webmaster
12-06-2012, 11:49 AM
I took a trip to Fiji last month with my girlfriend and we did a little fishing while there. We stayed at the Matava eco resort on Kadavu Island and booked a full day trip aboard their 30ft sportfisher "Bite Me". The resort was fantastic. The scenery, food, and people far exceeded my expectations. I can go on and on about the island and resort, but I'll get right to the good stuff - the FISHING!
Day 2 of our trip we wake up early, get a quick breakfast from the lodge and shuttled via panga from the lodge to the Bite Me which was anchored just offshore. We were greeted by captain Joe and deckhand Ly who said we are going to be doing some trolling, popping, and jigging for marlin, tuna and giant trevally! We cruise a little outside the reef and set out a spread of plugs and feathers with postcard perfect Kadavu Island in the background - life is sweet!
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji12.jpg
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji13.jpg
We troll for a while and it's a little slow so I do my bow to the fish gods routine and not long after, zzzzzz! Tarra is on to something!
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji14.jpg
After a short battle, a nice barracuda comes aboard.
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji15.jpg
It's my turn now, we set out the trollers again and not long after - ZZZZZZ! I grab the rod and it feels heavy the POP! the ling goes slack and I reel in only the swivel where the leader was attached. Now it's Bite me 1, fish 1 but we're not done yet! Capt. Joe says let's try some popping. So we head over to a reef and he hands me a massive spinning rod with #150 braid and the biggest popper I have ever fished with!
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji19.jpg
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji20.jpg
I casted, popped, casted, popped as Joe maneuvered the boat next to several reefs but no blow-ups today. We went back to trolling again while Joe headed to one of his jigging spots where they had caught a nice dogtooth tuna on the last trip.
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji17.jpg
It was a lot like yo-yoing for yellowtial here in so cal. Let it sink, the grind, sink, grind, sink, grind. About an hour of that and our arms were tired. We went back to trolling in hopes of catching something decent for dinner. We troll for an hour or so and it's pretty quite other than a jumping manta sighting. At request of the captain, I did my fish bow routine again and shortly after.... ZZZZZZZZZZ every rod is bent over and screaming. Deckhand Ly gets the first one in and it's a small skipjack tuna. I am looking at the line peeling off my reel and say, "this ain't no skippy" I look over at Tarra's rod hers is screaming too! Through all of this, capt. Joe looks off the stern and says "shark". I look up and see a huge brown mass heading towards our boat. I tell him I hope he doesn't eat my fish and he says no, whale shark. I look again and a huge fin comes out of the water right next to the boat and then swam down. It was about as big as the boat, I'm sure glad it wasn't a carnivore! After a while, I muscle the fish in and Ly gaffs a nice #70 yellowfin.
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji18.jpg
I am exhausted and walking over to help Tarra with hers when Joe says, "wait there is another one" and points to a rod he put in the rocket launcher that is bent over. I grab that one and the battle continues. Pull, reel, muscle, grunt - it's like a tug of war but feels like the fish is winning. Somehow I get it up to gaff and another schoolie yellowfin hits the deck!
All the while Tarra is still on her fish and she is ready to collapse. I go over and coach and help as little and together we get the third yellowfin up and on the deck!
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji21.jpg
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji22.jpg
We troll a little more as we are heading in and get bit again by a blue trevally. Normally this fish would have been let go, but it literally inhaled the plug and was bleeding profusely.
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji24.jpg
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji23.jpg
We took our catch back to the lodge and everyone there had yellowfin sashimi and tuna steaks for dinner. They served more sashimi the next night and the rest of the fish not eaten by the lodge was given to the local village on the island. (Except the skipjack which Joe said he will use for marlin bait!) It was one of the best trips I have ever been on but we weren't done yet - I still had one more full day on the island and I brought gear with me...
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji25.jpg
The next day we take one of the kayaks and paddle over to a secluded beach all to ourselves. I brought a medium spinning rod with me and some poppers to see if I could catch any reef fish. I got boiled on my first cast and one even chased it right up to my feet but they wouldn't take the lure.
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji33.jpg
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji34.jpg
I decide the fish a little further out on the kayak and after a few more misses - bam! and hookup.
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji35.jpg
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji36.jpg
It was only a small barracuda but I finally caught something with my own gear and skills so I was pretty proud of that. I think if I had lighter line I would have got more. The water is crystal clear there and I'm sure they could see my #15test.
That about wraps up my fishing excursion at Fiji. We did lots of other activities like hiking, kayaking. Could have gone diving but I figured I'll wait until next time for that. The Matava resort and people of Fiji are truly first class. Enjoy the pics.
