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

Fiji Islands Saltwater Fishing Report – November 2008

• Average Water Temp – 27.0
• Average Weather - excellent for gamefishing, calm, light overcast, just the occasional breezy day.
• Water Clarity – Variable inshore after tropical rain, good offshore

It has been an excellent spring for us with just about everything on the species list available to anglers. The wahoo and sailfish packs have thinned but the first of the Christmas Yellowfin schools are now moving in.

With the windy winter weather behind us now, the hot tropical calm is moving onto Fiji waters, ideal conditions for the GT popper casting and deepwater jigging fans. Summer’s almost here with glassy seas and barely noticable swell, just enough to keep the barrier reef breakers visible.

All being well, the current excellent popper conditions should last right through to April. With such calm conditions, its easy to spot the fusilier shoals being harrassed by GTs, bluefin trevally and narrow barred mackerel. The calm also makes it easy to work jigs down to 120m with little or no drift.

This summer we will be working the Kadavu seamount over with larger 400g droppers for dogtooth, amberjack and a whole host of wild and wacky deepwater species. At 150m its a deep drop but easy enought in the summertime.

Trolling small baits is still producing wahoo, sails, mackerel and mahi mahi whilst switching to big baits close in to the barrier reef is producing good yellowfin to 100lbs and black marlin to 300lbs.

The blue marlin average size is rising quickly and by January an average blue tagged should be well over 500lbs.

The biggest problem for anglers aboard Bite Me cruising up to a mass of boiling yellowfin will be deciding whether to flick a metal slug out on a casting rod and hang on tight or bridle up a live-bait for the inevitable blue marlin working the edges.

Not such a bad problem to have. Im looking forward to worrying about it. :)

Capt Adrian Watt
Bite Me Gamefishing
www.GameFishingFiji.com

Welcome to "casualangler.com"

Subject: Re: Welcome to "casualangler.com" - http://casualangler.com/phpBB3

Hi John,

Not too bad but the wahoo bite has just started in ernest and the sailfish packs are starting to show now so all the fishing for the next few months will be light tackle for those guys.

Just spent a week fishing 8lb line class with Tim Simpson (BlueWater magazine) on Bite Me for wahoo & sails which can be a bit risky round these parts what with all the yellowfin. Fought one yellowfin for 4 hours and 5 minutes and we were just beginning to win when the Shimano TLD reel exploded under the line crush strain. Blew the ratchet clean out of the boat and the spool imploded.

Lost a possible world record sailfish after a 5+ hour fight. We were still fighting after dark and the deck lights attracted squid...which attracted a pod of dolphins...which bumped into the line and bust us off.

Took some Fiji National Records though so all not on vain.

Got IGFA Anglers Digest coming in a week or two to film some shows for the Sportsman Channel and the big Fiji tournament coming up so the next few months should be a lot of fun !

Best regards,

Adrian

Cpt Adrian Watt

Director, Matava Resort Gamefishing,

Tel: + (679) 3336 222 or 3336 098

www.gamefishingfiji.blogspot.com

www.matava.com

From: webmaster@casualangler.com

To: 'Adrian at Matava.com'

Sent: Sunday, July 08, 2007 1:49 PM

Subject: RE: Welcome to "casualangler.com" - http://casualangler.com/phpBB3

Adrian,

I am doing a bit of redesign and will have you back up by tomorrow morning or sooner. I hope you like the new look and feel I have been working on.

How has the fishing been in the islands?

John Kessler

Casualangler.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Adrian at Matava.com [mailto:Adrian@Matava.com]
Sent: Friday, July 06, 2007 7:44 PM
To: webmaster@casualangler.com
Subject: Re: Welcome to "casualangler.com" - http://casualangler.com/phpBB3

I looke at the website and couldn't find anything ?

