Vanuatu fishing report

[boattart]

Just got back last night from a 2 week family holiday in Vanuatu. Obviously a few days fishing was essential.

Being our first trip since the kids were old enough we headed to Tanna to visit the volcano and with an afternoon tour booked had the morning free. The activities board said "gamefishing Tanna Style" and the tour desk was very up front. You are fishing with locals in small boats with their gear so next morning meet our Skipper with my son at 6.30am for a short walk through the bush to a small reef fringed bay and our 16ft aluminium half cabin afer walking and dragging the boat accross the reef we ventured out a mile or so and started trolling only the coast with one large Alvey winch spooled with heavy mono on one side and a Penn rod and reel on the other with a modified handle, not complaining, it was just what I expected. It wasnt long before Hayden was on his first ever Wahoo on the Alvey (which our skipper informed me he landed a 105kg marlin on a couple of months earlier)the tackle maybe heavy but the fish certainly are still a struggle to land. Not long after a second Wahoo took the rod which was also landed although I think I would have rathered the Alvey.

That afternoon we visited the volcano and although it was on the lower range of activity the power needs to be felt to really appreciate.

Edited October 4, 2012 by boattart

[Plumb]

Sounds like Your living the dream, great work by your son on the Alvie too!

Cheers Luke

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[boattart]

After a couple of days on Tanna we returned to Port Vila where I had prebooked a couple of fishing trips. The first trip back was an afternoon fishing trip with the kids and while the weather conspired to ruin his intial plans we still had several option open. Skipper Russ I meet years ago and is a gun fisherman and worked hard to find fish. While we couldn't find Sailfish and missed a barracuda we did manage an assortment of reef fish on small trolled lures in the shallows which was perfect for the kids.

[boattart]

After a couple of days with the kids I had a day gamefishing for myself and with and early tide was picked up at 6.15 and headed out towards the FAD when about 1.5 mile short a nice fish came up and nailed the short corner on the 130. The fish was quiet early but we saw enough at the bite to know he had some size and after 20 odd minutes had him on the trace but a stuborn green fish doesn't come easy. As it danced around the stern on the trace it got wrapped and when we eventually got it back it couldn't be revived. We did actually tag the fish and swim it for quite a while but after release it went down but soon returned to the surface belly up so it was reluctantly pulled aboard and eventually weighed in at 233kg. One thing that did make it easier was knowing that the fish would feed many of the locals and nothing goes to waste. Later that afternoon a blind strike on the long rigger lead to another Blue Marlin this time 70 kg successfully tagged and released.

All fish were thick and fit. Checkout the girth of this one.

For our second last day I booked another day gamefishing. This time Hayden was coming but unfortunately he woke in the morning with a stomach bug so it was a solo trip for me and again an early bite lead to a 100kg Blue Marlin tagged and released and not long after a small Mahi joined us for dinner which also proved to be my last Vanuatu fish for the trip.

That's my 4th trip there and I can assure you it wont be my last. As well as what sounds like a lot of fishing here there's so much for all ages to do and with a 3 hour flight I can highly recommend it for family holiday with a bit of fishing thrown in.

[The Iceman]

Nice report

I will be taking the family there for a couple of weeks when I get made redundant sometime soon

Im interested in the trolling small lures for reef fish as it would be fun for my daughters

[boattart]

Gday Iceman,

Not sure if the raider rules for charters extends to foreign countries so deliberately left detail out but Russ has a great operation and heaps of experience from various locations around the world and catches heaps of fish. If you want details just send me a PM.

[Paddy454]

Hey Mark,Welcome back and thanks for bringing the sun back with You.Looks like you and the family had a blast, nice one.A little quiet on the fishing front here at the moment but still plenty of flatties and the odd red.Water temp is slowly climbing so should not be long now before its firing.Catch you soon,Regards,Paddy

[The Iceman]

Gday Iceman,

Not sure if the raider rules for charters extends to foreign countries so deliberately left detail out but Russ has a great operation and heaps of experience from various locations around the world and catches heaps of fish. If you want details just send me a PM.

Thanks

Im more interested in light tackle sportsfishing than chasing stickfaces

Have caught a 600lb black on the marlin highway over there back in 98 standup 24kg on a 5.5m cairns custom craft

[Choicebro]

Hey mate,

Awesome pics, looking forward to catching up and hearing the tales in a week or so.

Cheers

Kel

[zen801]

Hey mate great report and ya got me really pumped. We were there in December and are going back soon for 3 weeks. Rented a house with pool and car in the Pango area of Port Villa. After doing Fiji a few times we discovered Vanuatu and we love it. How good is the fishing. We did a game fish out of Villa and had best days fishing ever on the Blue Marlin. is it worth going to Tanna? A friend said his kids loved it especially as it erupted whilst there and they ran for their lives with volcanic stuff falling to the ground nearby. They closed it for two weeks that day until it settled. Also was it expensive, fly or boat?

When we were there we saw the Jail, it had onlyn8 inmates. There is hardly any rules over there, for instance, no drink driving laws ect

Cheers

Mike

[boattart]

Gday Mike,

Tanna is definitely worth a few days. I wasn't cheap but couldn't tell you exact prices as we did book it all as a package. We flew over on a standard domestic transfer about a 40 seat plane and stayed at White Grass which is near the airport and on the water. That meant a bumpy 2.5 hour 4wd trip to the volcano although aparrently the road was closed a few weeks early as it been washed away. Other accomodation is available closer to the volcano but not on the water. We spent 3 days there which happened to be over the weekend which left us with limited options as some tours dont run on Sunday. There is a tour to an underwater cave that sounded great but my kids where probably a bit young. Feel free to send me a PM if you want more specifics.

[Flano]

Great place the old Vanuatu. I lived there for 3 and a half years and been back twice since. Fishing is great, Yasur (volcano) is so humbling, people are great and the foods not bad either. Even the earthquakes give you another side of life.

Great report. Hope you enjoyed my second home.

Flano