Isaac Ct Posted September 20, 2021 Share Posted September 20, 2021 Hi Raiders, I thought I might share with you a trip I went on in January in 2019. It was a 2 week holiday to the Solomon Islands, first to the main airport of Honiara, then to a smaller island of Sauvonua then to a even small resort called Papatura. I was out of my depths for plenty of reasons, one, I was 9 at the time and I was the only kid my age on the island, two, the people we were travelling with included me and my dad plus 11 other adults his age. Half of us where fishing for the whole time and the other doing half fishing half surfing. The first day we went trolling around the shallows and I pulled out my first GT! Fish are almost never released as the locals always use the fish for something. The resort also has a leaderboard and little did we know by the end of the trip 1 spot would be cemented forever.. The first GT I caught wasn't massive but it weighed in at 1.44KG. The second through to the 9th day, wasn't much action, we went jigging on the reefs and I managed to snare a coral trout, coronation trout, sweetlip, green job fish and a coral cod. We went trolling around the tourists favourites spots, namely mackerel ally. I caught my first spaniard weighing in at 3KG but felt bigger as I had hooked it in the tail. One of the guys also caught a 7KG barracuda, plenty of blue trevally and lots of barracuda. We actually ate the barracuda and it was delicious, although I wouldn't recommend eating ones we catch in Australia. I also managed my first squid on a handline and the only fish of the trip of the jetty, a shark mackerel. Day 10 made me very happy, I caught my PB Gt and wound it in myself which I considered pretty impressive since I was 9! It weighed at 6kg although it looked bigger. Finally, on day 11, the tuna turned up and the bait balls were teeming with life. Whales, sharks, tuna, anchovies and birds. For the next day and a half we were spinning metals into the bait balls and pulling out little Yellowfins and the odd bluefin. Some bigger fish were caught trolling. First a 12kg, then a 20kg, then something bigger. On the final day of the trip we where trolling as usually when my dad hooked a tuna, the first 5 minutes were chasing down a running tuna. After a fight of 1.5 hours, we get the tuna to the surface, it was HUGE. High fives all round and a monster 42.6KG Yellowfin was landed. To this day, it is the largest recorded Yellowfin at the resort. But that wasn't the end. I hooked my first decent tuna, but it didn't feel big, it was running towards the boat and we saw the fish and then. it ran like hell. It wasn't as big as my dads but it was till hefty. After about 10 minutes I had to hand the rod over as I couldn't fight it any longer. Another hour passed and another big tuna in the boat. This one weighed at 30KG. I remember saying that day, stuff Jacko's 12KG one, stuff Mick's 20KG one, stuff my 30KG one this is a beast! The trip ended to quickly, we had fantastic meals including, coconut crab, barracuda, GT (it was excellent surprisingly), lobster, tuna sashimi and steaks, squid, oysters, mackerel and much more! This was truly a trip of a lifetime. We even played tug-of-war with the local black tip reef sharks with fish frames, we saw a baby CROCODILE next to the resort but that didn't stop us from swimming. The water visibility would've been 10+ m . Enjoy this, Isaac CT. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac Ct Posted September 20, 2021 Author Share Posted September 20, 2021 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac Ct Posted September 20, 2021 Author Share Posted September 20, 2021 First GT Second GT 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonD Posted September 20, 2021 Share Posted September 20, 2021 Great fishing with the family, bet the boys had a ball. Looking at those tuna lay on the warm sand makes me wonder how they care for the catch onboard. Do they bleed and ice the fish straight after catching as there doesn't look to be any sign of it on the tuna. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corro Posted September 21, 2021 Share Posted September 21, 2021 What a trip! Thanks for sharing mate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel Posted September 21, 2021 Share Posted September 21, 2021 Great story. Well done. Super photos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac Ct Posted September 21, 2021 Author Share Posted September 21, 2021 7 hours ago, JonD said: Great fishing with the family, bet the boys had a ball. Looking at those tuna lay on the warm sand makes me wonder how they care for the catch onboard. Do they bleed and ice the fish straight after catching as there doesn't look to be any sign of it on the tuna. They bled the fish but their was no ice, they stored it under the boat in the water. I know they should but it still tasted great! 4 hours ago, corro said: What a trip! Thanks for sharing mate. Happy to share! 4 hours ago, Rebel said: Great story. Well done. Super photos. Thanks Mate 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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