Fishing Charters
V-Factor Wins Vanuatu November Comp
The last weekend in November saw the running of the annual running of the Tusker Game Fishing Classic, this year 19 boats entered with 62 anglers fishing, my good fishing mate Steve Bean and I decided to fish the tournament. Steve put a team together which consisted of Steve , Dane Thornburgh from Vanuatu and Steve’s good mate and fishing buddy from New Zealand Robbie Thomson Steve’s son Sam and Danes son Brock completed the team,
After a 7:00 shot gun start Saturday morning we headed north while most of the other boats headed south, it was a quite morning and we only managed to catch one Mahi Mahi while Nevagivup tagged a blue on 15kg, had I made the wrong dission, around 11:00 we found birds working out wide and after working the area for about 1 hour we successfully raise a nice blue around 90kgs which Steve successfully fought and tagged on 15 kg line we were on the board, the rest of the day was quite so we headed for home very satisfied, Nevagivup up tagged 2 blue marlin on 15kg for the day so they were in front with V-Factor in second,
Sunday was to be a 6:00 lines in start so all boats left early to get to their favourite fishing spot I headed north again while most of the other boats preferred to head south again,
We fish the area where we tagged the one the previous day to no avail there were a few marlin down south with a couple being tagged on heavy tackle, had I made the wrong decision today, but we stayed in the area in the north and was soon rewarded around 12:00 a nice blue around 75kgs jumped all over the out rigger and we were on, Dane jumped on the rod and after about 40 minutes we tagged our second on 15kg, this has put us in equal first with Nevagivup with 2 marlin tagged on 15 kg and 1 Mahi Mahi a piece , no sooner had we put the lines out and another blue and 300kgs hit the long rigger, after a short burst he fell off and within 30 minutes we had another small fish up in the spread but he quickly lost interest and we missed another chance, as lines out was at 3:00 we were starting to run out of time, by this time we were not far off Devils FAD so the decision was made to head there and try to catch a few Mahi Mahi to give us enough point to win, as so as we arrived at the FAD a nice Mahi Mahi jump on which we quickly boated and put the lures out again and within 2 minutes Sammy my trusted deckie was yelling marlin, unfounally this one fell off as well but not losing hope we put the gear out again and within 10 minutes we had another blue smashing the shot gun and this time he stuck, a perfect fish around 45kgs, Robbie grabbed the rod and after a short but furious fight Sammy had the tag in we had done it, with only 30 minute to lines out we headed for home, we had a good day rising 5 marlin and tagging 2 on 15 KG line giving us the tourmnent, it was a team effort and Dane and Robbies first marlin and Steve’s first Blue and first marlin on 15 Kg and my decision to fish north payed off so everyone was happy,
Bob Parkers first Marlin
Bob and his family stayed in Port Vila from Sunday 24th of May trough to Sunday 31st, Bob had contacted me before arriving booking two days fishing to try and catch a Blue Marlin. The weather in the first part of the week was not good with big seas so we put off fishing un
til the Thursday and to everyone’s delight on Thursday morning the weather was perfect, I picked Bob up from Iririki island resort which is two minutes from our mooring at 8:00, the first thing I ask Bob was what he wanted to catch the quick and determined answer was a Blue Marlin, also telling me it was one of his life time ambition, the pressure was one so away we went, we headed out to Hat Island about 35 minutes run and put the lines out, things were quite for about two hours and then he appeared from out of the blue smashing the long corner and Bob was on, after a blistering run of about 3oo meters the fish went deep but after about 15 minutes of solid pressure from Bob he surfaced again putting on a great aerial display. After a hard 30 minute fight we had the fish to the boat were Sammy tagged and released him to fight another day and Bob had his first Blue, Bob was over the moon and so he should be it was a great effort and it also give me great pleasure being part of the capture especially when it is the anglers first Blue. The rest of the day was quite producing one nice Wahoo around 14kgs; we fished the second on flat calm sea and near perfect conditions which produced 2 more nice Wahoo around the 15 kgs mark.
