Fiji Islands Saltwater Fishing Report – July 2008

Charter Operator – Matava Resort Gamefishing

Average Water Temp – 25.5

Average Winds - 20kts,

Sea State – 50% Slight to Moderate / 50% Rough

Water Clarity – Poor inshore, good offshore

The expected wahoo and Pacific sailfish action fired up in June with good wahoo packs all along the Kadavu island barrier reef and medium sized sailfish to 75lbs forming small packs in the usual hot spots. Bite Me took the womens W-10kg Line Class Fiji National Record with a good sail of over 100lbs and single fish over this size are fairly common right now.The windy weather so far in July has made for difficult light tackle fishing but with Kadavu island's big lee shore, nobody has gone home disappointed with a number of other light and ultra-light tackle Fiji National Records on wahoo, GTs and Yellowfin tuna falling to visiting anglers.

The hungry wahoo and sailfish packs will stay well into September with the best sail bites either side of the full moons. August should see the start of some nice black marlin migrating through Fiji waters passing exposed barrier reef and offshore seamounts on their way to Australia's Great Barrier Reef spawning grounds.

The blue marlin are being virtually ignored at the moment as charter boats make the most of the fired up wahoo and sailfish packs but there are plenty of school tuna around holding marlin and offering fresh live or skip-baits for the heavy tackle enthusiasts.

Popper casting suffered from the wild early July weather but the bite remains strong with the GTs loving the pounding surf with GTs to 50lbs common and much bigger fish hitting the popper specialists using heavy tackle and super-sized custom gear.

Aboard 'Bite Me' we will continue to target the wahoo and sails on light tackle from 12lb to 20lb line class as well as some specialised ultra-light tackle fishing on the 8lb (4kg) custom gear.

Summary
Wahoo – Here now in big packs
Sailfish – Here now in packs of 3 to 6 with pairs of larger fish nearby
Yellowfin - Plenty of small inshore fish around 20lbs, larger fish to 75lbs farther offshore
Mahi Mahi – Bit thin on the ground with just the occasional pair here and there
Mackerel – Good sized fish around hitting skip-baits
Blue marlin – Largely being ignored because of the hot wahoo & sailfish bite
GTs –  Excellent fishing when the weather allows, particularily around the full moons

Cpt Adrian Watt
Director,
Matava Resort Gamefishing,
Tel: + (679) 333 6222 or 333 6098

Game Fishing Fiji

Gamefishing Fiji Blog

Fiji National Sailfish Record

Another Pacific Sailfish Record fell to Bite Me last week and New Zealand angler Lyn Salvidge. Lyn and her husband Bruce spent two days aboard Bite Me having some fun with the wahoo and looking to take a ladies National Record back home to Auckland.

Bruce hooked up to his first ever wahoo

Happy to oblige, we introduced Bruce to his first ever wahoo and after a 15 minute fight on 30lb line class, Joe sank the gaff into a nice 60lb fish. Not a bad start for your first ever wahoo.

Nice Hoo Bruce !

We decided Lyn should target the W-10kg Pacific Sailfish record. Normally we tag and release all billfish but a National or World Record are sometimes the exception. Working one of Bite Me's favourite sail spots with a pair of 10kg outfits on the riggers, we hooked up a nice sail on a Hollowpoint Mahi Sniper in white and pink with one of our special light tackle hook rigs.
With some careful backing down early on, we had the sail in close after 20 minutes but using only 5lbs of drag on the Shimano TLD20, the fight was anything but over. Lyn applied steady pressure using her Black Magic stand-up fighting harness as we began to slowly chase the sail down in reverse. 55 minutes later with the sail tiring we upped the drag and Lyn guided the 130lb leader into deckie Joe's hands. Using special light tackle Pakula Katana hooks, this was no time for brute force so Joe gently eased the sail into gaff range and the fight was over.

Lyn and Bite Me's deckie Joe

Weighing in at 47.8kg, ( 105 lbs ) and almost five times line class weight, this was a very respectable fish and earned Lyn the new W-10kg Fiji National Record.

Stan's The Man

Stan Coverdell from Boulder Colorado got a recent taste of the Kadavu Island Gamefishing action with a day out on Bite Me. With the wahoo and sailfish season just strating to fire up now, we soon had Stan hooked up to a nice Pacific Sailfish of about 80lbs. Stan fought the sail to the boat but just as deckie Joe placed the tag stick in position to implant the Billfish Foundation tag, the hook pulled and the sail gently cruised off into the depths. Not an 'oficial' catch, it was still a bunch of fun and we were all happy to get a close look at such a beautiful billfish and see it swim away.Deckie Joe gets ready for the tag shot

We didn't go home empty handed. Stan soon found the wahoo to be quite a handful and we put two wahoo of about 60lbs each on deck for the resort guest's dinner.


