales (Matava Resort being an IGFA Weighstation) and is a pending new Fiji National All-Tackle Record.

Well done Bill ! Our biggest doggie so far. Just 9.9Kg off the M-36 IGFA World Record and 15kg off the IGFA All-Tackle World Record...

Fiji National Record Released

IGFA Rep Tam and his wife Dee Little took a break from their excellent home town Australian NT barra & inshore reef fishing to have some fun with the bluewater gamefishing around Kadavu Island.

Blue marlin were the target choice and with excellent weather, we headed out to the Kadavu seamount to tow some big lures and skipbaits.

We had a skipjack skip-bait set on the short rigger and a small tuna lure out to catch a second tuna for another marlin skipbait to be set on the long rigger.

Using 80lb chair tackle, we had an 18ft 500lb wind-on to a 9ft mono leader to 16/O circle hook, rigged just in front of the skip-bait's nose with a short dacron bridle.

In no time, the tuna rod went off, Tam began to bring in the next marlin bait and Bite Me slowed to a halt. After about 10 seconds, line started ticking off the Penn International 80STW set on the short rigger with the first skip-bait. Tam quickly passed the tuna rod to deckie Joe and climbed into the chair. After a good 15 seconds of controled free-spool, Tam eased the drag up and Bite Me edged forwards. The rod loaded up and we all waited for the marlin to explode on the surface.....

No exploding marlin...just heavy pressure....

Now blues have done this to us before, but nine times out of ten on the Kadavu seamount, no marlin leaping across the surface equals shark, and usually not for long as we use mono leaders.
This one was different. About an hour later we bullied the shark into view and found out why.

Bizzarely, we had managed to hook a good sized Bronze Whaler, with a circle hook, on the leading edge of its left pectoral fin. It must have chowed down on the sinking skip-bait, nipped off the tuna and the belly of line had pulled the circle hook back along past its gills and perfectly set onto the pectoral fin.

Amazing what you see out there.

Although this shark smashed the existing Fiji National Record for Whaler shark, I am happy to say that Tam elected to release the fish unharmed. Testament to the spirit and ethics of the members and Reps of the IGFA.

Another Fiji National Record on Bite Me!

Angler: Magdeline Ko
Species: Giant Trevally
Weight: 9.4kg
Place: Kadavu
Boat: Bite Me
Lure: Mother-in-Law popper from PalmFishing
Skipper: Capt Adrian Watts
Deckie: Glen Gardner

Well done Magdeline!

BlueWater Magazine : Kadavu record breaker

A great old article I stumbled on from BlueWater Magazine : Kadavu record breaker

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A grand total of 330 islands, sprawled out over 500 square miles of Pacific Ocean, makes up the magnificent Fiji group. For many years it's been well documented in fishing magazines that these islands not only produce an amazing variety of tropical gamefish, but also that the fish always seem to come in exceptionally large sizes.

My trip to Fiji last year, which I covered in BlueWater, not only provided excellent fishing, but also confirmed what I'd heard and read about the place. The huge black marlin and enormous wahoo we ran up against were enough to convince me that the potential for records there is virtually untapped!

The success of that particular trip sparked plenty of interest, and I must admit that I couldn't wait to get back over there myself. Editor David Granville also displayed a keenness to have a look at the place, and we started negotiating a trip with Xtasea Charters, which is based at Pacific Harbour on the Coral Coast of Fiji's main island Viti Levu.

These guys specialise in light- and heavy-tackle gamefishing and offer daytrips and extended trips down to the beautiful island of Kadavu - about 70 miles south of Pacific Harbour. There, they operate from a couple of pretty little resorts that are only a few miles from some real hotspots - such as an enormous sea-mount and a 1000 fathom canyon!

With the assistance of the Fiji Tourist Bureau, the owner of Xtasea Charters Capt Brad Cupid and his right-hand man Rob Krause, were able to put the trip together for David and me back in July. Accompanying David was his charming wife Robyn - a keen fisho herself, who made our plan of targeting some line-class records even more interesting.

As we found in Fiji last year, the wahoo in particular are surprisingly large, and the prospect of both a men's and women's claim to world recognition was a real possibility

BlueWater Magazine : Kadavu record breaker

Current Fiji National Records Held at Matava: 20

Men’s

M-04kg Yellowfin Tuna

M-04kg Mahi Mahi (Dolphinfish)

M-04kg Narrowbarred Mackerel

M-04kg Barracuda

M-04kg Rainbow Runner

M-04kg Skipjack Tuna

M-04kg Wahoo

M-04kg Giant Trevally **

M-04kg Kawakawa

M-06kg Kawakawa

M-06kg Wahoo

M-08kg Pacific Sailfish

M-10kg Pacific Sailfish

M-15kg Rainbow Runner

Women’s

W-06kg Yellowfin Tuna

W-06kg Narrow Barred (Spanish) Mackerel

W-08kg Yellowfin Tuna

W-10kg Yellowfin Tuna

W-10kg Bluefin Trevally

W-15kg Yellowfin Tuna

** Latest Record Taken – August 2007

Matava - IGFA Fishing Records

Matava - IGFA Fishing Records

"Fishing records
IGFA.jpg

These records were compiled from records kept by FIGFA, Game Fish Club of Fiji, Royal Suva Yacht Club Game Fishing Association and Pacific Harbour Game Fishing Club to 1985 and from catch forms submitted for acceptance.

IGFA maintains and publishes world records for saltwater, freshwater, fly fishing catches, U.S. state freshwater records, and junior angler records, awarding certificates of recognition to each record holder. Recognized as the official keeper of world saltwater fishing records since 1939, IGFA entered the field of freshwater record keeping when Field & Stream transferred its 68 years of records to the association in 1978.

For a full version of the IGFA rules see here: IGFA rules."

Bite Me’s Celebrity Guest of the Month

Who is this weeks mystery guest pictured here earning his keep aboard Bite Me ?

Some clues :-

• This expert angler hails from down under
• He talks softly but carries a big pen
• He doesn’t have a brother called Bart or a sister called Lisa
• He’s happiest when surrounded by blue water…

Yeeeeeessss…

Hello Tim Simpson, Editor of Bluewater magazine. Good to see you showing the local boys how a proper deckie earns his keep.

Hope you had fun fishing with us aboard Bite Me.

Rumour has it you took some Fiji National Records on 4kg line class…..