SAMS BIRTHDAY TRIP
On Friday the first of May Steve Bean and his son Sam fished with us, it was Sam eleventh birthday so his dad shouted him a day out fishing, Steve’s mate Kelvin also accompanied us, we set out at around 7:45 and headed out past Devils Point to put the lines in. The day was magnificent with a small half meter swell running and the conditions were perfect for fishing, we headed up to Mosso FAD and arrived there around 11:00, on the second pass of the FAD two large Mahi Mahi attached the lures in the spred with gusto, Sam jumped in the chair as the remaining lines were cleared, Steve grabbed the other rob and somehow managed to lose his fish but it was Sam’s day and after a great aerial display he worked his fish to the boat, must I say with far better skills than his father had shown, we have a good fisherman in the making, Sammy our deckle gaffed the fish, Sam had caught his first Mahi Mahi which weighed in at 14kgs so it was cheers all around, after everything was back to normal on the boat and the shouting had stopped the lures went back out, we kept working the FAD and after about 45 minutes Sammy is yelling Marlin I looked back to see a nice blue around 90kgs swimming around in the spred, Sammy graded the bait he had prepared earlier and threw it out after about a minute the Marlin jumped all over it and young Sam was on again this time to a Marlin, after a spactular surface display the Marlin managed to throw the hook to everyone’s disappointment,
Sam had had a great day with one nice Mahi Mahi on board and hooked up on his first Marlin, I am positive Sam has caught the bug and will enjoy many more great days out on the water, I would most likely be right in saying he is pestering his father right now for another trip, well done Sam and happy birthday
DAVE AND HIS BOYS
On the 21st of April Dave Newbound and his two boys Josh and Justin fished with us, Dave wanted to catch the boys some fish so we spent the morning chasing small Mack and Yellowfin Tuna, the boys had a ball and we had some bait , after lunch we put a bait down deep on the down rigger and checked out the numours sea mounts around Devils and Toki Tok points, I thought we had a good show of hooking a Dog Toothed Tuna but they did not get a look in with Wahoo smashing every bait we put down, finaly one stuck and after a hard struggle Josh was rewarded wirh a nice 16kg Wahoo.
By this time it was time to call it a day so we headed home with two very happy and tired boys on board.
THE MORGAN GANG
On Easter Saturday and Sunday five members and friends of the Morgan family from Australia and New Zealand fished with me, they came to Vanuatu for a well earned rest from work and to do a couple of days game fishing, even though fishing had been a bit quite over the last week or so we set of at 7:45 on Saturday morning full of conference, we started fishing at toki tok fad and headed north working the Marlin grounds as we went, things were quite all morning but the condition were perfect so everyone was relaxing and enjoying the sunshine, at around 11:00 Sammy my deckie called Marlin and after the fish played with the lure a couple of time he decided to eat it and we were on, Ross jumped into the chair and after a short but solid struggle we and tagged and released a nice 80kg blue, Ross had tagged his first marlin so it was handshakes all around, We put the lures back out and by this time it was lunch time, I think I had eaten about half my roll when Sammy was yelling Marlin again, I looked back and there was a nice fish around 130kgs following the short corner lure, might I add a lure Sammy loves and I am not sure about but had to admit this time it was working, after a couple of swipes at the corner lure he disappeared to come up and nailed the short rigger, we were on again, it was Menu turn on strike he jumped into the chair as the fish took off like a runaway bus and peeled off about 500mts of line by the time we had the other lines cleared, we then settle down to get some line back which we were slowly doing until the Marlin decide he was not hanging around and took off again jumping several times finally throwing the hooks he was gone but he gave us plenty of entrainment while we were connected to him.
The rest of the day quite but considering how the fish had been the last week we had a good day one nice Marlin tagged which was a first for Ross and another lively fish hooked and lost, the following day we fished for marlin in the morning with no results then came into Hat Island to do a bit of popping and jigging, a Wahoo hit one of the jig’s at one hundred miles an hour and that was the last time we used that jig, we then trolled in close and had another Wahoo cut a steel trace and that was the end of another lure, we also raised a couple of Sailfish that would not bite so it was not our day, but all in all it had been a great two days with great conditions and good company.
Thanks for Game fishing with me in Vanuatu guys
