Craig Bellgrove and his mates came in to fish Vanuatu for the third time. They took the Kakoola option this trip and caught heaps. Day one we raised three marlin and tagged two. We also picked up a mahi-mahi at the Mosso Fad  that made the dinner table that evening.

Day two had us off to the Eastern Seamound for a blinder. On arrival we were greeted by multiple strikes of yellowfin. The jigging proved just a little slow except for the first drop when Steve caught his first dogtooth at 25kg. We had a lot of fun catching wahoo on jigs close to the surface which was a first for the boys. We spent 3 hour fishing the area and headed home when we were unable to fit any more fish in the storage areas in the boat.

Day three the team opted to only do 1/2 a day as the boys had some business to conduct so we spent a bit of time a Nguna Island with no result. The score for the day was 1 x 20kg wahoo in Undine Bay.

Craig finally caught a dogtooth that he has been chasing for some time on day 4 at Monument Rock near Mataso Island however there wasn’t much else happening there. The Mataso Seamount turned up a few more yellowfin and a wahoo.

Day 5 we headed back to the Eastern Seamound again hoping to repeat the day earlier in the trip in less than favorable conditions. On arrival we found a few birds moving around but we couldn’t get a bite. After getting beaten up in the conditions for some time we decided to shorten the day and hear home. Just to ad insult to injury we had a marlin jump on and off on the way back to Kakoola.

Day six was head home day so we gave the Mosso F.A.D a good work out and caught a heap of good mah-mahi then headed further south. As the day unfolded we picked up another couple of good size mahi-mahi with one at 17kg for Steve. There was plenty of birds working however they were just following the schools of skipjack that were passing through. We picked up a couple around the 10kg mark. A good sized rainbow runner gumped on at Pango Seamound to round out our day and complete the trip. I spit of a couple of rough day the fishing once again in Vanuatu proved to be very good.

Ross Capel, Steve Lawson, Gerhard Nagele and Maurie Morrison came back for another trip this week and opted for the Kakoola stay away option. The fishing was good with the fist day 6 yellowfin up to 37kg being caught and Maurie dong a stint on a 140-150kg blue marlin and getting a tag into it. Maurie is an Ex charter boat operator from NZ where he used to run a boat called Star trek.

Ross and his yellowfin

Day 2 saw us out to a seamount east of Mataso Island where Maurie had the good fortune of tagging another blue, this one was the second smallest marlin I have ever seen at about 30kg. We raised another 2 however not caught. We also had a good day there on yellow fin both on lures and jigs. Ross nailed his first wahoo at a respectable 22kg.

Day 3 had us off to Mataso Island for some more action and run across some more yellow fin at Mataso Seamount.  It was then on the Monument Rock for a couple of wahoo and a double of yellow fin then back to Pela Island for some popping for G.T,s with no result.

Day 4 we started our way home from Kakoola Island toward Port Vila. We had a great time at Mosso Fad. on mahi-mahi on light tackle and put 5 in the boat along with a good wahoo. The rest of the day was a little quite with lots of birds and the odd yellow fin jumping however no more fish.

The guys are even threatening to come again next year.

A little marlin about to be released.

Carl Muir for Epic Fishing Adventures in Tairura in N.Z can fishing in Vanuatu with another group of intrepid anglers to fill out the end of July. Carl brought his friend Tony Huang  the owner of Yee-Haa tackle in Auckland who was accompanied by his lovely wife Sabrina, Julian Oon  and Mick Wessels These guys are all self confessed jig and popper nuts.

Day one saw us head out of town towards Kakoola via the fads in search of action. Twenty min into it a blue marlin climbed on the shotgun which Sabrina battled for 20 min which suddenly ended with a pulled hook. Mosso fad turned up a mahi-mahi then it was on to Nguna for some jigging.

The action was steady there with the boys getting smoked on 3 good sized dogtooth. Doggies three- anglers zero.

After a great night at Kakoola it was on to a sea mound 25nm S.E of for more jigging. On arrival we had a triple hook-up of yellow fin that get everyone back into action.

The jigging proved to be a little slower than it usually is at this spot however the boy managed to get smoked no less than 4 more times. Big doggies can destroy tackle. The rest of the day was very slow as we fished our way to Epi.

Wednesday saw us head to Maskelyne Islands where we had a ripper. The doggies were a little reluctant to play however the G.T action was thick and fast. Three good sized fish were caught, photographed and released while casting poppers along the eastern side of the island and another 2 caught and released on the southern point of Maskelyne island. Finally Mike nailed a 20kg doggy to break our doggy voodoo

Thursday we headed to DeChauliac Bank for some Jigging where the action was good however we were smoked on a few doggies with only small ones coming on board. Next stop was the Maskelyne Islands again for some more G.T popping. Tony was of fire again with another 25kg G.T captured and released.

The trip home on the last day was rough and slow with only one Mahi-mahi being caught. The day was rounded of with a big night at the Friday night B.B.Q and everyone leaving for the airport at midnight for a trip home to New Zealand.

For Carl’s Full Report and Photo’s  click here: Game Fishing in Vanuatu

Matt Watson nailing a blue marlin from a jet ski. Matt contacted us a couple of months ago and asked if we could help with this project. Matt tried to achieve this in N.Z and Queensland and had put more the 20 days into it for a Discovery Channel program called Stunt Fishing.
We spent a morning setting up gear and fitting the Jet Ski with a rod holder. The conditions were far from ideal that day however we decided to go out and have a practice to make sure the set up was going to work. Twenty minutes into battling big seas Matt was hooked up and 40 minutes later he had a tag in the fish and all the footage he needed. We spent another day getting some additional footage for further episodes on game Fishing here in Vanuatu.

If you google “Matt Watson Fishing” or have a look on www.youtube.com you will see a lot of Matt’s other stunts.

Matt Watson about to set the gear and catch a blue marlin in Vanuatu

When Glenn Proebsh booked in for a shared 8 hour charter I’m sure he had no idea of how lucky he would be. About 6 minuites into his first stint on the rod on his very first game fishing charter he hooked up on a nice blue marlin. Forty Minutes later it was tagged and released and we had one very happy angler.