Derek and Carly for a day.

This trip has been a year in the making.

Rosie and I had promised Derek and Carly, John's daughter and son in law, that we would take them out fishing when they came back to Fiji. 

They have returned and as our word is good as gold we took them out.

The weather had been great until they arrived from Indiana. Now it is blowing 15-20 knots and very lumpy to say the least. At least the sky is clear and the sun is out.

We met up first thing in the morning and off we go.

First stop is some casting and popping lessons. Once Derek and Carly get the hang of it then it is time for a try at a GT.

Unfortunately the wind was going to play a major role in where we fished. 

We tried spot after spot and had not a single bite. 

We tried poppers, stick baits, big and small. Rosie even had a few casts and so did I. Nothing, not even a look. 

So we move on to jigging. Speed jigging, slow jigging and soft plastics. Still nothing wants to bite. Now the captain is getting a little peeved. I drop a jig down and after a few attempts, finally hook up and immediately give the rod to Derek. One thing with jigging, you never know what you are going to catch. After a good fight Derek has the mystery fish boat side and it turns out to be a nice Bronze Whaler shark. We had a good look and the it bit the hook off. Thank goodness.

We finally jig up a small fish that is suitable for bait, paternoster rigs for everyone. 

Unfortunately the bite just never did turn on. Although a few small grouper were caught, nothing too big. 

We had a Fun day even though the fish were not cooperating. It happens sometimes. 

I have promised to take them out again when they return, fingers crossed we will have better luck.

Derek, John, and Carly

A quick lesson on twisted leaders and knot tying, even though I'll be doing all the tying.

John looking suave.........or is this dejected? 

Carly showing us how it to cast.

Derek is not to be outdone.

The water was beautiful.

Carly's first catch from the deep.

You go girl.

See Derek, this is how you do it.

Derek fighting the Bronze Whaler.

A deep water dip after the shark fight.

Tight Lines

After the storm with Yuki

After way too much bad weather, tsunami warning one weekend, cyclone Tomas the next and then blowing at 30knots with driving rain, we finally got out for a fish. Not the greatest weather, but it was fishable none the less.

From Yuki take two

We went out with Yuki again and he brought two friends, Jose, who has been out with us and Hanochin, who has never fished before.

First order of business is to teach Hanochin how to fish.

From Yuki take two

Lucky he was a fast learner and was casting like a pro in no time.

Yuki is a seasoned pro so he just moved out to the bow and started casting away.

From Yuki take two

The same goes for Jose who is quite the angler. It is not long before he has a nice Bluefin in the boat.

From Yuki take two

The sea is a bit rough with an Easterly blowing and a Southerly swell. A bit lumpy to say the least.

Yuki has a few strikes but they are missed. He finally gets a solid strike and hook up. The fight is on but it is not acting like a GT. Soon the question is answered. A Bronze Whaler shark.

From Yuki take two

Needless to say this fish did not make it on board for a photo session. It was released in good shape if only for a sore nose.

From Yuki take two

The shark was followed by a massive strike that led to Yuki losing his popper and leader.

After a quick change of gear he finally hooked a GT.

From Yuki take two

The GT gave a good accounting of itself and was eventually boated in good shape. After the photo session it was released.

From Yuki take two

Unfortunately the bite time was rather short as we are upon the full moon and bad weather. Things slowed down from there and only a small Bluefin Trevally was landed in the last hour. That is not to say we did not have a few laughs with the giant sunglasses we keep on board.

From Yuki take two

From Yuki take two

Our time was short together but we had a good time and made the most of rather tough fishing. Yuki is a great guy to fish with and he knows what he is doing. That always makes things a bit easier.

I am sure we will fish together again.

Tight lines

Fishing report for first week of June

Our last two trips out have been quite good. We have added a few new species to the capture list and the weather has been holding steady.

From XstreemFishingCom

We did a bit of trolling on the first day. After all it is Wahoo season and they do taste good.

From XstreemFishingCom

Now, with a Wahoo on board it was time to try for something else. Out come the skirts and here comes the Mahimahi.

From XstreemFishingCom

For those of you who have never caught a Mahimahi before let me tell you. They give a good fight, especially on light tackle but the kicker is when you bring them in the boat, they go mad. They are actually very dangerous, especially with hooks in their mouths. The best thing to do is put a wet towel over their eyes and they will calm down enough for you to hog tie them. If you miss with the towel look out, they are going to go ballistic. The upside to all of this is they taste great.

The next trip out saw us poppering the reef with 30lb and 50lb spinning gear. This time my good friend Captain Charles Wakeham took the wheel so I could also fish.

First up is a nice little Queen fish.

From XstreemFishingCom

That is followed closely by a Red Sea Bass. Normally considered a by-catch when fishing for GT's, but they do put up a good fight on lighter gear.

From XstreemFishingCom

As always when fishing around reefs you can expect sharks. Usually Black tip and White tip sharks are the first to turn up. Here is a nice Black tip caught on a popper.

From XstreemFishingCom

Going home without a GT under our belt just wont due. So here is a nice one I caught on 30lb.

From XstreemFishingCom

Here is a video of some of the fight with the GT.

Tight lines and Screaming drags

Fishing the web, you never know what you will catch

Here are a couple of items that got my attention in the news. The first is a "Man caught fishing for womens panties". This one really got me laughing. I guess you would call that panty poaching.

The second one is from Blogfish, a fish, ocean, conservation blog that I follow. Fishing protest not for the squeamish is about a shark fishing protest.

For the original story:

Artist hangs herself from hooks in protest at shark treatment
An artist pierced her skin with shark hooks and hung herself from a shop ceiling in protest at the treatment of the animal.

"Alice Newstead took the drastic action in protest at the practice of finning – where sharks are impaled on hooks, before their fins are sliced off to harvest meat for shark fin soup. The sharks are then thrown back into the ocean still alive. "

I feel that she got her point across. Mainly because the news wire picked it up as well as the blog world. She has drawn attention to an issue and got the public involved.

What do you think? Did it work or just a side show?

Panty on and hanging from a hook.

Cheers