Together with a narrow barred (Spanish) mackerel for sashimi starter, we had all the fish we needed so when Stan hooked up a little baby wahoo of only about 15lbs, we elected to release it unharmed.

Deckie Joe uses a de-hooker to release a small wahoo

Stan declared it was the best days fishing he had ever had. Pleasure to have you aboard Stan and glad you had fun. See you next year !

Extreme Sports Aboard Bite Me

Now and again, the hard working Directors of Matava Resort get the chance to take a day off and go play with toys normally reserved for guest activities. Sometimes we go explore diving along the mile upon mile of outer slopes of the Great Astrolabe Barrier Reef. Sometimes we go heavy tackle marlin fishing or chase a National or World line class gamefish Record.

Sometimes we just do something crazy.

In March we elected to do someithing nutty and geared up Bite Me with medium to heavy tackle, deep drop jig rods, underwater camera - and snorkeling gear.

About an hour and a half offshore from the resort is a seamount that rises from depths of about 9,000ft to a shallow peak at 400ft. Its a very fishy place to go and Bite Me often fishes there for marlin, yellowfin, wahoo and mahi mahi. We also find sharks there, much to the distress of livebaits set for marlin and it is normal to see the occasional hammerhead, tiger or oceanic white tip cruising around. The largest shark we have ever seen aboard Bite Me was a huge tiger shark out on the seamount that followed a hooked fish right up to the transom.

On arrival, we drifted gently over the seamount with a freshly caught yellowfin tuna head on the end of a rope off the back. We then dropped a deep drop jig rod to the sea floor with a couple of small hooks baited with fresh yellowfin tuna . In no time we were bringing up a big fat large eyed bream. Delicious to eat but this fish was meant for something else. We brought it up to just below the surface and then waited for its distressed actions to call in the nearest shark. Cameraman Richard and his 'watch my back' man Stuart geared up.

After about a minute I spotted a shark coming in and gave the signal for the baits to be pulled in and the snorkelers to enter the water. Stuart dipped his head in to check the sharks species and behavior and then off they went.

This shark was cautious and circled the snorkelers in a wary fashion before cruising off into the depths. Richard fired off some amazing photographs and we are now in the process of asking several shark experts to help us identify her. So far our research indicates a species of oceanic whaler but her unusually thick caudal penduncal (tail wrist) and keel is causing some debate.

Whatever she was, she was majestic and a thrill to swim with in open water.

Personally, I prefer to keep my feet high and dry on the bridge....

Wahoo fishing at Matava, Kadavu Fiji Islands

Another slide show on YouTube of some awesome pics

2008 Pacific Harbour Gamefishing Tournament

There are two slots available aboard Bite Me for the 2008 Pacific Harbour International Gamefishing Tournament. The tournament will be held over three fishing days - 26th, 27th and 28th June this year with Registration and briefing on the afternoon of the 25th June and prize-giving on Sunday the 29th June.

Bite Me has earned her anglers thousands of dollars in prizes over the previous three tournaments and taken several new Fiji National Records in the process.
Any anglers wishing to compete aboard Bite Me should contact me at Matava Resort for more information.

Adrian Watt
IGFA Certified Captain
www.matava.com

Narrow Barred (Spanish) Mackerel

Recent picture of a nice mackerel caught by Jeff from Hawaii aboard Bite Me.
The Fijian name for this species is 'Walu' and it is considered by the locals to be an excellent food fish.
There is a special Fijian dish called Kokoda (pronounced kokonda) which is absolutely delicious. If you ever get the chance to try it, I heartily recommend that you do.
The walu is chopped into small pieces and marinated for several hours in fresh lemon juice, fresh coconut milk, chopped onions and chopped chilli from the resorts organic garden. The lemon juice 'cooks' the fish and I consider it even better than the yellowfin sashimi that we often serve to guests as a started dish at dinner.

