Winter Kadavu Fishing Update

Its Wahoo Central now around Kadavu Island !
The Wahoo are thick and we are catching many Wahoo in sized up to 45kg (100lbs).

Magazine Editor Shane from Fishing SA Magazine with a 40+kg Wahoo

Vicki & Wayne (Mine's bigger than your's - Ooops) Nice one Vicki !

 Ben from Australia with a nice Wahoo caught trolling aboard Bite Me Too

Lance with a 40kg Hoo

The Wahoo are not the only species around. We are seeing some nice Pacific Sailfish mixed in as well as Mahi Mahi schooling a little off the reef.

Some anglers are even tossing a few popper at the reef and catching some great winter GTs

Vicki with a nice winter GT on Popper

The Wahoo will continue to be our main target species for the next two months as well as Sailfish along the outer barrier reef. We expect to still have great winter fishing well into October. With the water temp now hovering just above 24 anglers fishing offshore should also see some Striped Marlin and short billed Spearfish.

US Billfish Conservation Act becomes Law

Great news for Marlin, Sailfish and Spearfish !
On October 5, 2012, President Obama signed the Billfish Conservation Act into law, effectively banning the importation of all billfish into the continental United States. The signing marks the culmination of a united undertaking by a diverse coalition of angling and conservation organizations working in cooperation with a bipartisan group of congressional champions.  Although there are no commercial fisheries targeting billfish in the US, the US has been the largest importer of billfish in the world, importing about 30,000 billfish annually.
More details here on the IGFA Website here.

More of these guys around for future generations

There are many sustainable alternatives for restaurants and retailers to offer in place of billfish; thus most restaurants have taken marlin and other billfish off the menu.

Good News for Costa Rica Billfish

First hotels and restaurants in Costa Rica sign

agreement to support billfish conservation

Initial group of Central American hotels, resorts and restaurants set example for others in promoting sportfishing ecotourism by taking sailfish and marlin off their menus

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. USA. – The Billfish Foundation (TBF) entered into an agreement with its conservation partner, the Costa Rica Sport Fishing Federation (FECOPT) and four participating Hilton Worldwide hotels in Costa Rica, pledging to stop serving all sailfish and marlin.

Based on a socio-economic study released last year by TBF showing the huge economic value of sportfishing tourism to Costa Rica, the participating hotels adopted the ban on billfish from their restaurants in part to promote responsible and sustainable tourism in the nation.

The four properties include the DoubleTree Resort by Hilton Costa Rica in Puntarenas, the DoubleTree Cariari by Hilton San Jose, the Hilton Papagayo Costa Rica Resort and Spa, and the Hilton Garden Inn Liberia Airport. The bold conservation move with the hotels and resorts came after two months of discussions with FECOPT Executive Director Enrique Ramirez.

“TBF is proud of the efforts by Enrique Ramirez who secured the participation of the four participating Hilton Worldwide properties in Costa Rica and explained the conservation and business benefits of the world’s sportfishing tourists, reaffirming Costa Rica’s stature as one of the world’s premier fishing destinations,” noted TBF Chief Scientist Dr. Russell Nelson. “We specially appreciate the foresight of the general managers at the participating Hilton Worldwide hotels in Costa Rica - Ricardo Rodriguez Gil, Laura Castagnini and Rui Dominguez - that supporting sportfishing conservation efforts are good for the oceans and good for business as well.”

“The participating Hilton Worldwide hotels in Costa Rica are leading the way for Costa Rica’s tourism industry to move toward new levels of support for sportfishing conservation practices,” said FECOPT’s Ramirez. “Using the impetus of our agreement with the participating properties we look forward to partnering with sustainable tourism tour leader Horizontes to let this precedent spread across the nation’s tourism industry.

TBF President Ellen Peel applauded the agreement as a new standard for voluntary conservation action in the private sector adding, “we’re very pleased to see tourism businesses and government tourism officials responding so positively to the facts and information presented by our socio-economic research conducted with the University of Costa Rica that clearly supports TBF’s message that good conservation can be good economics.”

TBF has been working with governments such as Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru and Panama to protect billfish, mainly from overfishing coastal fisheries by commercial interests, while implementing tag and release programs for sportsmen. Herbert Nanne of San Jose serves as TBF’s Central American Conservation Director.

Established 25 years ago, The Billfish Foundation is the only non-profit organization dedicated solely to conserving and enhancing billfish populations around the world. TBF's comprehensive network of members and supporters includes anglers, captains, mates, tournament directors, clubs and sportfishing businesses. By coordinating efforts and speaking with one voice, TBF is able to work for solutions that are good for billfish and not punitive to recreational anglers. To reach Dr. Nelson call 561-449-9637 or visit www.billfish.org

The Billfish Foundation is out there right now trying to preserve our billfish for future generations. Consider becoming a valued member Its all you need do to help.

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

Skipper Takes A Break

Its a hard life being a charterboat skipper....Day after day out there fishing aboard Bite Me....
Where does a hard working skipper take a break ?
How about the Sonora Desert ? Baja, Mexico...... A nice little Hacienda on the Baja East Cape called Rancho Leonero...

Now I'm searching the skies for Buzzards...

The March "Super Moon" rises over the Sea of Cortez

Course the trouble with the Sonora Desert is its surrounded by the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean....one of the finest gamefishing destinations on the planet.....There are humpback whales and whale sharks just cruising by out front....bait balls getting smashed by Jack Crevelle and yellowtail kingfish......yellowfin...striped marlin moving in...Roosterfish all along the beach....
Sigh.....Guess I am just going to have to bite the bullet and go fishing....

Rare Baby Marlin tagged & Released

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.

Fiji Striped Marlin

When is a blue marlin not a blue marlin ?
When its a stripey of course...

The only time I was ever wrong was when I thought I was wrong....

Oh, appart from a couple of weeks ago when we tagged and released a small blue marlin of about 250lbs that has come back to haunt me....

John Angus was aboard Bite Me completing his Royal Slam when we hooked the fish on a Zacatak Rat. She shook her head just like a blue, charged off just like a blue and at first we thought she would go 400lbs. But fishing 130lb class line and with John a very experienced angler, we had her alongside in 10-15 minutes and we quickly reassessed her size.

She was however still pretty green and feisty so with the tag already in, Joe whipped the hook out and released quickly (whilst I was half way down the ladder with a camera - thanks Joe)

The marlin behaved like a small blue but was lit up like a stripey. I got a brief look at the dorsal and my impression was of fairly stout fin rays and an overall height of about 2/3 body depth.

Small Blue I declared.

But no...doubts persisted....

So I sent the picture off to Tim Simpson, Editor of BlueWater magazine. Probably a Stripey he declared and send the picture on to Dr Julian Pepperell who added "Probably a Stripey"

Blast... I am being out-voted by my peers...

Last ditch effort, I sent the picture off to the NSW DPI, batted my eyelids and murmured "little blue ?"

No ! They declared...Most probably a Striped Marlin !

As Eddie Izzard said "They were China in my United Nations Council and Vetoed me !"

Of course I still harbour feint hopes that one day this fish will be caught again....weighing 750lbs.... I don't give up that easily.....