----- Original Message -----

From: webmaster@casualangler.com

To: 'Adrian Watt (Matava)'

Sent: Saturday, June 09, 2007 2:37 AM

Subject: RE: Welcome to "casualangler.com" - http://casualangler.com/phpBB3

Adrian,

I added you site to my featured sponsors. Take a look and see if you are OK with what I did www.casualangler.com

John Kessler

Casualangler.com

Saltwater Fishing Report – September / October 2007

For the waters around Kadavu Island- Fiji Islands – South Pacific.
Charter Operator – Matava Resort Gamefishing
Boat Names – Bite Me (Offshore) and Offensive Tackle (Inshore)
Average Water Temp – 25.0
Average Sea State – 70% Wind chop to 4ft, groundswell to 6ft / 30% calm
Average Winds – 70% Breezy to 20kts ESE / 30% light Northerly
Water Clarity – Variable inshore, good offshore

Spring is in the air but the wahoo and sails continue their airborne displays. With the late season start, Fiji should continue to enjoy a good wahoo bite right through to October. The big sails are stillbeing found along the reef but usually just in twos and threes. It has been a variable winter, warmer than normal with some unusual weather patterns interrupting the typical trade winds.
In winter, the outer barrier reef slopes are often inaccessible but these weeks of calm winter days have given anglers unlimited access to the big GTs that hang out in the breakers. This has resulted in a red hot GT bite. Kadavu island’s Great Astrolabe barrier reef is producing large numbers of mid sized fish with frequent fish to 70lbs and the occasional rod snapping monster getting the best of astonished anglers. Even the narrow barred mackerel are getting into the action with many good sized fish caught on poppers right in close to the reef.

Nevertheless, with the calm summer season rapidly approaching, the sails will move on and the wahoo move out wide so thoughts are now turning to the heavier tackle. Divers from the resort have been checked out by big black marlin on several occasions as the blacks migrate past Kadavu island.

With large schools of Skipjack and Yellowfin tuna scattered all along the barrier reef, the bent butt 80s and Moldcraft wide ranges are getting dusted off and serviced as attention starts to switch to the blue marlin grounds and the coming run of big cow Yellowfin in November / December.

Summary:
Blue marlin – Lots of small to mid sized fish with the occasional 600+ pounder
Sailfish – Still here with double hook-ups common. Average size 80-90lbs
Wahoo – Big packs still being found though starting to thin out now.
Yellowfin - Here in good numbers but can be patchy as schools move through
Mackerel – Plenty of small ones inshore, some very nice fish hitting ballyhoo rigs outside the reef.
Mahi Mahi – Yes, lots to 20lbs and some bigger bulls to 50lbs around
GTs – Red hot bite at the moment but the weather sometimes limits access to the best places.

Cpt Adrian Watt
Director, Matava Resort Gamefishing,
Tel: + (679) 3337 222 or 3336 098
www.GameFishingFiji.blogspot.com
www.Matava.com

Matava - Fishing Report – August 2007

For the waters around Kadavu Island- Fiji Islands

Charter Operator – Matava Resort Gamefishing

Boat Names – Bite Me (Offshore) and Offensive Tackle (Inshore)

Average Water Temp – 25.5

Average Sea State – Wind chop to 6ft, Occasional groundswell to 4ft

Average Winds – Breezy to 20kts mostly ESE

Water Clarity – Good inshore, good offshore

We are now well into the winter wahoo and Pacific sailfish run but this year continues to disappoint a little. The large packs of marauding wahoo that congregate along the barrier reef are fewer in number than normal. Though packs are being found in some of the usual places, some sites that normally hold wahoo packs are just not firing up yet. The average wahoo size is also lower than normal at about 20kg rather than 26kg though some big solitary fish have been seen. The sails have also been down in numbers though some very nice fish to 60kgs have been tagged & released. Normally the average sail pack consists of about 5 to 6 fish but this year, so far, sails have been raised as solo fish or in pairs. It may well be that the late fall in water temperature is leading to a late season here and September may be the peak month rather than the usual July / August.

