Tonga

[Richard Warren]

Got back from a week sailing around the Vava'u group of islands in Tonga a couple of weeks ago. I have been struggling to catch up at work and this is the first opportunity I have had to do a report. Tonga is a beautiful place and even has some nice fish around as well. While I didn't catch anything huge by Tongan standards I still managed to get a few fish. Most of the time I just had a couple of lures out the back as we sailed from Island to island. I caught a few green job fish doing this & lost a few others monsters where the hooks straitened. I guess that is one of the lessons I learnt while there. You can't get away with using cheap lures. They are just not up to the job when a big fish hits.

Also caught a variety of reef fish while we were anchored for the night. I had no idea what they were so they all went back. Later found out some were coral cod which you can eat but we had plenty of food anyway. Most of these were caught on soft plastics. I have only ever caught one flathead with soft plastics before and that was with another fisherman who told me where to cast and what to do so I was pretty happy catching something on plastics on my own.

Also caught a few trevally and mackerel while trolling lures around coral bommies with our inflatable tender. Overall it was a memorable trip. I would recommend it to anyone. The people were friendly and water was crystal clear and even I was able to catch a few fish. I'll have to start saving up to go again.

Thanks for the info on resizing photos in the tutorial area. I would not have got the photos up without your help.