Richard and Bonnie Lorenzin visited Vanuatu for the 5^th year to fish our waters. They opted to make it an adventure so we had no real solid plan for the week when we left Port Vila at 5am on day one. We figured we would head north and stay at Epi and wing it from there. The first day was fairly good with a couple of good sized mahi-mahi volunteering for the fish bin and a detour past Cooks Reef turned up a 22kg wahoo and a doggy along with a few mack tuna that we would use for doggy bait in the days to come. After a great night at Paradise Sunset Bungalows we headed west to DeChauliac bank the next morning. On the way we spotted a marlin tailing on the surface however it would not co-operate other than having a brief look at the blue pusher on the rigger and swimming off into the distance. On arrival at DeChauliac we cleared the gear and got out the jigging rigs. On the first drop Bonnie hooked up on a 20kg(aprox) reef shark and Richard got smoked on what I suspect was a good size doggy from the ferocity the line was peeling off the reel which was set at 12kg of drag only to be cut of on the 106m bottom. From there after we couldn’t get a bite on the jigs so we set the lures again and
headed for the Maskelyne Islands. Activity was slow for the rest of the day with only a couple of barracouta being caught. We decided to call in and stay the night at Sandalai Village at the very bottom of the Maskelyne’s.We headed out the next morning and had the gear in the water a couple of minutes from anchorage and hooked a good sized wahoo first up to show some promise for the day which was a special day as it was being Bonnie’s 40^th birthday.We spent a couple an hour towing baits around on the surface and on the downrigger in some of my favourite doggy haunts for no return so it was time to move on. We headed east from Malekula and had a mystery bite that didn’t stay on then along the coast of Ambrym Island to find yet another tailing marlin that wouldn’t co-operate. Another hour into the day I was just about to go downstairs and prepare lunch when a 120kg+ blue marlin swiping the sort corner lure making a couple of jumps and falling off. Bloody marlin fishing!!!!!!!! We stopped at pigeon reef out the back of Lamen Island and dropper some of our rigged mack tuna to try and entice the doggies only to again get sharked so it was fish the reefs of Palma and anchor up in Lamen Bay and get on with celebrating Bonnies birthday at Sunset Bungalows. With everyone travelling a little slow the next morning it was a nice leisurely start and a 10mile run down the coast of Epi in perfect conditions. With a wale jumping and a large pod of dolphins playing with us for miles it had all the makings of a great day. We fished in the direction of Cooks Reef again and picked up mahi-mahi on the way there however the reef proved to be quieter than expected with only 6 mack tuna donating themselves for the bait bin. Another mahi was caught on the way south to Nguna Island. We had another shot for a doggy or G.T of the western end on Nguna only to get sharked twice. The day was rounded out with a great dinner and more celebrations at Kakoola Island which is becoming very popular with out guest due to its great location, comfort and amazing food. On day 5 we headed east to Scotts Rock, This place has been named Jurassic Park by the spearfisherman that I take there due to the amount of big doggies and shark that frequent the panicle that comes up from 400m to 3m below the surface.We put a couple of baits over the side and within minutes we had a double hook-up. More sharks!!! We had another shot and more sharks so we were out of there. Heading back west through undine Bay a good size sail was spotted free jumping but proved elusive when we attempted to catch it. Next stop was Mosso F.A.D and Richard caught a 10kg yellow fin, the first for the trip and smaller one and some skippies on his light tackle.  Next stop was Tuki-tuk F.A.D to find the most bird action and bait that we had seen for the whole trip. A couple more small fish fell prey to Richards light rod then the right rigger started loosing line at a furious speed. Ten minutes later a 37kg yellow fin was on the deck to round off a great trip. Thanks Richard and Bonnie

With the return of 7 angler this year out of last years 8 things were set for a good trip. Day one saw the Dion group make an early start leaving Port vila at 5.00 with a 4.30 pick up from Le Lagoon. A few of the boys managed to get an hour and a half sleep before heading out on V-Factor and Shogun in Perfect conditions. The first hookup was a wahoo on v-Factor out off Hat Island and then they lost a mahi-mahi at the back of the boat not much further on. Just past 366 Shogun had a blue marlin swim into the gear and pop the line out of the clip however it wasn’t seen again. Fifteen minutes later a sail pulled a similar stunt on the other side.
About 25 miles north of Port Vila out from Nguna Island we detected some birds playing close attention to some activity in the water and the boys on V-Factor radioed to say they were hooked up on a good fish. as we circled the work up the long rigger gets eaten by a mahi-mahi and Joel nails his first. Five minutes later we had a strike on the short corner and started losing line to again drop the fish. that instant the longer corner started screaming off line. This time it looked like we had a solid hook up. Mark jumped to battle stations and it was obvious by the amount of line we were pealing off we were on a good fish. Ten minutes into the battle the rod flicks straight and we have a pulled hook. With the gear reset we are off again after the workups of birds and the odd jumping yellow fin. ten minutes later we are on again, this time with Dion being victorious and boating a 37kg yellow fin.
With the fish moving south and us heading north a lot of miles still to cover it was time to move on. The rest of the day proved to be very quite, the only activity being Joel catching a baracootta and a few workups of bait turning up no bigger fish.
Everyone settled at Lamen Bay for the night for a well earnt couple of beers and a big feed.
Day 2. V-Factor and ourselves headed west. V-Factor making for DeChauliac Bank and we headed straight for the Maskelyne Islands. The V-Factor boy caught a small dogtooth on a jig at DeChauliac only to have it munched by a shark. We fished all round the Maskelyne’s with one bite from
a fair sized G.T only to have it fall off ½ way to the boat. V-Factor arrived and we all got stuck into some solid jigging still with no luck. We on Shogun decided to head back to Lamen Bay and have a shot on the sea-mounds for a doggy. To add insult to injury for the day a 100 odd kg marlin jumped on and off close to Pigeon Reef. It just wasn’t going our way!!!! Another solid effort was put in on the jigs to no avail. Lure were set again and about a mile from Lamen Island a reef shark ate a lure for a solid hookup. The first for the day and I have never seen a reef shark take a lure.

Day 3 both boats headed out of Lamen Bay heading towards Lapevi Volcano. Shogun had 3 strikes just a couple of miles from the mooring however as luck would have it nothing stuck.V-Factor caught a wahoo at the volcano and a yellow fin close to Ambrym and Shogun ended up with 9 mack tuna, still a slow day.

Day 4 was head back to Vila day with a nice early start. The Shogun team had a shot for a doggy close to Lamen Island without as much as a bite and then we turned for home. The yellow fin we appearing again at about the half way mark however were hard to catch. The V-Factor crew nailed a 62kg yellow fin just off Hat Island and had a couple of marlin bites a little further on then picked up a mahi-mahi just off Tuki-Tuk F.A.D to finish off the trip. All in all it was a great trip despite the slow fishing.