The upside though is the blue marlin fishing. Normally fairly quiet at this time of year, there seems to be significant numbers of blues close in to the reefs ranging in size from 80kgs to 200kgs. During the recent Pacific Harbour Tournament, charter boat ‘Opulence’ hooked up a blue estimated at 600lbs on 15kg line class but the fish was lost. ‘Bite Me’ had a blue of about 150kgs free-jumping behind the spread but couldn’t get a shot. Another competitor on ‘Catalina’ was spooled on 24kg before the deck could be cleared. There are clearly some good sized blues out there in the mix.

The yellowfin are coming through in waves so one week they are everywhere and the next, hard to find anywhere other than the Kadavu seamount. This area always holds tuna.

Quite a few mahi mahi around with the average size around 10kg though some nice fish to 20kg were weighed during the recent tournament.

The GTs are still active in the surf zones with a lot of smaller fish to 15kg giving great sport on 15kg line class.

Summary

Water – Still slightly warmer than normal but continuing to fall slowly.

Weather – The usual winter trade winds often making it choppy

Blue Marlin – More around than usual and some big ones present

Sailfish – Ones and twos in all the usual place

Wahoo – Not a great year so far but still good wahoo fishing by anyone’s standard

Yellowfin - Here in good numbers but can be patchy as schools move throug

Mackerel – Plenty of small ones inshore, the bigger guys now hitting ballyhoo rig

Mahi Mahi – Yes, lots to 20lbs and some bigger fish showin

GTs – Excellent popper casting fishing at the moment but the weather sometimes interferes

Captain Adrian Watt

Director, Matava Resort Gamefishing,

Tel: + (679) 333 6222 or 333 6098

www.GameFishingFiji.blogspot.com

www.Matava.com

Matava Fishing Report – April 2007

For the waters around Kadavu Island- Fiji Islands

Charter Operator – Matava Resort Gamefishing

Boat Names – Bite Me (Offshore) and Offensive Tackle (Inshore)

Average Water Temp – 29.0

Average Sea State – Calm / mild chop

Average Winds – 5-10kts

Water Clarity – Variable inshore, good offshore

Offshore

The blue marlin fishing has gone quiet as the surface water temp finally spiked up to 29 degrees during a long calm sunny spell. Quite normal for March / April though I am happy to say that the water is already cooling and is now back down to 28 degrees and falling. Sometimes the water temp in April can go as high as 31 degrees which means a late start to the winter wahoo and sailfish season but this year, like last, the South Pacific is experiencing a La Nina event and the first wahoo and sailfish have started to show.

Though not here in big numbers yet, it’s a good sign for the approaching season.

The Yellowfin are still around with lots of fish around 30lbs close in to the barrier reef. They are being a bit sneaky and coming right into the lagoons feeding on the inside lagoon slopes. Tricky to find them as they are not balling bait on the surface but very rewarding when you do hook up on inshore light tackle.

Inshore

The Narrow Barred (Spanish) Mackerel are getting more active because of the cooling water with the average size now increasing to about 30lbs. If you find a patch of schooling juveniles there is normally a big guy or two lurking nearby.

On the deepwater jigging and bait fishing side, still lots of action there. This type of fishing is good all year round and unaffected by seasons.

There are quite a few large Great Barracuda around at the moment, particularly in the inner lagoons.

The popper casting for Trevally has been average but will heat up big time in June/July. Divers recently reported seeing a school of huge Bluefin Trevally near one of our dive sites. They were cruising the shallows on top of the reef and were reported to average about 20lbs. That makes them all potential World Records.

Summary:

Water – Spiked up to 29 degrees but is now 28 degrees and falling.

Pacific Blue Marlin – Gone quiet as they feed deeper in cooler water and roam farther South

Sailfish – First few starting to congregate along the barrier reef

Wahoo - First few now congregating on barrier reef points

Yellowfin Tuna - Here in good numbers but often not surface feeding.

Mackerel – Plenty of small ones inshore, the bigger guys just starting to bite.

Mahi Mahi – Yes, lots to 20lbs about 3 miles offshore.