Rarotonga - Over New Years

[Edward1995]

I'm off on a holiday to Rarotonga, the capital of the Cook Islands over Christmas/New Years. Has anyone fished there or have any tips? 

Cheers 

Ed

[Edward1995]

I'm off on a holiday to Rarotonga, the capital of the Cook Islands over Christmas/New Years. Has anyone fished there or have any tips? 

Cheers 

Ed

[DrRaymondSnapper]

If this is a 2022 topic then I can give you a little help. If its an old one then my advice is out of date.  I was in Rarotonga for a few months a couple of years ago. Rule no1 is don`t eat anything from the lagoon due to ciguatera. You probably know the island is surrounded by a reef so the area inside the reef is termed the lagoon. All fish are potential sources of ciguatera in the lagoon so no eating anything caught there. Ciguatera poisoning can be very unpleasant. Beautiful place , by the way. Enjoy.  There are a few boat charters to the reefs outside but my recollection is that its mainly gamefish orientated - mahi mahi , sailfish , marlin etc. There are a couple of big operators present. I went out twice and caught absolutely nothing. I went with the local " character " <name removed>. He is famous for never smiling and always being surly.  Go with the other bigger charters if you want to catch fish. The time of year is huge and the catch is seasonal. Hope this helps a bit. Don`t forget --no shore based lagoon fishing and consuming or you`ll experience diarrhea that is life changing.

Edited September 18, 2022 by Little_Flatty
Cannot name charter operators. Please revert to PM for charter names.

[DrRaymondSnapper]

My bad. I probably got his name wrong anyway.

[DrRaymondSnapper]

If you get the chance , visit the island of Aitutaki. Its close by plane and is probably one of the most jaw-dropping places on the planet. I`ve done a fair amount of travelling all over the world but the lagoon on Aitutaki is incredible.  There is only one road on Rarotonga and it follows the coast in a circuit  Its a very small island and doesn`t take long to circumnavigate. Good luck with the fishing. I hated leaving. Long flight to get there though.  About 8 hours if I recall so take a book. 

[DrRaymondSnapper]

You`re welcome Edward.

[Edward1995]

On 9/18/2022 at 7:48 PM, DrRaymondSnapper said:

If you get the chance , visit the island of Aitutaki. Its close by plane and is probably one of the most jaw-dropping places on the planet. I`ve done a fair amount of travelling all over the world but the lagoon on Aitutaki is incredible.  There is only one road on Rarotonga and it follows the coast in a circuit  Its a very small island and doesn`t take long to circumnavigate. Good luck with the fishing. I hated leaving. Long flight to get there though.  About 8 hours if I recall so take a book. 

Thanks for all your advice, it’s really appreciated 

[bookwa]

Re ciguatera which I contracted way back in about 1966,   no memory of diarrhoea but was very sick for about six months and the main symptom( and the one by which it was diagnosed) was the hot and cold reversal syndrome.  Very weird. I ate only the recommended variety of fish on a trip to swains reef, but I think didn’t follow the rule later employed of eating only a small portion from each fish and definitely nothing from any fish over  five kilo.   I couldn’t eat any fish for twelve months afterwards as I would break out in hives and the area around my mouth and lips would swell up and tingle for a long time.   Went back to swains a couple years later, followed the rule of eating only small portions from multiple fish and avoided the blacklisted varieties and I was fine.