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji3.jpg
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji4.jpg
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji6.jpg
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji7.jpg
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji8.jpg
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji9.jpg
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji10.jpg
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji11.jpg
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji30.jpg
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji31.jpg
Day 2 of our trip we wake up early, get a quick breakfast from the lodge and shuttled via panga from the lodge to the Bite Me which was anchored just offshore. We were greeted by captain Joe and deckhand Ly who said we are going to be doing some trolling, popping, and jigging for marlin, tuna and giant trevally! We cruise a little outside the reef and set out a spread of plugs and feathers with postcard perfect Kadavu Island in the background - life is sweet!
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji12.jpg
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji13.jpg
We troll for a while and it's a little slow so I do my bow to the fish gods routine and not long after, zzzzzz! Tarra is on to something!
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji14.jpg
After a short battle, a nice barracuda comes aboard.
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji15.jpg
It's my turn now, we set out the trollers again and not long after - ZZZZZZ! I grab the rod and it feels heavy the POP! the ling goes slack and I reel in only the swivel where the leader was attached. Now it's Bite me 1, fish 1 but we're not done yet! Capt. Joe says let's try some popping. So we head over to a reef and he hands me a massive spinning rod with #150 braid and the biggest popper I have ever fished with!
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji19.jpg
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji20.jpg
I casted, popped, casted, popped as Joe maneuvered the boat next to several reefs but no blow-ups today. We went back to trolling again while Joe headed to one of his jigging spots where they had caught a nice dogtooth tuna on the last trip.
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji17.jpg
It was a lot like yo-yoing for yellowtial here in so cal. Let it sink, the grind, sink, grind, sink, grind. About an hour of that and our arms were tired. We went back to trolling in hopes of catching something decent for dinner. We troll for an hour or so and it's pretty quite other than a jumping manta sighting. At request of the captain, I did my fish bow routine again and shortly after.... ZZZZZZZZZZ every rod is bent over and screaming. Deckhand Ly gets the first one in and it's a small skipjack tuna. I am looking at the line peeling off my reel and say, "this ain't no skippy" I look over at Tarra's rod hers is screaming too! Through all of this, capt. Joe looks off the stern and says "shark". I look up and see a huge brown mass heading towards our boat. I tell him I hope he doesn't eat my fish and he says no, whale shark. I look again and a huge fin comes out of the water right next to the boat and then swam down. It was about as big as the boat, I'm sure glad it wasn't a carnivore! After a while, I muscle the fish in and Ly gaffs a nice #70 yellowfin.
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji18.jpg
I am exhausted and walking over to help Tarra with hers when Joe says, "wait there is another one" and points to a rod he put in the rocket launcher that is bent over. I grab that one and the battle continues. Pull, reel, muscle, grunt - it's like a tug of war but feels like the fish is winning. Somehow I get it up to gaff and another schoolie yellowfin hits the deck!
All the while Tarra is still on her fish and she is ready to collapse. I go over and coach and help as little and together we get the third yellowfin up and on the deck!
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji21.jpg
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji22.jpg
We troll a little more as we are heading in and get bit again by a blue trevally. Normally this fish would have been let go, but it literally inhaled the plug and was bleeding profusely.
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji24.jpg
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji23.jpg
We took our catch back to the lodge and everyone there had yellowfin sashimi and tuna steaks for dinner. They served more sashimi the next night and the rest of the fish not eaten by the lodge was given to the local village on the island. (Except the skipjack which Joe said he will use for marlin bait!) It was one of the best trips I have ever been on but we weren't done yet - I still had one more full day on the island and I brought gear with me...
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji25.jpg
The next day we take one of the kayaks and paddle over to a secluded beach all to ourselves. I brought a medium spinning rod with me and some poppers to see if I could catch any reef fish. I got boiled on my first cast and one even chased it right up to my feet but they wouldn't take the lure.
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji33.jpg
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji34.jpg
I decide the fish a little further out on the kayak and after a few more misses - bam! and hookup.
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji35.jpg
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji36.jpg
It was only a small barracuda but I finally caught something with my own gear and skills so I was pretty proud of that. I think if I had lighter line I would have got more. The water is crystal clear there and I'm sure they could see my #15test.
That about wraps up my fishing excursion at Fiji. We did lots of other activities like hiking, kayaking. Could have gone diving but I figured I'll wait until next time for that. The Matava resort and people of Fiji are truly first class. Enjoy the pics.
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji3.jpg
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji4.jpg
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji6.jpg
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji7.jpg
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji8.jpg
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji9.jpg
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji10.jpg
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji11.jpg
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji30.jpg
http://fishinghotpage.com/images/tmp/fiji31.jpg