Bite Me High & Dry

Yes, its that time of year again when a game fishing charter boat captain turns into a grease monkey and spends a week splattered in anti-fouling, grease, engine oil and wax polish.
Its not all glamour you know.
Bite Me hauled out on Friday at the Royal Suva Yacht Club and began her annual service as well as her three inspections by FIMSA,the Fiji Islands Maritine Safety Authority. (out of water pre-inspection, out of water post inspection and in water inspection)
Whilst out of water she has been scraped down and new coats of anti-foul applied. Her rudders have been dropped and steering system inspected, props and running gear cleaned and polished, all inlets and outlets cleaned and lower hull waxed and polished.
She goes back in the water tomorrow and then the real work begins.
Her engines will get a thorough going over including turbo's servicing, oil change, raw water impellor change, fuel lines inspection, fresh water cooling system flush, engine valve clearance check and oil,air and fuel filter changes.
The superstructure will be wax polished, the teak cockpit will be cleaned and oiled, the anchor chain cleaned and last but not least, the final in water FIMSA survey by marine inspectors to ensure that all mechanical and electronic equipment works, all necessary safety equipment is carried and if applicable 'in date' such as flares / life raft etc and that the vessel if fit to carry passengers safely for another 6 months befor the next FIMSA survey.
Six months ! Hell it will probably take me that long to get the greasy oil stains out of this Bite Me T shirt. Like I say, its not all glamour being a game fishing boat skipper.....

Fiji Saltwater Fishing Report - April-May 2008 - Bloodydecks.com

Fiji Saltwater Fishing Report - April-May 2008 - Bloodydecks.com

"Adrian, sweet ride and sweet location. I don't know if you read my reply yesterday but I had the opportunity to work on Kadavu Island three times about 15 years ago guiding multi-day 5, 7 and (1) 10 day kayak trips for South Pacific Kayaks sponsored by the Dive Kadavu Resort. Once we had set camp each afternoon I would gather our Fijian Crew led by a really nice guy named Tom jump in the support boat and going fishing with the only gear I had, namely salmon fishing gear brought from Oregon. We had some epic days fishing mainly around the Nagagia Island area. There wasn't any charter operations or boats down there then, but I thought what a great place to bring a boat and set up shop. You are truly a very fortunate person in a great place. I will definitely try to come visit you sometime. What a treat it would be to fish those waters in a boat that can get you further from shore in a comfortable boat. Boys you better go visit this area while it remains pristine."

Fiji Islands Saltwater Fishing Report : May 2008

Charter Operator : Matava Resort Gamefishing
Boat Names : Bite Me (Offshore) and Offensive Tackle (Inshore)
Average Water Temp : 28.5
Average Sea State : 50% light breeze / 50% wind chop 2ft ground swell to 4ft
Average Winds : 50% 10 - 15kts
Water Clarity : Variable inshore after tropical rain, good offshore

The Fiji water temp is now starting to ease back from its summer peak of 30 degrees and the relatively quiet month of April actually turned out to be quite good, especially for the popper casting fanatics hunting the big GTs and Bluefin trevally when the bite just went berserk a week either side of the full moon.
Game boats reported a generally mixed bag in April and early May with mahi mahi, yellowfin and recently, wahoo being the main species caught. Boats should start to pick up black marlin from mid May and the blue marlin will really fire up again by the start of June when the water temp hits 27.
Sails are being tagged on most day trips but the big packs should form from June onwards.

The hot news however is that an unusual event occured recently. There was a huge run of whale sharks accompanied by good sized yellowfin tuna through the Kadavu passage, the stretch of water that seperates Fiji's main island of Viti Levu and Kadavu island, 50nm to the South.

The last time this occured was prior to the start of the 2005 winter wahoo and sailfish season. That season was one of the best on record with large wahoo packs everywhere. The wahoo averaged 50lbs with fish to 80lbs being common and many fish over 100lb landed. The sailfish packs were also in plague numbers along Kadavu Island's Great Astrolabe barrier reef with the pack average being about 6 fish ranging from 60lbs to 120lbs.
The wahoo are here already, unusually early in the season but with packs found recently on the Kadavu seamount and off Beqa's 'Golden Mile'and every boat in the recent Suva Game Fishing Club 2 day Tournament coming home each day with wahoo , it is clear that the oceanic currents this year are bringing in the start of what should be a spectaculor 2008 season.

Aboard 'Bite Me' we will be focusing on fishing the light tackle from 12lb to 20lb line class for the wahoo and sailfish as well as some specialised ultra-light tackle fishing on the 8lb (4kg) custom gear. Looks like my bait catching guy is going to be busy.


Summary:
Blue marlin : Quiet but will fire up again end of May
Black marlin - First few tagged recently
Yellowfin - The first few fish of the winter run starting to show, mostly aroud 30-60lbs
Sailfish : First few of the season starting to turn up but not in packs yet
Wahoo : Here early and the big backs will form soon
Mahi Mahi : Bit thin on the ground with just the occasional pair here and there
Mackerel : Good sized fish around hitting skip-baits
GTs : Crazy bite around the full moons

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